RT-AC88U

[punkinduster]

I just upgraded from the AC66. I immediately noticed better range. I used to get slower range in my upstairs bedroom. right now its rock solid and im getting 5ghz speeds upstairs.

Were you using John's fork?

 

[thiggins]

This article is done using the first ac88u firmware which was not tuned for performance.

I checked for new firmware using the router's "Check firmware" and found none. Just did it again and it still finds none. But there is new firmware here
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC88U/HelpDesk_Download/

I find this all too often with other routers, too. If vendors want new firmware used, they need to make the built-in firmware check more reliable.

 

[faur]

I checked for new firmware using the router's "Check firmware" and found none. Just did it again and it still finds none. But there is new firmware here
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC88U/HelpDesk_Download/

I find this all too often with other routers, too. If vendors want new firmware used, they need to make the built-in firmware check more reliable.

Yes, you'r right about the automatic firmware update. However the difference between 378.xxx and 380.xxx is quite big, the biggest improvement is on wifi performance. Try it and you will see.

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[RMerlin]

I checked for new firmware using the router's "Check firmware" and found none. Just did it again and it still finds none. But there is new firmware here
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC88U/HelpDesk_Download/

I find this all too often with other routers, too. If vendors want new firmware used, they need to make the built-in firmware check more reliable.

That's odd, since build 858 actually appeared on the auto-update server before being available for manual download (I even had to pull their update servers to retrieve the firmware, and put it up for download for people who needed to switch back and forth between stock and mine). Quite a few users saw their router automatically update the first time they booted it, while doing the Quick Internet Setup. Maybe they removed it from the auto-update server at some point, which would still be odd.

I've never really understood their rationale behind how they manage that auto update server, quite frankly.

 

[RMerlin]

Yes, you'r right about the automatic firmware update. However the difference between 378.xxx and 380.xxx is quite big, the biggest improve is on wifi performance. Try it and you will see.

Has anyone actually confirmed this? It was just a theory for me, the only fact I knew for certain was that the 378 builds all had a lot of debugging output enabled.

 

[faur]

I saw the improvement on wifi speed...i used iperf and speedtest with exactly the same environment on both firmwares...380.xxx outperformed 378.xxx with 8 to 10% in term of speed. I saw no difference in range. Again, this was on my particular setup, i had no "lab" environment...

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[faur]

Another thing is that on 378.xxx i had 5 to 7ms on ping for speedtest servers and with 380.xxx i have 2-3 ms...tested on the same speedtest server...

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[punkinduster]

Maybe if we asked nicely, Tim would install the new firmware on the AC88 and see if it does make a difference.

Please, Please, Tim!

 

[RMerlin]

Maybe if we asked nicely, Tim would install the new firmware on the AC88 and see if it does make a difference.

Please, Please, Tim!

Just wait for him to do a complete review of the router, which will no doubt happen eventually.

 

[punkinduster]

Just wait for him to do a complete review of the router, which will no doubt happen eventually.

That's fair. With the liberal return policy of Amazon, I think I'll go ahead and order one and do my "real world" test to see if it is worth an upgrade over my AC66. If I had a ac68 or newer I probably wouldn't do it. I can always send it back. Thanks guys for all your input.

 

[thiggins]

Just wait for him to do a complete review of the router, which will no doubt happen eventually.

I don't have time to rerun the open-air test now and generate all new plots.
The 88 is in the chamber now with new firmware. 5 GHz isn't impressive (as I would predict).

After I test, I'll get the results in the Charts and you can read 'em and weep.

I'm still at a loss why you guys, who should know better, get all worked up over being the first in line to debug new routers. You'd save money and get as good results by using an AC1200 extender. The new ones are pretty good, especially with their ability to use the other band for backhaul.

But, as I'm reminded, it's your money and not everyone is value focused.

 

[Blind_Bandit]

I checked for new firmware using the router's "Check firmware" and found none. Just did it again and it still finds none. But there is new firmware here
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC88U/HelpDesk_Download/

I find this all too often with other routers, too. If vendors want new firmware used, they need to make the built-in firmware check more reliable.

Well this is a disappointment . While this definitely shows Asus in a poor light. It calls into question your test methodology and trustworthiness as a reviewer.

 

[RMerlin]

Well this is a disappointment . While this definitely shows Asus in a poor light. It calls into question your test methodology and trustworthiness as a reviewer.

For a while, Asus didn't publish that firmware on their website, the only way of obtaining it was through the automatic update. Quite possible that Tim checked before Asus actually realized they had forgotten to publish the support page.

The RT-AC5300 support page was only put live this week, so until last week, there was no way for someone to download the latest firmware, except through the automated update.

 

[faur]

Please find here attached some speedtests results using a galaxy s5. On 4/12/2015 is the result on ac68u and on 8/12/2015 is on ac88u.

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[Keynote]

I don't have time to rerun the open-air test now and generate all new plots.
The 88 is in the chamber now with new firmware. 5 GHz isn't impressive (as I would predict).

After I test, I'll get the results in the Charts and you can read 'em and weep.

I'm still at a loss why you guys, who should know better, get all worked up over being the first in line to debug new routers. You'd save money and get as good results by using an AC1200 extender. The new ones are pretty good, especially with their ability to use the other band for backhaul.

But, as I'm reminded, it's your money and not everyone is value focused.

Hi Tim,

R8000 has a 1ghz processor and not 1.4ghz as written in your chart. How soon will you have the review or updated numbers for the Asus 88 because I need to know if I need to cancel my order or if it was just the firmware that made the router look bad?

 

[Briant73]

Well this is a disappointment . While this definitely shows Asus in a poor light. It calls into question your test methodology and trustworthiness as a reviewer.

I disagree with you're statement on test methodology and trustworthiness - if a router is going to have a feature to check/notify that new firmware is available it should work. There are so many firmware revisions for all the products it would be hard to keep track and retest everything. Also I think the reviews here are a great resource and very informative and applaud the effort since very few other sites are doing reviews/tests like this for home networking equipment.

Also a lot of times for every person saying a new Firmware on their router extended their range or gave twice as much performance over wireless, others notice no change or detrimental effects.

 

[RMerlin]

Please find here attached some speedtests results using a galaxy s5. On 4/12/2015 is the result on ac68u and on 8/12/2015 is on ac88u.View attachment 4991

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

This is within your typical margin of error however, especially as you are testing WAN performance, at different times. If you look for example at the oldest test on that screenshot, the upstream faster faster than both of your two last tests.

 

[Keynote]

I disagree with you're statement on test methodology and trustworthiness - if a router is going to have a feature to check/notify that new firmware is available it should work. There are so many firmware revisions for all the products it would be hard to keep track and retest everything. Also I think the reviews here are a great resource and very informative and applaud the effort since very few other sites are doing reviews/tests like this for home networking equipment.

Also a lot of times for every person saying a new Firmware on their router extended their range or gave twice as much performance over wireless, others notice no change or detrimental effects.

Although the wonderful and helpful reviews that this site provides are useful, they should probably be used as only guidance since everyone's use case and environment is different and believe it or not there is some variance during manufacturing of every unit. Of course, I am sure Asus has a bunch of lean six sigmas putting these things together. I am sure the reviewers try to compensate for external variables and different conditions: however, I can see how that can be challenging.

 

[faur]

This is within your typical margin of error however, especially as you are testing WAN performance, at different times. If you look for example at the oldest test on that screenshot, the upstream faster faster than both of your two last tests.

Yes, i think this is true...so in the end there are no notable differences for my environment...


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Mikrotik(for routing) + AC88U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)

 

[simonG]

Well this is a disappointment . While this definitely shows Asus in a poor light. It calls into question your test methodology and trustworthiness as a reviewer.

I think this is unduly harsh. Tim is showing a typical user experience and it can be difficult to find where Asus hides the latest release. I am also pleased Tim is using store bought samples, had a friend who was a motoring journalist and he said it was common for review cars to have more powerful chips in them. I would hate to think Tim was reviewing a router I couldn't buy