Set up my new AX86U today

[Lee MacMillan]

I took the plunge and got an AX86U to replace the 3 year old refurb AC66U_B1 that has served me well. I have a pretty simple home network with two connected devices and 18 or so wireless connections but typically no more than 12 or 13 connected at once and usually more that 2 or 3 actually active (not counting quite a few IoT devices that don't consume any significant bandwidth). Setup went pretty smoothly but I had to reboot my modem to get an internet connection. So far, so good. I kept the same SSIDs and network names/passwords so I didn't have to reconnect everything manually. It came with the last 384 level ASUSWRT firmware installed. I plan to let it run for a week or so and then flashed the latest Merlin build.

 

[Clark Griswald]

Congratulations on your new router.
Curious, why not run RMerlin's latest Release or current alpha appears to be working well, also?

 

[Lee MacMillan]

Congratulations on your new router.
Curious, why not run RMerlin's latest Release or current alpha appears to be working well, also?

I just want to run completely stock until I'm sure everything is working the way it's supposed to. I'll flash 386.1-2 in a few days.

 

[bbunge]

I took the plunge and got an AX86U to replace the 3 year old refurb AC66U_B1 that has served me well. I have a pretty simple home network with two connected devices and 18 or so wireless connections but typically no more than 12 or 13 connected at once and usually more that 2 or 3 actually active (not counting quite a few IoT devices that don't consume any significant bandwidth). Setup went pretty smoothly but I had to reboot my modem to get an internet connection. So far, so good. I kept the same SSIDs and network names/passwords so I didn't have to reconnect everything manually. It came with the last 384 level ASUSWRT firmware installed. I plan to let it run for a week or so and then flashed the latest Merlin build.

There are some security issues with the older Asus factory firmware. Strongly recommend you flash the beta version on the Asus support site. Works well for me as I had some issues yesterday with Merlin 386.1_2.
And you may need to upgrade older Intel WIFI drivers if you plan to enable AX mode on the router.

 

[Lee MacMillan]

There are some security issues with the older Asus factory firmware. Strongly recommend you flash the beta version on the Asus support site. Works well for me as I had some issues yesterday with Merlin 386.1_2.
And you may need to upgrade older Intel WIFI drivers if you plan to enable AX mode on the router.

Thanks for the info. My PC is wired and my laptop uses a TP-Link USB wifi5 adapter (the onboard Intel adapter was only wifi4) so no wifi6 devices yet. What issues did you have with 386.1_2?

 

[Clark Griswald]

I just want to run completely stock until I'm sure everything is working the way it's supposed to. I'll flash 386.1-2 in a few days.

I've always believed Running RMerlin fw was the proper way to make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to
Have Fun w/ Your New Upgrade!
Stay Safe Everyone

 

[KevTech]

I went back to 384_9318.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Lee, It's good to see you finally made a decision on your next router. I think you are going to be happy with your choice of the AX86U.

 

[siena]

Anyone was able to find the proper manual for the RT-AX86U? The one on ASUS website is a first edition and does not mention any of the new features. If you find it, please post a link so we can understand what all of these new settings and features do.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

I just want to run completely stock until I'm sure everything is working the way it's supposed to. I'll flash 386.1-2 in a few days.

Hi, Lee, have you installed Merlin yet? How is it going? My AC68U is on its last legs and I'm considering the AX86U w/Merlin. Any first impressions you'd care to share?

 

[Grievous Angel]

I just got one and set it up about a week ago, pretty much defaults. With Merlin. It's been stable since. Almost a week now. I turned off WPS and cloud access but pretty much left the Wifi settings to default.

 

[bbunge]

Anyone was able to find the proper manual for the RT-AX86U? The one on ASUS website is a first edition and does not mention any of the new features. If you find it, please post a link so we can understand what all of these new settings and features do.

Keeping the documentation updated is something Asus dosen't seem interested in doing. Having been in the position of keeping software documentation up-to-date with the software I can understand why it isn't done. Takes a lot of resources and just when it is up to date the software changes and the documentation cycle starts anew. But for major changes as in 386.XXX code it should be done!

 

[willyburz]

Yes, I flashed the beta off the asus site as soon as it went live in January. Have not had any issues...Modem is a damn monster performance wise!

 

[Lee MacMillan]

Hi, Lee, have you installed Merlin yet? How is it going? My AC68U is on its last legs and I'm considering the AX86U w/Merlin. Any first impressions you'd care to share?

Yes, I flashed 386.1-2 a couple days ago. I did not do a factory reset after the flash (ok, I'm lazy) and everything seems fine. I'm not running any scripts or doing anything fancy. I did take all the suggestions from one of L&LD's posts (#5 in this thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/w...h-ax88u-as-the-root-router.68483/#post-642251 ) FWIW, the temps are running pretty much the same as my 66U_B1, i.e., 45-46C for the radios and 68C for the CPU. I haven't walked around the house to check the signals in all the rooms but in my living room (1 wall and 20 feet away from the router), the AX86u signal is 3-4db stronger on both bands.