Should I get the ASUS RT-AC86U or ASUS RT-AX86U

[Hazel]

Could you please be more specific or should we guess what didn't match with the guide you followed?

 

[L&LD]

@agentsmith1, sorry, I'm also not clairvoyant this evening.

Please ask specific questions I (or others) can quickly respond to. Otherwise, I may never have the time to respond fully to vague requests. Ty!

 

[heysoundude]

sorry L&LD some of the steps I found where not realting to what I could see in merlin. Can you advise please?

we'll be more able to help you effectively if you can tell us specifically where you're stuck in the process.

 

[agentsmith1]

@agentsmith1, sorry, I'm also not clairvoyant this evening.

Please ask specific questions I (or others) can quickly respond to. Otherwise, I may never have the time to respond fully to vague requests. Ty!opologies

 

[agentsmith1]

ok i went through all the links and even put them into word so I can get best results.... I found it a little bit hard to follow the exact process you prescribe. I would be happy to share the word file if I knew how to on here.
So for my benefit and for the benefit of others ...

I am setting up a brand new ASUS RT-AC86U router and want to add merlin software with a VPN and another ASUS modem in another room. Could anyone post the best use steps to do this please? And then extra steps to add a VPN and also another room mesh mode...

Thx in advance

 

[agentsmith1]

Oh furthermore to this I have been getting dropouts of my network since I got the new ASUS modem going a couple of days ago. They are varied in length …

 

[L&LD]

What have you done so far? (So effort for both of us isn't duplicated)?

 

[agentsmith1]

thx L&LD simply installed the new router. Immediately added merlin software and then came across your posts. I then read through the posts and links to see what I had not done optimally. I changed some of the settings from below advice but did not finish the sequence. Could not find the brute force option last tab bottom of bullet points.

So to be honest I think wiping the router clean and starting again might be best option. I opologise for stuffing it up and potentially causing you or any else grief.

• In the Wireless, General tab,
• choose the 5GHz band and change the Control Channel away from 'Auto' to a manually chosen one. I suggest testing with channel 161, for the first 24 hours.
• This setting may be changed to another main channel as needed if the range or throughput is not optimal. Be sure you are not selecting DFS channels if you are near an Airport, Military base, and/or a Weather station (within 15 miles +).
• Make sure you hit Apply before moving away from this page.
• In the Wireless, Professional tab,
• Choose the 2.4GHz band and change the Preamble Type to Short.
• Disable Universal Beamforming.
• Make sure you hit Apply before moving away from this page.
• In the Wireless, Professional tab,
• Choose the 5GHz band and change Universal Beamforming to Disable.
• Make sure you hit Apply before moving away from this page.
• In the Administration, System tab,
• Select 'Yes' for the Enable JFFS custom scripts and configs.
• Select your Time Zone.
• Verify the DST start and end dates and times.
• Change the WPS Button Behavior to Toggle Radio
• Enable SSH with 'LAN only'.
• Use a non-default SSH Port (I suggest in the 50000 + range).
• Enable Brute Force Protection 'Yes'.

thx again

 

[agentsmith1]

if i can add I got around 270-280 meg down through the router but at my PC I loose around 100meg down to 165 or so meg. I use a AC1200 Dual-band USB Wi-Fi Adapter on my HP Elitedesk G4 machine 8meg RAM

USB-AC53 Nano｜Adapters｜ASUS Australia

www.asus.com

My PC

Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel Core i5 8500T
Codename Coffee Lake
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8500T CPU @ 2.10GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 1151 LGA (0x1)
CPUID 6.E.A
Extended CPUID 6.9E
Core Stepping U0
Technology 14 nm
TDP Limit 35.0 Watts
Tjmax 100.0 °C
Core Speed 797.8 MHz
Multiplier x Bus Speed 8.0 x 99.7 MHz
Base frequency (cores) 99.7 MHz
Base frequency (ext.) 99.7 MHz
Stock frequency 2100 MHz
Max frequency 0 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EM64T, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, TSX
Microcode Revision 0xDE
L1 Data cache 6 x 32 KB (8-way, 64-byte line)
L1 Instruction cache 6 x 32 KB (8-way, 64-byte line)
L2 cache 6 x 256 KB (4-way, 64-byte line)
L3 cache 9 MB (12-way, 64-byte line)
Max CPUID level 00000016h
Max CPUID ext. level 80000008h
FID/VID Control yes

 

[Hazel]

Now that's a direct question, which enables us to give you a direct answer, because otherwise no one has a clue what you're talking about, which enable us to help you get further.

I changed some of the settings from below advice but did not finish the sequence. Could not find the brute force option last tab bottom of bullet points.

• Enable Brute Force Protection 'Yes'.

The Enable Brute Force protection has been deprecated, as far as I'm aware, since the 382 branch. So you haven't missed anything, it's simply not there anymore. As @L&LD has gathered so much info and 'stuffed' it into guides, it's impossible to keep up with all the changes that ASUS is making in its GPLs and the changes RMerlin makes to improve his version of the firmware and our experiences. I'm assuming that @L&LD has a life next to SNBForums, so I might be speaking out of turn here, but that goes for many of us.

So to be honest I think wiping the router clean and starting again might be best option. I opologise for stuffing it up and potentially causing you or any else grief.

There might be no need for it at all. I would advice you to stick to settings advised if you want to make a stable start. These are there for a reason based on experience, and there's actually no need to change them, generally spoken.

 

[agentsmith1]

Now that's a direct question, which enables us to give you a direct answer, because otherwise no one has a clue what you're talking about, which enable us to help you get further.



The Enable Brute Force protection has been deprecated, as far as I'm aware, since the 382 branch. So you haven't missed anything, it's simply not there anymore. As @L&LD has gathered so much info and 'stuffed' it into guides, it's impossible to keep up with all the changes that ASUS is making in its GPLs and the changes RMerlin makes to improve his version of the firmware and our experiences. I'm assuming that @L&LD has a life next to SNBForums, so I might be speaking out of turn here, but that goes for many of us.



There might be no need for it at all. I would advice you to stick to settings advised if you want to make a stable start. These are there for a reason based on experience, and there's actually no need to change them, generally spoken.

thx yeah opologies again for not being specific enough. Im getting intermiddent dropouts and as mentioned loosing 100meg from router to PC. Ideas ?

 

[Hazel]

thx yeah opologies again for not being specific enough. Im getting intermiddent dropouts and as mentioned loosing 100meg from router to PC. Ideas ?

Are you using a VPN for instance?

 

[agentsmith1]

Are you using a VPN for instance?

i am but only rarely. I am doing these test with the VPN off. I using windows firewall also and built in virus protection

 

[Hazel]

I noticed in one of your earlier posts that your using a USB wifi adapter. Would you please do a wired speed test with a decent (preferably shielded) FTP cable, CAT5E or higher. When doing wireless speed test so many other factor come in to play, which could influence your speed in a negative way. Doing a WiFi speed test will post likely always result in disappointing speeds (if your expectations are too high).

 

[agentsmith1]

thx and good thinking. direct Ethernet connect I achieved

ping 10ms down 261.69 and 23.89 meg up

on the wifi network 5g
ping 14ms down was 168-180 meg and up 23.8



but on the 2.4ghz network

desktop HP elitedesk achieved a ping of 13ms down 51.9 and up 19.9meg

iphone se 2016 ping 11ms 49.9meg down and up 22.meg up
iphone 8 ping 9ms 93.5meg down and 23.3meg up

distance from modem is around 3metres approximately. There is not many other devices around as i live in low density housing


yes this the adapter I use had it only a few months..

USB-AC53 Nano｜Adapters｜ASUS Australia

www.asus.com

AC1200 Dual-band USB Wi-Fi Adapter

 

[Hazel]

I suggest you go through these guides:

Control Channel Setup 2021
Control Channel Setup (more)

To get the most out of your wireless connection. These are compiled by @L&LD with the huge amount of info available on the forum and his own experience.

Btw, if you use the 'Better Search' function on the top of this page and you search for 'slow wireless connection' you'll find loads of info and suggestions to improve performance.

Good luck!