So many ASUS routers, so little time .....

[jerry6]

How long have you had it running reliably? Care to share more of your experiences? Running Merlin?
Thanks

I have 2 3200 and they are super reliable , each runs over 20 clients , 10 of them run 24/7 , one running older Merlin FW has not rebooted in 2 1/2 months , he other has the latest FW so it was rebooted 5 weeks ago to load latest Merlin .Both have been super stable , great range and transfer rates .
Of course I do not use smart connect , though it might be working well by now .

 

[sm00thpapa]

You can't keep up with ASUS. They just rolled out the 88U which killed the 87U sales and the AC5300. 6 months from now they will have another 2 routers to launch. I been running the AC68P for a few months with no issues and it is very reliable. Only reason I got the 88U is I had some stuff laying in a closet so I traded it in for the 88U. If the 88U bombs I can always sell it or trade it in. The 68P is a main stay.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Any ideas on where to sell them? How much do you think I could get for them?

Trade them in on Amazon. Condition matters on trade in value. 87U in like new condition it going for $97.67 and the 66R is going for $69.38. Use that money to get the 88U.

 

[Darcy]

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

You can't keep up with ASUS. They just rolled out the 88U which killed the 87U sales and the AC5300. 6 months from now they will have another 2 routers to launch..

Their current schedule is 1 year, not 6 months. In fact, the RT-AC87U is a bit older than a year. So no, there won't be any new flagship in 6 months - Broadcom hasn't even announced their next SoC yet...

And it's the same schedule as other manufacturers - schedule are based on the SoC manufacturer's own timetables.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Their current schedule is 1 year, not 6 months. In fact, the RT-AC87U is a bit older than a year. So no, there won't be any new flagship in 6 months - Broadcom hasn't even announced their next SoC yet...

And it's the same schedule as other manufacturers - schedule are based on the SoC manufacturer's own timetables.

Thanks for that info.

 

[pege63]

Go for router that have works for ears ASUS RT-AC68U & Netgear R7000 with Merlins FW

 

[dlandiss]

Netgear R7000 with Merlins FW

Now THAT'S a pretty good trick!

 

[joegreat]

Go for router that have works for ears ASUS RT-AC68U & Netgear R7000 with Merlins FW

Now THAT'S a pretty good trick!

And ILLEGAL - as discussed several times with Merlin!

 

[RMerlin]

And ILLEGAL - as discussed several times with Merlin!

It's fine, as long the author removes any Asus proprietary components, such as the Tuxera drivers, AiCloud or AiProtection.

 

[joegreat]

It's fine, as long the author removes any Asus proprietary components, such as the Tuxera drivers, AiCloud or AiProtection.

Yes, but they are discussion to use your Firmware Fork as it is (with all the Asus licensed parts) on the Netgear hardware...

 

[kvic]

Since I didn't see anyone mention the AC56U I thought I'd chime in and say I picked up a brand new one on Ebay for $55 and it has the same hardware as the 68U minus the external antennas. I don't have any AC enabled devices and am getting 70% of my WAN speed on the 5 gHz band with it. Depending upon what your needs are the value is clearly there unless you NEED the highest speed AC band. I'm pretty darned happy given the small price and big performance.

AC56U is a very good router indeed. Superb stability. I haven't experienced a single sporadic disconnect on wireless. It's especially a good fit for urban dwellers - low profile without external antennas is a plus here. So well that it overshadowed sales of then more expensive AC68U (hence, local marketeers decided to pull out of some markets and replaced with AC56S. What a shame..)

Some numbers from the field of one AC56U user:

• 100Mbit/s WAN handled like eating a piece of cake (>95% sustained)
• 60-70Mbit/s VPN server throughput (both into LAN and then out to Internet)
• 400-600Mbit/s throughput on 5Ghz 802.11ac 2x2:2
• Web server, NTP Daemon, Web proxy, Torrent downloader, Adblocker (for ads and malicious sites), Video streamer, DLNA server, misc task automators (e.g. pulling stock index, email notification of various status..etc)...still have much RAM available for doing more..

 

[L&LD]

AC56U is a very good router indeed. Superb stability. I haven't experienced a single sporadic disconnect on wireless. It's especially a good fit for urban dwellers - low profile without external antennas is a plus here. So well that it overshadowed sales of then more expensive AC68U (hence, local marketeers decided to pull out of some markets and replaced with AC56S. What a shame..)

Some numbers from the field of one AC56U user:

• 100Mbit/s WAN handled like eating a piece of cake (>95% sustained)
• 60-70Mbit/s VPN server throughput (both into LAN and then out to Internet)
• 400-600Mbit/s throughput on 5Ghz 802.11ac 2x2:2
• Web server, NTP Daemon, Web proxy, Torrent downloader, Adblocker (for ads and malicious sites), Video streamer, DLNA server, misc task automators (e.g. pulling stock index, email notification of various status..etc)...still have much RAM available for doing more..

The RT-AC56U with RMerlin firmware (or one of the forks) is the unsung hero of any AC class router today.

From $40 to $135 here, depending on sale, refurbished or regular price. There is nothing that is even close that beats the performance to cost ratio.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-55-3_hgg-final-mod.26524/page-2#post-199549


The above link is with the hggomes fork, but many, many customers (home and business) are just as happy using the RMerlin or john9527 fork too.

This is the router I recommend without reservation today. Even when the budget is much, much higher.

 

[RMerlin]

Yes, but they are discussion to use your Firmware Fork as it is (with all the Asus licensed parts) on the Netgear hardware...

They are referring to Xvortex's fork. My builds won't work on a Netgear router, the device ID won't match.

 

[jontalk]

The RT-AC56U with RMerlin firmware (or one of the forks) is the unsung hero of any AC class router today.

From $40 to $135 here, depending on sale, refurbished or regular price. There is nothing that is even close that beats the performance to cost ratio.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-55-3_hgg-final-mod.26524/page-2#post-199549


The above link is with the hggomes fork, but many, many customers (home and business) are just as happy using the RMerlin or john9527 fork too.

This is the router I recommend without reservation today. Even when the budget is much, much higher.

I'm running the Asus v 9383 (the latest) on my AC56U and am curious what if any benefit there is with the two Merlin versions you mention here keeping in mind the use is pretty basic with only 2 wireless devices along with a wired network. I find that stock firmware seems stable and haven't had issues with any of them yet. And if there IS a substantial benefit with Merlin where does one find the download for the RMerlin or john9527 fork? Thanks.

 

[joegreat]

...am curious what if any benefit there is with the two Merlin versions you mention here... And if there IS a substantial benefit with Merlin where does one find the download for the RMerlin or john9527 fork? Thanks.

You can read the benefits of using Merlin's version or John's fork yourself...

 

[jontalk]

You can read the benefits of using Merlin's version or John's fork yourself...

Thanks though as you may know, the stock v. 9383 added the Asus app capability which is very sweet though I'm concerned I'd lose this feature with Merlin. As to the other features that Merlin adds, they seem to be more for those who dig deeply into the whole networking technology which I do not. I've been told by other senior members that Merlin does not improve performance which would be the main reason I'd install it. I'm grateful for the links however