Thinking of buying RT-AC87 ...

[ledge]

Hi,

I've been a long-time lurker here and generally find the information very useful.
I'm thinking of upgrading my old D-Link DIR-655 to an Asus RT-AC68 or RT-AC87.
Whichever one I get will have Merlin's build put on it (Thanks heaps, RMerlin, for your great work!).
There's really two key features I need. What I'm wondering is if the RT-AC87 will support them or work well with them:

* 'ipset' filter for setting up efficient blacklists
* setting up custom vlans on the switch and Wireless radios.

I saw an earlier post by RMerlin which seems to indicate that the "ipset" feature isn't supported on the RT-AC87:

"Some of the new features Asus added to this router have forced me however to drop support for L7 Filters and IPsec (kernel conflict with the new DPI engine from Asus)."

Is this the case? Does "ipset" not work on the RT-AC87?

For vlans, I've seen different methods for different models of Asus router. Has anyone had any success setting up VLANs on the RT-AC87 ?
For the RT-AC68, I saw a great post by SinShiva about setting up vlans on an RT-AC68U:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=14983

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks muchly!

 

[Adamm]

Hi,

I've been a long-time lurker here and generally find the information very useful.
I'm thinking of upgrading my old D-Link DIR-655 to an Asus RT-AC68 or RT-AC87.
Whichever one I get will have Merlin's build put on it (Thanks heaps, RMerlin, for your great work!).
There's really two key features I need. What I'm wondering is if the RT-AC87 will support them or work well with them:

* 'ipset' filter for setting up efficient blacklists
* setting up custom vlans on the switch and Wireless radios.

I saw an earlier post by RMerlin which seems to indicate that the "ipset" feature isn't supported on the RT-AC87:

"Some of the new features Asus added to this router have forced me however to drop support for L7 Filters and IPsec (kernel conflict with the new DPI engine from Asus)."

Is this the case? Does "ipset" not work on the RT-AC87?

For vlans, I've seen different methods for different models of Asus router. Has anyone had any success setting up VLANs on the RT-AC87 ?
For the RT-AC68, I saw a great post by SinShiva about setting up vlans on an RT-AC68U:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=14983

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks muchly!

I think your confusing IPSet with IPSec which is a VPN protocol.

To answer your question though, both features are supported on Merlin's builds.

 

[ledge]

Thanks, Adamm for your reply.
It's good to know both features are supported.
However, is the ipset feature part of the L7 filter?
If so, then it looks like ipset won't work on the RT-AC87, as per Rmerlins statement.
Can this be confirmed?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks, Adamm for your reply.
It's good to know both features are supported.
However, is the ipset feature part of the L7 filter?
If so, then it looks like ipset won't work on the RT-AC87, as per Rmerlins statement.
Can this be confirmed?

L7 filters is completely unrelated to ipset.

ipset is nothing more than a netfilter module that lets you define a large list of IPs as a single group instead of creating individual rules for each IP in that list.

L7 is a netfilter match module that relies on layer 7 (application layer) rules to trigger a certain rule.

 

[ledge]

Awesome! Thanks, RMerlin

 

[wbennett77]

Still no sign of these beasts in Canada!

 

[sanke1]

I would hold out buying RT-AC87U/R because it actually sucks on 5Ghz.

Keep an eye on new round of Wave 2 ac routers which will be released this fall. ASUS themselves might release a new improved RT-AC3200 with 6 antennas.

Next year, we will be able to play Game of thrones with our routers

 

[theveterans]

I would hold out buying RT-AC87U/R because it actually sucks on 5Ghz.

Keep an eye on new round of Wave 2 ac routers which will be released this fall. ASUS themselves might release a new improved RT-AC3200 with 6 antennas.

Next year, we will be able to play Game of thrones with our routers

I don't think the 5 Ghz radio suck. Heck it can pass through OVER 1 Gb/s (1030 Mbps throughput!) on 4x4 configuration mentioned on CNET's review.

Your 5 GHz wifi client isn't probably compatible with the RT-87U.

 

[Richard1864]

I would hold out buying RT-AC87U/R because it actually sucks on 5Ghz.

Keep an eye on new round of Wave 2 ac routers which will be released this fall. ASUS themselves might release a new improved RT-AC3200 with 6 antennas.

Next year, we will be able to play Game of thrones with our routers

RT-AC3200 works better with a mixed 802.11ac/N/B/G networking environment, but it will have SLOWER throughput speeds than the RT-AC87U/R, which IS a Wave 2 802.11ac device. The 5 Ghz bandwidth is improving as Quantenna comes out with updated drivers and software for that radio and processor.

 

[ledge]

Here in Oz, the RT-AC87U seems to be already available:

http://www.cplonline.com.au/asus-rt-ac87u-dual-band-ac2400-wireless-router-rt-ac87u.html

It's listed for AUD 339, which seems quite expensive for a router.


lol, Sanke! I bet we'll see VMWare VSphere or Workstation running on them as well ;-)

 

[hungarianhc]

I might recommend the AC68U. It took us a while to get here, but the router is now ROCK SOLID, and I get great throughput on multiple devices concurrently. For the past week, I've been ripping blu-rays directly to my NAS from two separate machines wirelessly, having regular time machine backups from three macs, a bunch of mobile devices, etc, all at the same time, and the wireless never dropped once.

The AC87U will probably get there, but it's still essentially in "beta" mode right now. I'd go with the 68 right now...

 

[dfran1]

I would hold out buying RT-AC87U/R because it actually sucks on 5Ghz.

Keep an eye on new round of Wave 2 ac routers which will be released this fall. ASUS themselves might release a new improved RT-AC3200 with 6 antennas.

Next year, we will be able to play Game of thrones with our routers

Do you actually own a RT-AC87 at all?????

I do not think you do.....

I have owned RT-AC66R, RT-AC68R and now the RT-AC87R and I can tell you for a FACT that the RT-AC87R has hands down the best coverage of all!! I now have 5GHz all over my house and very useable in areas where the others could not even reach. And I noticed sluggishness in the older 2 while doing multiple things at once and now I notice nothing with the RT-AC87R.

I also have read that the 3200's will not have the range in 5ghz that the RT-AC87's have.

Unless I am reading something wrong, please let me know?

Only the RT-AC87U provides 33% more area coverage

from here
rt-ac3200

(Below is my opinion)
Everything I have read makes me believe the RT-AC87R will be the better of the 2 for most people.

edit: current firmware is pretty good also compared to months after the RT-AC68R took.
using merlin's alfa. So far not a problem on the alfa for me.

 

[LoneWolf]

I would hold out buying RT-AC87U/R because it actually sucks on 5Ghz.

Keep an eye on new round of Wave 2 ac routers which will be released this fall. ASUS themselves might release a new improved RT-AC3200 with 6 antennas.

I'm also going to ask the same question as another poster --have you owned or worked with an RT-AC87? Your statement also appears very undefined. Does 5GHz throughput "suck"? Range? What?

I ask because while earlier firmwares had some 5GHz issues, it works fairly well on the 2061 firmware, and I've had better 5GHz range and performance than on my previous RT-AC66. I believe this will only improve with time as new firmwares are released with tweaked Quantenna drivers. Is it perfect? No. Does it suck on 5GHz? Not even close.

 

[Ronv42]

I am also impressed with the RT-AC87R. Where I was only receiving marginal 5G networking around the edges of my home I am now seeing full coverage. And a big in the back yard now. Can't wait to see what the new drivers do for it.

 

[RMerlin]

I am also impressed with the RT-AC87R. Where I was only receiving marginal 5G networking around the edges of my home I am now seeing full coverage. And a big in the back yard now. Can't wait to see what the new drivers do for it.

The 376.46 Alpha build I uploaded a few days ago is based on the new driver Asus used in 376_2061.

 

[wbennett77]

Nothing from Best Buy in Canada yet....any rumors or inside information?

 

[RMerlin]

Nothing from Best Buy in Canada yet....any rumors or inside information?

It appeared for pre-orders on Tiger Direct, NCIX and Staples. So far Staples is the least expensive of the bunch, to my surprise.

 

[gcfan88]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I ordered my RT-87 from tigerdirect.ca on Sunday night, and received it today by UPS. Shipped from Illinois, no custom fees. Set it up in about 30 minutes and it's working great, no problems, 5Ghz band working, updated firmware to latest Asus. So if you are in Canada, you can order from them. NCIX.ca has it for pre-order, cheaper and free shipping. You can price match with tigerdirect.ca. Nothing from Best Buy Canada or Staples Canada online though.

 

[nyxagamemnon]

There are FAR FAR FAR too many software issues with this router.

If you have a 68U/R just use that and ignore the 87U for a long long while.


I have 2 and there going back because of all the issues.

 

[dfran1]

There are FAR FAR FAR too many software issues with this router.

If you have a 68U/R just use that and ignore the 87U for a long long while.


I have 2 and there going back because of all the issues.

I will agree the rt-ac87r has issues (as all do when just released ) BUT all that I do with it are minor and Asus keeps pumping out updates. Also I had way way more major problems with the rt-ac68r that took months to fix. But for what you do with it, if it does not work then you either wait or bail, but for me this router so far is just outstanding (with what I use it for, so far).
Best of luck.

Edit:
I just noticed your other thread, and out of your list I don't get or see all them problems you listed. But I am using merlin newer firmware, have you even tried that?