Upgrade from RT-AC68U to RT-AC3200?

[M_M]

Hello everyone and happy Thanksgiving!

I've had the AC68U for a few years and have been happy with it, but for a while I have been having connectivity issues with my apple devices when on wireless - they seem to get disconnected when idling, especially my iPad and it takes a few seconds for it to reconnect. Also none of my apple devices seem to like the 5GHz band anymore - they have a harder time seeing it, connecting to it and if they do connect to it, after a short while they fall back to 2.4GHz. I'm running an older firmware ..._4585 - I should probably try the newest one first, but entering everything from scratch takes the same amount of time as setting up a brand new router, so my question is if it makes sense to upgrade to the newest beast the 3200? Does it provide greater coverage than the 68U? Is it friendlier to apple gear and are there any other advantages that would make the upgrade worthy?

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

The wifi hardware is quite similar (both are Broadcom-based), so I wouldn't expect much differences in wifi performance/stability, unless the AC68U is defective. You might want to consider the RT-AC3100 or RT-AC88U instead, unless you actually need having two separate 5 GHz radios (which is the main feature of the RT-AC3200)

Reconfiguring from scratch might take the same amount of time, but one of them would be 300$ cheaper. I would definitely start by upgrading the firmware, doing a factory default reset, and manually reconfiguring everything before buying a new router.

 

[M_M]

Thanks a lot RMerlin!

I will upgrade the firmware first, but in my case it is such a pain - I have so many devices that need to have static address and I need to port forward for every one of them. Anyway, what is the advantage of having two separate 5GHz radios? Is Broadcom better / worse than what is inside of the 88U or 3100?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks a lot RMerlin!

I will upgrade the firmware first, but in my case it is such a pain - I have so many devices that need to have static address and I need to port forward for every one of them. Anyway, what is the advantage of having two separate 5GHz radios?

It allows you to split slow speed devices (like older 802.11n devices) from high speed ones (802.11ac), so the slower ones won't affect the performance of the fastest ones. This is typically useful if someone has some devices that do a lot of high speed streaming, and they don't want all their phones or security cams to slow them down. It's very situational.

Is Broadcom better / worse than what is inside of the 88U or 3100?

RT-AC88U and RT-AC3100 is also Broadcom-based (but a newer chip). I was just mentionning that because, in general, compatibility amongst the different chips of a given manufacturers tend to be the same, versus if you switch between Broadcom, Qualcomm or Quantenna, where compatibility might vary wildly.

 

[M_M]

Thanks again!

I upgraded the firmware, setup everything from scratch manually and it is pretty much the same. My iPhone, iPad and MacBookPro do not hold onto the 5GHz band ( I have two SSIDs so I can tell easily). I do not think it is the router, it is most likely the firmware - there was one version in the past that worked perfectly for all my devices, but like an idiot I upgraded and now I do not know what version it was, so I cannot go back easily.

Out of the three Broadcom routers you mentioned which one would you recommend? I went to Asus.com to check them out and there are buttons that allow me to select the routers for comparison, but strangely there is no button to actually compare the selected routers, at least not in Safari.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks again!

I upgraded the firmware, setup everything from scratch manually and it is pretty much the same. My iPhone, iPad and MacBookPro do not hold onto the 5GHz band ( I have two SSIDs so I can tell easily). I do not think it is the router, it is most likely the firmware - there was one version in the past that worked perfectly for all my devices, but like an idiot I upgraded and now I do not know what version it was, so I cannot go back easily.

Out of the three Broadcom routers you mentioned which one would you recommend? I went to Asus.com to check them out and there are buttons that allow me to select the routers for comparison, but strangely there is no button to actually compare the selected routers, at least not in Safari.

Depends on your needs and your budget. AC3200 has two 5 GHz radios, for people with lots of devices that must be separated. The AC88 and AC3100 have a newer, faster CPU, useful mostly for things like OpenVPN or USB disk sharing. AC88U has 8 LAN ports, versus 4 for the AC3100.

 

[ssahnan]

I didn't have a good experience with the ac3200 myself. The smart connect was absolute garbage and had to be turned off. When off it was fine, it had good coverage, decent throughout. I had both 5ghz bands on the same ssid so that created a headache or two but the 2.4 behaved fine. With smart connect on, the router was generally unusable over time with disconnects galore.

I just switched to a ac5300. The distance, coverage, throughput have all been noticablely better. I have smart connect on and it's working much better as well. It's been the most stable router out of the box I've bought from Asus in the last few years. I'll admit, I thought getting a stable router out of the box from Asus that delivered on the advertising was a thing of the past. Seems like coupled with users having good experiences with the ac3100 and ac88u, Asus hit a good batch of routers this year. For the first time ever, I'm not using a repeater for the far end of the house. For the first time in years, I'm not constantly fiddling with settings trying to get max performance. For the first time in years, I didn't buy a router and a week later began looking forward to trying the next generation of routers.

In real, everyday performance, going from a ac3200 to a ac5300 has been the biggest jump in performance, reliability, stability I've had in any upgrade cycle. I've probably upgraded router every year for 5-6 years running if not longer. For me(to each their own) it's been a rockstar of a router where by in large, I just plugged it in, set it up and for the most part left it alone.

It still hates my nest cam with smart connect on but beyond that, no other hiccups.

 

[whsbuss]

I didn't have a good experience with the ac3200 myself. The smart connect was absolute garbage and had to be turned off. When off it was fine, it had good coverage, decent throughout. I had both 5ghz bands on the same ssid so that created a headache or two but the 2.4 behaved fine. With smart connect on, the router was generally unusable over time with disconnects galore.

I just switched to a ac5300. The distance, coverage, throughput have all been noticablely better. I have smart connect on and it's working much better as well. It's been the most stable router out of the box I've bought from Asus in the last few years. I'll admit, I thought getting a stable router out of the box from Asus that delivered on the advertising was a thing of the past. Seems like coupled with users having good experiences with the ac3100 and ac88u, Asus hit a good batch of routers this year. For the first time ever, I'm not using a repeater for the far end of the house. For the first time in years, I'm not constantly fiddling with settings trying to get max performance. For the first time in years, I didn't buy a router and a week later began looking forward to trying the next generation of routers.

In real, everyday performance, going from a ac3200 to a ac5300 has been the biggest jump in performance, reliability, stability I've had in any upgrade cycle. I've probably upgraded router every year for 5-6 years running if not longer. For me(to each their own) it's been a rockstar of a router where by in large, I just plugged it in, set it up and for the most part left it alone.

It still hates my nest cam with smart connect on but beyond that, no other hiccups.

Thanks for this..... looking to upgrade from the 68U to the AC5300

 

[doeboy]

There's a good deal at Newegg going on now for the 5300. I just bought it myself just a few minutes ago. Basically $60 off and you get a Motorola Surfboard SB6183 modem free.

 

[M_M]

Thank you, guys! I will take advantage of that deal and buy that monster. Hopefully it is worth the price. The 5300 is Broadcom-based, correct?

 

[doeboy]

Yes it's fully Broadcom based chips inside.

 

[sfx2000]

Reconfiguring from scratch might take the same amount of time, but one of them would be 300$ cheaper. I would definitely start by upgrading the firmware, doing a factory default reset, and manually reconfiguring everything before buying a new router.

I agree... fix the problem with the AC68U first as rMerlin suggests..

With the Apple devices, there's no difference across any of the broadcom based 11ac Router/AP's from Asus..

 

[M_M]

I agree... fix the problem with the AC68U first as rMerlin suggests..

With the Apple devices, there's no difference across any of the broadcom based 11ac Router/AP's from Asus..

You and RMerlin are correct, fixing the problem is the prudent thing to do, however I do not have the knowledge that RMerlin and possibly you have, so my options are limited. I'm almost certain the culprit is the firmware, after all, at one time, on one of the previous versions everything worked correctly, but as I mentioned previously, I have no idea which version it was. I have updated to the current version, entered everything manually and the problem still persists. I wish I knew how to write or tweak the firmware, like RMerlin can, but my limited knowledge only allows me to to play with the settings which I have, with no luck.

I have no idea how much the firmware in my 68u might differ from what is in the 5300 ( RMerlin? ), but I'm thinking maybe enough to make a difference. Anything else I could try?

Thanks!

 

[whsbuss]

Hello everyone and happy Thanksgiving!

I've had the AC68U for a few years and have been happy with it, but for a while I have been having connectivity issues with my apple devices when on wireless - they seem to get disconnected when idling, especially my iPad and it takes a few seconds for it to reconnect. Also none of my apple devices seem to like the 5GHz band anymore - they have a harder time seeing it, connecting to it and if they do connect to it, after a short while they fall back to 2.4GHz. I'm running an older firmware ..._4585 - I should probably try the newest one first, but entering everything from scratch takes the same amount of time as setting up a brand new router, so my question is if it makes sense to upgrade to the newest beast the 3200? Does it provide greater coverage than the 68U? Is it friendlier to apple gear and are there any other advantages that would make the upgrade worthy?

Thanks!

Had my 68U for 2 years now and Apple devices have always been finicky but always connected. What I have noticed just recently is 5G on my iPhone and iPad on the 1st floor shows less of a signal with my 68U is upstairs in my office. The wifi icon is about half enabled but when I reboot the router its full for a few days or so. I don't think its interference (auto almost always chooses ch. 149) and 2.4G is always full. If/when it gets worse I think the AC-3100 is the best choice for me..... don't need the 8-ports of the 88U since I use a switch.