Upgrading from AC66U to AX56U or AX58U

[nikkoaki]

I love my AC66U, it's rock solid in terms of stability and compatibility.
Unfortunately it's slow in terms of cpu power (10Mb/s openvpn max and 120Mb/s wan speed with CTF disabled). Although those are not hard reasons for me to need to switch, it would be nice to have something faster and with more recent software.
I was looking at the AX56U and AX58U and they both seem great for what i need (they need to be mounted on a wall so some asus models are a no go). The problem is, there are loads of threads and people complaining about instability and low speeds. Forcing them to reboot the router often.
Is this still a thing? Any owner out there who would be willing to give their recent experience with these models?

 

[L&LD]

The models you're considering are not recommended (still).

Consider putting up a $4 shelf and testing the excellent RT-AX68U instead.

 

[nikkoaki]

The models you're considering are not recommended (still).

Consider putting up a $4 shelf and testing the excellent RT-AX68U instead.

Like i said in my previous post, it needs to be wall mountable unfortunately.

 

[L&LD]

A shelf makes everything wall-mountable.

 

[nikkoaki]

A shelf makes everything wall-mountable.

Already have one and it's full of stuff i can't take away.
What about other models that are a bit more expensive?

 

[Deleted member 84281]

The AX58U ver1 is an excellent entry level router if you can find one. The ver2 i have no idea it's not Merlin supported.

 

[nikkoaki]

The AX58U ver1 is an excellent entry level router if you can find one. The ver2 i have no idea it's not Merlin supported.

Oh, that's good to know. I saw the AX58U on the list and thought all revisions were supported. Supporting Merlin is a must

 

[jontalk]

I upgraded from the AC68P to the AX68U and its by FAR the best Asus router I've owned. Runs much cooler than the AC68, as well as superior in range and speed and has been rock solid with the ASWRT firmware. I've seen it on Amazon for $110 too.

 

[Tech9]

needs to be wall mountable

Supporting Merlin is a must

Your cheapest guaranteed options are GT-AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro. Both very large units and way more expensive than RT-AX58U.

Avoid RT-AX68U. Look how many failed units people report in recent Amazon feedback. On clearance often, may be discontinued soon.

 

[nikkoaki]

Your cheapest guaranteed options are GT-AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro. Both very large units and way more expensive than RT-AX58U.

Avoid RT-AX68U. Look how many failed units people report in recent Amazon feedback. On clearance often, may be discontinued soon.

Yeah those 2 are out of my budget. I guess i'll wait for newer models. The AX56U and AX58U will probably never get better. Both have been on the market for a while and one is already discontinued.

 

[Tech9]

Your requirements limit your choices to models outside of your budget. Newer budget models won't have Asuswrt-Merlin support either. In your situation I would get a new RT-AX58U and use what's available on it. Many Asuswrt-Merlin features were migrated to 388 base stock Asuswrt firmware. What you think you need Asuswrt-Merlin for is perhaps available in Asuswrt now. Get one from Amazon and try. If it doesn't work for you - send it back.

 

[Deleted member 84281]

Do you have a Best Buy around you ? Wait for a sale to save money. On top of that give them your old router for an additional 15% off. I purchased my AX86S with a 150.00 gift card i had, plus i gave them my old AC3100 total out of pocket money for me was 11.00 dollars.

 

[ika]

Oh, that's good to know. I saw the AX58U on the list and thought all revisions were supported. Supporting Merlin is a must

The AX56u is not supported anymore, and the ax58u_v1 is discontinued, so you are out of luck (unfortunate, because the ax58u_v1 is indeed a good unit for an environment with low number of STAs. I have deployed 10+ with Merlin and they are still going rock solid stable).

I don't have experience with the ax68u, but the wall mounting option can be easily remedied with some kind of damage-free 3M command! strips or double sided tapes. You would be surprised how secure they are and how much weight you can put on those nowadays, they come a long way in the last decade. (Not sure how would it look mounted on the bottom tho. I never held a ax68u, looks like the back is not flat?)

Or search ebay for "<router name> Wall Mount Bracket", they 3d print those for many models (but that would add extra cost sadly and I only found one for the ax86u, so this is only a second option here)

 

[Tech9]

I don't know what country @nikkoaki lives in, but I see 4-5 RT-AX58Us on Facebook Marketplace around my location. Perhaps some are V1 model.

 

[nikkoaki]

Do you have a Best Buy around you ? Wait for a sale to save money. On top of that give them your old router for an additional 15% off. I purchased my AX86S with a 150.00 gift card i had, plus i gave them my old AC3100 total out of pocket money for me was 11.00 dollars.

No best buy here in europe. Cheapest one is on amazon.es with prime.

The AX56u is not supported anymore, and the ax58u_v1 is discontinued, so you are out of luck (unfortunate, because the ax58u_v1 is indeed a good unit for an environment with low number of STAs. I have deployed 10+ with Merlin and they are still going rock solid stable).

I don't have experience with the ax68u, but the wall mounting option can be easily remedied with some kind of damage-free 3M command! strips or double sided tapes. You would be surprised how secure they are and how much weight you can put on those nowadays, they come a long way in the last decade. (Not sure how would it look mounted on the bottom tho. I never held a ax68u, looks like the back is not flat?)

Or search ebay for "<router name> Wall Mount Bracket", they 3d print those for many models (but that would add extra cost sadly and I only found one for the ax86u, so this is only a second option here)

The cables come from above. The router in inside a place similar to a pantry. It needs to be flush to the wall so i can reach other stuff. There is a chance i might change to fiber later this year so my current DOCSIS MTA would be gone and the fiber one would have to be installed in another place, giving me space in the shelf above but i don't think it has enough height. The antennas would hit the ceiling. Even my current asus router wouldn't fit in an upright position. Lowering the shelf is not an option.
By the way, what would be a low number of clients? Is 6-7 too much?

I don't know what country @nikkoaki lives in, but I see 4-5 RT-AX58Us on Facebook Marketplace around my location. Perhaps some are V1 model.

Yeah i have 3 close to me, 2 are v2's and the other is almost 200€, i will ask the seller for the version and maybe a possible discount. There's an ac3200 for 90€ but it's only AC and deprecated for a while now

 

[Tech9]

In this case get one V2 new with warranty and return options and see if it does what you need it to do. The new 388 stock firmware has almost everything except custom scripts support and advanced VPN configurations. It has VPN selective routing via VPN Fusion. What do you need Asuswrt-Merlin for?

 

[nikkoaki]

I do have a couple of couple of scripts and some modified config files. I'm looking at https://demoui.asus.com and there are other small things missing. SMB configuration is lacking several things, openVPN like you said. I have grafana pulling data with SNMP. Also can't seem to find a way to do scheduled reboots. No saving traffic stats to usb, etc.
Small things like those that all together make a difference.

 

[Tech9]

This demo is old 386 firmware. It doesn't have VPN Fusion, WireGuard VPN, additional WAN settings, DNS-over-TLS, additional DHCP settings in LAN, etc. For custom scripts and configurations you do need Asuswrt-Merlin, but again this requirements limits severely your choices to expensive models only.

 

[chris2kari]

I love my AC66U, it's rock solid in terms of stability and compatibility.
Unfortunately it's slow in terms of cpu power (10Mb/s openvpn max and 120Mb/s wan speed with CTF disabled). Although those are not hard reasons for me to need to switch, it would be nice to have something faster and with more recent software.
I was looking at the AX56U and AX58U and they both seem great for what i need (they need to be mounted on a wall so some asus models are a no go). The problem is, there are loads of threads and people complaining about instability and low speeds. Forcing them to reboot the router often.
Is this still a thing? Any owner out there who would be willing to give their recent experience with these models?

When I first arrived in Australia 12 months ago I needed an Asus router in a hurry & at a an affordable price. My local IT supplier had the TUF-AX3000 on sale which I grabbed.

I have been running it on stock firmware for past 12 months with auto updating enabled. It hasn't been any hassle.

TUF-AX3000 is near identical to V1 AX-58U in hardware specs AFAICT but is not supported by Merlin so last week I installed Gnuton's firmware on it as I wanted Diversion for Adblocking.

I use the router in a family of four *heavy* bandwidth abusers. It's quite ok.

 

[nikkoaki]

I'm going to keep an eye on markets for used AX58U's V1. I'm not really in a hurry. I haven't moved the openvpn server to the nuc yet because my upload speed is only 15Mb/s so the router is enough. It's something i'll do later this year when i switch to fiber.