Upgrading to RT-AX88U Pro

[NS156]

Hi all,

Been running an old AC87U for many, many years. I know it was plagued with issues when it was first released, but it worked fine for me on Merlin, so I just lived with it. The past few years its stability has been declining, as after a month of uptime it would just stop working and would need to be power cycled, but I lived with it. Lately it just can't handle too many clients using it and stops working with some of them (fine on wired, wireless is where the issues are).

Figured I'd replace it with the AX88U Pro, as it seems to be highly regarded. I did see there is a BE88U, but I'm not sure if there are improvements that make it worth £100 more than the AX88U? Other than the inbuilt switch and WiFi 7, is it that much faster SoC or something?

Also, are there any issues with the AX88U I should be aware of? I remember reading something about 160MHz mode or something... is that fixed by now? Is it preferable to use Merlin still these days or is default ASUS fine?

Thanks.

 

[Jbennett360]

I don't think the BE88U is worth the extra over the AX88U Pro to be honest.

Performance looks similar

 

[jksmurf]

I don't think the BE88U is worth the extra over the AX88U Pro to be honest.

Performance looks similar

I think that one in the Youtube review has 8 ports so it is not actually the RT-AX88U Pro version; I am not sure the extra CPU power would make much difference to this review though.

See a previous thread on the RT-AX88U vs RT-BE88U here.

[EDIT] Correction, as @Jbennett360 correctly points out, the 8 in a row Ethernet (Gig) port unit in the video is actually the RT-BE88U. ASUS went from an 8 port (Gig) RT-AX88U to a 4 port (Gig) RT-AX88U Pro to a 8 port (Gig) RT-BE88U.

 

[bbunge]

If you do not need the extra ports, the AX86U Pro is a better buy.

 

[NS156]

Needs to be wall mountable, so self standing ones are not an option.

Thanks for the advice. Any thoughts on the other questions I had?

 

[Jbennett360]

I think that one in the Youtube review has 8 ports so it is not actually the RT-AX88U Pro version; I am not sure the extra CPU power would make much difference to this review though.

See a previous thread on the RT-AX88U vs RT-BE88U here.

I know, it's the BE88U. The video shows comparisons between the two in the chart sections

 

[Jbennett360]

If you do not need the extra ports, the AX86U Pro is a better buy.

Or the extra 2.5Gb port

 

[jksmurf]

I know, it's the BE88U. The video shows comparisons between the two in the chart sections

My apologies you’re absolutely correct, I missed that in the video, just briefly saw the back of the unit with the 8 ports and thought odd, that looks like the non-pro RT-AX88U, didn’t realize that was the RT-BE88U. I have the RT-AX88U Pro with the 4 ports.

 

[NS156]

Further question. From what I've gathered, the AX88U Pro is well regarded for a good 2.4/5GHz radio range.

Is the BE88u better or the same in this regard? There's been no regression, right?

I ask as I live in an older home with lath and plaster walls, so they're quite thick and dense. Stronger signals good.

EDIT: Ended up answering my own question. Got the AX88U Pro, but one of the antennas were kinda broken (not enough to affect signal) so I figured I'd also order the BE88U and return it if it wasn't great. Turns out the signal strength is slightly better on the BE88U so I'm happy and keeping that one. Worst case scenario test I had was a PC in the corner of a room in a floor below the router, and it had tiny stubby antennas on the back of the case against a wall, couldn't even direct them. Would get -67dB on the AX88U but -60/-63dB on the BE88U on the 2.4GHz chain.

 

[NS156]

Might have spoken a bit too soon. Everything worked great up until today, where the 2.4GHz started crapping out on that test computer (normally wired but can't plug it in for a while). The signal strength is -63dB so should be perfectly fine. Checking the Wireless log shows the Rx/Tx craps out (mostly the Tx crapping out severely) and I can't really understand at all why this is happening.

The only thing I did was use WFS to connect a printer for a bit, before I turned off WFS. I kept the default setting of it on when I set the router up yesterday, knowing I'd need it. After turning it off I noticed it rebooted all the radios as it kicked me off the router for a couple of minutes. Came back a few hours later and noticed since then everything on this PC has been crap. Connecting it to 5GHz is perfectly fine. Signal strength is bad due to distance, but at least I can actually use the internet on it.

I've tried setting a channel (6) and rebooting the router, but it hasn't fixed it. I can connect to the 2.4GHz on my phone right next to it and it's completely fine, but the PC is crapping out bad. Rebooting the PC isn't fixing it either. Honestly not sure what the hell happened and if I'll need to try resetting to factory defaults and starting over...

Running latest Merlin f/w btw.

EDIT: The only other thing I can see is that in inSSIDer, the channel utilisation is very high - often above 80-90% when I only have a handful of devices connected. Could that be causing the issues? I'm in a rural detached house so interference from neighbours is not happening.
EDIT2: Settled on channel 11, utilisation is now low as expected, still hasn't fixed speeds. Goddamit.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Checking the Wireless log shows the Rx/Tx craps out (mostly the Tx crapping out severely) and I can't really understand at all why this is happening.

The WLog Tx/Rx numbers update slowly with traffic... are you sure you have a problem... does the client appear to work normally?

OE

 

[NS156]

The WLog Tx/Rx numbers update slowly with traffic... are you sure you have a problem... does the client appear to work normally?

OE

I absolutely have a problem because a computer that worked absolutely fine the previous day and now won't work at all on 2.4Ghz (speeds of barely a couple Mbps when testing) doesn't come out of nowhere. I did think maybe something happened on the PC as other 2.4GHz clients seemed ok, but then another laptop went down later on until I played around with channel settings and rebooted.

Didn't fix the PC though. Either way the signal is good but the speed has absolutely tanked for no reason, and I did nothing on the PC side to cause this. Only started happening some time after disabling WPS. Did no changes to the client.

Going to bite the bullet and factory reset in a few days and see what happens since nothing I try seems to be working. It's kind of soured me on Asus right now since I bought this thing because of WiFi issues on my old AC87U due to its age. Maybe I'll look at UniFi if I can't get this to work.

 

[Spartan]

Might have spoken a bit too soon. Everything worked great up until today, where the 2.4GHz started crapping out on that test computer (normally wired but can't plug it in for a while). The signal strength is -63dB so should be perfectly fine. Checking the Wireless log shows the Rx/Tx craps out (mostly the Tx crapping out severely) and I can't really understand at all why this is happening.

The only thing I did was use WFS to connect a printer for a bit, before I turned off WFS. I kept the default setting of it on when I set the router up yesterday, knowing I'd need it. After turning it off I noticed it rebooted all the radios as it kicked me off the router for a couple of minutes. Came back a few hours later and noticed since then everything on this PC has been crap. Connecting it to 5GHz is perfectly fine. Signal strength is bad due to distance, but at least I can actually use the internet on it.

I've tried setting a channel (6) and rebooting the router, but it hasn't fixed it. I can connect to the 2.4GHz on my phone right next to it and it's completely fine, but the PC is crapping out bad. Rebooting the PC isn't fixing it either. Honestly not sure what the hell happened and if I'll need to try resetting to factory defaults and starting over...

Running latest Merlin f/w btw.

EDIT: The only other thing I can see is that in inSSIDer, the channel utilisation is very high - often above 80-90% when I only have a handful of devices connected. Could that be causing the issues? I'm in a rural detached house so interference from neighbours is not happening.
EDIT2: Settled on channel 11, utilisation is now low as expected, still hasn't fixed speeds. Goddamit.

Look at my post here = https://www.snbforums.com/threads/which-wi-fi-7-router-to-replace-my-rt-ax86u-pro.94222/post-949894

Very happy with the BE92U, not a single disconnection since I hooked it up, it's half the price and has 6GHz band as well and is WiFi7

 

[NS156]

Look at my post here = https://www.snbforums.com/threads/which-wi-fi-7-router-to-replace-my-rt-ax86u-pro.94222/post-949894

Very happy with the BE92U, not a single disconnection since I hooked it up, it's half the price and has 6GHz band as well and is WiFi7

One of the issues I read about that one was one of the cores constantly pegging to 100%. A few of the other issues were resolved with updates, but I'm seeing claims that this one is not.

And some are suspicious of how low it is priced given what it does, which makes them think they're pricing it that low due to these issues.

 

[Spartan]

One of the issues I read about that one was one of the cores constantly pegging to 100%. A few of the other issues were resolved with updates, but I'm seeing claims that this one is not.

And some are suspicious of how low it is priced given what it does, which makes them think they're pricing it that low due to these issues.

That's what I meant, I read those issues, and with Amazon's excellent return policy, I ordered 2 and connected them via wired backhaul AiMesh, pure perfection, super speed with not a single disconnection. that's what matters to me at the end of the day. I certainly was not willing to pay double the price for a router with no 6GHz in 2025

 

[NS156]

That's what I meant, I read those issues, and with Amazon's excellent return policy, I ordered 2 and connected them via wired backhaul AiMesh, pure perfection, super speed with not a single disconnection. that's what matters to me at the end of the day. I certainly was not willing to pay double the price for a router with no 6GHz in 2025

That's fair. I'm not too bothered about 6GHz because in an old house with thick plaster walls like mine, it means it would be absolutely useless without an AP in like, every room. I just want these weird damn issues with 2.4GHz that ASUS seems to have to cease.