What's the 'state of the union' on the AC87 / AC3200 stability these days?

[hungarianhc]

Hi All,

I went through the painful process of being an early adopter with the AC68U. It was unstable rubbish for a while, but with Asus pushing a lot of firmware updates, and Merlin's expertise, I now have this thing running perfectly smooth and crash-free. I need to upgrade my parents' network in the next month or so, and I'm thinking of giving them the 68U, and I'll go with the AC87 or the AC3200. Assuming the newest firmwares, how are those devices these days? Rock solid yet? Would love to hear some general feedback on how stable they are - thanks!

 

[Stach]

I switched to the AC3200 about 2 months ago, from a bulletproof N66U, and I have now been up for over 1 month straight with zero issues on Merlin's firmware 378.53. I am very happy with my new AC3200 as it has more radio's, a stronger signal and much faster OpenVPN speeds for me....so I have no problem recommending it.

-Stach

 

[Laserburn]

I've had the AC87 for about a week now. The 5GHz clients were losing signal strength and were unable to connect to anything occasionally, and this was on the latest stable firmware (3.0.0.4.378.5134). I installed the beta firmware (3.0.0.4.378.6117) and those problems mostly ceased, but I also put a fan under the router after reading a few posts regarding thermal issues on these forums. Tonight, the router seemed to lock up entirely. Wired clients could not reach it or (obviously) the Internet, and wireless clients could not connect to the AP.

The router is probably going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Is the 68U rock solid at this point? I don't feel like being a beta tester for the next couple of years while Asus figures out what's wrong with their firmware.

 

[hungarianhc]

I switched to the AC3200 about 2 months ago, from a bulletproof N66U, and I have now been up for over 1 month straight with zero issues on Merlin's firmware 378.53. I am very happy with my new AC3200 as it has more radio's, a stronger signal and much faster OpenVPN speeds for me....so I have no problem recommending it.

This is great to know. Anyone else have experience with this one?

I've had the AC87 for about a week now. The 5GHz clients were losing signal strength and were unable to connect to anything occasionally, and this was on the latest stable firmware (3.0.0.4.378.5134). I installed the beta firmware (3.0.0.4.378.6117) and those problems mostly ceased, but I also put a fan under the router after reading a few posts regarding thermal issues on these forums. Tonight, the router seemed to lock up entirely. Wired clients could not reach it or (obviously) the Internet, and wireless clients could not connect to the AP.The router is probably going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Is the 68U rock solid at this point? I don't feel like being a beta tester for the next couple of years while Asus figures out what's wrong with their firmware.

Eek. Good to know. So it looks like if I upgrade, it should be to the AC3200, not the 87. In terms of the 68, yup. Rock solid.

 

[raven-au]

This is great to know. Anyone else have experience with this one?

Eek. Good to know. So it looks like if I upgrade, it should be to the AC3200, not the 87. In terms of the 68, yup. Rock solid.

I have both.

For me the 87U does have problems on the 5Ghz wireless.
I really can't nail exactly what it is.

The only problem I see nowadays is that when playing a video from my NAS connected via an R7000 in wireless bridge mode over the 5GHz to a particular TV connected either directly via 5GHz or itself via an EX7000 extender over 5GHz will return frequent network errors and stop playing.

What is odd is that another TV connected similarly (either via a bridge or wirelessly) doesn't seem to have the same problem.

Some time back disabling CTF would resolve WiFi network disconnection problems like this but that doesn't seem to help with the above problem.

I can work around the problem by setting the R7000 to use the 2.4GHz band instead of the 5GHz band but I really shouldn't have to.

It seems to me that Quantenna are either unwilling or unable to produce a sound WiFi driver for their product which I think is reason enough to avoid anything with a Quantenna device in it!

The AC3200 is very different.

Apart from the seemingly unsolvable problems with things like the WAN Bandwidth Monitoring frequently not showing traffic usage, which is annoying and is something I see with all ASUS routers I have, the only other thing is the Smart Connnect interface selection.

It doesn't seem to work at all well and the Smart Connect Rule configuration behaves as though there is no relationship whatsoever to the SmallNetBuilder article that documents the settings based on information from Broadcom and ASUS.

Nevertheless the AC3200 can be used without Smart Connect and overall I've found it to be sound.

Ian

 

[hungarianhc]

So... after reading all this, am I crazy to think that maybe I should just get another 68? It seems like it might be worth waiting around for the next one.

 

[L&LD]

So... after reading all this, am I crazy to think that maybe I should just get another 68? It seems like it might be worth waiting around for the next one.

This is L&LD and I approve of this post.

 

[Ronv42]

My AC87 has been rock stable for months now on both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. No fan just Merlin's firmware. I have over 40 various devices connecting wirelessly and wired. No issues with wireless drops, streaming content, or playing games.

 

[dfran1]

I am on my second 87, first one died of high heat, I replaced it in january with a laptop cooler under it. Since the beginning (last august) it has been a very bumpy ride with firmware, the latest official asus firmware going back downhill again.

I am now on merlins and too early to tell, but stable so far.

I would not recommend an 87 at all, go with the 3200, I have not read many complaints from most switching, they all seem to recommend it.

I have a 68 and the 5GHz range was just awful, so bad I would not even use it, other than that and USB problems (I would hope the USB issues are fixed by now) it was great.

If I could return the 87 I would in a heartbeat and get the 3200.

 

[DaveMishSr]

So... after reading all this, am I crazy to think that maybe I should just get another 68? It seems like it might be worth waiting around for the next one.

My AC87R has been stable as a rock for several months. Both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz have been working flawlessly with no connection issues even with Apple products on the 5GHz band. I often have over 30 devices connecting both wirelessly and hard-wired via ethernet. In addition, I have a DirecTV system with 4 HD DVR receivers with whole home DVR service and stream video wirelessly through DirecTV's wireless adapter (they call it a Cinema Connection Kit). No issues, life is just cool and the wife is happy. Happy wife = happy life! ~~

I am convinced that the stability I am experiencing with now is almost completely due to Eric's firmware. In fact, I think he should seriously consider quitting his "real" job and making his firmware his sole source of income. I would pay $25/month easily just for the level of support he provides let alone the vastly superior product over the stock firmwares.

The cooling system that I have stumbled upon also helps as it has lowered my cpu temps by over 25°C on average, often even more. Right now it is fluctuating between 54°C and 55°C. Before active cooling my cpu would run at about 78°C at the current ambient temp of 71°F (or 21.667°C). It is my belief that 24 or 25°C cooler has got to be doing something, if only extending the service life of the router.

If I were in the market for a router I would have no problem buying another AC87x if I get the same experience that I am currently enjoying. If I was not comfortable with the Wave 2 choice then I would go with the RT-AC68P (better cpu than the AC68U/R) first and then consider the RT-AC3200. I am still of the mind that the MU-MIMO technology will eventually prevail but only if they get clients out within the next 3 months. Otherwise, by that time people will have decided its is not worth it.

 

[krum]

no problems with my AC87.

 

[TonyH]

no problems with my AC87.

Likewise but my only concern is running temp. of 87U. It is bit too warm to touch compared to say
Netgear R7500 or Linksys EA8500. My house is air conditioned, so far so good.

 

[Laserburn]

I took my RT-AC87R back to Best Buy this afternoon and got another one, just in case the first one I bought was faulty. Time will tell, I'm using firmware 3.0.0.4.378_5134 for now (latest stable). If I experience any more issues, I'll try Merlin's FW, since it sounds like most of you have stable routers using it.

 

[snakebite3]

So... after reading all this, am I crazy to think that maybe I should just get another 68? It seems like it might be worth waiting around for the next one.

I don't think you're crazy. The 68u is out the longest and firmware is stable. I think you should find a store that lets you return. The experience people get from 87u and 3200 depends on their environment. That's one important detail left out and you should think about. You won't know how it will work out unless you test it in your environment.

 

[LoneWolf]

I myself have not had the issues some have had with the RT-AC87. Not since early days at any rate. Of course, mine has also not had temperature issues, and some people apparently have.

That said, I don't think the RT-AC87 is a great upgrade over the AC68. The AC68's firmware has been updated to include many if not all of the features that the AC87 had when released; the main feature you can get on the 87 (MU-MIMO) hasn't been fully implemented yet and requires MU-MIMO clients for it to be useful.

I'd keep your RT-AC68 and wait a generation or two for 802.11ac to advance even further, and for wireless network cards to catch up with the router technology. I can't see where you'll see advantages from either the 87 or the 3200 for the time being. And if I was buying new, I'd get the RT-AC68P, which bumps up the CPU speed, but is otherwise similar to the AC68 in most if not all other respects.

 

[bodean]

My AC87R has been stable as a rock for several months. Both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz have been working flawlessly with no connection issues even with Apple products on the 5GHz band. I often have over 30 devices connecting both wirelessly and hard-wired via ethernet. In addition, I have a DirecTV system with 4 HD DVR receivers with whole home DVR service and stream video wirelessly through DirecTV's wireless adapter (they call it a Cinema Connection Kit). No issues, life is just cool and the wife is happy. Happy wife = happy life! ~~

I am convinced that the stability I am experiencing with now is almost completely due to Eric's firmware. In fact, I think he should seriously consider quitting his "real" job and making his firmware his sole source of income. I would pay $25/month easily just for the level of support he provides let alone the vastly superior product over the stock firmwares.

The cooling system that I have stumbled upon also helps as it has lowered my cpu temps by over 25°C on average, often even more. Right now it is fluctuating between 54°C and 55°C. Before active cooling my cpu would run at about 78°C at the current ambient temp of 71°F (or 21.667°C). It is my belief that 24 or 25°C cooler has got to be doing something, if only extending the service life of the router.

If I were in the market for a router I would have no problem buying another AC87x if I get the same experience that I am currently enjoying. If I was not comfortable with the Wave 2 choice then I would go with the RT-AC68P (better cpu than the AC68U/R) first and then consider the RT-AC3200. I am still of the mind that the MU-MIMO technology will eventually prevail but only if they get clients out within the next 3 months. Otherwise, by that time people will have decided its is not worth it.

Link to erics FW?

 

[L&LD]

Link to erics FW?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-custom-firmware-for-asus-routers.7846/

 

[hungarianhc]

Thanks for all the replies. My parents have a pretty large house that is mostly covered w/ an old cable modem, a time capsule, and an airport express as an extender. The airport express, time capsule, media server, and a few other things are all connected with a HomePlug AV back-end. I'm moving all of the Homeplug devices to AV2, and I'm replacing both the Time Capsule and the Airport Express with new RT-AC68Ps (one as the primary router, the other in extender mode). That will put 802.11AC in the house, and I'm upgrading their old crappy cable modem to a Motorola SB6141. That should be a good project for a day!

 

[bodean]

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-custom-firmware-for-asus-routers.7846/

Thanks didnt know Merlin was AKA eric =)

 

[Haggster]

My AC87R has been stable as a rock for several months. Both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz have been working flawlessly with no connection issues even with Apple products on the 5GHz band. I often have over 30 devices connecting both wirelessly and hard-wired via ethernet.

I've had the same results as you after adding active cooling via USB (which at first I wanted to avoid due to the fan noise, which I don't even notice now). I've got mine overclocked as well, however only to 1.2GHz.

Since you're saying that you've got no connection stabilty problems: Do you have beamforming enabled or disabled for the 5GHz band? I never had any stability problems regarding the 2.4GHz side of things, but had some with 5GHz connections. Those are gone, which might be a combination of several things (decreasing Beacon Interval and DTIM Interval, adjusting the network key rotation intetval, new drivers included in the latest updates). I'm just wondering if a rock solid, constantly stable connection is in fact possible now, with the latest firmware, while having Beamforming enabled. My bedrooms are directly in the mid range distance from the router in which devices would profit greatly from Beamforming, however I'm not willing to sacrifice any stability for a few more db's in my wi-fi connection strength.