Why flashing software?

[ufc604]

Hi guys im curious on why people flash merlin or tomato or ddrt i dont know what these are but are they for advanced users? Im newbie i want to learn. So my question basically is can these software merlin or tomato can give you range or more speed than stock? I just bought my router today so I'm trying to learn. I just updated my router to 3626 to fix the 5g missing. Please share with me or point me to what to read or do. Thanks

 

[jegesq]

Best place to begin IMHO is in the main portion of the SmallNetBuilder site, with the section entitled "Basics". Read up on the basics first and then you'll at least have a better idea of what some of the topics are discussing here in the forums.

The bottom line is that if all you're going to use your new router for is accessing the internet through your Internet Service Provider, there's not a lot you need to know about the AC66R (which as you will read is identical to the AC66U).

Your AC66 is really feature-rich and can do quite a lot. I suggest you start with the "Basics" section, be sure to read the manual, and play with the router's GUI interface to learn about some of the things you can do with it.

The Merlin and other open firmware builds generally improve on the stability of the official releases, and contain many bug fixes that are found to exist in the official versions of ASUSWRT; some of Merlin's early work containing several new features not formerly in the official firmware was later incorporated into the official builds.

Sounds like you have lots to learn, and if you proceed slowly and get to know what's possible, read the articles at the main site and then follow some of the threads that deal with your model router specifically, and some of the features (and problems) with some of the newer firmware builds, you'll have some real fun with this stuff. BTW, I wouldn't be so eager to do updates to your firmware just because someone has released something new, at least not unless you're comfortable with changing your settings and experimenting with stuff that may not be optimal, and which requires you to revert back to an older firmware version.

Lastly, I saw from another of your threads that you updated to .3602; many people have experienced the same loss of 5ghz radio with that version, so your experience is not at all surprising. Best advice on firmware upgrades is to wait a while and see what sorts of experiences others are reporting, at least if you're somewhat of a novice with this sort of thing. Again, have fun.