Asus RT-N66U or RT-AC68U/R7000 - Article does not jive with Performance Charts?

I was set to upgrade my router to a RT-N66U but I saw this article http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...oes-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance . That got me thinking that getting a AC1900 router wouldn't be as silly as I thought.

However when I look at the performance charts (performance table), I get these results (results in location D bolded which was location tested in above link):

2.4 GHz Downlink
Product Location A C D F
ASUS Dark Knight Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router RT-N66U
Retested with ASUS PCE-AC66U (Win 7 6.30.95.26 driver) for 2.4 & 5 GHz tests
115.9 115.2 118.9 45.1
NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Smart WiFi Router R7000
Firmware tested: 1.03.60
Test client (8/14 retest): NETGEAR R7000 in client bridge mode (1.0.3.60 firmware)
117.3 116.5 87.9 23.7
ASUS Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router RT-AC68U
Firmware tested: 3.0.0.4.376_1663
Wireless retest:3.0.0.4.378_3873
Test client (8/14 retest): NETGEAR R7000 in client bridge mode (1.0.3.60 firmware)
155.1 138.5 90.5 13.6

So the R7000 is 73% of N66U at location D, while the AC68U is 76% of N66U at location D. This is opposite of the results of the article linked above where the R7000 is 147% of N66U and the AC68U is 321% of the N66U! I am baffled at these results.

Given the charts I would just purchase a RT-66U while I would probable buy an AC68U based on article. I have a 3500 ft^2 2 story house with the router on 2nd floor office. I have only 1 AC client so far, with remainder of clients N (up to 6) that are mainly download streaming. I was not smart enough to wire the house for Cat5 during construction, so until I fish a Cat5 line downstairs for a 2nd AP I need a router with good N range.

So could one of the site reps explain the difference in results? Also would like recommendations to go for the N66 route or the AC68U/R7000.

Thanks!

You can't compare Location D open air results with Charts Location D results because they are two entirely different test methods.

I attempted to explain this here.

I would recommend getting an AC router vs. N at this point. If you are on the fence, get both, try them and decide for yourself.

bsix said:

So could one of the site reps explain the difference in results? Also would like recommendations to go for the N66 route or the AC68U/R7000.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would recommend the RT-AC68U with the latest RMerlin firmware (378.54 coming soon). The once great RT-N66U just doesn't compare and as Tim pointed out, trying to is not so straightforward if you don't understand the charts and testing procedures.

The latest article was right.

In my opinion the AC-68U is the best most stable router Asus has out right now. The newer 87U and the even newer AC-3200 all may have better specs on paper but they have a lot of bugs that need to be worked out. The AC-68U is ready to work just flash Merlin or John's fork and set up and your good to go.

Thanks for the input. Any recommendations for the R7000 over the AC-68U?

Also any comments on the AC-68P vs the AC-68U...other than the improved USB throughput which I may possibly use as I don't have a NAS yet.

The R-7000 has IPv6 issues and also there is a security issue that Netgear seems to be in no hurry to patch. Plus there firmware was made for a child locking out many useful features. This of course is just my opinion many people like the 7000 I had one for 2 weeks and returned it for the AC-68u and never looked back. I also tried the 87U and returned to many 5 ghz problems and the router ran hot enough to fry an egg.

bsix said:

Thanks for the input. Any recommendations for the R7000 over the AC-68U?

Also any comments on the AC-68P vs the AC-68U...other than the improved USB throughput which I may possibly use as I don't have a NAS yet.

Click to expand...

If you have a choice where you live to get the 'P' version, that is the one I would get. Otherwise, they are identical except for the faster processor in the 'P'.

The current crop of leading AC1900 class devices;

• Asus RT-AC68Series - tweaker routers, but stable, known, mature - between RMerlin's builds, and a fairly open platform - once one gets beyond basics...
  
• Netgear R7000 - less tweakable on Factory firmware, but some 3rd party support to fill gaps
• Linksys WRT1900ac - A big ole bear of a router/AP - probably the strongest on radio and filesharing performance - OpenWRT was a mess, but Linksys/Marvell/OpenWRT are working thru it - while not as open as others, it's fast and, well, it's fast, and great range due to it's 4*4 radio config..
  
• Apple Airport Extreme AC - while technically not an AC1900 class device due to 2.4GHz constraints, it is basically an AC1900 class device from a 5GHz and routing perspective - stable/fast/mature - and if you're Apple centric, probably the best choice... it's the likely underdog, unappreciated by many that read web site reviews...

Can't say much about D-Link or others... some nuggets there perhaps - some folks like the TP-Link archer series, but I haven't been impressed there - nor have I with D-Link (D-Link folks, send me one and let me tinker with it)...

Anything beyond - this is either cutting edge perhaps (see the first MU-MIMO device tested) or evolutionary dead-ends...

Don't fly too close to the sun...

sfx

See wave 2 based model as its feature proof as wave is almost Eol. Only wave 2 will get firmware update soon

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