RT-AC87U or RT-AC68U?

J

JokerPower

Regular Contributor

• May 14, 2015

• #1

Hello

I need a new router, especially for WiFi signal coverage and speed. RT-AC87U is for 200 euro, while RT-AC68U is about 160 euro. They are different categories, AC2400 vs AC1900. All my devices are N. Is it worth buying 87U? Or better stick with 68U?

Thanks

 

sm00thpapa

Very Senior Member

• May 15, 2015

• #2

68U! AC87 is over kill and 4x4 not even enabled on it yet. AC1900 is stable and in it's prime. AC2400 still in beta phase.

 

L&LD

Part of the Furniture

• May 15, 2015

• #3

For that price difference, I would also suggest the RT-AC68U.

You may want to try it with hggomes firmware fork too, PM him for the links.

 

sfx2000

Part of the Furniture

• May 15, 2015

• #4

68U hands down - stable and mature... and fast...

 

Etz

Regular Contributor

• May 17, 2015

• #5

sfx2000 said:

68U hands down - stable and mature... and fast...

Click to expand...

Unfortunately standing design rules this out for me...
Is AC87U indeed so bad, so it should be avoided?

As I have multiple AC draft devices now (Most are 2x2, one is even 3x3), looking for something to replace my trusty old N66U...

 

Last edited: May 17, 2015

sfx2000

Part of the Furniture

• May 17, 2015

• #6

It's not that the 87U is bad, but that the 68U is so darn good for an Asus router- most of the kinks on that device have been worked out...

Read thru the threads, most of the issues with the 87U are basic stuff, not esoteric items that we're seeing with other devices... don't get me wrong, Asus is working hard to improve the stability there, and have made good progress...

 

sm00thpapa

Very Senior Member

• May 17, 2015

• #7

Tiger Direct Insiders the AC87U is now $199.99 till midnight tonight.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

R

RogerSC

Part of the Furniture

• May 17, 2015

• #8

sm00thpapa said:

Tiger Direct Insiders the AC87U is now $199.99 till midnight tonight.

Click to expand...

I see the Asus RT-AC87U at Tiger Direct for $179.99 (free shipping, too), which includes a rebate from McAfee. The only bad part of that is having to dispose of the McAfee crap after getting the package. Unless its just a download. The other thing is that I hate applying for rebates, usually miss some detail and either don't get the rebate or have to do it over *smile*. And they take forever to get, if you do get them. So I don't buy things based on rebates...

If you're okay with rebates, here you go *smile*:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9567072&CatId=373

 

Last edited: May 17, 2015

sm00thpapa

Very Senior Member

• May 17, 2015

• #9

That's after the rebate if I am correct. I wouldn't buy any 4x4 router at this time anyway.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Etz

Regular Contributor

• May 18, 2015

• #10

sfx2000 said:

It's not that the 87U is bad, but that the 68U is so darn good for an Asus router- most of the kinks on that device have been worked out...

Read thru the threads, most of the issues with the 87U are basic stuff, not esoteric items that we're seeing with other devices... don't get me wrong, Asus is working hard to improve the stability there, and have made good progress...

Click to expand...

Well, I have actually read those threads, and got a pretty good picture...
Apparently I have to go for a non-Asus this time, as there is absolutely no way I can fit AC68U to my AV rack, it is just too high and there is absolutely no way to put it horizontally...

I don't see any benefit of buying AC66U as it costs pretty much the same here, as AC68U and has only minor improvements over N66U...

 

htismaqe

Very Senior Member

• May 18, 2015

• #11

Etz said:

I don't see any benefit of buying AC66U as it costs pretty much the same here, as AC68U and has only minor improvements over N66U...

Click to expand...

I can only speak for myself but in my house, the AC68U (as well as the R7000 and WRT1900AC) was a quite dramatic improvement of the N66U in terms of both throughput and range.

 

Etz

Regular Contributor

• May 18, 2015

• #12

I made a typo, what I actually wanted to say is that AC66U has only minor improvements over N66U, it only has different 5Ghz radio, but costs about the same as AC68U...at least here...

AC66U is approx 150€, and AC68U is 165€...

 

Etz

Regular Contributor

• May 21, 2015

• #13

Came into conclusion that no feasible alternative exists to AC68U, so...still bought it and found another feasible location for it...

 

J

JokerPower

Regular Contributor

• May 26, 2015

• #14

Etz said:

Came into conclusion that no feasible alternative exists to AC68U, so...still bought it and found another feasible location for it...

Click to expand...

Some people are saying Netgear Nighthawk R7000 AC1900 is better. What do you think?

 

K

kamaaina

Occasional Visitor

• May 28, 2015

• #15

The r7000 has a faster cpu and runs cooler, the ac68 had a tad better range in my setup. Subjective. For the price difference get the ac 68, put Merlin wrt on it and enjoy! If you want VPN performance and need a fast CPU than the R7000 is a better option.


Sent using Tapatalk

 

Last edited: Jun 3, 2015

htismaqe

Very Senior Member

• May 28, 2015

• #16

Wireless range is highly influenced by location and environmental factors. In my house, the R7000 outperforms the AC68U on both bands, and quite significantly on the 2.4Ghz band. In fact, the R7000 and WRT1900AC can cover my whole house by themselves and the AC68U cannot.

 

K

Knxwledge

Occasional Visitor

• Jun 9, 2015

• #17

htismaqe said:

Wireless range is highly influenced by location and environmental factors. In my house, the R7000 outperforms the AC68U on both bands, and quite significantly on the 2.4Ghz band. In fact, the R7000 and WRT1900AC can cover my whole house by themselves and the AC68U cannot.

Click to expand...

R7000 or WRT1900AC?

 

htismaqe

Very Senior Member

• Jun 9, 2015

• #18

I use the WRT1900AC. In my house, the Netgear R7000 has excellent coverage in some areas, good in some, and poor in others. The WRT1900AC is much more consistent - there's not as many "excellent" areas compared to the R7000 but there are zero "poor" areas.

 

R

RogerSC

Part of the Furniture

• Jun 9, 2015

• #19

Knxwledge said:

R7000 or WRT1900AC?

Click to expand...

I'd pick R7000, lots of alternative firmware (3 different strong contenders available now), solid wireless, great piece of hardware. Latest did-wrt with R7000 is really great. On the other hand, the WRT1900AC is good, too. However, I wouldn't want to be limited to Linksys stock firmware. Kong is working on dd-wrt firmware for it, but it isn't generally available yet. You know what they say about buying something based on promises about the future...not a good idea.

 

B

bilboSNB

Senior Member

• Jun 10, 2015

• #20

Hi Roger, I see from your sig you have both the ac68p and R7000, which do you find has better performance? I am thinking on getting the R7000 as there is now a version of Merlins fw available for it, have you tried it? I cant get the P version of ASUS where I am.