[RTN-66U] Looking to upgrade to Asus AC router

Sir Dan Baker · Sep 27, 2016

Hej guys, I've been a very satisfied user of several RTN66U routers over the last couple of years. My current system consists of three of these units and they work together flawlessly when it comes to wireless coverage, handing off and speed untill now.
As I'm now in the process of upgrading to a new iPhone (which supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) and looking for a new laptop in the near-future I'm wondering what would be the next best step in the Asus range at this point. From what I've seen and read so far there are several AC possibilities but not all are already terribly wel standarized (sp?). My wireless network is fairly straightforward (not many devices and most slow ones I keep on the 2.4G to keep the 5G as quiet as possible).
I will only be using these units as accesspoints, I have an RTN66U in use as 'modem/router' on a fibre-optic connection.
What would be a good successor?

Thanks guys,

Dan.

RMerlin · Sep 27, 2016

RT-AC68U. It's proven, reliable, and doesn't come with any experimental feature like MU-MIMO.

L&LD · Sep 27, 2016

If you have access to a Best Buy, the RT-AC1900P is the Asus model I would use (the RT-AC68U's most direct 'descendant', but with upgraded hardware and RF design touches like a 75% faster processor and newer/better power amplifiers and other RF improvements).

What speeds does your ISP offer you? If you have anything faster than 200/200 u/d, then you want a router with the most powerful processor you can buy for your money.

If your ISP speeds are above 500Mbps u/d, then something like the RT-AC3100 would be beneficial even over the RT-AC1900P, let alone the RT-AC68U 'original'.

Keeping the RT-N66U's as access points won't help your new devices any though. I would test to see if a new router is able to singlehandedly provide the upgrade you're looking for and if additional AP's are needed at that point, look to the RT-AC56U (when on sale in the $50 range) to provide that additional coverage.

The RT-N66U's will feel slow compared to almost any current Asus AC class router (particularly with RMerlin's firmware). They will also have less range (5GHz band) and much less throughput too.

I would suggest you don't try to build onto what you have configured your network as today. Instead, start with a clean slate and see if a single router can do what you want/need. At that point, if needed, you can consider your alternatives then.

But mixing a current AC class router with the almost 5 year old design of the RT-N66U is asking for a network balance that will be less than satisfying, imo.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/sh...-go-with-the-rt-ac1900p-v3.34748/#post-281391

Sir Dan Baker · Sep 29, 2016

Hej guys, thanks for the advice. My isp provides a 500/500mbps up and down speed at this point and that speed would be upgradeable (definitely not needed right now) to 900/900.
So what you are saying is to replace the main-unit and try to run the groundfloorlevel without an ap..
Would the ac56u be fast enough to keep up with the mentioned routers?
I would still keep one rtn66u for the bedroom on second floor, I only use that one to stream some netflix in bed on my phone.

Dan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

L&LD · Sep 29, 2016

Sir Dan Baker said:
Hej guys, thanks for the advice. My isp provides a 500/500mbps up and down speed at this point and that speed would be upgradeable (definitely not needed right now) to 900/900.
So what you are saying is to replace the main-unit and try to run the groundfloorlevel without an ap..
Would the ac56u be fast enough to keep up with the mentioned routers?
I would still keep one rtn66u for the bedroom on second floor, I only use that one to stream some netflix in bed on my phone.

Dan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you have access to the RT-AC56U for a good price (can be found in the $50 range, on sale) along with one of the other routers I mentioned to compare it against, you may find it usable in your network (when compared to your RT-N66U).

If you turn any features or options on that disable CTF (hardware acceleration), you will only be able to achieve roughly half the ISP provided speeds, but considering that the router is 6x or less the cost of the RT-AC3100 (see below for the 'why'), it may be a good tradeoff for you?

But just considering the ISP speeds you currently enjoy (at least wired), the RT-AC3100 is the router best matched to your needs, imo.

doczenith1 · Sep 29, 2016

I agree with RMerlin in that a RT-AC68U would be a good option. I am able to get 900+ up/down speeds with only CTF enabled (AiProtection enabled) and 940+ speeds with CTF (Cut Through Forwarding) and FA (Flow Acceleration) enabled (AiProtection disabled) with my 68U. If I were you though and if you have access to Best Buy I would wait for the RT-AC1900p to go on sale again. It has been on sale as low as $165 multiple times vs it's $200 normal price. That said, not too long ago the RT-AC3100 went on sale for $191 which would be my recommendation but who knows if it will ever be priced that low again in the near future.

sfx2000 · Sep 29, 2016

L&LD said:
If you turn any features or options on that disable CTF (hardware acceleration), you will only be able to achieve roughly half the ISP provided speeds, but considering that the router is 6x or less the cost of the RT-AC3100 (see below for the 'why'), it may be a good tradeoff for you?

And that's not a bad place to be - for many - just setting up the basics is all they need, and CTF does help...

Sir Dan Baker · Sep 30, 2016

Ok before I run off to buy a new router, in short; what would be the quickest responding option for a couple of iPhones 6S? Would there be a noticeable difference between the 1900 and the 3100?
To be honest, my iPhone is the most important device on the network. Laptop is actually secondary because I use it wired most of the time anyway.
Dan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

L&LD · Sep 30, 2016

Sir Dan Baker said:
Ok before I run off to buy a new router, in short; what would be the quickest responding option for a couple of iPhones 6S? Would there be a noticeable difference between the 1900 and the 3100?
To be honest, my iPhone is the most important device on the network. Laptop is actually secondary because I use it wired most of the time anyway.
Dan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The most responsive router I have used right now is easily the RT-AC3100. With the same processor (1.4GHz) the RT-AC1900P should be very close.

With your 'standard' being a handheld device, I think I would initially choose the cheaper option (RT-AC1900P) to see if it meets your needs and/or expectations. If it doesn't, you can always buy the more expensive option to test at a later date.

Sir Dan Baker · Sep 30, 2016

L&LD said:
The most responsive router I have used right now is easily the RT-AC3100. With the same processor (1.4GHz) the RT-AC1900P should be very close.

With your 'standard' being a handheld device, I think I would initially choose the cheaper option (RT-AC1900P) to see if it meets your needs and/or expectations. If it doesn't, you can always buy the more expensive option to test at a later date.

Good point! Will check pricing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sir Dan Baker · Oct 4, 2016

I've been looking quite extensively but in the Netherlands the 'p' version is not available. If I'm correct the device we have here is the RT-AC68U of which also a 'P' version should be available. But the same story here, only the 'U' version is to be found in the shops...
Is there a specific difference? I read somewhere the P versions have a 1.4ghz processor where the U versions have a 1.0/1.2ghz processor. Am I right about this?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ColinTaylor · Oct 4, 2016

The EU and UK versions are the same. See my other post here (http://www.snbforums.com/threads/buying-dilemma-for-uk-customers.34953/) for the differences and availability.

Unfortunately, EU customers are second class citizens compared to the US.

L&LD · Oct 4, 2016

Sir Dan Baker said:
I've been looking quite extensively but in the Netherlands the 'p' version is not available. If I'm correct the device we have here is the RT-AC68U of which also a 'P' version should be available. But the same story here, only the 'U' version is to be found in the shops...
Is there a specific difference? I read somewhere the P versions have a 1.4ghz processor where the U versions have a 1.0/1.2ghz processor. Am I right about this?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The original 'U' or 'R' versions had a dual core 800MHz processor. Some later revisions offered dual core 1GHz processors (good luck trying to decipher which ones, although the 'P' versions of BestBuy were). There were no 1.2GHz versions, afaik. The RT-AC1900P is the 1.4GHz version and is basically the modern, updated version of the original 'AC68U series. All of these routers offered no increase in ram or nvram capacity, but some minor RF tweaks and hardware (power amplifiers and possibly antennae) in the later examples are possible.

If the versions available to you (in the shops) are the original 800MHz versions, I would not spend my money on that today (at almost any price).

The RT-AC3100 is what I would be saving for (1.4GHz processor, double the ram and double the nvram capacity along with all the other current 'goodies').

ToddH · Oct 4, 2016

I have the AC5300 which is a total beast. Given your network though I think that would be overkill. The 3100 or 1900p would probably be a great choice.

ColinTaylor · Oct 4, 2016

ToddH said:
I have the AC5300 which is a total beast. Given your network though I think that would be overkill. The 3100 or 1900p would probably be a great choice.

As I pointed out in my other thread the 1900p and 3100 aren't available in the EU.

The closest equivalent to the 3100 is the 88u. In the US that retails for $300 (EUR 267), in the EU it is $448 (EUR 400)! That's a 50% increase.

Pierino · Oct 4, 2016

£200 for the rt-ac3100.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-RT-A...263933?hash=item4d4baf567d:g:OUcAAOSwTA9X6KBY

Sir Dan Baker · Oct 5, 2016

I've found a RT-AC3200 for €229,- on sale this evening and decided to give it a go, I can get my money back within two weeks if I don't like it. So far so good, I made a backup of the RTN66u settings (set up as pppoe router) and put them straight into the AC3200 and right off the bat it functions great! I've not touched any of the controls for fixing channels yet and the 5G range into the living is much better than on the n66, actually I had no usable 5G connection on the 66 and here I have about 100-120mbps on both the iphone and the laptop so that's definitely a win!
Somebody wrote something about CTF (if I'm correct), hardware accelaration. What settings are those and you turn them on or off?

doczenith1 · Oct 5, 2016

For NAT acceleration go to the LAN section and then the Switch Control tab. I believe that the new firmwares have Auto and disable options. With a bare bones setup and auto selected you will most likely get both CTF (Cut Through Forwarding) and FA (Flow Acceleration) accelerator enabled. In my experience with my router once I turn on either AiProtection and/or the newer traffic analyzer - statistics option I lose the FA but keep the CTF. With both CTF and FA I can hit 940 Mbps up/down on speed tests with negligible cpu usage. With only CTF I hit around 900 up/down and one of the cpu cores hits 100% usage if my memory serves me correctly. My unit has the dual core 1000 Mhz processor. I'm not sure what the 3200 uses.

Edit: I just turned on the Traffic Analyzer - Statistic and indeed lost FA (took a reboot for the router to actually say that I only had CTF) but am still getting 940 u/d speeds with 100% core 1 utilization.

Sir Dan Baker · Oct 10, 2016

I did a lot of testing and there's one thing not quite clear to me. Why do I (using my iPhone 6S as standard testdevice, continuously in the same position, on the couch, about 2.5m/8ft away from the router) keep getting higher speeds when using an old rtn66u as Accesspoint? The speeds of the phone go up reliably (using both fast speedtest and the speedtest.net app) using this 5g N-connection to about 240mbps up and down while connected directly to the AC-3200 I only manage to get up to 190mbps? When I test I turn off all the other radio's on the router and accesspoint so that they don't interfere with each other.
Is there a setting a need to change to get these speeds up to the same level? I find it very weird that a brand new ac-router is not capable of dishing out these speeds on its own or am I missing something here?

Sir Dan Baker · Oct 10, 2016

After a whole day of irritation as to why the above happened I read someting about N-devices slowing down AC-networks... Turns out my laptop (N) kept the whole 5G part of the network in second gear. The second I put the laptop on the 2.4G and only the two iPhones on the 5G the speeds went up to the maximum of the phones, 400mbps u/d.
Finally pfffff.
Thanks for thinking along guys, really happy now that it's fixed.

Dan.

[RTN-66U] Looking to upgrade to Asus AC router

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