5GHZ network not turning on RT-AC87U

[ozzed]

1733mbit wireless, not wired / cable. There's a configuration done (similar to QoS) on the Quantenna OS to deal with those cases.

The connection to the main processor with the 2-3-4 LAN and WAN-switch is GMII, so wireless traffic has to pass through it, which means that Wireless speeds are essentially capped at IGB/s.. So it's not very good hardware design in my opinion. I also don't think that the 88u can count as a replacement. It cost at least $100 more and thus doesn't have the same target group.

 

[hggomes]

No doubts about it, the design is awful also IMO (it take almost 3m to boot / load the second QTN OS), if you look at R7500 they used PCIex on the same router design instead of GMII.

I can't talk about the RMA rates on Netgear R7500 but on RT-AC87U they are high, based on my own experience and reports.

Also i doubt it's a model to stay, you probably will see in the next 2-3 years a RT-AC68U (2013) on sale, but not a RT-AC87U (2014).

Let's wait and see if i'm right about it.

 

[hggomes]

The replacement has the same chip? They should upgrade the model if it is the same chip. The model has since been discontinued. Asus warranty is very poor imo. I have to pay for shipping.

I had a new HW revision but at the end its "more of the same" IMO, it's one of my main routers now, so expect bad news from me soon.

Better not talk too much about it.

 

[ozzed]

No doubts about it, the design is awful also IMO (it take almost 3m to boot / load the second QTN OS), if you look at R7500 they used PCIex on the same router design instead of GMII.

I can't talk about the RMA rates on Netgear R7500 but on RT-AC87U they are high, based on my own experience and reports.

Also i doubt it's a model to stay, you probably will see in the next 2-3 years a RT-AC68U (2013) on sale, but not a RT-AC87U (2014).

Let's wait and see if i'm right about it.

Yes, I don't know if they've been thinking at all. Intuitively the first port to occupy would be LAN-1, which would immediately hurt 5GHz-performance.

Mine is working OK, but I kinda hope it will break within 3 years and that they've come out with a more stable HW-revision without Quantenna by then. I don't think 88U is meant as a replacement as it has a vastly different price point.

 

[hggomes]

Yes, but its the newest model ahead or RT-AC3100, about the price that's a different story. Alternatives to "match" the price only RT-AC68U.

 

[Marcin]

I upgraded the firmware to 3.0.0.4.378.9460 now today the 5ghz network has stopped working completely. The light isn't turning on for the router and the setting page has channel as either auto or 0. I have reset the router several times and downgraded the firmware but 5GHZ is still not coming on.

Is this a problem only with RT-AC87U ? I have the same symptoms with RT-AC68U.

 

[ozzed]

Is this a problem only with RT-AC87U ? I have the same symptoms with RT-AC68U.

If it is it isn't because of the Quantenna chip, because the 68U uses Broadcom, so I don't necessarily believe it's the quantenna chip on the 87u either, but the hardware implementation is quite horrible still, even with perfect drivers and software. It's like driving a mustang on a curvy gravel road.

 

[Deihmos]

I wish I knew this before I bought it. The reviews were really good.

 

[Deihmos]

I am going to get another router and sell this one once I receive it back from Asus. DO you recommend the RT-AC68P?

 

[whsbuss]

I am going to get another router and sell this one once I receive it back from Asus. DO you recommend the RT-AC68P?

Been using the RT-AC68R from BestBuy for over 2 years...... rock solid w/Merlin's firmware.

 

[ozzed]

I am going to get another router and sell this one once I receive it back from Asus. DO you recommend the RT-AC68P?

I will keep mine. The actual throughput that you can get from Wireless is about 60 of the advertised speed, and for 1733 that would be 1039Mbit, which isn't that much over 1Gbit, and I'm just gonna avoid using LAN one to not cap the bandwidth. If there was another router with the same specs for the same price without the limiting hardware implementation, I'd get that, but to my knowledge there isn't. But like I said I hope that there will be an updated hardware revision that I can get it replaced with in case this one does break. Preferably with PCI-Express instead of rGMII.

 

[VANT]

The connection to the main processor with the 2-3-4 LAN and WAN-switch is GMII, so wireless traffic has to pass through it, which means that Wireless speeds are essentially capped at IGB/s.. So it's not very good hardware design in my opinion. I also don't think that the 88u can count as a replacement. It cost at least $100 more and thus doesn't have the same target group.

RGMII is not problem or limitation.
You tthink that 88u can 3100mbit/s over lan/wan ports ? No. 1733mbit/s is only for wifi client operated between each other,

 

[ozzed]

imo you don't know what you write. RGMII is not problem or limitation.
You tthink that 88u can 3100mbit/s over lan/wan ports ? No. 1733mbit/s is only for wifi client operated between each other, lan ports and wifi 2.4GHz. LAN/WAN is limited to 1gb/s wifi 2.4 is limited to 600mbit/s, so where you here see ??? Nowhere

Like I wrote in my last post, actual throughput is usually around 60% of the total bandwidth for Wireless, which in the case of 1733Mbit/s would land right around 1Gbit/s. While it might not be a problem in practice, it will be if you saturate the bandwidth of LAN1 with a physically connected client and try to use the 5GHz-radio at the samr time. 2.4GHz is irrelevant in this case because the 2.4GHz radio is on a different chip and has it's own rGMII-link to the main processor.

So, to sum it up: LAN-1 + 5GHz client = potential problem. Not Using LAN-1 +5Hhz radio = Not a problem.

If you think that you won't have an issue, go ahead and send a large file between LAN-1 and any other LAN-port, and use the 5GHz-band at the same time. The result is you will get limited bandwidth with one of the connections, but I don't know if the Quantenna-chip prioritizes the physical switch or the 5GHz-radio so it's hard to say which connection would suffer, but it'd definitely be one of them.

 

[VANT]

maybe that's why quantenna have separate cpu for processing high bandwith transfesr ?
look at this diagram

lan 1 port is connected to quantenna by realtek swith, this switch is conneted to quantenna by rgmII. rgmII is also used to connection quantenna to bcm4709.
from this diagram i see that quantenna have two independen rgmII bus ?

 

[ozzed]

maybe that's why quantenna have separate cpu for processing high bandwith transfesr ?
look at this diagram

lan 1 port is connected to quantenna by realtek swith, this switch is conneted to quantenna by rgmII. rgmII is also used to connection quantenna to bcm4709.
from this diagram i see that quantenna have two independen rgmII bus ?

Yes, but it only has one rgmII to the main processor. That means that All traffic on LAN-1 and he 5GHz radio shares a rgmII connection to the main processor, so if you saturate both at the same time, they compete for bandwidth, because the LAN-1 does not have it's own rgmII to the main processor, this is a potential issue.

 

[Deihmos]

I am pretty sure RT-AC87U was discontinued. Best Buy no longer stocks them.

 

[hggomes]

Same is happenning here on some local stores already.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/5ghz-network-not-turning-on-rt-ac87u.30029/page-2#post-234146

 

[sfx2000]

maybe that's why quantenna have separate cpu for processing high bandwith transfesr ?
look at this diagram

lan 1 port is connected to quantenna by realtek swith, this switch is conneted to quantenna by rgmII. rgmII is also used to connection quantenna to bcm4709.
from this diagram i see that quantenna have two independen rgmII bus ?

Actually the way to view the RT-AC87U is an AP (QTN) inside a Router/AP (Broadcom) - Broadcom runs WAN and LAN2-4, LAN1 on the BCM is the QTN SoC, which has two 1GB interfaces - one being LAN1, and the other being the RGMII back to the BCM...

(BTW - the RTL8211E is an ethernet transceiver support LAN1 - not a switch...)

Odd design, but efficient, as the RGMII interface is less runs on the circuitboard compared to PCI-e, and lower frequency to boot - but still fast enough...

 

[Deihmos]

Asus warranty support is terrible. First I had to pay to ship it back to them compared to other companies that pay the shipping like my $50 headphones from sennheiser and HP. Then they ship the replacement back to you using the slowest method possible taking a whole week to get here. If they shipped with USPS priority mail it would have taken 2 days. I have to make sure I never buy another Asus product.

 

[Deihmos]

Finally received the replacement and they sent a used router. I tried to register a DDNS and but the router is already registered to someone else and I cannot use the same DDNS that I used before.