Asus RT-AC68p vs Apple Airport Extreme AC

[Tarunc]

Hello All.....thanks in advance for all advice and discussion.

So here is my setup.
Comcast Blast ---> Netgear CM600 Modem-->Ubiquiti ER-Lite-->HP Managed Gigabit Switch---Cat 6 Cable-->To either Asus RT-AC68p or Apple Airport Extreme...Both in AP mode.

Testing was done on a Macbook Pro in which I have replaced the wi-fi/bluetooth module with a module that supports AC....The module is Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.94.136.1a1).

Asus Router - with latest official Asus firmware as well as Merlin's latest - gives me a maximum throughput of 250-300mbps on 5ghz. I have tried various channels, 20-40-80mhz but cannot improve it.

Apple Router - with latest Apple firmware gives me anywhere between 500-700mbps on 5ghz.

The laptop is approximately 25-30 feet away from the routers - no walls in between - in fact I can see it from where I sit as I type this. The laptop never moves...always at same location.

AFAIK, the Apple is AC1750 and the Asus AC1900 --- why would I see such a variance and what can I do to improve this? I have tried various settings on the Asus and changed what I can/know about.. I have also changed antenna orientation to every direction possible, but no improvement. The Asus was purchased recently as I was hoping for some improved throughput and wanting to get away from the Apple device. Unfortunately, it was purchased as a refurb from NewEgg to save some $.

Any advice?

 

[sfx2000]

The Airport Extreme AC is technically an AC1900 class device, they just don't do wide-channel/QAM256 in 2.4GHz...

Hardware-wise, the Airport Extreme AC is actually a bit better than the AC-68P, same WiFi chipsets, and a better CPU (upgrade from the RT-AC68P family) - not as feature rich perhaps...

And it doesn't overheat...

 

[Tarunc]

I believe the version of the extreme I have was based on 802.11ac draft and is the 1750ac model. Correct me if I'm wrong. Basically you're saying the Asus is a non contender here?

 

[sfx2000]

I believe the version of the extreme I have was based on 802.11ac draft and is the 1750ac model. Correct me if I'm wrong. Basically you're saying the Asus is a non contender here?

All Airport Extreme AC's (the towers) are fully compliant with 11ac, not the draft... apple doesn't play that game...

Apple is pretty stringent on a couple of things - they don't, probably will never, do wide channels in 2.4GHz...

Additionally, they're pretty spec compliant, which means no QAM256 (Turbo/up to 600/etc) in 2.4Ghz - they're pretty vanilla there, and this helps a lot with interop...

Suffice it to say - they've done three spins on the 11ac firmware - and one was to fix the heartbleed SSL security bug - it's a fine AP, not as feature rich as some...

(but they don't need a 3rd party independent developer, or an opensource community to fix their bugs either)...

If you have an AP Extreme AC, you're ok... no need right now to swap it out.. if one is on 11n, and exploring options, there are a lot of great devices out there, depends on needs/wants..