RT-AC3200 vs RT-AC87U vs RT-AC68U

[xiaokai]

Out of these 3, which should I get?
(I plan to use Merlin FW)
My choices are
Asus RT-AC3200
Asus RT-AC87U
Asus RT-AC68U

Price is not an issue.

(Note: I currently own a AC68U, only issue I have is range. My router is not in the greatest position in the home, and my home is not so open plan. other than that I love it. I need to buy another router for my office, so might take 68U to the office and get a better one for home or maybe not, so just wondering which I should get)
We have around 5 laptops, 3 tablets, 4 phones, a TV box, VoIP, NAS, Chromecast, FireTV Stick, Computestick and 1 desktop on the network. But Ofcourse they are not always being used all at the same time.

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

The best router (hardware) is the RT-AC3200 as you probably know. Drop the RT-AC87U from consideration.

Price might not be an issue, but it seems like the router location is. Instead of spending more money towards this problem, you might want to concentrate on optimizing what you have first.

You might also consider the RMerlin forks too for your range issues. Both john9527's and hggomes offer a substantial range increase over stock Asus or RMerlin firmware.

 

[Brian John]

I have an RT-AC3200 and I haven't been very impressed with the range, which was one of the areas where I was hoping for an improvement. In fact, my old RT-N16 seemed to have at least the same range as the 3200 in that we've been unable to connect at times to the 3200 in rooms where the N16 was rock solid, though that may have to do with smart connect issues which will (hopefully) be fixed in the future. My hope is that an economical consumer mesh network will be available in the near future.

 

[L&LD]

Mesh networks are not viable from what I have read here.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/sdk-5.26387/page-2#post-198071

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/upgrade-d-link-850l.27265/#post-207189


The above links are for xiaokai to pursue optimizing the existing network first.

 

[xiaokai]

The best router (hardware) is the RT-AC3200 as you probably know. Drop the RT-AC87U from consideration.

Price might not be an issue, but it seems like the router location is. Instead of spending more money towards this problem, you might want to concentrate on optimizing what you have first.

You might also consider the RMerlin forks too for your range issues. Both john9527's and hggomes offer a substantial range increase over stock Asus or RMerlin firmware.

Thanks L&LD
Out of intrest why drop the AC87U out of consideration?

As for my problem with the router position, I will be looking into this, I just dont want to deal with moving wires through walls to position the router better ¬¬.
As for wasting money, I am in need for getting a second router anyway.

Thanks for the info on jogn9527 & hggomes, i will look into them for range.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-AC87U was an Quantenna experiment that is still ongoing for some. It may work for you, but it may not. Can't see a reason to recommend it over the RT-AC3200 you're considering in either case.

The positioning isn't just to another room, look at the links I provided and try experimenting with the location inside the room it's in now.

It will be a waste of money if you can buy another RT-AC68U (since you need one anyway) instead of the considerably more expensive RT-AC3200.

Check out the other forks after you have optimized what you are running now. And remember, after flashing new firmware, you need to not only reset to factory defaults, you also need to redo your testing from scratch too.

 

[David Arnstein]

RT-AC68. I find no reason to spend more money on one of the other two routers. There are no client devices that can take advantage of the more advanced features of RT-AC87 and RT-AC3200. Hence, you can obtain no improvement in performance.

I bought the RT-AC68P (Best Buy exclusive) that has slightly improved electronics. It is a minor improvement over RT-AC68U, there is an article about it on the main smallnetbuilder.com site.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

I bought the RT-AC68P that has slightly improved electronics. It is a minor improvement over RT-AC68U, there is an article about it on the main smallnetbuilder.com site.

Isn't it true that the P-variant is unable to have increased output-power with the fork-firware versions of John and HGGomes, as the setting for the radio power is "hardware" limited?