What's new

RT-AC55U? A newer RT-AC56U?

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

Rhialto

Senior Member
I still own a WRT-610N v1 and was wondering if I should upgrade to RT-AC56U.
The 610 still works fine and do the job but it's getting old...

So while I was looking aroung for the RT-AC56U I come across the RT-AC55U which looks like a recent AC1200. I was not able to find any review or information so I don't know when it was announced and since when it's being sold exactly but I know it's not for a long time.

Fact is it's a bit cheaper than the RT-AC56U and I take it as an improved AC1200 version, despite the numbering. Am I right? The RT-AC56U is many months old already so I must admit that if the RT-AC55U is a more mature AC1200 router than the RT-AC56U, this is interesting. Instead of going for a hardware revision, they decided to go for a new model number maybe?

Like Tim keeps saying, no need for a top-notch AC3200 highly priced router at this time. I think from my 610, the RT-AC55U could be a good enough step up if I have 100$ to spend.
 
Getting old doesn't negate 'still works fine and doing the job'.

Keep your current router until you have a real need to buy something new.

As for the newer model being the more mature model, no. That is backwards logic.

It may be better (if just for it's external antennae), but until Tim reviews it here, you are gambling on the newer model. Also, the $100 budget you have may buy you the RT-AC56U too, when it is on sale.
 
I kept looking for information and the earliest I was able to find is end of November: http://www.expreview.com/37461.html (may need translator)

It may be better (if just for it's external antennae), but until Tim reviews it here, you are gambling on the newer model. Also, the $100 budget you have may buy you the RT-AC56U too, when it is on sale.
Maybe Tim will never get that model to review... I read it runs Qualcomm QCA9557/QCA9882-BR4A, while 56 is Broadcom BCM4708A0? Maybe USB ports are better too, no idea.

I'll keep an eye on it...
 
I just got my first Asus AC router which is the RT-AC56R running the latest Asus firmware. It's been up and running for over two weeks without a hiccup of any type and the 5 gHz speeds are in excess of 70 megabits which is over 3 times what I was getting on my single band N router. It does run a little warmer than my old router but is SO compact and slick looking as well as fast I couldn't be happier especially since I got it for $55 brand new :)
 
I just replaced my trusted wrt-54GL running Tomato with RT-AC55U. If anyone has any questions please ask.

I have it just for a week so no proper testing yet. I separated SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz to see what connects where.
My thinkpad laptop with Intel ABGN 5100 connects at 150 Mbps, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.5 S negotiate 300 next room -450 Mbps same room, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 shows 150-300 Mbps. Phones link at 75 Mbps. Please note that I have masonry walls so drop in link speed is expected.

Old Hp Deskjet 840c USB printer is working correctly over the network.

I've connected USB 3.0 1 TB Samsung M drive to it to work as interim media serwer.
DLNA works just fine. My tv plays everything and menu feels faster for some reason, than direct connection to tv. SAMBA shares work as well.

I am still not sure if everything is set up correctly. Laptop has USB 2.0 interface and HDTach shows that USB 3.0 drive has 28 MB/s average speed.

At the moment my tests shows that transfer to USB 3.0 disk connected to router is worse than direct connection via 2.0 USB interface. Wireless copy via windows commander shows 1 - 3 MB/s upload and 4-5 MB/s download.
There was something wrong with wired transfer as well. I have not disconnected wi fi so that's maybe a problem but transfers started around 10-12 MB/s and dropped to around 4-5 MB/s fluctuating all the time. File size was 750 MB. Any idea how to troubleshot if it's router issue or Win XP laptop ?

File download via 10,5 s tablet was much faster and 1 GB file copy from USB drive took 75 seconds so around 15 MB/s.
 
Weekend testing behind.

Wired laptop to router with USB 3.0 1Tb M3 Samsung
upload 1,5 - 2 MB/s
download 22 MB/s

Wireless tablet 524 Mbps link to router with USB 3.0 1Tb M3 Samsung
download 22 MB/s

No change after USB 3.0 interference protection changed to disable. Those values are not what I expected from USB 3.0 device. Upload speed is so poor that I wonder if it is software issue or router just don't have enough processing power.
 
It seems that XP settings are guilty. XP lacks autoscaling of tcp window size so that may be the reason (default is set at 256k).

Last night I've tested copying files with tablet connected to SMB share on a USB drive. Link connection was shown as 750 Mbps, consistent write speed was 7.5 MB/s. So my max results were 22 MB/s read and 7.5 MB/s write. That's more like average results in 1200 AC router reviews.

To sum up. In my opinion USB 3.0 port on AC55u is only good for reading files. Write speed is too low to be considered real backup drive.
 
My AC56R is still humming along on both channels running the latest Asus firmware.. haven't had a single dropped connection, get strong WAN speeds via Open DNS and am very happy. I'm also a Win XP SP3 user and have not had the problems mentioned here.
 
Could you post your transfer speed to disk connected to USB 3 port?

That's the only issue I have with this router.
 
Tim, anything to say when you look at those pictures from internal components?
I see it's not more possible to access that page now, maybe I was lucky to see all the docs in there while it was open for everyone. Too bad I haven't downloaded everything there.

Tim prolly didn't took a look so last hope is if he gets a unit for review.
 
I've returned AC55 and got AC56 instead.

The same setup, disk and clients. Upload to disk on router 20 MB/s download 18 MB/s ... file sizes 1.5 GB and 800 MB. Write speed increased 3 times.

There is some kind of firmware bug or hardware is not enough for file transfers.
 
I wonder what's wrong too. Anyway I think I never saw a review of a router with USB3 giving full USB3 speed.

Will you install Merlin now that you have the 56?
 
Last edited:
AC 56U has USB3 port as well, so no change there except probably quality of port shielding and processor.

I was really surprised with such a low performance on AC55. I spent a week trying to trubleshoot it. AC56 worked from the start.

Yes I will switch to Merlin after run in.
 

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top