Asus AC68U Worth It

[HaGGardSmurf]

I'm looking to buy a new router, I have a linksys wrt310n currently, it works fine i suppose, but I have N disabled as I found it to cause problems, the router would basically lock up and I would need to reboot it all the time. So running on 2.4ghz I have signal problems (lots of neighbors) and the connection is brutally slow.

I have done my research and found that the 68U appears to have a serious issue with signal degradation after a few weeks. Lots of reviews are positive but they appear to be before the 3 week mark, then after that the speed drops way down only to be fixed by a reboot.

I have no interest in spending $250 on a router to constantly have to reboot the thing. I just want to spend my money on a solid router that is going to give me awesome speed's for my devices and be a solid reliable piece of equipment.

I'd owned a linksys a year or so ago, which I'd have to reboot usually 3 - 4 times a week and it was enough to drive me absolutely crazy.

Anyhow my question is to any owners out there, is that issue fixed?
Is it a FW issue that has been fixed by either asus or a different FW (like merlin)?
Are all 68u's effected by this problem or is it a case of some are like this some aren't and if you have this problem exchange it and you'll likely get a fully working one?

If all of the 68u's are plagued with this problem, is there another router to look at? (I assume I'll be referred to the netgear one?)

Thanks guys!

 

[Pierino]

If AC is not needed, I'd say go for the rt-n66u. Probably still my favorite, plus you have asuswrt, RMerlin, dd-wrt and tomato you can put on there.
Awesome router. Newegg has them for $100 usually, refurbished. Which I've never had trouble with.

 

[admiral2145]

Or the ac56u is a good router.. But I would take me new ac68u over it. Depends on you really

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[HaGGardSmurf]

Thats the thing, I don't need AC my HTPC is about 15 feet above where my router will be (in the room above my router) and it is hooked up on powerline, I dont get good speeds something around 2 - 3 megabytes per second which is enough to stream all my movies and whatnot.

My main thing is that I would like to buy a wireless card for my HTPC and have better connection speed's than what I currently have going through powerline. So I guess what I am looking for is something with a very strong signal, enough to go through the ceiling (about 15 ft up from router to pc) and give me something like gigabit speeds.

I do a lot of streaming on my network, myself and my girlfriend are constantly watching netflix or one of my thousands of movies/tv shows from my collection through the network, lots are blu ray rip's so there is a large amount of data going through my network that's why I was thinking this router.

It seems with my current router if I am downloading something on the network with my current router (only at about 2MB/s) and I try to stream a blu ray from my NAS to my HTPC the router will bog down. (I've solved this now with powerline + a network switch, alleviating some router traffic)

Anyhow, what do you guy's think, I'm going to think about it at work today I guess I don't need AC I could do without but I'd like a beastly router that will withstand what I do, and provide excellent coverage.

 

[Pierino]

The rt-n66u is beastly enough. Lol

 

[intermilan]

No it isn't.

 

[ikoul]

The AC68U has been having issues with the firmware since it came out. It seems to be getting better with the most recent versions, but some of them haven't been out long enough to test long term stability (on the weeks scale). With the wireless driver changing so often it's hard to say if they've entirely solved the degradation over time issue. I've personally never seen it, but I'm constantly trying new firmwares so I never have a chance to go weeks without rebooting my router.

I will say that from a speed perspective it sounds like any of the Asus AC routers will probably fulfill your streaming needs if paired with an appropriate client (at least one that supports 5ghz, preferably one that's 802.11ac and supports multiple streams). I've had 3 hd streams going at once on my AC68U, and I ran out of devices to test with before I ran out of throughput. So even if the speed degraded to half, I'd be able to stream at least one high def video.

I'd wait and see how Merlin's next release (374.38) works out for people before buying anything, or at least give the most recent Asus fw a few weeks of people using it to see if it's stable over time.

 

[L&LD]

HaGGardSmurf,

Not even the newest, just announced AC routers will give you wireless gigabit speeds (they may 'connect' at those link rates, but the throughput will be effectively halved or worse).

To stream to multiple clients at close quarters (about 15 feet) the 5GHz band would be my first choice.

Today's AC routers have vastly superior 5GHz performance than even the highly regarded (I have one too) RT-N66U.


If you had to buy today - the Netgear R7000 might be the best performing router to buy.

However; if you can be a little patient (at least until RMerlin releases the 374.38 version of the firmware) and you value a product that is supported for much longer than the Netgear hardware - and supported by both Asus and RMerlin, then I would be suggesting the RT-AC68U is the way to go forward.

In your shoes, I would be purchasing an N66U (and test with the 374.36Beta 1 firmware or later), an AC68U (test with 374.38 firmware or later) and the R7000 with latest firmware (sorry, don't follow Netgear anymore) and see which one gives the best performance in your place.

 

[Pierino]

He said he doesn't need AC so the rt-n66u would be enough.

 

[L&LD]

He said he doesn't need AC so the rt-n66u would be enough.

He also said that the 2.4GHz band was brutal - and the best 5GHz band routers right now are AC.

 

[Pierino]

I have no problems at all in the 5ghz on my rt-66u. Also with the sdk5 the 2.4 is great.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-N66U performs great, especially with the latest 374.36Beta 1 build, I agree.

That does not negate the fact that the AC class routers are better, especially in the 5GHz range. Not simply a question of 'no problems', it works; more a question of is much higher throughput needed? (And it seems to be here, with streaming to multiple devices a given).

 

[HaGGardSmurf]

I think I'll buy the 68U and run with that.

The only thing deterring my from the 68U was the instability of the thing, but apparently it is better now, and is still growing and being fixed as things go on.

I don't absolutely need AC speeds, but I'd like to have this router for 2 or 3 years and I figure by then ac will be standard with most new devices.

I'll go pick one up from memory express tomorrow and hopefully it works on the stock FW, if not I'll go with Merlin's.

 

[L&LD]

Seeing that 374.38 is out - I would recommend you go straight for RMerlin's version and be spoiled for anything less.

 

[HaGGardSmurf]

In a nutshell why should I go to rmerlin FW?

I am currently running Asus 3.0.0.4.374_542

 

[Pierino]

In a nutshell why should I go to rmerlin FW?

I am currently running Asus 3.0.0.4.374_542

If after reading a lot of posts on this forum if you have to ask, don't switch. Stay on stock.

 

[L&LD]

In a nutshell: the attention to details and bugfixes that RMerlin insists on providing us (and usually before Asus finally does).

 

[ai-apple]

Is loading RMerlin's the same procedures as loading Asus' F/W? I don't have any issue with latest Asus F/W. I am not using any USB storage right now but I might want to try using Time Machine feature since I am on OSX. All the connections work without any issue. My macbook is connecting 802.11AC

 

[L&LD]

The procedure is exactly the same, I would however do a full factory reset after upgrading, use different ssid's and passwords and take a half hour or so to test the best channels and channel widths for your environment and range required.

The latest 374.38_1 versions are great (I just finished updating and testing various settings - will be posting my results to the .38 thread soon).