Asus RT-AC66U Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.164

[dawson46]

Powers settings

I don't like the logic of how these are layered within the menus. There also seems to be an issue with the Auto channel as it picks the busiest one in the neighborhood

 

[arogan]

Well, unless I am reading those wrong(ya never know with me lol) those numbers look fine and are better than what that review showed.

You are reading it right. I'm getting as good if not better than what I got on the n66u. I glanced over that review and he seemed a tad lazy. He even admitted that the office was crowded with 2.4ghz radios. If you leave channel on auto I got pretty bad performance but it took me all of 5 min to configure it on a clear channel and got much much better performance.

 

[octopus]

There is always better to choose fixed channel in noisy environmnent. Use channel 1-6-11 and wpa2+aes with 40Mhz for best performance. And keep in mind the biggest issue is ALWAYS client-configs and drivers. Power saving is one of issues. Some old Intels cards have very bad performance. What is working for others maby don't work for your environmnent.

octopus

 

[RMerlin]

I have more faith in Tim being able to do a proper review than any general CNet reviewer, to be honest. At least Tim knows what he's testing, and has a valid methodology.

 

[octopus]

My misstake

 

[RMerlin]

Okey, fine with me. I have only played with this for about 10 years.
Maby I have learnt something.

octopus

My post wasn't aimed at you octopus, but at the review posted by CNet, which seemed to have a few odd results.

 

[octopus]

Oh SORRY my misstake.........

 

[RTN]

Asus RT-AC66U 802.11ac Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router review

CNET Labs 5GHz Wireless-N performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Model - Range / Throughput (in Mbps)

Asus RT-AC66U (with 802.11ac client) - 178.5 / 339.2
Netgear R6300 (with 802.11ac client) - 208 / 331.32
AirStation WZR-D1800H (with 802.11ac client) - 144 / 233.6

Asus RT-AC66U - 166.6 / 208.2
Asus RT-N66U - 155.3 / 181.8
Netgear R6300 - 144.8 / 178.8
AirStation WZR-D1800H - 120 / 172​

http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/asus-rt-ac66u-802/4505-3319_7-35406080.html

Flash1 = 2 MB (CFE+NVRAM 64Kb), Flash2 = 128 MB (NAND)

Asus RT-AC66U running 3.0.0.4.164 stock firmware

Telnet Session with 192.168.5.1:

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/home/root# nvram show|grep size:
size: 30104 bytes (35432 left)

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/home/root# dmesg|grep -E "\-0x0|MTD|NAND| ST "
Found an ST compatible serial flash with 32 64KB blocks; total size 2MB
Creating 2 MTD partitions on "sflash":
0x00000000-0x00040000 : "pmon"
0x001f0000-0x00200000 : "nvram"
Found a Samsung NAND flash with 2048B pages or 128KB blocks; total size 128MB
Creating 2 MTD partitions on "nflash":
0x00000000-0x02000000 : "linux"
0x001313e8-0x02000000 : "rootfs"
NAND device: Manufacturer ID: 0xec, Chip ID: 0xf1 (Samsung NAND 128MiB 3,3V 8-bit)
Creating 2 MTD partitions on "brcmnand":
0x00000000-0x02000000 : "trx"
0x02000000-0x07f00000 : "brcmnand"

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/home/root# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00040000 00010000 "pmon"
mtd1: 00010000 00010000 "nvram"
mtd2: 02000000 00020000 "linux"
mtd3: 01ecec18 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd4: 02000000 00020000 "trx"
mtd5: 05f00000 00020000 "brcmnand"

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/home/root# dmesg|grep -E "Broadcom BCM"
eth0: Broadcom BCM47XX 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Controller 6.30.39.29 (r338244)
eth1: Broadcom BCM4331 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.39.29 (r338244)
eth2: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.39.29 (r338244) <== 802.11ac
eth1: Broadcom BCM4331 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.39.29 (r338244)
eth2: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.30.39.29 (r338244)

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/home/root# uname -a
Linux RT-AC66U 2.6.22.19 #1 Mon Jul 23 18:27:45 CST 2012 mips GNU/Linux​

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86437&start=857

 

[RMerlin]

Just as a heads-up: I just received a new RT-AC66U today in the mail That means I'll be able to work on giving it official support in Asuswrt-merlin in the near future.

 

[Chuck_IV]

Just as a heads-up: I just received a new RT-AC66U today in the mail That means I'll be able to work on giving it official support in Asuswrt-merlin in the near future.

Excellent news Merlin. I can't wait!

Hoping you can get those TX power settings back into the firmware.

 

[RMerlin]

People will have to be patient I guess. The AC66U is a much more different beast from the N66U than I expected. For starter, there's not one, but two flash storage devices. And no JFFS partition.

Also regarding performance: build 162 has a newer driver than the version that they shipped with. So any performance review needs to ensure to mention which firmware they were running (the CNet review doesn't). Otherwise, take any benchmark with a gain of salt.

 

[Chuck_IV]

Just a note on the TX settings, I was glancing at the reviews at Newegg.com on this router and several people were complaining about the lack of the TX setting(which is why several people gave it poor reviews). Jeremy from Asus commented on a few of them that they were aware of it missing and were working on correcting it in the next firmware update.

Hopefully we will see it return shortly.

 

[Antioch]

I'll agree, the N66U is probably the better device right now, but I expect the bugs to be ironed out on the AC66U and going forward, for me, the AC66U makes the most sense, since I tend to stick with my router for a while(coming from a now 3 yr old Netgear WNDR3700).

Yeah, keep in mind this is Draft ac though. Once the standard is released, you may want something else.

Yeah, but what is the real impact of draft AC vs final AC? Didn't the 802.11ac draft consortium say that they were going to keep changes to a minimum to avoid all the trouble surrounding 802.11n draft? Moreover, aren't all the changes moving forward to 802.11ac bound to be changes deliverable via firmware/software updates?

Sorry to ask, I'd just like more clarification on this as I am also looking to upgrade from my old old 802.11g router by the end of August and would like to be as future-proof as possible. (Am trying to decide between the AC66U and N66U)

Thanks,
Antioch

 

[RMerlin]

Depends on the price difference and your budget. Personally, I would go with the AC66U if it's only 20$ more.

I'm not really worried about the draft status. I was keeping an eye on the last few draft N revisions back then, and changes were something that had zero impact on end-users, I remember some of the changes were merely to determine what you had to reach to obtain an official certification. No hardware or software change was required by these change.

It's nowhere the same mess as we had back in the 56KFlex vs V90 modem days.

 

[Antioch]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too.

However, I'm waiting to see if we get the TX power adjust setting back. I only need to cover 2 adjacent rooms and would love to be able to turn the power *down* below the default

 

[CL-Jeremy]

Just a note on the TX settings, I was glancing at the reviews at Newegg.com on this router and several people were complaining about the lack of the TX setting(which is why several people gave it poor reviews). Jeremy from Asus commented on a few of them that they were aware of it missing and were working on correcting it in the next firmware update.

Hopefully we will see it return shortly.

However, I'm waiting to see if we get the TX power adjust setting back. I only need to cover 2 adjacent rooms and would love to be able to turn the power *down* below the default

Yes, the Tx Power Adjustment is coming back in the next firmware update. We apologize for the mistake made in the firmware that left it out.

 

[Arrow]

The bigger issue is wireless QoS with this firmware.

Yeah, but what is the real impact of draft AC vs final AC?

Unknown yet

 

[R3S2a7i6]

People will have to be patient I guess. The AC66U is a much more different beast from the N66U than I expected. For starter, there's not one, but two flash storage devices. And no JFFS partition.

Also regarding performance: build 162 has a newer driver than the version that they shipped with. So any performance review needs to ensure to mention which firmware they were running (the CNet review doesn't). Otherwise, take any benchmark with a gain of salt.

Hello RMerlin,

I received my AC66U today and it came with firmware version 3.0.0.4.140
Thank you and appreciate your offer to support custom builds for AC66U.

In build 140, via the control panel, firewall is only available in router mode and not in AP mode. I would like to have the firewall in AP mode too.

A humble request, can you enable the firewall in AP mode in your next custom build please?

With kind regards,

 

[RMerlin]

Hello RMerlin,

I received my AC66U today and it came with firmware version 3.0.0.4.140
Thank you and appreciate your offer to support custom builds for AC66U.

In build 140, via the control panel, firewall is only available in router mode and not in AP mode. I would like to have the firewall in AP mode too.

A humble request, can you enable the firewall in AP mode in your next custom build please?

With kind regards,

AP mode is a whole different beast. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to develop and test all available modes, so my work will always be focused on router mode, sorry. Time is a limited resource and I'm one guy trying to support two different devices on his spare time (plus partial support for a third one).

Beside, the firewall works in relation to a WAN connection, so I don't see its relevance regarding AP mode, where you have no WAN interface.

 

[R3S2a7i6]

AP mode is a whole different beast. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to develop and test all available modes, so my work will always be focused on router mode, sorry. Time is a limited resource and I'm one guy trying to support two different devices on his spare time (plus partial support for a third one).

Beside, the firewall works in relation to a WAN connection, so I don't see its relevance regarding AP mode, where you have no WAN interface.

Hi, fully appreciate your commitments and your kind support/service for our Asus user community. The reason for my request was, when I connected the AC66U as AP mode, to my firewall enabled D-Link 615 router, everything worked fine, except my Win7-64 Comodo Firewall software displayed a message saying I was connecting to an &quot;unsecured wireless network&quot;. I'll patiently await your AC66U firmware release... With kind regards,