Asus RT-AC68U B1

[Dan OBrien]

Hello everyone,

I currently have a Netgear WNDR3700 router than has been working fine. Recently I made the decision to setup a "roaming" guest network in my house and ran into a dead end because I need VLANs and VLAN tagging capabilities. I have been told that the Atheros chip, which is what is in the WNDR3700, will not do VLANs and VLAN Tagging. So now I have been searching for my new primary router to replace the WNDR3700. Problem is, the WNDR3700 (running DD-WRT) does so much for me right now. I would really like to upgrade to the Asus RT-AC68U B1 version (for the dual core processors) but there is no DD-WRT support for it as far as I can determine. I would need to run stock firmware or ASUSWRT-Merlin. Will Merlin or the stock firmware cover my needs (below)? Any other suggestions? I have 3 kids and between the 5 of us the internet gets hammered all the way around. Here is what the WNDR3700 is currently doing:

1) Every network device in my house has a reserved IP. If you try and connect without a reserved IP, it will not DHCP a network address. All the reserved devices work in the 1.100 subnet.

2) It currently hosts two guest wireless networks each with a 2.4 and a 5 Ghz connection. One of the networks is for visiting kids in the 2.100 subnet and the other is for visiting adults in the 3.100 subnet. This is setup on the WNDR3700 with bridging, VAP, and two extra DHCP servers DNSMasq.

3) It also supports the families wireless access. The families access is MAC address filtered, the two guest wireless access point are not.

4) it controls internet usuage at certain times for the kids on the 1.100 subnet as well as the guest kids network (2.100 subnet).

5) Runs an OpenVPN server.

6) DDNS setup through IP.com

7) supports a network shared USB drive.

8) Does QOS for all my devices ;-) (don't tell anyone about this)

All in all, I am very happy with the way it works although I suspect it is rather old and although it is a Gigabit router I suspect an upgrade would also help on the processor/LAN side but this I do not know about.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Dan OBrien]

Hello everyone,

I currently have a Netgear WNDR3700 router than has been working fine. Recently I made the decision to setup a "roaming" guest network in my house and ran into a dead end because I need VLANs and VLAN tagging capabilities. I have been told that the Atheros chip, which is what is in the WNDR3700, will not do VLANs and VLAN Tagging. So now I have been searching for my new primary router to replace the WNDR3700. Problem is, the WNDR3700 (running DD-WRT) does so much for me right now. I would really like to upgrade to the Asus RT-AC68U B1 version (for the dual core processors) but there is no DD-WRT support for it as far as I can determine. I would need to run stock firmware or ASUSWRT-Merlin. Will Merlin or the stock firmware cover my needs (below)? Any other suggestions? I have 3 kids and between the 5 of us the internet gets hammered all the way around. Here is what the WNDR3700 is currently doing:

1) Every network device in my house has a reserved IP. If you try and connect without a reserved IP, it will not DHCP a network address. All the reserved devices work in the 1.100 subnet.

2) It currently hosts two guest wireless networks each with a 2.4 and a 5 Ghz connection. One of the networks is for visiting kids in the 2.100 subnet and the other is for visiting adults in the 3.100 subnet. This is setup on the WNDR3700 with bridging, VAP, and two extra DHCP servers DNSMasq.

3) It also supports the families wireless access. The families access is MAC address filtered, the two guest wireless access point are not.

4) it controls internet usuage at certain times for the kids on the 1.100 subnet as well as the guest kids network (2.100 subnet).

5) Runs an OpenVPN server.

6) DDNS setup through IP.com

7) supports a network shared USB drive.

8) Does QOS for all my devices ;-) (don't tell anyone about this)

All in all, I am very happy with the way it works although I suspect it is rather old and although it is a Gigabit router I suspect an upgrade would also help on the processor/LAN side but this I do not know about.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks,
Dan

OK,

I ended up going with an RT-AC66U but probably not the B1 hardware version. I would love to load ASUSWRT-Merlin. Will it accommodate all that my current router does plus the roaming guest access?

TIA,
Dan

 

[ColinTaylor]

1) No
2) No. There is support for multiple guest Wi-Fi networks but they share the same dnsmasq server.
3) Maybe. But IIRC the filter is applied to each band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) not to individual guest networks.
4) Control is by MAC address in 1 hour slots.
5) Yes
6) Yes
7) Yes
8) Yes

PS I don't understand your "subnet" terminology. What is 3.100? 192.168.3.100, 10.3.100.x, 3.100.x.y, 10.100.3.x?

 

[Dan OBrien]

PS I don't understand your "subnet" terminology. What is 3.100? 192.168.3.100, 10.3.100.x, 3.100.x.y, 10.100.3.x?

Sorry.

3.100 is 192.168.3.100. On my guest networks, dnsmasq will issue 6 IPs so 100-105. After that it is very easy to control access to things.

Thanks,
Dan