ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.374.5656

[kenrok1]

Can someone please comment on the speed of the 2.4 GHz radio ?

I initially bought this router about 4 months ago and returned it due to the fact that the speed and throughput I was getting on the 2.4 GHz (802.11g) radio was slower than on my current DLink DGL-4500.

I can remember (at that time), the slowness of the Asus 2.4Ghz radio was a known issue - that many had commented that they hoped would be solved by a firmware update.

So, now that I want to take another run at this router - can anyone (who HAS experienced the slow 2.4GHz speed) - comment on whether or not this aspect has improved - and if so, how much has it improved ?

I don't have any experience with D-Link but I can tell you in my experiences the 2.4 GHz on the RT-AC68U has proven better for me (throughput, linkrate and range) than the Netgear R7000, Linksys EA6900 and WRT1900AC

I have 100 down / 10 up from my ISP and I can get about 20-30 down / 10 up just about anywhere in the house where on the others the best I could get was around half that, usually worse.

 

[Xerxist]

No problem here on the 5ghz.
What I did find is that the video streaming from YouTube doesn't hicup anymore with this latest version.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[jim769]

I updated manually using the Asus website to get the firmware then installed with a factory reset. 5Ghz seems ok on my desktop and laptops but not on my ipad and i use the ipad a lot so i am going back to 374.41

 

[KGB7]

Merlins 374.41 firmware doesnt like this new firmware. Entire network bugs down and internet pages time out.

But if i use this new firmware on both routers, then everything works fine and web surfing is snappy.

 

[ualdrivr]

Just upgraded to 5656 and everything appears normal. I downloaded the file and did a Firmware upgrade, no resets or anything. 2.4 and 5 GHz bands operate at full speed. No problems at all.

 

[Pedro]

The notification alarms is something I was partly mitigating as I had disabled part of them in 374.40 while waiting for Asus to polish them a bit more.

Is there a way to disable FW update notifications on official asus FW?

 

[RMerlin]

Is there a way to disable FW update notifications on official asus FW?

Not officially, no.

 

[kenrok1]

.5517 from the UI everything seems fast and stable on both bands. tested from iPads (air, 3 and mini) and iPhones (4s and 5s) the only difference I can see at all is the 5GHz changed from channel 153 to 149 on auto (2.4 did not, stayed on 6)

But I'm seeing something suspicious on uptime of ~20 min when in fact it's been a few hours... I habitually cleared the log before I noticed so I'm going to have to watch it and see if it resets

 

[KGB7]

Quick update.

2.4ghz band is slightly weaker and the signal strength bounces up and down every few minutes.
WLAN speed has dropped, but still quick and snappy when surfing the web. Thus Merlin's 374.41 and Asus 374.5047 firmware is better on 2.4ghz band.

From 5 feet away, Samsung Galaxy s4 shows a link speed of 13Mbps. From 20 feet away, link speed drops to 6Mbps, even though it shows full bars. WiFi Analyzer shows -52dBm.

Downloading apps from Google app store is slow.

Using Ookla Speed Test App.
Speed tests are all over the place. Varies between 16Mbps and 44Mbps.

With other firmwares, I always maxed out my FiOS 50/25 (58/34).

On desktop pc wired directly in to the routers, WAN speed is at 58/34, using same server.

 

[alistair]

I downloaded and installed 5656 today from this page http://www.asus.com/us/support/Download/11/2/RTAC68U/36/ now I checked it again and noticed that it was removed! This can't be a good sign, can it?

Edit: Now it's up there again... I'm confused. It was gone for like 30 minutes (at least).

 

[KGB7]

Back on 5047 firmware.

Galaxy S4.
Link speed out in the garage that is detached from the townhouse is at 19Mbps, but at a constant 2 bars and no fluctuations. Roughly 40 feet away from the router on the ground level.
Webpages don't load as fast as they did with 5656 firmware. There is a give or take a second difference.

 

[IAAI]

Quick update.

2.4ghz band is slightly weaker and the signal strength bounces up and down every few minutes.
WLAN speed has dropped, but still quick and snappy when surfing the web. Thus Merlin's 374.41 and Asus 374.5047 firmware is better on 2.4ghz band.

From 5 feet away, Samsung Galaxy s4 shows a link speed of 13Mbps. From 20 feet away, link speed drops to 6Mbps, even though it shows full bars. WiFi Analyzer shows -52dBm.

Downloading apps from Google app store is slow.

Using Ookla Speed Test App.
Speed tests are all over the place. Varies between 16Mbps and 44Mbps.

With other firmwares, I always maxed out my FiOS 50/25 (58/34).

On desktop pc wired directly in to the routers, WAN speed is at 58/34, using same server.

Thats the usual , asus fks things up and they wait until Merlin figures out what they screwed up and fix's it (in build 42)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Binar]

I downloaded and installed 5656 today from this page http://www.asus.com/us/support/Download/11/2/RTAC68U/36/ now I checked it again and noticed that it was removed! This can't be a good sign, can it?

Edit: Now it's up there again... I'm confused. It was gone for like 30 minutes (at least).

Maybe a new file was uploaded.

 

[jonstatt]

Well I saw a 1300Mbps link for the first time ever with my two RT-AC68U's today after installing 5656. It is moving between 1053 and 1300, but on the older firmwares I never got higher than 877! So something has improved there even though its not documented.

 

[ogo]

I have this router since yesterday, I upgraded the firmware to 5656 and everything looks to work fine. On a g adapter the internet speed is 25 Mbps comparing with the 19 Mbps from the old router. This is a +32% increase in internet speed for the same old g adapter.

I have a primary WAN a cable link 60Mbps/4Mbps and secondary WAN a 3G USB modem.

In first test I unplugged the primary ethernet cable and the secondary take over successfully dropping few package (what I was able to see with ping -t command, 2 to 10 lines of "request timed out"). When I plugged back the ethernet cable, the primary takeover in maximum one minute again with few lines of "request timed out", the modem is disconnected and connected back, ready for the next swap (at least this is shown on the Network Map tab from the router menu). I repeated the test few times and everything looks fine.

In second test I unplugged the TV cable from the cable modem, keeping the ethernet cable connected and the cable modem powered. No reaction from the router, primary is shown connected, secondary connected but no internet traffic. I tried to enable the watch dog, switch to load balance, same behavior no reaction from the router to move on the secondary WAN, when TV cable is disconnected. In this case the router behavior is like any ordinary router without fail over/ load balance feature.

I am not an IT professional, please advise what setting I have to make to have a real life fail over where nobody cut or remove the ethernet cable, only no data coming or going on the wire.

Thank you very much !

 

[ualdrivr]

23 hours with the new Firmware .5656 and no hiccups, running smooth.....

 

[Binar]

Hmm , is there a chance there were 2 files with the same name and that's why we have several members complaining about 5g disconnects in the beginning of the thread ? Bad firmware was uploaded by Asus and it got replaced later in the afternoon when they realized the mistake. If any of you has problems with this firmware try to redownload/reinstall it. Post here if you see any improvement

 

[drabisan]

I can't help it and I did the upgrade. So far so good. One small issue: openvpn was "initiating" several hours after upgrade (spinning something in the vpn config page). Disable vpn. Apply. Enable vpn. Apply and everything is back on.
Logs are showing nothing about it.

 

[lurker]

OpenVPN starts working even after pressing Apply once without disable/enable. But it means that vpn won't start normally after power failure, for example.

 

[DynamiteZerg]

When 5656 first came out, I used the router's webgui to upgrade the firmware.

Wireless was a tad odd as compared to 5047. The speeds was really fluctuating badly.

I took a look at the firmware number on the webgui and noticed that the string of numbers at the end is different to the one I downloaded manually from the website.

Since I have nothing to lose, I upgraded the firmware with the one I got off the support website. Seems to have improved the wireless performance.