TheLyppardMan
Very Senior Member
I have just replaced an RT-AC88U with the newer RT-AC86U, partly because I didn't like the aesthetics when the router was wall-mounted and when I moved it to my desk, it was occupying too much space.
My first surprise was how small the new router is and the fact that it stands vertically means that it occupies very little desk space. I like the fact that ASUS has reduced the brightness of the leds as well and that all the cables can be out of sight, making for a really neat and tidy installation. As for the most important part - the performance - it seems to be just as good as my 88U, except that SNMP is no longer available, so I can't monitor my router traffic with Networx (unless I switch on UPnP, which I don't want to do). I've successfully flashed it with the latest Merlin firmware, added AB Solution and a script to force safe search in Google, all of which seem to be working fine. The only issues I have had, but which I also had on the 88U are the incorrect displaying of traffic history (various things, including not displaying entries in chronological order and not displaying results for individual items when specifically selected) and high CPU usage (which seems to have cleared after power off the router). So overall, I would say that I am pleased with my choice.
My first surprise was how small the new router is and the fact that it stands vertically means that it occupies very little desk space. I like the fact that ASUS has reduced the brightness of the leds as well and that all the cables can be out of sight, making for a really neat and tidy installation. As for the most important part - the performance - it seems to be just as good as my 88U, except that SNMP is no longer available, so I can't monitor my router traffic with Networx (unless I switch on UPnP, which I don't want to do). I've successfully flashed it with the latest Merlin firmware, added AB Solution and a script to force safe search in Google, all of which seem to be working fine. The only issues I have had, but which I also had on the 88U are the incorrect displaying of traffic history (various things, including not displaying entries in chronological order and not displaying results for individual items when specifically selected) and high CPU usage (which seems to have cleared after power off the router). So overall, I would say that I am pleased with my choice.
