ASUS RT-AC87 Firmware - Official Releases

[SpacemanJT]

Weight

Does anyone know how much weight the casing of the RT-AC87U can take?

Just trying to make sure that this router really is suitable for use as a car jack / door stop etc.

It certainly isn't suitable for use as a router or WAP....

 

[madhatter01]

Having issues with the router for the first time with my Nexus 6 on 5Ghz. It sometimes does not connect, but says it is or its really slow.

 

[dfran1]

Thanks guys for the replies. I cant quote everyone as it will make my post looks long.

I can feel your frustration and i agree with you that when the 5Ghz works, it is incredible. Like what asus says, in search for incredible.

But when the 5Ghz fails, it's often too disappointing.

I'm now at a point looking at ways to dump this equipment as i value performance alot, especially price to performance ratio...

However, I'm at a loss of what to purchase in order to replace the ac87u.. honestly, one part of me wants to keep it and the other part wants to dump it. If asus doesnt fix this issue by february 2015, it has to go no matter what.

In the meantime, i see linksys e8350 and netgear r8000 waving at me..

I have also been looking at other options, this 87r was supposed to be the router that lasted years, reliably, as now see below.

Does anyone know how much weight the casing of the RT-AC87U can take?

Just trying to make sure that this router really is suitable for use as a car jack / door stop etc.

It certainly isn't suitable for use as a router or WAP....

I think you may have found a use for this router.
But it may be too big for the job and we'll just trip on it.

Between the 5ghz drops and the lack of (studdering video playback) streaming from my usb 3.0 drive , when I plug in the exact same drive directly to my player, and my player plays fine with a usb 2.0 port only, I am really loosing hope for this router all together.

I think the best asus router was my old 66r, worked great, the 68r sucked from usb issues for months, but both had horrendous 5ghz signal strength, distance was so short, I never used it on either of them.

 

[lilstone87]

Well just ran into same issue on both the .3561 beta, and the intel beta someone posted in this thread recently. Whenever I turn QoS on, and turn on Traditional QoS. It causes my router to just repeatedly reboot, to the point all I can do is hold the wps button, and do the 30/30/30 reset. I watched the lights on router, and it would never fully boot back up after enabling Traditional QoS. So there is some kind of bug at least in these two firmwares, when enabling the Traditional part of QoS.

 

[Gary Key]

Update 12/01/2014 - Beta Release - Build 3123

Beta Release - Build 3123

1. This is not on the support site and servers for auto update.
2. Download here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw2xQ5benV_uZ25FTlFiOFlXVjg/view?usp=sharing
3. Short Fix List
Fixes:
1.TrendMicro Engine updated to fix log issues
2. Numerous bug fixes and performance improvements

Update
1.Expect public release shortly after qualification testing completes.
2.Another public release in early Q1 with new Quantenna driver updates.

 

[hackintoshsr]

Thanks for the update Gary. I will try it out when I get home!

 

[rtcomputersinc]

Here is the Gary that people all the time says doesn't exist. Good to see you around. Cant wait to hear feed back on latest beta.

 

[hackintoshsr]

Initial tests seem great! Like night and day. Will know after a while of testing

 

[ankhazam]

Initial beta FW#378_3123 review

Update 12/01/2014 - Beta Release - Build 3123

Beta Release - Build 3123

1. This is not on the support site and servers for auto update.
2. Download here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw2xQ5benV_uZ25FTlFiOFlXVjg/view?usp=sharing
3. Short Fix List
Fixes:
1.TrendMicro Engine updated to fix log issues
2. Numerous bug fixes and performance improvements

Update
1.Expect public release shortly after qualification testing completes.
2.Another public release in early Q1 with new Quantenna driver updates.

Thanks for the update... initial tests look great!
Below I allowed myself to prepare a short list of goodies and bugsies in the latest beta.
So that the good stuff is remembered I will leave it for the end and now let's move on with the bad news.
As a reference I am using:

• the RT-AC87u with above firmware,
• a Win8.1 PC with Asus Z97 deluxe mobo with the integrated broadcom 802.11ac adapter,
• 5GHz connection behind a few walls.

Bad stuff about the firmware:

• WPS enabled by default after firmware update -- though it can be confirmed by entering the WLAN WPS settings tab,
• WPS@5GHz is auto enabled after each router reboot -- even though reported as disabled and to disable it you need to turn it on and off in the WLAN WPS settings page,
• the RESET button in WLAN WPS tab must be removed asap or marked with a huge warning that it won't reset your WPS but the whole f**** WLAN settings and leave your system open... well that was a pretty nasty surprise to me after clicking it,
• the LED button is still bugged, after any changes the leds reappear and won't go dark unless the router is rebooted,
• AirProtection router security scan reports UPnP vulnerability even though it is disabled in the WAN tab
• for (select your relevant deity) sake please mask/hide the passwords in PPTP VPN server tab, the best option would be to disable the password preview at all and allow only changing once forgotten

Now for the good stuff:

• after the beam is formed, my 802.11ac samba transfer from a NAS attached to the routed has gone up from 30MB/s up to 35MB/s, kudos!
• the general responsiveness of router UI has improved, kudos!
• QoS monitor works much better, kudos!
• Network map with the static info works also better (no disappearing), kudos

Finally please tell us more about the "ROG First" clients in QoS panel and maybe consider adding static DHCP assignments names & sorting option in the IP/MAC table.

Kudos for this release and please keep up the good work!

 

[lilstone87]

Again even with this firmware Gary posted yesterday. When I enable Traditional QoS, The router starts doing a reboot loop every minute or so. If anyone here is using this firmware or the .3651 beta, and doesn't mind doing a little testing. Try enabling Traditional QoS, and give feedback, if it is causing your router to go into a reboot loop. Using the Adaptive QoS, the router reboots just fine.

If your router does go into reboot loop, just hold the WPS button on back of router, while turning the router off, and back on, continue to hold the wps button till the power light starts blinking. Then your router will factory reset.

 

[raven-au]

Update 12/01/2014 - Beta Release - Build 3123

Beta Release - Build 3123

Tried it to see if I still have the problem of not being able to connect to the 5Ghz band of an R8000 with the media bridge mode of the RT-AC87U.

And it doesn't work.
Connecting to the 2.4Ghz band works OK.
Also previously tried disabling the R8000 Smart Connect but still couldn't connect to either of the distinct 5Ghz SSIDs.

A bit to much to hope for I guess since I only reported it to ASUS a few days ago.

Ian

 

[StormEffect]

Tried it to see if I still have the problem of not being able to connect to the 5Ghz band of an R8000 with the media bridge mode of the RT-AC87U.

And it doesn't work.
Connecting to the 2.4Ghz band works OK.
Also previously tried disabling the R8000 Smart Connect but still couldn't connect to either of the distinct 5Ghz SSIDs.

A bit to much to hope for I guess since I only reported it to ASUS a few days ago.

Ian

Just for the sake of troubleshooting, try removing all special characters from your 5ghz network password. I was unable to connect with my ac87u in media bridge mode until I removed those things (including spaces) from my password. Just like you, only had the issue on 5Ghz.

 

[ktd]

Update 12/01/2014 - Beta Release - Build 3123

Beta Release - Build 3123

Wow, this beta seems to work great so far.
I have much better signal strength and no dropouts on 5GHz so far.

 

[raven-au]

Just for the sake of troubleshooting, try removing all special characters from your 5ghz network password. I was unable to connect with my ac87u in media bridge mode until I removed those things (including spaces) from my password. Just like you, only had the issue on 5Ghz.

I don't have any special characters or spaces in my SSIDs.
They are mixed case though, eg. Ersatz for the 5Ghz but that's all.
And the 2.4Ghz (ie. Nova) works fine.

Edit: Oh wait ... your talking about the pre-shared key, right, I do have special characters in those. I'll give that a try.
Edit2:
It works, that is a surprise.
The developer that did this would have to get some sort of a prize for lame mistake of the year I think,
Thanks a lot for the effort in replying to my question.

Ian

Ian

 

[Richard1864]

Update 12/01/2014 - Beta Release - Build 3123

Beta Release - Build 3123

1. This is not on the support site and servers for auto update.
2. Download here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw2xQ5benV_uZ25FTlFiOFlXVjg/view?usp=sharing
3. Short Fix List
Fixes:
1.TrendMicro Engine updated to fix log issues
2. Numerous bug fixes and performance improvements

Update
1.Expect public release shortly after qualification testing completes.
2.Another public release in early Q1 with new Quantenna driver updates.

I tried this beta, and here were my results:

I have Verizon FiOS 300 Mbps down/300 Mbps up, so that's my ISP data package.

Asus 87R Speed test done using Speedtest.net website and iOS app. 10 tests each, in each of 5 rooms, up to 318 feet from router (I measured). Max speed was 173.26 Mbps down/126.14 up with 2012 MacBook Air using Yosemite 10.10.1 (latest Mac OS). Max speed iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1.1 87.41 Mbps/33.82 Mbps. An improvement, since neither device would even SEE the router after Yosemite/iOS 8 release. Ethernet speed test only got me 218.62 Mbps down/198.79 Mbps up. My boss brought his 2014 MacBook Pro with Yosemite 10.10.1, and it wouldnt see the 87R at all, but it saw the Netgear R8000 immediately.

Connectivity still a bust as 5 Ghz dropped out completely after 22:19 minutes, and 2.4 Ghz disappeared after 39:18 minutes, regardless of which Apple device used. I don't have any Windows devices. Manually powering the 87R off for 2 minutes then rebooting would bring wifi back, but not for long.

Netgear R8000 speed tests, everything identical to above. 2012 MacBook Air got 310 Mbps down/301 Mbps up. IPhone 6 achieved 300 Mbps down/299.03 Mbps up, pretty good since it's only supposed to get 300 Mbps down/300 Mbps so it's getting too speed. Ethernet speed test results were 342.19 Mbps down/341.53 Mbps up. Still connected to R8000 wifi after 9:14:21 hours.

Obviously, there's something odd going on with this 87R router and Apple's computers, and I've no idea what it is. Apple Tech Support confirmed they're still having issues with Asus routers, almost 8 to 1 more trouble calls and Apple Support site postings than with other brands. Be nice to get it fixed.

 

[hackintoshsr]

Yeah my 5ghz dropped out completely last night. I haven't had time to test it out since I have been working, but will hopefully know if it was a fluke or it drops out consistently later this week.

 

[Hydro]

Yeah my 5ghz dropped out completely last night. I haven't had time to test it out since I have been working, but will hopefully know if it was a fluke or it drops out consistently later this week.

If I'm reading Gary's latest update post correctly, I wouldn't expect to see any real improvements to the 5ghz woes until the Quantenna update in 1Q, but perhaps I'm getting that wrong?

I haven't loaded the latest beta yet myself, so I can't speak from any experience with it...

Cheers, Chris

 

[PaperFriend]

AC 87 as an access point

Quick question. Has anyone successfully configured a second unit in access point mode? I originally purchased two units. One as the router and the other one on the other side of my house as an access point. The access point would regularly drop Internet to the device connected to it. I returned it to wait and see if the performance improved with new firmware updates. I did assigned it a fixed IP address so who knows if that caused the issue.

 

[hackintoshsr]

If I'm reading Gary's latest update post correctly, I wouldn't expect to see any real improvements to the 5ghz woes until the Quantenna update in 1Q, but perhaps I'm getting that wrong?

I haven't loaded the latest beta yet myself, so I can't speak from any experience with it...

Cheers, Chris

Well the light was completely off on 5ghz and not showing up on wifi scan. This is different behavior than previously where it would still be connected 5ghz still show up, just wouldn't work intermittently.

I wasn't getting 5ghz completely shutting off prior. I may have seen it do it twice in the few months I have had the router. I was surprised it happened so soon of updating firmware.

 

[LoneWolf]

Question --have we all seen any consistency with the type of devices dropping 5GHz wireless?

Are people having mainly problems with Apple (e.g., iPad, Macbook, etc)., or specific wifi chipsets (Intel, Broadcom, Atheros?)

Not asking for my sake, but trying to figure out for others if the issues they are reporting can be narrowed (e.g., an OSX issue, Intel 7260 driver, etc.). Most of my connection here is with an Intel 6300 on Windows 7 Enterprise (so, 802.11n 5GHz), but there's my Buffalo wireless bridge as well on AC 5GHz, and my work laptop (Intel 7260, Windows 8.1 Pro), and I haven't been having issues on 2769. I haven't upgraded to the new firmware yet. Note: I did have issues with several firmware prior to 2769, with 5GHz showing as connected, but providing no throughput. This lessened considerably with the firmware prior to 2769, and disappeared completely with 2769.

I have an iPhone 6 here, and haven't had any issues so far, but my use on the wifi has been minor. My outgoing Droid MAXX, well, I'd hope for better signal strength with it, but since moving the router upstairs, I haven't had dropouts on 5GHz. My wife has not complained of issues on her iPhone 5c.