ASUS RT-N66U - my review

[hggomes]

Thats really bad thought, my condolences

Nothing is infallible, but where did you read RT-N66Us fail often? Do you suspect power supply or router?

 

[darksamus]

Well, I was contemplating converting my RT-N66U to Tomato USB, like I did with my RT-N16U, but I'm glad that I waited. This morning, I looked at the router and all the status lights were off. The power supply blue LED was rapidly flashing, rather than being lit steadily. No amount of plugging, unplugging (different outlets) or using the reset button matters (hard or soft). I'm now in the ASUS RMA process. I bought the router from SuperBiiz and they only have a 30 day RMA period, which of course ran out a few days ago. The router worked perfectly for exactly 34 days. And I can't use another power supply, because ASUS has a smaller plug, probably because of the higher DC V.

Fortunately, I was only using the 66 as an AP off of the 16, so my wireless network is not completely wrecked. I've read other places that the RT-N66Us overheat and fail, but my router was in a nice cool, open location, so I don't think that was the problem.

Any thoughts, condolences, humorous anecdotes?

I have mine running for 21 days now but I had it over a month. It does gets warm, I have it on top of a notebook cooler that has two fans that is power by a usb port on the router.

 

[NightOwl326]

I have mine running for 21 days now but I had it over a month. It does gets warm, I have it on top of a notebook cooler that has two fans that is power by a usb port on the router.

Gets warm? It should. Heat sinks dissipate heat to air. That would be the heat sinks doing their job.

 

[mrcom]

NEW Question

A new question is there anybody that lives in europe that can set the Mw strength higher than 100mw. I personally live in sweden and im considering to reflash if there is sombody living over here that can do that because i can`t, And i suspect that it`s the router thats setting the limit based on location as it is regulated by law and you can`t set where you are inte the world.

 

[njweb]

Well, I was contemplating converting my RT-N66U to Tomato USB, like I did with my RT-N16U, but I'm glad that I waited. This morning, I looked at the router and all the status lights were off. The power supply blue LED was rapidly flashing, rather than being lit steadily. No amount of plugging, unplugging (different outlets) or using the reset button matters (hard or soft). I'm now in the ASUS RMA process. I bought the router from SuperBiiz and they only have a 30 day RMA period, which of course ran out a few days ago. The router worked perfectly for exactly 34 days. And I can't use another power supply, because ASUS has a smaller plug, probably because of the higher DC V.

Fortunately, I was only using the 66 as an AP off of the 16, so my wireless network is not completely wrecked. I've read other places that the RT-N66Us overheat and fail, but my router was in a nice cool, open location, so I don't think that was the problem.

Any thoughts, condolences, humorous anecdotes?

Sorry to hear that. :-(
Mine runs warm, but as someone also alluded to, that is normal (it is the heat sink dissipating the heat that is simply generated by the router doing its job). It certainly does not get hot.

I had a laptop that got a lot hotter (in parts) and still works fine after five years (I upgraded in December but still have the old laptop and access it occasionally).

 

[Greg_Elite]

Well, I was contemplating converting my RT-N66U to Tomato USB, like I did with my RT-N16U, but I'm glad that I waited. This morning, I looked at the router and all the status lights were off. The power supply blue LED was rapidly flashing, rather than being lit steadily. No amount of plugging, unplugging (different outlets) or using the reset button matters (hard or soft). I'm now in the ASUS RMA process. I bought the router from SuperBiiz and they only have a 30 day RMA period, which of course ran out a few days ago. The router worked perfectly for exactly 34 days. And I can't use another power supply, because ASUS has a smaller plug, probably because of the higher DC V.

Fortunately, I was only using the 66 as an AP off of the 16, so my wireless network is not completely wrecked. I've read other places that the RT-N66Us overheat and fail, but my router was in a nice cool, open location, so I don't think that was the problem.

Any thoughts, condolences, humorous anecdotes?

I'd still try to contact Superbiz and tell them that it's defective and see if they can do anything. Most likely you will have to take this out with Asus now.

 

[though]

A new question is there anybody that lives in europe that can set the Mw strength higher than 100mw. I personally live in sweden and im considering to reflash if there is sombody living over here that can do that because i can`t, And i suspect that it`s the router thats setting the limit based on location as it is regulated by law and you can`t set where you are inte the world.

can you load tomato and select "United States" as your location?

 

[mrcom]

can you load tomato and select "United States" as your location?

I was more thinking of reflashing the original firmware if somethings gone wrong with with the flash.

 

[emmittobie]

Just a quick question. I purchased this router open box at Fry's. It came with the broken firmware and I flashed it to the latest one. I have been using it as an access point off my Verizon FIOS router. I have my computer connected to the router via wired connection. For some reason I cannot get the network to connect at Gigabit speed. I have a Gigabit ethernet card and when I connect my Asus RT-N16 it connects with no problem at Gigabit speed. Any ideas or helpful hints? Wondering if I have a defective unit. Thanks in advance.

 

[magnus_ca]

Just a quick question. I purchased this router open box at Fry's. It came with the broken firmware and I flashed it to the latest one. I have been using it as an access point off my Verizon FIOS router. I have my computer connected to the router via wired connection. For some reason I cannot get the network to connect at Gigabit speed. I have a Gigabit ethernet card and when I connect my Asus RT-N16 it connects with no problem at Gigabit speed. Any ideas or helpful hints? Wondering if I have a defective unit. Thanks in advance.

Send all this + any logs to Networking_Support@asus.com.

ya disregard the greg asus firmware homer. if it's rockin' and rollin' with tomato stick with it and enjoy your new router!

(I couldn't resist)

 

[NightOwl326]

(I couldn't resist)

Bravo! I get it.....

 

[darksamus]

Just a quick question. I purchased this router open box at Fry's. It came with the broken firmware and I flashed it to the latest one. I have been using it as an access point off my Verizon FIOS router. I have my computer connected to the router via wired connection. For some reason I cannot get the network to connect at Gigabit speed. I have a Gigabit ethernet card and when I connect my Asus RT-N16 it connects with no problem at Gigabit speed. Any ideas or helpful hints? Wondering if I have a defective unit. Thanks in advance.

You use your fios router as the main router?! I have my rt-n66u connected directly into the ont via ethernet which gives better speed.

 

[emmittobie]

You use your fios router as the main router?! I have my rt-n66u connected directly into the ont via ethernet which gives better speed.

Didn't know you could do that. Also I think my ONT is somewhere outside so connecting it wouldn't be practical. But that still doesn't explain the issue I am having with the network not connecting at Gigabit speed. Thanks for the tip though.

 

[tonytoronto]

Didn't know you could do that. Also I think my ONT is somewhere outside so connecting it wouldn't be practical. But that still doesn't explain the issue I am having with the network not connecting at Gigabit speed. Thanks for the tip though.

Check to see if the pins in the router are bent? Some cheap cables are badly finished and push the pins to far, bending them. Mine is connected at 1gb with few pc's. Also, maybe check for firmware updates for the net cards. did u try all the ports?

 

[emmittobie]

Check to see if the pins in the router are bent? Some cheap cables are badly finished and push the pins to far, bending them. Mine is connected at 1gb with few pc's. Also, maybe check for firmware updates for the net cards. did u try all the ports?

I checked the pins and tried all the other ports. They all seem to connect at 100 Mbps so I think the router is defective. What sucks is that Fry's (where I purchased the item) has been sold out for some time now so I can't even exchange it for a new one. Thanks for the advice.

 

[though]

I checked the pins and tried all the other ports. They all seem to connect at 100 Mbps so I think the router is defective. What sucks is that Fry's (where I purchased the item) has been sold out for some time now so I can't even exchange it for a new one. Thanks for the advice.

do you have a 10/100/1000 switch that you can throw in it's place to see if it's really the router? slim chance it's actually the router...

 

[emmittobie]

do you have a 10/100/1000 switch that you can throw in it's place to see if it's really the router? slim chance it's actually the router...

I'm not sure that I follow. The reason I believe that it is defective is because when I connect my computer to my old Asus RT-N16 it connects at gigabit speed. When I connect to the RT-N66u it does not do the same. Hope that helps. It does seem weird though.

 

[though]

I'm not sure that I follow. The reason I believe that it is defective is because when I connect my computer to my old Asus RT-N16 it connects at gigabit speed. When I connect to the RT-N66u it does not do the same. Hope that helps. It does seem weird though.

plug your computers to the N16 and transfer a large file from 1 computer to another.

delete the file

plug your computers to the N66 and transfer the same large file from the same computer to the same computer as last time.

what speeds did you get both ways?

 

[emmittobie]

plug your computers to the N16 and transfer a large file from 1 computer to another.

delete the file

plug your computers to the N66 and transfer the same large file from the same computer to the same computer as last time.

what speeds did you get both ways?

I tried that already. There is a BIG difference between the two connections. I get about 10 times the speed when I connect to the RT-N16 as opposed to when I connect to the RT-N66.

 

[though]

I tried that already. There is a BIG difference between the two connections. I get about 10 times the speed when I connect to the RT-N16 as opposed to when I connect to the RT-N66.

have you tried to load tomato on it for shirts n giggles?