ASUS RT-N66U Setup Help

[freethinker]

I recently purchased a RT-N66U. It's been a long while since I set up a router. Is there a step-by-step tutorial for the RT-N66U on SNB? I also want to try the Merlin firmware.

Will be connecting a laptop wired/wireless, Xbox 360/One and PS3 wired. DSL connection with Actiontec GT701D modem.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

[wouterv]

The RT-N66U from the box has to be connected by a network cable to your computer. When you power up the router, the computer usually gets automatically an IP address from the router.

Open your browser and at the address bar type: 192.168.1.1 <hit ENTER>

Logon information to the router is Username: admin, Password: admin.

The router setup wizzard will guide you through the most important parts.

The router tries to automatically connect to the internet (it tries different "standards" ways to access your modem, most times it will succeed, depending of the connection type it may ask for the credentials for your ISP).

It will further ask for a new Admin password, create one at your own wishes (use 8 alpha-numeric characters, Aa-Zz, 0-9, no spaces and odd characters).

It will ask for your wireless ID's and authentication method. Set a different SSID for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, so you know to what frequency you connect a client.

Set wireless authentication method to WPA2 Personal and create a Pre Shared Key code (again, use 8 alpha-numeric characters, Aa-Zz, 0-9, no spaces and odd characters), the code for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz can be kept the same for your convenience.

Anything else is basically optional, totally depending of your own unique situation.

I suggest to start like this and see what it brings.
For the wireless connection you need to connect to either your 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz channel, by the SSID as you have created and your authentication code.
For wired connections, no further setup is usually required.

After the setup wizzard, the standard configuration pages of the router appear, which I would not touch at this point.

According different sources you may need additional settings for the XBox (I have no experience with that box), I know the PS3 here at home works well without any special settings in the router.

For Merlin firmware the above applies, with more special features.

 

[freethinker]

Thank you.

 

[wouterv]

Next time, combine all questions at one place.

 

[jasonhavens]

I'm in the same boat, except I want to use the Asus RT-N66U only as a wireless router. I have an Apple Airport Extreme serving as my primary router. I've reserved a specific IP address for the Asus router.

I've configured the Asus router's WiFi settings and turned off its DHCP server. Would someone please help with tips on what to do next? For example, I think that I need to turn off most of the services under the "WAN" tab because the primary/AE router is doing all of that. I saw one other post that suggested placing the Asus router in a DMZ.

I can't find any other good documentation on these issues. I would greatly appreciate any tips or links to help resources if someone has already addressed all of this. Thank you very much in advance.

Kind regards,

Jason Havens

 

[RogerSC]

I'm in the same boat, except I want to use the Asus RT-N66U only as a wireless router. I have an Apple Airport Extreme serving as my primary router. I've reserved a specific IP address for the Asus router.

I've configured the Asus router's WiFi settings and turned off its DHCP server. Would someone please help with tips on what to do next? For example, I think that I need to turn off most of the services under the "WAN" tab because the primary/AE router is doing all of that. I saw one other post that suggested placing the Asus router in a DMZ.

I can't find any other good documentation on these issues. I would greatly appreciate any tips or links to help resources if someone has already addressed all of this. Thank you very much in advance.

Kind regards,

Jason Havens

Since you're only using your RT-N66U as a wireless access point (AP), you don't have to do much, other than turn off DHCP. You certainly wouldn't put an AP in the main router's DMZ. Just set the AP's IP address to be in the same subnet as the main router, but not at the default router IP address or in the DHCP IP address pool. For example, if your main router is at 192.168.1.1, you might put your AP at 192.168.1.2, and start your DHCP address pool above that. I think that you can leave most of the rest at the default settings, just run an ethernet cable from a LAN port of the main router to a LAN port of the AP (RT-N66U). So you see, you're not even using the WAN port on the AP, and the default WAN settings are usually fine. Also, disabling UPNP on the AP is a good idea, but then my preference is not to leave that enabled anyways *smile*.

And configure the wireless on the AP the way that you want. Usually you'll use different wireless channels on the main router and the AP, like channel 1 on the main router and channel 11 on the AP (or whatever channels are least used in your area). Usually you'll pick from channels 1, 6, and 11 on 2.4 GHz. For 5GHz., there's usually not much interference, and you have a wider selection of channels there.

Also, you'll most likely use the same SSID names on your AP as your main router, but you don't have to do that. I find it less confusing to do that, though.

Note that when you use a router for an AP, you also have the use of the 3 unused LAN ports for wired devices, should you need that.

 

[jlake]

No need to cascade LAN to LAN. The RT-N66U has an "AP mode". Just put n66u in to AP mode and plug the Ethernet cable coming from your main router in to the N66U's WAN/internet port.

Consult your manual and the Asus support website for info on AP mode.

Don't put the RT-n66u in to the DMZ when it's in AP mode.

 

[jasonhavens]

Thank you both. Let me clarify a bit, though. I'm using my Airport Extreme as a hardwired router only (no wireless). It's older, and just doesn't have the same power or range as the Asus router. Thus, I want to use the Asus router for all wireless clients in the network.

I have the Asus router in "Router" mode, but connected to the network via LAN port #1 (not the WAN port). That seems to be working well, with my hardwired AE controlling DHCP/all IP addresses. My WiFi network is much faster, and is now allowing my Sony products (all of which can pick up 5 GHz via WiFi) to stream HD content via WiFi -- what I couldn't do effectively with the AE.

I have one more question, and then I should be all set. First, if I want to connect another Apple Airport router, I think that I can use WDS for that purpose. Will this work? Just curious if anyone has direct experience with this. While these older Airport routers can't transmit strongly, they can surely receive good 5 GHz transmission from the Asus router and effectively function as an access point -- again, if the Asus router will allow it and with my configuration above (which I don't think would work at all if I put the Asus in AP mode).

If someone has a better configuration to accomplish all of this, please share. Thanks again. This is an excellent forum.

Kind regards,

Jason

 

[jasonhavens]

P.S., Sorry, but I forgot one other question:

Should I change the rate from 80 mW to 20 or 30? I saw this in other posts, and they said that this change dramatically increased the range of this Asus router. Perhaps this issue was resolved in firmware updates. Just curious. Thanks again.

Kind regards,

Jason

 

[L&LD]

You can try to limit the power output to 30mW and see how it affects your setup.

In my case, I did see a better connection when in the same room as the router - but range and throughput was easily lower (~10db down just 15 feet away).

I then tried setting 100mW limits for both 2.4 and 5.0 bands - this is where I am getting the best range and throughput no matter where I roam in the building.

I have also set this same setting (100mw) for a few customers and some even noticed it without me telling them about it first.

Try to see what works in your situation(s).


This works with:

Asus RT-N66U and the RMerlin - 36Beta1 SDK5 firmware.

Asus RT-AC56U and the beta 501 firmware.

Asus RT-AC66U and the RMerlin - 374.35-4 firmware.