Asus RT-N66u with TomatoUSB firmware

[Hothersale]

216 Mbps would be impressive indeed. The very most the SmallNetBuilder tests were able to squeeze out of the router was 136 Mbps, and that was only in 3-stream 40Hz Uplink mode in the best possible location. I'd be thrilled to get 120 Mpbs throughput!

 

[got_milk]

With some free time I flashed Shibby's Tomato once more and this time enabled CTF and frame bursting (which I didn't before). On 5GHz, about 20ft away and separated by two walls, I can achieve a max sustained speed of 152Mbps (this is on downlink). Not nearly as good as what stock firmware gave me, but I think with some more time I might be able to get a little better performance yet.

 

[davewolfs]

What firmware is more stable. Merlin's or Tomato?

What are some reasons why one might want tomato firmware over stock?

 

[Starrbuck]

What firmware is more stable. Merlin's or Tomato?

What are some reasons why one might want tomato firmware over stock?

I can't say which is more stable, as I haven't tried Merlin's, but my Tomato router has been up for like 60 days with no reboots needed.

I went with TomatoUSB primarily for the stability vs. stock and for the Access Restrictions, so I can keep my kids off of the net when I want to.

 

[RMerlin]

At this point, both Tomato and Asuswrt-Merlin should be pretty much the same in terms of stability. Any difference will come down to features and performance.

 

[davewolfs]

At this point, both Tomato and Asuswrt-Merlin should be pretty much the same in terms of stability. Any difference will come down to features and performance.

What is the difference in performance?

 

[got_milk]

What is the difference in performance?

In my experience, using Shibby's latest v104 firmware, I noticed no significant changes in wired performance but wireless performance was quite lower than stock - stock firmware allows me to transfer up to 27MB/s over the 5GHz band, whereas Tomato seemed to top out at about 19-21MB/s. However these speeds were unreliable at best, with file transfers dipping under less than 10MB/s frequently. Stock firmware/Asuswrt-Merlin provides a much more solid throughput.

I also noticed issues with my Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.2.1 while using the 2.4GHz band for WiFi access - namely, a very slow throughput and common connection drops. I've yet to experience any of that on Asus stock or Asuswrt-Merlin.

I would love to use Tomato, as it has an excellent interface and I would really benefit from the very powerful QoS it offers, but stock just performs much better overall.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"while using the 2.4GHz band"

Me too. While I'll play with the Tomato variants I'm sticking with Merlin's. No connectivity issues, stalls, etc., with it and 2.4ghz channels.

 

[scotde]

It depends on your needs

I have used the stock, Merlin and Shibby firmwares. Merlin's seemed to provide the best stability and wireless throughput. However, I have stuck with Shibby. It has been resonably stable and it offers, in my opinion, the best parental controls through its "access restrictions" set-up. When it comes to parental controls, I had endless problems with the stock firmware; it looks good but, in effect, it is not reliable and not flexible enough. Merlin has not tinkered with the parental controls.
So, I so suppose it depends on your needs and set-up. I am willing to sacrifice a bit of wireless performance in order to have better parental controls. If and when the kids get more responsible or I need the signal to travel further then I would move back to Merlin.

 

[ccollinscj]

Does Tomato support AiCloud router functions?

 

[got_milk]

No, only ASUS and ASUS-derived firmware (think Asuswrt-Merlin) does (and ever will).

 

[valerima]

victek is a geek

new build is coming...
I am very curious...
his tomato was da best

-----
In the meantime revised some bugs and included Network Congestion Control (Scalable & Illiniois). it will be available in new release 9013.1 ... please wait for the weekend.

 

[got_milk]

Do Victek's builds include 64K NVRAM support?

 

[MonkY]

new build is coming...
I am very curious...
his tomato was da best

-----
In the meantime revised some bugs and included Network Congestion Control (Scalable & Illiniois). it will be available in new release 9013.1 ... please wait for the weekend.

Do you know if RT-AC66U will be supported in the new build? Or only RT-N66U?

 

[valerima]

Victek's tomato

1) regarding 64k-


Well...I seen discussion among shibby and victek about. Maybe it is too early to think about victek's build...although it is on his site...


I was looking for information from people who flashed. Looks only one confirmed. I had Victek' s tomato on my linksys e3000 and it was absolutely the best,m same with rt-n16.
But for rt - n66u still not enough data for the moment. Only one confirmed:
http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/tomato-raf-1-28-9013.63093/

------------------------
I'm running that and i have 64K.
Total / Free NVRAM 64.00 KB / 39.71 KB (62.04%)
---------------------


Maybe it is still better to wait, to be on the safe side.

 

[pigbrother]

Does anyone has problems with WAN speed? I have them on E4200 and I upgraded to N66U, hopping they will go away due to superior hardware. However, the same issue appears: as soon as the download WAN speed reaches 70-80Mbps, the router starts to chocke. Current transfers work fine, but it does not accept new connection, I have DNS errors and the Web Interface loads painfully slow.

Default firmware or Merlin build work fine. The Internet connection is simple 100Mbps ethernet, no PPPoE, but I don't know if CTF was set on by default or no in Shibby.

Sent from iPad

 

[tlsrulz]

ok. so I read all 46 pages of this thread.. and have a quick question.

I have a stock 66U.. and want to go to 64K 104b..
Assuming that stock is still on 32K .. do I have to do anything other than just flash the 64K-104 build and it will work.

Thanks

 

[lazik]

ok. so I read all 46 pages of this thread.. and have a quick question.

I have a stock 66U.. and want to go to 64K 104b..
Assuming that stock is still on 32K .. do I have to do anything other than just flash the 64K-104 build and it will work.

Thanks

Just flash. That's all.

Wysłane z Ramos W30HD za pomocą Tapatalk2

 

[maxmaia]

firmware flashing

First I apologise if asking simple questions, but after reading many forums I still cannot figure out which is the best way of flashing my new RT-n66u. (and honestly, I'm a little bit afraid to not brick the router)

Goal: Upgrade RT-n66u having 3.0.0.4.260 ASUS original firmware to Tomato firmware- tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-104-AIO-64K

Q1: is it enough to upload Tomato firmware into ASUS web interface in "Firmware Upgrade" page?
Q2: if not, which would be the best steps to do it?
Q3: Do I need first to upgrade CFE to 64K ? Current CFE version:

cat /dev/mtd0ro | grep bl_version
bl_version=1.0.1.2

Many thanks.

 

[valerima]

flaishing to tomato

Be very careful. I would use that guide.

http://www.shadowandy.net/2012/03/asus-rt-n66u-tomatousb-firmware-flashing-guide.htm