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Until recently I was a Big CISCO router (Linksys) fan until I disbanded all loyalties, previous rhetorical beliefs, etc., jumped the fence and purchased an ASUS Router. I scored an RT-AC66U Dual Band Gigabit router on a great sale on Amazon. This became my first experience using the 5ghz band and I love it. Now that I've played with it considerably I'm becoming more interested in seeking increased performance. One of the steps I took was to replace the standard ASUS firmware with the ASUSWRT-Merlin variety. Of the several generally accepted 3rd Party flavors available like "Tomato" as an example, it appeared to me that the Merlin was the most stable and seemed to be the overall favorite. As a disclaimer, let me be the first to state that my conclusions are all based on a cursory review of the subject matter, I have no dog in this race.

Moving on to the point. As I'm becoming more familiar with this router I noticed a group of settings under a general grouping refered to as "Professional Settings". Contained In this group there are two settings (near the bottom) captioned
5badc80e-133c-4705-989e-a119b7dd5973.jpg


Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 
I have "Beamforming" enabled for both band - since day one.
Works well - without any prove that it really helps. :rolleyes:

In general the professional settings should be left on default settings until you really know what you are doing. A good explanation of the options can be found on RouterGuide.net
 
I have "Beamforming" enabled for both band - since day one.
Works well - without any prove that it really helps. :rolleyes:

In general the professional settings should be left on default settings until you really know what you are doing. A good explanation of the options can be found on RouterGuide.net
Thanks, I'll give that a try. I appreciate your warning. Actually, I'm a retired Software Developer and I've been around awhile, I'm just not up to speed on Dual Band routers. Just to be clear, I understand beanforming, my question really had more to do with the "ASUSWRT-MERLIN" 3rd party firmware replacement. It seems that once the Merlin firmware is installed (replacing the ASUS stock firmware) and you go to Professional Settings, there are no longer settings with regards to beamforming! I was asking about… After I uploaded the graphic, it overlaid the 40% of my text and so you probably didn't see my question… Thanks again though…

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/32329-does-beamforming-really-work

Personally, I recommend disabling implicit/Universal Beamforming (for compatibility reasons), and keeping Explicit enabled on the 5 GHz band only.
Just to be clear, I understand beanforming, my question really had more to do with the "ASUSWRT-MERLIN" 3rd party firmware replacement. It seems that once the Merlin firmware is installed (replacing the ASUS stock firmware) and you go to Professional Settings, there are no longer settings with regards to beamforming! I was asking about… After I uploaded the graphic, it overlaid the 40% of my text and so you probably didn't see my question… Thanks again though

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 
Just to be clear, I understand beanforming, my question really had more to do with the "ASUSWRT-MERLIN" 3rd party firmware replacement. It seems that once the Merlin firmware is installed (replacing the ASUS stock firmware) and you go to Professional Settings, there are no longer settings with regards to beamforming! I was asking about… After I uploaded the graphic, it overlaid the 40% of my text and so you probably didn't see my question… Thanks again though

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

The Professional Page settings are identical to those found in the stock firmware, I haven't done any change to the whole page.

Code:
merlin@ubuntu-dev:~$ md5sum asuswrt.380-7743-ac88/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp ~/asuswrt/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp 
cc2e22fe91355c2d134935b82af23d8e  asuswrt.380-7743-ac88/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp
cc2e22fe91355c2d134935b82af23d8e  /home/merlin/asuswrt/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp
 
I don't see the explicit setting in 5G. Mine has universal and 802.11ac beam forming.

Explicit = 802.11ac. Asus changed that label's name over time.

What is the preferred in 5G?

Enable only 802.11ac beamforming on the 5 GHz band, as it's actually part of the 802.11ac specifications, unlike with 802.11n.
 
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I don't see the explicit setting in 5G. Mine has universal and 802.11ac beam forming. What is the preferred in 5G? I see that beam forming on 2.4G you don't advise for compatibility issues.
I believe that 802.11ac beamforming is the same thing as Explicit Beamforming.
 
Thanks my friends!
 
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/32329-does-beamforming-really-work

Personally, I recommend disabling implicit/Universal Beamforming (for compatibility reasons), and keeping Explicit enabled on the 5 GHz band only.
Thank you, however, I'm really not sure of people's ability to comprehend? Your answer has nothing to do with my inquiry? Again, for the third time, all I was trying to find out is WHY the Custom 3rd party firmware, ASUSWRT-Merlin, does NOT offer settings with regards to "beamforming"? The standard ASUS offering, in the "WIRELESS/PROFESSIONAL SETTINGS" makes no references to beamforming? That's - that's it!

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 
Thank you, however, I'm really not sure of people's ability to comprehend? Your answer has nothing to do with my inquiry? Again, for the third time, all I was trying to find out is WHY the Custom 3rd party firmware, ASUSWRT-Merlin, does NOT offer settings with regards to "beamforming"? The standard ASUS offering, in the "WIRELESS/PROFESSIONAL SETTINGS" makes no references to beamforming? That's - that's it!

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

I already answered that question in that post.
 
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The Professional Page settings are identical to those found in the stock firmware, I haven't done any change to the whole page.

Code:
merlin@ubuntu-dev:~$ md5sum asuswrt.380-7743-ac88/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp ~/asuswrt/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp
cc2e22fe91355c2d134935b82af23d8e  asuswrt.380-7743-ac88/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp
cc2e22fe91355c2d134935b82af23d8e  /home/merlin/asuswrt/release/src/router/www/Advanced_WAdvanced_Content.asp
 
Thank you, however, I'm really not sure of people's ability to comprehend? Your answer has nothing to do with my inquiry? Again, for the third time, all I was trying to find out is WHY the Custom 3rd party firmware, ASUSWRT-Merlin, does NOT offer settings with regards to "beamforming"? The standard ASUS offering, in the "WIRELESS/PROFESSIONAL SETTINGS" makes no references to beamforming? That's - that's it!

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
Have you flushed browser cache since installing Merlin?
 
Well, if you like, I can do a screen grab of my settings that not only don't make reference to other setting as well? This is my 3rd Merlin Install. Never had a problem. It was only on this third install that I decided to start quantifying beamforming that I noticed the reference was no longer there?
 
Well, if you like, I can do a screen grab of my settings that not only don't make reference to other setting as well? This is my 3rd Merlin Install. Never had a problem. It was only on this third install that I decided to start quantifying beamforming that I noticed the reference was no longer there?

I just flashed Asus's 3.0.0.4.380_7743 on my RT-AC66U, and there's no beamforming option on the stock firmware either. I think that option is only available on the newer models.
 
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Here is the list of models that support beamforming, according to the source code (the two fields only get shown for these models):

Code:
if( based_modelid == "RT-AC3200" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC56S" || based_modelid == "RT-AC56U" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC68U" || based_modelid == "RT-AC68A" || based_modelid == "DSL-AC68U" || based_modelid == "4G-AC68U" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC87U" || based_modelid == "EA-AC87" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC88U" || based_modelid == "RT-AC86U" || based_modelid == "AC2900" || based_modelid == "RT-AC3100" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC5300" || based_modelid == "GT-AC5300")
 
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Here is the list of models that support beamforming, according to the source code (the two fields only get shown for these models):

Code:
if( based_modelid == "RT-AC3200" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC56S" || based_modelid == "RT-AC56U" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC68U" || based_modelid == "RT-AC68A" || based_modelid == "DSL-AC68U" || based_modelid == "4G-AC68U" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC87U" || based_modelid == "EA-AC87" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC88U" || based_modelid == "RT-AC86U" || based_modelid == "AC2900" || based_modelid == "RT-AC3100" ||
    based_modelid == "RT-AC5300" || based_modelid == "GT-AC5300")
Hi, obviously the AC66U is not referenced. With all due respect, if you will go to the beginning of this discussion you will see a screen grab that I posted with my original inquiry. Near the bottom of the list it clearly shows the settings for Explicit & Universal beamforming. I only wrote my original inquiry because I didn't fully understand the usage at 5 GHz and because I noticed that after the Merlin install no longer displayed these settings. I did notice though that when I did the capture I was looking at the 2.4 GHz option. I do not recall if the 5 GHz option was supported? It only goes to show that there must be a discrepancy somewhere, no?

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 
I don't believe you ever did get to the point. I see some talk of dogs, fences and races but that's all. :)
Hi, the reason you don't see the point I was attempting to (and did) make is that for some reason in Tapatalk, when I uploaded the screen capture showing the settings I was making inquiry on, it actually overlayed about 40% of the text I posted. You couldn't read what I said because it was literally covered by the .jpg, an obvious bug in tapatalk?

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 

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