Firmware for RT-AC66U

[Marc66]

Hello all,

I have an Asus RT-AC66U as my main router and have been running Merlin for ages. I'm stuck on the latest Merlin release for this model (380.70) and although it is rock solid, I'd like to update it to benefit from security updates which came out since then (2 years ago). Since then, Asus issued 5 firmware releases for this model with the latest one in Nov 2019. I also have a Linksys E2000 as my backup router and I recently migrated it from Shibby to Fresh Tomato 2020.1. It is not live so I'm not sure how stable FT is but I'm fine with the interface.

So here's my question: Should I migrate to AsusWRT or Fresh Tomato? In the FT changelog, I see some integration of recent Merlin's code and development seems pretty active. My router is only doing routing. WiFi is disabled and I don't use any additional features such as file sharing, media player or any non-routing stuff. My top priority is to have a stable device which can accommodate a dozen of WiFi devices (using Ubiquiti for that) and about the same number of wired devices. My ISP connection is 100/100 and traffic is low to medium with about 300 GB/month. I do keep a copy of my traffic statistics on a ext3 thumb USB, so it'd be nice if I could keep this. Note that I don't want to use John's fork (too old base) and has not been updated in 10 months.

Thanks in advance

 

[L&LD]

With a router that 'classic', it is not a matter of which 'brand' firmware you run. It is how current and secure it will be afterward.

From your two choices above, the official Asus firmware would be the best choice.

But I would also be considering the john9527 fork too. Particularly his most recent work (which would make it the most up-to-date) in his development channel.

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AKXdaMzjqVKbGsc&id=9332FC159A7E129!1117&cid=09332FC159A7E129

 

[RMerlin]

Depends on your specific needs, as these firmware offer different features. Tomato for instance would give you much better QOS capabilities than the stock firmware.

 

[Marc66]

Depends on your specific needs, as these firmware offer different features. Tomato for instance would give you much better QOS capabilities than the stock firmware.

Thank you RMerlin,
I don't need anything special other than store my stats on a USB key and have SIP passthru for my IP phone. I don't use QoS or HW acceleration (although I may use HW acceleration in the future if my bandwidth increases).

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you RMerlin,
I don't need anything special other than store my stats on a USB key and have SIP passthru for my IP phone. I don't use QoS or HW acceleration (although I may use HW acceleration in the future if my bandwidth increases).

Then you will need Tomato. Stock firmware does not store any trafic information to disk, that was something I changed in my firmware.

 

[Val D.]

One more vote for Tomato in this case. I haven't checked Fresh Tomato lately, but it's nice to see the project revived. And the RT-AC66U can process about 150Mbps through CPU with no h/w acceleration, so should be good enough for 100/100Mbps ISP line. When you are going to get that USG, @Marc66 ?

 

[Marc66]

When you are going to get that USG, @Marc66 ?

Thanks for asking Val D. I've been holding off on the USG in the hope of a USG v2 with more recent HW. I was going to get one for Xmas and didn't order it in time. I'll get it for my birthday (in 1 month) and this is why I'm starting to prepare my Asus to become my backup router.

 

[Marc66]

I spent yesterday evening on the change and it did not really go as I planned. It seems that while I was making my changes, there was a problem with my ISP and all tests and validations I performed were useless. Here's what I ended up doing:
- Prepared everything: downloaded all possible FW versions and Asus recovery tool
- Saved my RMerlin 380.70 config
- Replaced my RT-AC66U with my old E2000 running FT 2020.1
- Did a speedtest and got 56/86 (my line is 100/100)
- Updated RMerlin 380.70 to all AsusWRT versions from 380.8228 to 382.51641 (5 versions in total)
- Factory rest
- Re-entered all my settings - Wow, the AsusWRT interface is really poor (my thoughts after only running RMerlin for so many years)
- Saved my settings
- Recovery mode
- Installed Fresh Tomato 2020.1 AIO
- Factory rest + clear NVRAM
- Re-entered all my settings
- Saved my settings
- Put the AC66U back in place
- Could not get an IP. I had to put my LAN MAC as my WAN MAC because FT reported my WAN MAC as ending with 9 and the LAN MAC ends with 8. Never had this issue with AsusWRT
- Did a speedtest and got 56/86 (my line is 100/100)
- Did other speedtests and got various results, all very low (3/12 was the lowest)
- I thought there must be something wrong with Fresh Tomato, so...
- Put the E2000 back and worked on the AC66U again
- Factory reset + clear NVRAM
- Recovery mode
- Installed John's fork 41E7j - Interface is better than AsusWRT but not quite on par with RMerlin. I miss the CPU and RAM indicators + customisable Client list
- Re-entered all my settings
- Saved my settings
- Did a speedtest and got 90/94
- Opened a ticket with my provider
- Went to bed
- Got up
- No reply from provider yet
- Speedtests are similar or better than last night. Highest was 96/96

Since this will soon become my backup router, I'll leave it like this and just update the FW every couple of months