GT-BE98 - Merlin or Official

[liamstears2]

So I've got a GT-BE98 (not the pro version) so I'm supported using Gnutons version of Merlin and I've been using it for a while now

Unfortunately though it seems like he's got some things going on and there hasn't been any updates from him since mid January (I'm not complaining or moaning about his work, I am grateful and hope all is well for him)

This leads to the question should I continue with the Gnuton firmware or move over to official Asus firmware as there seems to be regular updates?

What are your opinions? Honestly don't believe I use any of the advanced Merlin features and lately I've been having issues with WiFi dropouts so wondering if official may be more stable for me but would love some feedback from other users...

 

[Tech9]

Honestly don't believe I use any of the advanced Merlin features

Use stock Asuswrt then.

 

[liamstears2]

Use stock Asuswrt then.

Is the latest firmware actually better/more stable?

I certainly prefer the alternative "skin" that the merlin firmware provides, really don't like the look of the official one for this router lol

 

[Tech9]

If the router doesn’t work as advertised with original firmware - send it back.

 

[Spartan]

Is the latest firmware actually better/more stable?

I certainly prefer the alternative "skin" that the merlin firmware provides, really don't like the look of the official one for this router lol

you don't buy a router to look at the UI, you set it and forget it. It's not a wallpaper

 

[liamstears2]

you don't buy a router to look at the UI, you set it and forget it. It's not a wallpaper

Well aware

 

[liamstears2]

I posted mainly for tech replies on stability etc from people that have trialled both firmwares to see what they had found and in what way they favoured one performance wise over the other. Honestly didn't expect such replies on SNB

 

[Tech9]

The "stability" comes from Asus and Broadcom upstream. Asuswrt-Merlin is features enhancement 3rd party version built on top of whatever Asus provides as GPL upstream. There is no performance improvements. Once again - if this router doesn't work as advertised on stock Asuswrt - send it back. Otherwise you'll miss the return window and will end up hoping whatever is broken will be fixed in the future. When and if this is going to happen - unknown. I personally wouldn't count on GNUton's Asuswrt-Merlin fork timely updates and I'm not entirely sure RMerlin's Asuswrt-Merlin and GNUton's Asuswrt-Merlin fork have exactly 1:1 functionality.

From this point on it's entirely your decision what to do based on your own experience and expectations. In your region and if I wanted an Asus AIO router I would buy RMerlin supported RT-BE96U instead. It's cheaper and does exactly the same thing.

 

[Thermaltake]

Hope that merlin one day decided to make fw for BE98 non pro model. I really like merlin stuff been using them for years now, have much respect for dude doing this for us.

 

[Seda]

So I've got a GT-BE98 (not the pro version) so I'm supported using Gnutons version of Merlin and I've been using it for a while now

Unfortunately though it seems like he's got some things going on and there hasn't been any updates from him since mid January (I'm not complaining or moaning about his work, I am grateful and hope all is well for him)

This leads to the question should I continue with the Gnuton firmware or move over to official Asus firmware as there seems to be regular updates?

What are your opinions? Honestly don't believe I use any of the advanced Merlin features and lately I've been having issues with WiFi dropouts so wondering if official may be more stable for me but would love some feedback from other users...

I use the official firmware, with Entware and a Swap file. While it's a bit more initial effort to set up, it's probably going to be better on the GT-BE98 at least from here.

I was running Merlin on a GT-AX11000/RT-AC5300 beforehand; but with the markets going the way they are that devices might be different, I figured it was safer to stick with stock from here so I've reverted everything to that.