Is now a good time to buy a new Asuswrt-Merlin supported router?

[otterlysrs]

So I've been using the RT-N66U for a pretty long time, it wasn't until the firmware went legacy back in April that I realized just how long I've been using it. So, while it's not broken, I'm wondering if it's time to replace. ASUS does appear to be continuing to release firmwares, so I could roll back to their stuff, but I appreciate a lot of the enhancement rMerlin has made to his releases, which means I'm leaning towards an upgrade of some sort.

My setup is slightly unconventional - I use the ASUS almost completely as an edge device, with two Cisco WAP371 handling WiFi for all but a couple of devices which staunchly refuse to connect. That means I'm only really worried about how long the device is likely to be supported for and it's raw performance as a router.

I did try swapping to a more SMB offering, a NetGate SG-3100 running pfsense, but it doesn't support the NAT types required for certain games - I really don't want to go back to manually forwarding ports!

With the above in mind do any particular ASUS routers stand out?

 

[microchip]

RT-AC86U

 

[CrystalLattice]

RT-AC86U

Instantly obsolete in a month! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[otterlysrs]

Instantly obsolete in a month! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/?tag=snbforums-20

How so? Isn't that the same unit?

 

[RMerlin]

John still actively maintain his for on the RT-N66U, so that's a less expensive option:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-asuswrt-merlin-374-43-lts-releases-v36ea.18914

 

[otterlysrs]

John still actively maintain his for on the RT-N66U, so that's a less expensive option:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-asuswrt-merlin-374-43-lts-releases-v36ea.18914

I've experimented with that firmware already - would you say the performance of the router element in the newer ASUS units is still comparable to the RT-N66U? If I can do anything to improve throughput, latency, or remote access it's going to be a worthwhile upgrade. At peak my home network has seen 50-60 connected devices so things can get pretty chatty...

 

[SMS786]

I would stick with John's fork for now and consider upgrading once Asus releases a good "WiFi 6" router.

 

[RMerlin]

I've experimented with that firmware already - would you say the performance of the router element in the newer ASUS units is still comparable to the RT-N66U? If I can do anything to improve throughput, latency, or remote access it's going to be a worthwhile upgrade. At peak my home network has seen 50-60 connected devices so things can get pretty chatty...

Newer AC routers will benefit from enhanced amps/filters over the RT-N66U, so it might provide a slight throughput improvement even with N clients.

Latency will probably not really change, as most of the latency comes from the Internet connection, not from the router itself.

At 50-60 clients you might be pushing things to the limit tho, wifi technology is a shared medium, so the more clients you have, the slower things will get. Installing additional APs might help with that. You could turn the RT-N66U into an AP, and install a new router, for example.

 

[otterlysrs]

Thanks RMerlin,

Three maybe four of my clients use the RT-N66U wifi, the rest are either wired or connect in via my Cisco WAP371 access points. I'm hoping that over time those holdouts will work with my APs. For now they just refuse so I've kept the WiFi on the ASUS enabled.

 

[Zonkd]

How so? Isn't that the same unit?

Yes, its the exact same unit. Tim posted this on the review page. @CrystalLattice

 

[CrystalLattice]

$10, available Asus router: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-RT-N6...h=item4b50df07b1:g:SEcAAOSwSYdbs9J0:rk:1:pf:0

 

[oso2276]

Yes, its the exact same unit. Tim posted this on the review page. @CrystalLattice

Nice [emoji106]

Enviado desde mi Moto Z2 Play mediante Tapatalk