Is RT-AX3000 lot better than RT-AC68U?

[Tech9]

Use this firmware and see how it goes. It's newer than current Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[Khadanja]

Yeah done that been ok so far apart from 5GHz taking lot longer to show up. Does flashing rmerlin void warranty? Not even sure if this one has any warranty left thought. I’m assuming stock firmware can be flashed over rmerlin if I had to sell it?

 

[Tech9]

Delete existing remembered connections and re-connect your 5GHz devices. They may start connecting faster. Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin are interchangeable. You can flash either directly in GUI. Just do factory reset after flashing and set the router manually. Don't restore settings saved in different firmware version. Asuswrt-Merlin does not void warranty, in case you have any left.

 

[RogerSC]

The latest Asus firmware for the RT-AX3000 is working well for me...I use it in media bridge mode, but it has just worked for over a week now. I find that the speed when in media bridge mode is really good. Of course, wifi-6 tends to be pretty fast. I also find wifi-6 to be more reliable, but that's most likely just the routers that I'm using *smile*.

 

[Khadanja]

Can I use the same USB stick I’m using currently with 68U where I have Skynet unbound & vnstat installed? I mean flash rmerlin then plug the same USB stick or do I need to initialise amtm etc. again after flashing rmerlin?

 

[Tech9]

Can I use the same USB stick I’m using currently with 68U where I have Skynet unbound & vnstat installed?

You can use the same USB stick, but format it again and re-install your scripts. I would not use Skynet and spdMerlin.

 

[L&LD]

Are you using Auto Control Channels? If so, the router has to possibly scan for DFS channels and that is why it is taking so long to initialize the 5GHz band (normal).

Be sure you format the USB stick on a PC with NTFS format before you put it into the router. Otherwise, you won't have a clean install of your scripts.

When you do insert the formatted USB drive into the router, use amtm to format it as Ext4 w/journaling, enable a 2GB swap file (or larger), then proceed to install the scripts you want.

 

[Lothsahn]

No one is stopping you to say it. This RT-AX3000 router is the same as RT-AX58U and it's the most bugged Asus router in my routers collection. I don't like it and don't recommend it. I never test new firmware on it due to past unpredictable results experience. I would keep the trusty RT-AC68U instead.

Can confirm. I've had a RT-AX3000 and the first firmware that actually worked "properly" (except for the dnsmasq infinite loop w/DNSSEC https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ax3000-dhcp-and-dns-randomly-stop-working.77261/) is 386.4_0. All the previous firmwares had instability, reboots, memory leaks, and other weird issues.

My friend also had the 5GHZ radio on his RT-AX3000 fail. Replaced under RMA.

Never had a single issue with any of my RT-AC68U's.


That said, with the 386.4_0 firmware, I'm finally happy with it. And the performance improvement with WiFi 6 clients is unreal--I regularly get 500-700 Mbit wireless with the RT-AX3000, which would never happen with 68U. The CPU is also faster, which seems to provide better latency at gigabit speeds, and I get a consistent 1-2ms wireless latency on 5GHZ ping.

So in short, it's been an unreliable mess, but with the latest firmware, things are finally starting to look up for the RT-AX3000. Just make sure you DISABLE DNSSEC.