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Looking to replace Asus GT-AC5300

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chrismsales

Occasional Visitor
My three year old Asus GT AC5300 has started having some strange issues and the latest firmware did not resolve so looking at maybe replacing. We have around 50 smart devices (switches, bulbs, etc.) connected via wifi but tv's, desktop pc, and the xbox are hardwired. With the AC5300 being a tri-band router, we have the 2.4 channel and then two 5Ghz channels but one of the issues is that there always one of the 5Ghz channels that stops working so not sure if another tri-band is really needed or is even necessary these days?

The router is in an upstairs office closet and signal does not seem to be much of an issue for us currently in our two story 2,300 sg foot home. We have 500 down and 20 up internet and I work from home with heavy video conferencing all day so really just wanting to make sure that we have a beefy enough router to handle all the devices and activity. Heavy gaming as well so low latency is a plus. I've heard much about Merlin's firmware so was thinking something that supports that would be a plus as well.

Looking at the RT-AX88U or the RT-AX86U but are there other options I should be exploring?

Thanks!
 
Those are the top two router you should be looking at today, with the RT-AX86U being the better router and better buy for most.

However, don't give up on your GT-AC5300 so quickly! :)


See if the following steps (at least the ones that are applicable), help get your router back to a good/known state and one where the firmware is using its expected defaults.

Be sure to upgrade to the latest firmware branch possible for your router (currently 386.xxx).

That isn't the recommended method anymore. Not even by Asus

Fully Reset Router and Network


If the issues prove 'cured' after doing the above, the following suggestions may help to keep it like that too.

Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021
 
Those are the top two router you should be looking at today, with the RT-AX86U being the better router and better buy for most.

However, don't give up on your GT-AC5300 so quickly! :)


See if the following steps (at least the ones that are applicable), help get your router back to a good/known state and one where the firmware is using its expected defaults.

Be sure to upgrade to the latest firmware branch possible for your router (currently 386.xxx).

That isn't the recommended method anymore. Not even by Asus

Fully Reset Router and Network


If the issues prove 'cured' after doing the above, the following suggestions may help to keep it like that too.

Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021

Thank you for the quick response! While I did update the firmware last night, I did not do a hard reset before doing so. If I understand correctly, I can save my settings before doing the hard reset and then upload my saved settings again, correct?

Besides the random drops of one of the 5Ghz channels, my connections to the internet seem to have initial delays. This is on both hardwired and wireless connections and started a few weeks back with our hardwired firesticks starting up and saying no connection and then after about 15-seconds or so everything would come up as normal. Now I'm noticing on my work related websites and zoom calls that I have delays with sites loading correctly even though they eventually load correctly after a bit. I called our internet provider and they suggested I hardwire my laptop directly into our modem and after doing so those issues went away. Ran back through the router afterwards and the issues are back. It's like I have a bad internet connection or something but a speed test shows our 500 download speeds with 8ms pings and 6.5 jitter and 0 loss.
 
No, read those links I offered.

You must do a firmware reset after flashing the firmware you want to use/test.

Restoring old backup config files after doing a proper reset effectively un-does the reset you just performed.

Don't rely on old settings, customizations, or scripts. At least test with the suggested defaults to verify the router hardware is working as expected before adding things to it.

You may want to test with new/different brand cables than what you're currently using before doing the above.

Anything between the modem and the router is subject to verification first before it can be assumed it isn't the thing causing your issues.
 
No, read those links I offered.

You must do a firmware reset after flashing the firmware you want to use/test.

Restoring old backup config files after doing a proper reset effectively un-does the reset you just performed.

Don't rely on old settings, customizations, or scripts. At least test with the suggested defaults to verify the router hardware is working as expected before adding things to it.

You may want to test with new/different brand cables than what you're currently using before doing the above.

Anything between the modem and the router is subject to verification first before it can be assumed it isn't the thing causing your issues.

I ended up buying an RT-AC86U from Amazon thinking that it was my GT-AC5300 but the 86U had the same results. I switched over to AT&T Gib fiber and the issues went away.

I can send the 86U back still but I’m wondering if I should keep it to run as a mesh access point for our downstairs area. Since you were right on the 5300 I thought I’d get your thoughts if the 86U was best to run along the 5300 like that. Started thinking that I could run Merlin on the 86U but is that possible if the 5300 cannot?

Oram I better off saving the money towards a WiFi 6 router instead?
Thanks!
 
Last edited:
If the issues are resolved by switching ISP's and still using the same GT-AC5300 router, I would return the RT-AC86U myself.

Save towards a Wi-Fi 6E router (if they prove worthy in about 6 months or so) instead. :)
 

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