What's new

Merlin firmware for the new RT-AX86U?

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

BCM


View attachment 26373
BCM6710 is not the central processor. It's the A/D(analog to digital), D/A(digital to analog), and PA/LNA(low noise/power amp) included in it. From the AX86U board photo, you can see the BCM6710 is located next to antenna with SKY85743--an 5GHz power amp chips in between. So, if Boardcom said BCM6710 is 6GHz capable, it's still unlikely that AX86U is firmware ungradable to wifi 6E.

I'm just making an educated guess that any wifi 6e router will need to be a tri-band router with 3 separate radios, one for each band. It would be unlikely for any of the 2 radios even if they are labeled as supporting 6E, to effectively be able to be broadcasting on more than one band at the same time right?
 
I'm just making an educated guess that any wifi 6e router will need to be a tri-band router with 3 separate radios, one for each band. It would be unlikely for any of the 2 radios even if they are labeled as supporting 6E, to effectively be able to be broadcasting on more than one band at the same time right?
For example the triband Asus GT-AXE11000.

1599033876-5f4f5214ad6cd.jpg
wi2.jpg
wi3.jpg
wi2.jpg
1599033876-5f4f5214ad6cd.jpg
1599033876-5f4f5214ad6cd.jpg
 

Attachments

  • wi4.jpg
    wi4.jpg
    42.3 KB · Views: 131
Coming soon: Asus' Aragog! SMH
 
The 384.19 firmware runs on the ax88u Will it not work on the ax86u as well? They look mostly the same, with the biggest differences being 8 LAN vs 4+1 2.5Gb and more MU-MIMO support.
 
After 2,5years using RT-AC86U with merlin fw I encountered infamous 2.4ghz issue... So I started to thinking about new router and found this RT-AX86U which seems logical successor (design wise & hardware wise). I would really benefit using its 2.5gbit port for transferring big files from router (using as NAS) to PC via wired connection. Unfortunately this router is useless for me without merlin support. I can only hope it will be addedd one day.
 
Also ordered ax86u yesterday as it just got available in my country.

Don't care about 6e, cause I'm upgrading from n66u, lol, which served me for almost a decade with Merlin FW and lately with John's fork. I'm very greatful to both of you guys for your support.

Hope Merlin will find ax86u interesting to support too.

As to 6e... When ax was presented? In 2017? I have got a first ax client this week in my house. Not all routers and clients still have 5Ghz.
So I'm sure 6Ghz will come to everyday use in 3-5 years, when there is a lot of client devices. Not earlier.
But I'm sure, even in 5 years we'll be debating here "there is no sense buying new 10Ghz standard cause there is 100500Ghz drone system coming in a year" :)
 
Last edited:
A question to the ones that are acquiring this router. How much wifi speed are you getting? I just got a 10GB/s fiber connection and I have a RT-AC66U B1 that is not giving me so much speed over the wifi. I have a 2019 MBP and with the router provided by the ISP I get 600mb/s download / upload over the wifi. I'm on the same room as the router, but I don't want to configure over the LAN cable.

I'm really thinking to buy the ax86u to substitute my current Asus router with something that can provide me the max speed possible.
 
A question to the ones that are acquiring this router. How much wifi speed are you getting? I just got a 10GB/s fiber connection and I have a RT-AC66U B1 that is not giving me so much speed over the wifi. I have a 2019 MBP and with the router provided by the ISP I get 600mb/s download / upload over the wifi. I'm on the same room as the router, but I don't want to configure over the LAN cable.

I'm really thinking to buy the ax86u to substitute my current Asus router with something that can provide me the max speed possible.

10 Gig Fiber? Are you serious? If so, you're far beyond Asus routers and into Enterprise gear or building your own PFSense box with some pretty beefy hardware, to use as a router
 
10 Gig Fiber? Are you serious? If so, you're far beyond Asus routers and into Enterprise gear or building your own PFSense box with some pretty beefy hardware, to use as a router

I'm totally serious… and it's not the only company here is Switzerland. I've heard rumors that next year they are planing to roll out 50gb/s on the residencial market. Pretty insane. Not to mention that my fiber offer is one of the cheapest here in Switzerland. CHF 40 if you have your mobile plan also with them.

Anyhow, I don't think I'm that far beyond. It's pretty clear that right now you can't squeeze the connexion with any device on your home, unless you get a 10gb/s card. The ISP's router has a 10gb/s LAN port, but I don't have any device at home that can reach that speed. However, these internet connection I guess will be useful when you have a NAS that you want to access from the outside and couple of other laptops or computer doing other stuff… Or if someone is just watching TV. Our cable TV is just coming over the internet using an Apple TV app provided by the company.

For that reason, I'm looking for a router that can really reach close to the 1gb/s on wifi… at least that.
 
Meanwhile here I am lucky to get 74Mb/s for almost the same price!

The AX86U definitely isn't the right Asus router to make full use of that connection. The closest thing they have is the AX89U, which you could then connect the other 10Gb port to a switch or directly to a desktop.
 
Meanwhile here I am lucky to get 74Mb/s for almost the same price!

I was in the same position before… Switzerland is from other planet. It's true that I'm on Zürich City, but you can easily get 1gb/s elsewhere here in Switzerland with good latency… I just get 2-3 ms on wifi. Over land just 1ms. (yes it's really insane)

The AX86U definitely isn't the right Asus router to make full use of that connection. The closest thing they have is the AX89U, which you could then connect the other 10Gb port to a switch or directly to a desktop.

I guess you mean AX89X. I've been taking a look the router thread here and it's seems too buggy. Or at least it's rebooting itself for an unknown reason.

I'm starting to realize that I'm most probably need to wait to have a router capable of really manage the connection. It's really funny to see that we are getting on a territory where router CPU, antennas and port's speed starting to be an issue.
 
I'm totally serious… and it's not the only company here is Switzerland. I've heard rumors that next year they are planing to roll out 50gb/s on the residencial market. Pretty insane. Not to mention that my fiber offer is one of the cheapest here in Switzerland. CHF 40 if you have your mobile plan also with them.

Anyhow, I don't think I'm that far beyond. It's pretty clear that right now you can't squeeze the connexion with any device on your home, unless you get a 10gb/s card. The ISP's router has a 10gb/s LAN port, but I don't have any device at home that can reach that speed. However, these internet connection I guess will be useful when you have a NAS that you want to access from the outside and couple of other laptops or computer doing other stuff… Or if someone is just watching TV. Our cable TV is just coming over the internet using an Apple TV app provided by the company.

For that reason, I'm looking for a router that can really reach close to the 1gb/s on wifi… at least that.

My apologies. I was not aware you weren't in the US and I have little experience with ISPs outside the US, though I have heard of Salt. You're damned lucky. I have Comcast and I am extremely jealous of your good fortune while I did have a Gig connection, your 10 Gig blows that away. We don't even have 2 Gig here yet, except for a not easy to get FTTH product that Comcast installs if you meet specific requirements and it's insanely expensive at 430 dollars a month USD. My previous suggestion stands. You basically need to build a computer to use as a router. I wish you much luck.
 
Hey!

Thanks! I don't spect to use the 10Gb/s as a whole of course. But, now I have the struggle —first world problems— of try to build a home network with as less bottlenecks as possible to make use the connection as much as possible.

I most probably going to need to buy a non asus router so I can get something that handle the 10g and the router is not at least the bottleneck in the network.
 
Right now my AX86 is being used as an access point only, with the latest release stock firmware.
 
The AX86U is my primary candidate of upgrade, but all depends on if it will be supported by Merlin. Time will tell... :)
 
10 Gig Fiber? Are you serious? If so, you're far beyond Asus routers and into Enterprise gear or building your own PFSense box with some pretty beefy hardware, to use as a router

We had it in Singapore 5 years ago.

I could have really used a 2.5G WAN port back in those days.
 
HeI most probably going to need to buy a non asus router so I can get something that handle the 10g and the router is not at least the bottleneck in the network.

If your Fibre doesn’t go through a PON, best to do SFP+ handoff directly into a switch - and plug your devices / routers into the switch.

Then you might be able to take advantage of the routers out there offering 2.5G WAN ports.
 

Latest threads

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top