Question regarding AC86U

[SmallNetGuy]

Hi you all amazing snbforums members! Thank you all for unselfishly helping everybody, and investing your precious time and free will to assist whenever help is needed. I know it's not much coming from one no-body-person, but I just want you all to know there is a lot of us out there who appreciate you.

I'll copy/paste from another thread I was replying to regarding completely different subject, but I will try to get answer in here where subject of this message belongs.

I am trying to buy new router for my sister's house, and was debating between Netgear R7800 with Voxel on it and few other options, but since I moved this message to ASUS Wireless, my question is regarding the ASUS AC86U.

I was looking at AC86U (that's also currently on sale here in Toronto, till July 4th), but skimming through reviews and people complaining about units dying left and right, 2.4 GHz radios failing, and some other problems, I got kind of scared. Don't want to purchase something and give it as a gift, only to find it giving up after 3 months of use and causing problems for my sister's family. I know better by now, most of bad reviews are coming from people who experienced problems with that router... there is most likely a lot more people who are super happy with it, but never felt any urge to report "how amazing that router really is". When someone is happy with something, he is happy with it, and does not have a lot of need or urge to talk about that (unless doing product reviews or something like that). But people with problems, they normally report those problems... and I don't blame them, they have all the right to complain. They paid diligently with their hard earned money, so naturally they expect working equipment. They also report that not just to blame on the manufacturer (some do that exactly for that reason unfortunately), but in hope they will find some working solution to their problem. That's all normal...

Still, I feel kind of uneasy with buying AC86U if this is like epidemic kind of problem, and whole batch is affected.

Are there any signs some specific hardware revision of AC86U that are affected? Was that only happening with earlier hardware revisions? Did ASUS show in any way they are aware of those problems, and offered fix or solution? I am asking all these questions, because AC86U seems like really nice piece of hardware... at some points it also seems to be better option (newer hardware) than my AC3100, and I have to admit, I have never ever had a better router in my life than this AC3100 with Merlin firmware on it from the day one. Bought it at BestBuy, unboxed, and instantly installed latest Merlin firmware on it. Didn't even register what's the official firmware version on it, couldn't care less about it... I simply updated it with the most recent Merlin I've always had Merlin installed, even back on my old (RIP) AC68U.

@RMerlin - Thank you for all your hard work and amazing support you unselfishly provide... and all that parallel with your personal life, family, everyday job, other hobbies, etc. Amazing!

Anyone has more info about how safe is to buy AC86U these days, and did ASUS do anything to fix those issues, is there new hardware revision I should be looking for, etc?

Thank you so much once again!

 

[Grisu]

86U seems to be their most sold router right now, so its clear it will get most complaints.
These things can and do happen on other models too!
No reason not to choose an 86U.
And as I understood it will be her only router used for basic usage, so no problems with AiMesh and other possibly problematic features.
If you like Asus routers it will recently be your best choice.
We dont know her needs (VPN) and DSL-speeds, so a 68U could be a good way to go too!

 

[SmallNetGuy]

86U seems to be their most sold router right now, so its clear it will get most complaints.
These things can and do happen on other models too!
No reason not to choose an 86U.
And as I understood it will be her only router used for basic usage, so no problems with AiMesh and other possibly problematic features.
If you like Asus routers it will recently be your best choice.
We dont know her needs (VPN) and DSL-speeds, so a 68U could be a good way to go too!

Thank you for your respond, greatly appreciated! Yes, she won't be using AiMesh for sure, there is no need. It's actually (as I explained in another thread I started), for my niece. She plays online multiplayers, and her Ubiquiti ER-X gave its last breath. Her UAP-AC Lite is still very alive, so I plan to extend their home network with it at the dead zone in their basement... but for the main thing, her router, I was going to go originally with Netgear R7800 (with some custom firmware) or maybe AC86U as I mentioned above.

Also, regarding your last question... don't remember if they even mentioned VPN, but that's not a problem. I've heard it can't get any easier than with AC86U, and I even managed to easily configure VPN on her old ER-X using command line (CLI) without a single problem. Again, it's not requirement, they don't even need it. I simply installed it back then, so my sister can connect to her online shop from anywhere through VPN on her router at home. It's a lot safer, and it wasn't too difficult to set it up, so why not. As for the speed, they are on 15Mbps download and around 10 Mbps upload. Nothing special, actually quite slow for today's standards.. but they really never needed anything faster than that anyway. Online videos are not stuttering, my niece gaming without any noticeable lag (I've had hardware offloading and QoS setup on her ER-X). I was just thinking to simplify her setup a bit, so they can go through settings without me if needed. My niece is not really a n00b, she managed her ER-X even, made some firewall rules herself, created guest network on separate LAN (VLAN), etc.

 

[Grisu]

As for the speed, they are on 15Mbps download and around 10 Mbps upload. Nothing special, actually quite slow for today's standards..

For that slow speeds I would extend her Wifi with your old spare RT-AC68U, 86U couldnt do it faster on her line, test it and if ok you still can get an 86U or keep it for yourself.

 

[SmallNetGuy]

For that slow speeds I would extend her Wifi with your old spare RT-AC68U, 86U couldnt do it faster on her line, test it and if ok you still can get an 86U or keep it for yourself.

I don't have spare AC68U. In my signature it says "RIP". It died long time ago.

 

[dosborne]

If you are worried about the router lasting past a hardware failure, purchase an extended warranty. I usually don't bother but I just picked up an RT-AX88U and added the over-the-counter warranty for 3 years @ $60.

 

[SmallNetGuy]

If you are worried about the router lasting past a hardware failure, purchase an extended warranty. I usually don't bother but I just picked up an RT-AX88U and added the over-the-counter warranty for 3 years @ $60.

Nah, I'm not going to bother with that, especially it's a gift as I stated many times in this and another thread. I've read too many bad reviews, and it totally does not look like isolated problem. It looks like something is definitely wrong with some hardware parts inside AC86U. Not sure if they changed anything in recent H/W revisions, but judging by all those Amazon reviews, many other sites, even here on snbforums, it looked more like there is no other solution that ASUS recalling that model. Sure, I might be wrong, but I don't care any more. I work hard for my money, and especially when I want to give this router as a present, I want it to simply work. I am not asking for the best of the best out there, but I want to give them something that will plain work. I've had AC68U in the past, I'm personally on AC3100, and I have never ever heard so many people complaining about those models as it is case with AC86U now. Something is definitely not right there. Not going to take chances, going with another option, there is plenty of fish in this ocean

Thank you all for your valuable input, greatly appreciated.