RT-AC3100

[CorruptedMind]

Hi. I've ready every message in this thread. I'm maybe getting the Asus RT-AC3100 tomorrow.
I need some help.
I have now the netgear r7000. It freezes all the time so I'm replacing it. When it works it's not bad but only for 2.4ghz. 5ghz don't work in my home unless I'm in the same room as the router and I need help to figure out why and how to fix. The linksys wrt1900acs is the same with 5ghz.

Its weird. I get 2.6ghz 72mb maybe on any device unless I'm in the same room. Speed test.net app on phones show about 50/12 and my connection is 150/12. Rarely has it shown 170mb but it has.

My phone's or consoles don't see 5ghz 99.9% of the time unless I'm in the same room as the router. I don't get it.

Now I also only get 100mb Ethernet connection to my Ethernet devices unless I connect directly to router. Cat5 cables go from router to another room to wall faceplate. Then I connect to the wall faceplate in my room. Is the faceplate the problem?

Thanks so much.

Hey Buggs,

I can not speak on other users experiences but I can inform you on mine. I have had the Netgear R7000, Netgear R8000, Linksys WRT1900, Asus RT-AC87U, and finally the Asus RT-AC3100.

I am a little crazy... I had different issues with each of the routers listed except the R8000 and Asus RT-3100. I loved the R8000 and had zero issues with it. The r7000 I noticed had range issues for me as well. It's strange because the r8000 is basically the r7000 just with two 5ghz bands. Though, I bought the r7000 when it was first out and the firmware wasn't mature.

I went back to Asus because I love their feature rich firmware. Plus the RT-AC3100 works wonderfully and I also have zero issues with it. I have a 1900 sq ft home and it's 3 stories. Range is great through all the walls and appears to work just fine. I am in a town home though so there are other networks close by. If you are in an apartment this could maybe be an issue and is worst. Try changing your wifi channel?

In my opinion don't go with the Asus RT-87U. I had many issues with that thing. Stick with RT-88U or 3100 (both are the same but the RT-87u has more gig ports and it's red).

 

[LK15]

I'm constantly having issues with dropped wifi signal in one story single family home and completely open space between router and my pc and mac

I have no idea what else to do, if I go to next room even worse. Talking about 3100

Any advice please?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I also am a proud owner of the AC3100 purchased in Nov 2015 and it's been rock solid with both stock and Merlin firmware. Best router i have ever owned no regrets here.

 

[CorruptedMind]

Analysis

I'm constantly having issues with dropped wifi signal in one story single family home and completely open space between router and my pc and mac

I have no idea what else to do, if I go to next room even worse. Talking about 3100

Any advice please?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

There could be many factors into play here... Here are a couple things I would try.

1. Reload Firmware and do a factory reset
2. Try Merlins Firmware
2. Make sure your router isn't surrounded by other objects and has good ventilation
3. Make sure your clients software is up to date. For Mac install the latest El Capitan OS. For Windows, same thing... Updated OS and install the latest Wi-fi Driver from your manufactures website.
4. Change your Wi-Fi channel for both bands - Take away auto and I recommend channel 153 for 5ghz and 6 for 2ghz.
5. How old is your modem? Using ISP's modem? Is it a wifi and modem combined? If it is a modem and router combined turn off the wifi radio.
6. Unplug your modem for 5 to 10 minutes and plug it back in. Wait for the modem to completely boot up and then turn on your router and plug it into the modem.
7. I think it's good to do a power reset on your router once a month or so regardless of how nice your router is.

Here is my setup:
-I have my own modem I bought that is a Motorola SURFboard SB6141 Gigabit and a short Cat6 cable going from my modem to my router.
-IPV6 Enabled - My ISP (Comcast) supports it
-I use Acrylic WiFi Analysis to look other networks around me and what channels others are using. Most people don't know and leave everything default and most routers are on auto channel.
-I use Open DNS for both IPV4 and IPV6
-I do IP reservations for my devices
-I Use VPN
-All of Asus protection features are enabled except I enabled DMZ for my Xbox One

I have 12 devices in my home and they all use 5ghz band. I don't use 2ghz band.
I am not saying my setup or recommendations are going to fix your issue. This is just what I have setup and I have no issues.

 

[LK15]

Analysis

There could be many factors into play here... Here are a couple things I would try.

1. Reload Firmware and do a factory reset
2. Try Merlins Firmware
2. Make sure your router isn't surrounded by other objects and has good ventilation
3. Make sure your clients software is up to date. For Mac install the latest El Capitan OS. For Windows, same thing... Updated OS and install the latest Wi-fi Driver from your manufactures website.
4. Change your Wi-Fi channel for both bands - Take away auto and I recommend channel 153 for 5ghz and 6 for 2ghz.
5. How old is your modem? Using ISP's modem? Is it a wifi and modem combined? If it is a modem and router combined turn off the wifi radio.
6. Unplug your modem for 5 to 10 minutes and plug it back in. Wait for the modem to completely boot up and then turn on your router and plug it into the modem.
7. I think it's good to do a power reset on your router once a month or so regardless of how nice your router is.

Here is my setup:
-I have my own modem I bought that is a Motorola SURFboard SB6141 Gigabit and a short Cat6 cable going from my modem to my router.
-IPV6 Enabled - My ISP (Comcast) supports it
-I use Acrylic WiFi Analysis to look other networks around me and what channels others are using. Most people don't know and leave everything default and most routers are on auto channel.
-I use Open DNS for both IPV4 and IPV6
-I do IP reservations for my devices
-I Use VPN
-All of Asus protection features are enabled except I enabled DMZ for my Xbox One

I have 12 devices in my home and they all use 5ghz band. I don't use 2ghz band.
I am not saying my setup or recommendations are going to fix your issue. This is just what I have setup and I have no issues.

Thank you for suggestions and I will definitely try do some things over the weekend.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Darcy]

Looking to upgrade from the Asus AC66R. Looking at the Netgear R7800 Nighthawk X4S or Asus 3100. I was going to go with the 3100 but SNB just had a great review of the Netgear router.

 

[L&LD]

Darcy, just have to point out that it is a 'great review' for an AC2600 class router.

And performance out of the box is not the defining factor for most.

 

[Darcy]

Darcy, just have to point out that it is a 'great review' for an AC2600 class router.

And performance out of the box is not the defining factor for most.

Sorry , I should have been more specific that these are 2 different class routers. I'm willing to move to either one but was just looking for some advice since I'm not an expert and I value everyone's knowledge in this forum. I use Merlin's FW now and I'm not sure if Netgear is good with FW updates. [emoji3]

 

[My_dogs_White]

I installed the RT-AC3100 as the main wireless router in my home yesterday. The RT-AC87U it replaced was working fine. I really believe I could have continued to use the 87u without any serious issues. The only thing I found I had to do with the 87u was to reboot the router once a week or so. The crazy thing is I may continue to do that with the new AC3100. Habits are hard to kill.

I installed the AC3100 with static IP and Merlin's 380.57 firmware, no issues whatsoever.

I've been following the boards for a few year now. I truly respect Merlin's effort, experience and opinion when it comes to Asus wireless routers. Over the months I've read posts by Merlin where he has said the 87u is a very good router and not is worth replacing if its working well in your environment. Having said that, Merlin has also said the 3100/88u are entirely different routers than the 87u and are in fact much better, all things being equal. If you are in the market for a new router he would not recommend the 87u over the 3100/88u. So wanting new... I made the change.

Not surprising, performance wise, I see no noticeable improvement. For now my ISP limits my home to 25mbps (waiting for fiber install this summer). We have "cut the cable" in our home and I can't see any improvement in video quality or load times. I believe we're limited to load times on the client side. I don't think being limited to 25mbps or my router choice has anything to do with video quality or load times. CNNGO and HBOGO takes a few seconds to load and I'm not convinced a faster service or router would help at this time. HULU and Netflix, companies that exclusively stream over the internet load much faster.

I suppose I'm saying I don't recommend making the change if you have a smooth running RT-AC87U, RT-AC68U or something comparable. Not unless you make the change understanding you very likely will not see increased speeds.

Well, that makes me sound like I'm a terrible salesman... But I'm really an happy I made the "upgrade". And yes I do consider the RT-AC3100 an upgrade. I base this mostly on Merlin's assessment that the 3100 is totally different (read... better) hardware wise and I am enjoying some of the additional options in the software. Admittedly the software additions are limited and there are limited additional options. So far all is running smooth and I will be sure to report back whether or not I still need to reboot the router weekly.

Thanks for the advice and awesome firmware Merlin.

Oh and the little white led's are much easier on the eyes and can be left on in a home theater. Much better than the huge blue lights on then 87u that had to be turned off... IMO!

 

[KingofKings11]

Hello All,

Just wondering what you guys with the 3100 have done in terms of QOS?

Leaving it off my devices give me about 200mbps the second I turn on adaptive QOS and favour media streaming the same devices barely get 80mbps.

Ideally I want to keep the high bandwidth per device just favour the traffic for my chromecast.

Any suggestions for settings?

Thanks in advance

 

[fatgump28]

Can the rt-ac3100 be underclocked? This router is working very well better that my r8000 but cpu runs at 92°C. My house is 27°C so I expect my equipment to run a little warmer but this seems excessive.

 

[jbodine74]

Hello All,

Just wondering what you guys with the 3100 have done in terms of QOS?

Leaving it off my devices give me about 200mbps the second I turn on adaptive QOS and favour media streaming the same devices barely get 80mbps.

Ideally I want to keep the high bandwidth per device just favour the traffic for my chromecast.

Any suggestions for settings?

Thanks in advance

I have Time Warner 35mbps and I do not use QOS. No issues with 2 apple tvs, 2 adroid tablets, 2 iphones and 2 imacs. Running merlins 380.59 beta 1 with mu-mimo enable even though I have no devices that support that.

 

[Grievous Angel]

2.4 GHz: 43°C
5 GHz: 47°C
CPU: 72°C

Mine sits in a spot with plenty of ventilation, CPU temp has stayed about 72-73°C regularly.

Ok, I pulled the trigger on a usb powered cooling pad. I was seeing CPU temps of 78 to 80 when the router wasn't doing anything. It's in a bit of a warm room--but it wasn't over 80F.

The cooling pad has my temps at 34 (2.4), 41 (5), and 52(CPU), respectively. Almost a 30 degree improvement on the CPU.

Maybe I don't "need" it. Maybe I don't "need" a $300.00 router with custom firmware, either.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/targus-...stem/8848369.p?id=1219371616011&skuId=8848369

That's the one I bought. A little noisier than I'd like but it is only slightly larger than the modem so it looks OK. It's also expensive compared to some other choices on Amazon that will probably do just as well or better . . like this one: http://amzn.com/B005C31HC0
May try that one later.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Does anyone know if there is a new FW for AC3100, I see the AC88 got one but nothing for this one.

 

[L&LD]

Does anyone know if there is a new FW for AC3100, I see the AC88 got one but nothing for this one.

Newer than what? I saw the 380.3341 in another (recent) post.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

I figured since the Ac88 got one then the AC3100 would get one too?? But I guess that the newest one for the AC88. I checked the asus website and did not see one for the ac88 and ac3100?

 

[L&LD]

I figured since the Ac88 got one then the AC3100 would get one too?? But I guess that the newest one for the AC88. I checked the asus website and did not see one for the ac88 and ac3100?

Still have no clue which 'newer' firmware you're talking about. I'll ask again. Newer than 'what' specific firmware?

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

I guess this one L&D, the last one I seen was this on the asus website, 2697 fw

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-rt-ac88u-firmware-3-0-0-4-380-3341.32799/

 

[L&LD]

https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC3100/HelpDesk_Download/

Yes, as I stated above, the 380.3341 is also available for the RT-AC3100.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Thank you, I'm in the usa and I do not see this if I go to the asus website, but your link shows it, very weird?