News RT-AC68U End of Life Announced by Asus

[RMerlin]

I would never run DD-WRT in a business setting. They have no release plan, so any firmware you run will be always an untested development snapshot.

If you really must keep that router, Tomato would be a better option. The RT-AC68U is definitely showing its age, wifi slows down to a crawl once you get too many active clients on it. In an office with a bunch of employee cell phones for instance, add one or two laptops and Wifi will slow down to a crawl.

 

[swaaye]

I would never run DD-WRT in a business setting. They have no release plan, so any firmware you run will be always an untested development snapshot.

If you really must keep that router, Tomato would be a better option. The RT-AC68U is definitely showing its age, wifi slows down to a crawl once you get too many active clients on it. In an office with a bunch of employee cell phones for instance, add one or two laptops and Wifi will slow down to a crawl.

Yeah I prefer Tomato anyway.

I recently got a free TPLink AX4400. It seems like it might still be supported by TPLink but they appear to operate with a 1 update per year rule.

 

[Special]

I'm still using my rt-ac56u converted to an rt-ac68u in router mode, with wireless off, as my main router...it keeps chugging along.

Thanks Merlin

 

[drjoe]

Two more firmware upgrades so far in 2025:

ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51729
2025/02/14
1.Fixed the UI issue in Chrome.
2.Fixed client binding issues in Mesh scenarios.

ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51733
2025/03/10
1. Fixed the UI issue in Chrome.
2. Fixed client binding issues in Mesh scenarios.
3. Enhanced input parameter handling techniques to improve data processing stability and system security.
4. Enhance system access control mechanisms.

RT-AC68U｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS USA

ASUS has a range of wireless routers suitable for every purpose. Whether it's for your home, for business trips, or for any other need or environment, there's an ASUS router for you.

www.asus.com

Seems that "end-of-life" does not equal "dead" (yet). This makes four or five firmware releases since the EOL announcement at the top of the thread.

Joe

 

[bennor]

Two more firmware upgrades so far in 2025:
<snip>

Yes. See the release firmware posts for them...

Release - ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51729 (2025/02/14)

ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51729 Version 3.0.0.4.386_51729 99.44 MB 2025/02/14 SHA-256 ：B3366897BAA248CA95D4C2C4C7392743AC3FCB634B649146B294CA1CBE471A77 1.Fixed the UI issue in Chrome. 2.Fixed client binding issues in Mesh scenarios. Download

www.snbforums.com

Release - ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51733 (2025/03/10)

New firmware posted by ASUS on March 10 for the RT-AC68U. https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-wifi-routers/rtac68u/helpdesk_bios/?model2Name=RTAC68U ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_51733 Version 3.0.0.4.386_51733 99.42 MB 2025/03/10 SHA-256...

www.snbforums.com

Even though a router model may be on Asus's EOL list, Asus may still update certain EOL routers to fix AiMesh issues or patch extremely serious security vulnerabilities. But one should not expect Asus to fix long standing issues with the EOL routers however. And Asus may terminate such EOL router firmware updates at any time without notice.

 

[Nodnarb]

Given the EOLing of these routers, the end of firmware updates, and for security reasons, I am done buying these types of routers. I will only ever build mini-PCs with dual LAN ports and WiFi to act as pfSense firewalls moving forward.

 

[Tech9]

Given the EOLing of these routers

RT-AC68U is 12 years old model.

 

[Nodnarb]

RT-AC68U is 12 years old model.

Which works perfectly fine.

 

[Tech9]

You can continue using it on FreshTomato firmware, not EoL there.

FreshTomato – Alternative open source firmware for Broadcom based routers

freshtomato.org

 

[KrypteX]

You can continue using it on FreshTomato firmware, not EoL there.

Or DD-WRT, for that matter.

 

[sol1109]

12 years is 5 years past the production run for most higher level chips.

 

[JoeHz]

As was mentioned waaaay upthread, running DD-WRT in a business setting is a bad idea.

I'm willing to spend less than the cost of a PC periodically if it comes with support for the intended use. It's cheaper than upgrading the pfsense-PC with the new tech as it comes out. Once support ends, it gets relegated to mesh node duties. If it's not like synology trying to force you into buy their branded drives. When I relegated my AC router, I actually had AX capable devices that could benefit from an upgrade. I can't say that about BE.