RT-AC68U / RT-AC68P / RT-AC1900 / RT-AC1900P

[Kendo]

H/W Ver E1 here with the dual core 1000 Mhz cpu, memory 256MB and with the latest Merlin of course.

 

[wouterv]

Now even the Asus website shows the RT-AC68U V3 picture at the product page:

 

[RangerZ]

It appears that ASUS is moving from the Laptop power standard (19V) to a more conventional 12V, though 2.5A is generally what one would see for an external 3.5" USB HDD; much easier to replace. TechInofoDepo notes here. CPU now appears to be the same as the RT-AC66u B1 (BCM4708C0 vs BCM4709x).
Can not get to the ASUS product page ATM

 

[wouterv]

Because the prices have dropped a lot these days I just bought a RT-AC1900U.
Weird to see though how the same shop offers both the RT-AC1900U and RT-AC66U-B1 while these are exactly identical, with EUR 10 difference in price.
The RT-AC1900U replaces the good old RT-N66U as Media Bridge in my home network.
Nice to see how the Media Bridge connects with 1300 Mbps to the RT-AC68U main router on 5 GHz.
In the mean time we scaled down our Internet connection from 700 Mbps to a "poor" 100 Mbps, saving a little money while we do not miss the additional speed.

 

[wouterv]

It appears that ASUS is moving from the Laptop power standard (19V) to a more conventional 12V, though 2.5A is generally what one would see for an external 3.5" USB HDD; much easier to replace. TechInofoDepo notes here. CPU now appears to be the same as the RT-AC66u B1 (BCM4708C0 vs BCM4709x).
Can not get to the ASUS product page ATM

It would be beneficial if consumer products use standard power supplies with a standard voltage (I agree with 12V) and a standard connector.
More over, they could sell power supply and product separately. Standardization can also open up the use of one power supply unit for multiple devices: one box with multiple power outlets, saving space and struggle to mount all the different powersupplies (how often do two power supplies not fit nicely along each other in a power distribution?).
Over a year ago I dumped a dozen of power supplies from products we discarded over the past years, I kept these for "you never know".

 

[wouterv]

I do own now a RT-AC68U and a RT-AC1900U, both on firmware 3.0.0.4.386.43129.
The RT-AC68U running as main Router, the RT-AC1900U as Media Bridge. The task selection is based on their mounting position, the Router vertical and the Media Bridge flat down.
Although it is claimed that both units are basically identical and run identical firmware, I do see minor differences in the configuration pages.
E.g. the firmware upgrade page:

Minor details, but telling me I shall not load the RT-AC68U with firmware intended for the RT-AC1900U or visa versa.

[EDIT]
Funny, the firmware .trx files for both are really identical.
So what makes the user interface different?

 

[ColinTaylor]

[EDIT]
Funny, the firmware .trx files for both are really identical.
So what makes the user interface different?

I believe it's because they are in different operating modes, router vs. media bridge.

 

[wouterv]

I believe it's because they are in different operating modes, router vs. media bridge.

For a page like the LAN page that is true.
The firmware page to my opinion can be independent.
In Media Bridge Mode many setting pages simply do not exist.
One good day I will give it a try and set the RT-AC1900U back to Router mode and have a look.
Functional wise everything is working as it should.

 

[Adooni]

is this AC1900 is T-Mobile branded? This will be the reason you do not see it as AiMesh router.
if this is the case that require different soft and for example RMerlin do not support it.

 

[wouterv]

is this AC1900 is T-Mobile branded? This will be the reason you do not see it as AiMesh router.
if this is the case that require different soft and for example RMerlin do not support it.

Check the first post here, the TM-AC1900 and RT-AC1900U are similar but different boxes and I am aware of the differences.
The last few posts are regarding RT-AC68U vs RT-AC1900U and I don't talk about AiMesh.
The RT-AC1900U is identical to the RT-AC66U-B1, and both are a "repacked" RT-AC68U.
The RT-AC68U stands vertical, the RT-AC1900U and RT-AC66U-B1 lay down flat.
Besides the above there are a few hardware variants with different CPU's and different radio chips.

 

[Amplificator]

Does anyone know if DD-WRT supports the RT-AC68U V3 model? In their "Router Database" they don't list any hardware revisions for this router at all.

FreshTomato lists V3 as supported, but having the option for DD-WRT down the road would be nice.

 

[L&LD]

If none of the RT-AC68U variants are listed...

 

[Amplificator]

If none of the RT-AC68U variants are listed...

The router is listed, just no revisions for it. If t wasn't supported at all it wouldn't be on the list.

I know that the older revisions are supported which is why I'm specifically asking if anyone here knows if V3 is

 

[L&LD]

I feel you've answered your question already.

 

[RangerZ]

Not clear on the status of the DD-WRT project. The Router Database is not being maintained and pretty much dead . If you go to the Forums pages you may find what you are looking for. It's been some years, but I think you may find multiple forks\maintainers for some devices. I mostly used Brainslayer's firmware.

 

[Amplificator]

Not clear on the status of the DD-WRT project. The Router Database is not being maintained and pretty much dead . If you go to the Forums pages you may find what you are looking for. It's been some years, but I think you may find multiple forks\maintainers for some devices. I mostly used Brainslayer's firmware.

Thanks, I havn't been able to find anything specifically mentioning that V3 is supported, which is why I thought I'd try on this forum - maybe someone had one and actually used DD-WRT with it - a bit of a long shot perhaps

 

[RangerZ]

I left DD-WRT because I found it limiting and was concerned it was dying. I went to Open-WRT and found it much more flexible. Unfortunately there is very limited support for ASUS Broadcom wireless.

 

[Amplificator]

I left DD-WRT because I found it limiting and was concerned it was dying. I went to Open-WRT and found it much more flexible. Unfortunately there is very limited support for ASUS Broadcom wireless.

I really would love to have a router with support for all the major ones, so DD-WRT, OpenWRT and FreshTomato.
But I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. I'm good with the feature set in both FreshTomato and DD-WRT which is why the AC68U (V3) would be perfect for me. Most of all I need VLAN feature to dedicate ports on the switch to separate networks that are isolated from each other.

I don't live and breathe routers so my knowledge is not as deep as most of you here, so perhaps there's another great choice out there I'm just not aware of. Money is not really an issue, it just needs to be stable and well-supported.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@Amplificator This discussion has drifted away from the subject of this thread. I suggest you create a separate thread if you want to ask about DD-WRT support or alternative routers/firmware.

 

[jontalk]

Someone locally is selling an RT-AC68U stating it was purchased from Amazon a few years ago. He says there's no HW on the rear label, so how do I know which version it is?