RT-AX86UPro - Should I upgrade from 3004 to 3006 now?

[pinkgrae]

I've been away for a while and left my AX86UPro on 3004.388.8_4 because it's mission critical: my wife works from home so it *must* work 100% of the time - which it has been.

I'm aware of all the reasons why I should upgrade to 3006, but have also read the horror stories.

Is it safe to upgrade now? I mean, my marriage is on the line

 

[bennor]

Have you reviewed the Asus-Merlin 3006.102.5 release thread to see what issues, if any, may impact your use case?

Release - Asuswrt-Merlin 3006.102.5 is now available

Asuswrt-Merlin 3006.102.5 has been released. This release focusses on merging new GPLs, redesigning the Connections log page, and fixing issues introduced with 3006.102. Changelog: - NOTE: For developers, please note that the new default branch is now called "main" - it's what was...

www.snbforums.com

Without knowing more about your specific use case and what features you use and what addon scripts you use, one can only say that the 3006.102.5 firmware works on the RT-AX86U Pro. The Guest Network Pro feature takes a little bit of time to understand and properly configure depending on one's use case. Certain Addon scripts are not supported under 3006 firmware.

For my use case 3006.102.5 firmware is running fine on a RT-AX86U Pro. As always YMMV.

 

[bbunge]

Quick answer is YES! But, I recommend the Asus firmware if you feel iffy...

Edit: after going over some other posts about Network Map issues I've decided to try Merlin firmware - again. Was a snap to set up as usual and, yes, I factory reset and used the longer password. I really prefer to using Diversion on the router than running Pi-Hole.

 

[atkinsom]

I'm holding off myself right now on my 86 Pro as i have a couple of older devices that sit on the guest network. The new GNP seems a bit quirky with some older devices at times and I can't afford to spend time right now troubleshooting any issues if they arise. I'm pretty sure I could figure things out if problems arose but work from home doesn't afford me any downtime right now. Anyway it seems like a solid branch but understanding the intricacies of the GNP will require research before jumping in from my part.

 

[Jeffrey Young]

It really comes down to how risk adverse you are.

For each person reporting difficulties with the 3006 branch, there are as many people reporting stable operation. It seems that the WiFi 7 devices are having more difficulty.

I would also say it depends on your complexity of your router. Based on your signature, you are not doing anything special, so you may be just fine.

Do a good backup, announce a time to the family that maintenance is being done and give it a go. Just have your backup ready to fall back.

For my own opinion, 3006 is not mature enough yet. That said, I am running a custom guest network script on my 3004 based system (I need a LAN port to be part of the guest network, with one way access), a NGNIX reverse proxy to serve two public web servers and a family cloud server and all the acme.sh scripts to support certificates. I also have custom dnsmasq setting to support an Active Directory system (I use common sign on everywhere). I also use the entware implementation of StrongSwan for VPN (the entware version can talk to my radius server for authentication) and custom WG scripts to serve a DC off site. So, for me, I am an outlier and can not afford a few days of downtime to find out if 3006 can do what I have 3004 setup to do now. 3004.388.8_4 has been rock solid for me and I rearly have to look at the router now.

My thoughts

 

[maxbraketorque]

I took the plunge with my AX86U Pro main/AP config when 3006.102.4 came out. Based on all the info I read, I figured there was a reasonable chance there would be significant issues, but it was a complete non-issue. The only thing I had to do was to adjust the guest network configuration. Everything else just worked.

Same result for my GT-AX6000 main/AP combo.

My configs are relatively simple. Site-to-site VPN, main/AP dual router config, some DHCP assignments.