Time to replace my RT-AC88U

[PeterT]

This recommendation hasn't changed for many months now.

The GT-AX6000, the RT-AX88U Pro, and as a last resort (very unbalanced hardware that is hard to recommend today, even with your current ISP speeds, now), the RT-AX86U Pro.

See which models are available in your area, and wait for a good sale if you can.

I'd love to understand the issues with the AX86-U Pro; what leads to the hardware being considered unbalanced.

Thanks

 

[Tech9]

Just someone’s opinion based on the fact the router has single 2.5GbE port. Most folks don’t have or need >Gigabit ISP plan.

 

[jerry6]

Thank you for your quick answers.
The bad thing with Tomato is the problem that it doesn't support LAN ports 5-8.

That was my point why I bought this router, to get 8 LAN ports without using another switch which always disturbs my home network.

a switch is cheap and will last many years . I have read many posts where the ports on tha router are not reliable

 

[jerry6]

Just someone’s opinion based on the fact the router has single 2.5GbE port. Most folks don’t have or need >Gigabit ISP plan.

2.5 gb port is still useful for transfers , computer to NAS or other connected devices

 

[Tech9]

Single 2.5GbE LAN port won't be very useful. For faster LAN transfers switch is cheaper. Paying extra for unused features and planning for the future on a disposable type consumer device is a wrong strategy. This device will be End-of-Life in number of years and has to be replaced again.

 

[rezlop]

Don't expose any services to Internet and you'll be fine

I don't use any DMZ and Port Forwarding, but I rely on DDNS and OpenVPN. I also use AiProtection.


So if I really want to be on the safe side I could use like the Netgear GS308 switch on port 4 for example if I move to Fresh Tomato ?!
Or I put enormous effort and build my own router with OpenSense on a MiniPC and use my "unused" TP-Link Deco as Wifi-AP..

 

[Tech9]

DDNS and OpenVPN is fine.

You can use any Gigabit switch for more LAN ports.

 

[jerry6]

Supports VLANs, Access Point mode and Repeater Mode - all you need to recreate what Asus marketing calls AiMesh.

thank you Mesh is just marketing or newspeak for something that has always been there

 

[maxbraketorque]

Single 2.5GbE LAN port won't be very useful. For faster LAN transfers switch is cheaper. Paying extra for unused features and planning for the future on a disposable type consumer device is a wrong strategy. This device will be End-of-Life in number of years and has to be replaced again.

A single 2.5 gbe port is useful for interfacing the wifi router wireless traffic to a multi-gig switch.

Speaking of EOL, Netgear EOLed my MS-510TX multigig switch within 3 years of introduction. Gotta love Netgear for their short product lifetime cycle.

 

[Tech9]

A single 2.5 gbe port is useful for interfacing the wifi router wireless traffic to a multi-gig switch.

We are talking about RT-AX86U Pro and RT-AX88U Pro, remember? Dual-band models with one only higher speed radio on 5GHz band. In theory you are correct, perhaps for a multi-band or BE-class router. In reality for dual-band AX-class router very few devices can exceed Gigabit on Wi-Fi and special conditions have to be met - clear DFS for 160Mhz wide channels, device with 160MHz wide channel support, quiet Wi-Fi environment, shorter range.

 

[maxbraketorque]

We are talking about RT-AX86U Pro and RT-AX88U Pro, remember? Dual-band models with one only higher speed radio on 5GHz band. In theory you are correct, perhaps for a multi-band or BE-class router. In reality for dual-band AX-class router very few devices can exceed Gigabit on Wi-Fi and special conditions have to be met - clear DFS for 160Mhz wide channels, device with 160MHz wide channel support, quiet Wi-Fi environment, shorter range.

I generally agree that saturating even a 1 gbps ethernet with wifi traffic from an AX88U Pro or AX86U Pro is unlikely, but I'll take whatever extra headroom I can get.

 

[rezlop]

I moved to freshtomato-VPN version on the latest version and I like it.

But I still have the behaviour that Internet(WAN) behind my 5G Router in Bridge Mode and WAN on my AC88U over DHCP, regularly drops connection and only a Reboot helps to gain connection again.
In the log you see "daemon err stubby[24170] *FAILURE* no valid transports or upstreams available!". DDNS works fine, IPv6 is deactivated and I use DNSSEC with Stubby and "no resolve" or "strict order" doesn't change a thing with this connection drop.

In AsusWRT there was no option for wireguard and in freshtomato there is one. I have OpenVPN Server running and autostarted.
I managed for some seconds to get a wireguard connection but then I always get the message "unable to bring up wireguard interface wg0, retrying..." and "wireguard: wg0: Could not create IPv6 socket"

Cannot find any solution for both. When I want to config wg0 in the command section there is always message "no such file and directory" or "access denied".
I formated JFFS and when I save it it says "loaded". Cleared NVRAM many times but doesn't make a change either.

I'm not sure if this Thread describes my problem but when its the case then I really bought a total "sh......" Router.

With Wireguard could it be the problem that jfss is not working properly ?
I don't think SSH is necessary (which i deactivated) because OpenVPN is running with no prob and wireguard ran for few seconds..

 

[easyriider]

My AC86U is also EOL, so I bought a AX59U and flashed it to OpenWrt.

https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ax59u

 

[jerry6]

My AC86U is also EOL, so I bought a AX59U and flashed it to OpenWrt.

https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ax59u

If you can deal with Openwrt great , sometimes it can be a handful plus if the router goes bad no Asus warranty , if router is EOL who cares go for it

 

[easyriider]

sometimes it can be a handful plus if the router goes bad no Asus warranty , if router is EOL who cares go for it

It's possible to install the original firmware to claim warranty, but $100 for a new AX59U is not a big risk for me.

 

[el pescador]

My AC88U has done over 10 years now. I see it is coming to the end of support so have been looking. So many more routers now to research!

 

[RogueScholar]

Is there a matrix somewhere that lists all the current Asus routers, how much memory they have, # cores, size of NVRAM, etc?

I'm rather partial to this one, myself: WikiDevi.Wi-Cat.RU: List of ASUS devices

 

[cavililla]

My AC86U is also EOL, so I bought a AX59U and flashed it to OpenWrt.

https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ax59u

In this page indicate that "If you have a recent U-Boot >= 2022.10 installing OpenWrt 24.10.0 will brick your device.".
How do you know the U-boot? The firmware version don't have this format (3.0.0.4.388_33407). Have you flash OpenWrt?

 

[kjoshj]

I'm rather partial to this one, myself: WikiDevi.Wi-Cat.RU: List of ASUS devices

Me too, but idk why they ignore the AX86U Pro & AX88U Pro, while having both of their BE model pages built...

 

[lokester]

Rather than start a new thread, I too am considering replacing my RT-AC3100 with a RT-AX88U-PRO. Wifi 6 or 7 devices are not even on my radar at this point, so that is not driving the need for replacement. My current setup does include "several" IOT devices that I keep reading should be placed on a VLAN to isolate them from the internet. So if I said continued Merlin FW support and VLAN capability were driving my need for router upgrade, is the RT-AX88U-PRO still a good choice?