Upgrade options from RT-AC66U

[ruasonid]

What would be some good options for upgrade from an RT-AC66U?

Current router is working OK but I'd like to boost wireless speeds if possible. Also, there are many devices now connected and whilst the router has been reliable (running Merlin) it's a single point of failure. I figure that the cost of a new router is cheaper than the impact from a days outage. If I upgraded I'd keep the RT-AC66U as a backup.

 

[OzarkEdge]

What would be some good options for upgrade from an RT-AC66U?

Current router is working OK but I'd like to boost wireless speeds if possible. Also, there are many devices now connected and whilst the router has been reliable (running Merlin) it's a single point of failure. I figure that the cost of a new router is cheaper than the impact from a days outage. If I upgraded I'd keep the RT-AC66U as a backup.

The RT-AC86U is capable hardware at a good price.

OE

 

[Klueless]

The RT-AC86U is capable hardware at a good price.
OE

I agree. I have a couple myself (at work). I thought my N66Us were running pretty good but these definitely improved my range.

Assuming you want to stay with Asus then the 68U / 1900P / B1 are also technically (but, in my mind, not really significant) upgrades at cheaper price points.

I also bought an Asus Blue Cave on a whim (on sale). It's classed as an AC2600. I was pleasantly surprised, it's been running quite well. Because it's relatively attractive my wife let me take it up and out of its dusty corner on the floor and, no surprise, the range has improved. "Merlin" is not available for this device.

 

[Klueless]

I'd like to boost wireless speeds if possible

I was thinking my answer comes up a short. What are your current wireless speeds? What are you hoping for?

And why? If you've only a 100 Mbps Internet service then how fast do you need? If you've Gig service then I'd say 300-ish is good to great. (For me, when 5 GHz is "in range" I see 200-ish. When it flips to 2.4 GHz I see 60-ish.)

If you're just talking about a couple weak spots then how weak? If a little weak then an upgrade could well help. Check out the THiggins reviews elsewhere on this site for realistic expectations.

If you're talking about a lot weak to absolute nothings then you may be looking at an extender or mesh? (Myself, I've been meaning to read up on the Google Wifi mesh for sometime now.)

 

[ruasonid]

Thanks, I was looking at the RT-AC86U. There are several product options, some slightly eccentric looking. Thinking about the AC2900 which has an extra USB port over the AC66U and the 4 gigabit LAN ports will suffice as I use a smarthub adjacent the router.

Incidentally, I have about 30+ devices on my current router with various applications from media streaming, NAS, home automation, etc. Presumably this router will be OK with my Huawei HG612? Currently on BT fibre with download around 65Mbps and upload around 16mbps. Could I expect any gains?

One thing I do recall from when I replaced an older Asus router with the AC66U was that some 2.4GHz clients would not connect properly. A Google tablet being one example (tried several version of firmware on the router and the tablet). Any issues to report?

I'm also using Nord VPN. When I set this up on the router my speeds dropped dramatically so I reverted to using it on the clients. I doubt that an AC68U would change that?

 

[ruasonid]

I was thinking my answer comes up a short. What are your current wireless speeds? What are you hoping for?

And why? If you've only a 100 Mbps Internet service then how fast do you need? If you've Gig service then I'd say 300-ish is good to great. (For me, when 5 GHz is "in range" I see 200-ish. When it flips to 2.4 GHz I see 60-ish.)

If you're just talking about a couple weak spots then how weak? If a little weak then an upgrade could well help. Check out the THiggins reviews elsewhere on this site for realistic expectations.

If you're talking about a lot weak to absolute nothings then you may be looking at an extender or mesh? (Myself, I've been meaning to read up on the Google Wifi mesh for sometime now.)

Thanks again. My WAN speeds are around 65Mbps download. The Wifi performance issues mainly concern local file transfers (e.g. NAS to device and vice versa where I'm getting about 10-12 Mbps). I try to use Cat6 where possible and even string cables on some occasions when I'm moving lots of files.

 

[Klueless]

I'm also using Nord VPN. When I set this up on the router my speeds dropped dramatically so I reverted to using it on the clients. I doubt that an AC68U would change that?

Assuming you meant to say, "I doubt that an AC86U would change that?" then you just might be in for a very pleasant surprise! Much of the overhead for VPN is encryption and the 86U has a hardware accelerator for this very purpose. When I played with VPN on my 86U I got full service speed (100 Mbps).

My WAN speeds are around 65 Mbps download. The Wifi performance issues mainly concern local file transfers (e.g. NAS to device and vice versa where I'm getting about 10-12 Mbps)

So if you're seeing full service speeds of 65 Mbps over wireless then wireless is probably not your problem. Especially since you're also getting poor NAS performance even over Ethernet. What are you using for NAS?

You can double check by using an internal speed test. Many will recommend iperf. I'm old so I still use "NetStress" by "Nuts About Nets". I load up the software on a PC/laptop and onto a 2nd laptop. I hard wire both into the router and run. (I set it for 6 concurrent TCP and 6 concurrent UDP sessions.) Depending of the PCs I'll see about 700 Mbps over gigabit. Then I unplug the laptop and move it around over wireless and see about 150 to 250 Mbps (well over my Internet service speed of 100 : -)

This might also point you towards taking a closer look at your NAS.

 

[bitsbytes]

the 86u is a very good choice, I've got mine in the same area my 68u was and i get a much better connection speed on my smart TV in another room (866Mb vs 240Mb). just pray you get a working one as the hardware is very flaky. make sure you buy it from a place where you can easily replace it of something isn't working properly.

 

[ruasonid]

Assuming you meant to say, "I doubt that an AC86U would change that?" then you just might be in for a very pleasant surprise! Much of the overhead for VPN is encryption and the 86U has a hardware accelerator for this very purpose. When I played with VPN on my 86U I got full service speed (100 Mbps).

Correct.

So if you're seeing full service speeds of 65 Mbps over wireless then wireless is probably not your problem. Especially since you're also getting poor NAS performance even over Ethernet. What are you using for NAS?

FreeNAS. It's fine (as well as can be expected) via a cable. The speeds of 10-12Mbps are on WiFi. For example, the desktop client that can achieve 65Mbps (at least in terms of what is reported via speedtests) from the WAN drops to just into double digits on Wifi to the NAS. Speeds go up a little when larger files are transferred, but for photo albums, etc. it drops.

You can double check by using an internal speed test. Many will recommend iperf. I'm old so I still use "NetStress" by "Nuts About Nets". I load up the software on a PC/laptop and onto a 2nd laptop. I hard wire both into the router and run. (I set it for 6 concurrent TCP and 6 concurrent UDP sessions.) Depending of the PCs I'll see about 700 Mbps over gigabit. Then I unplug the laptop and move it around over wireless and see about 150 to 250 Mbps (well over my Internet service speed of 100 : -)

This might also point you towards taking a closer look at your NAS.

 

[Klueless]

FreeNAS. It's fine (as well as can be expected) via a cable. The speeds of 10-12Mbps are on WiFi. For example, the desktop client that can achieve 65Mbps (at least in terms of what is reported via speedtests) from the WAN drops to just into double digits on Wifi to the NAS. Speeds go up a little when larger files are transferred, but for photo albums, etc. it drops.

FreeNas eh? Did you build your own or buy one of the pre-configs? I assume the NAS is on Gigabit Ethernet. You tell me if the client is on WiFi you are only seeing 10 Mbps. As in 10 mega bits per second and not 10 Mega Bytes per Second. How are you measuring that?

And what speeds are you seeing if the client is on Gigabit Ethernet?

 

[ruasonid]

FreeNas eh? Did you build your own or buy one of the pre-configs? I assume the NAS is on Gigabit Ethernet. You tell me if the client is on WiFi you are only seeing 10 Mbps. As in 10 mega bits per second and not 10 Mega Bytes per Second. How are you measuring that?

And what speeds are you seeing if the client is on Gigabit Ethernet?

Thanks. I bought a HP Microserver and loaded a version of FreeNAS that I downloaded from the FreeNAS site. Figures for WiFi are in MBytes (typo). I'll have to revisit the stats (I used iperf) but I think wired Gigabit Ethernet was over 850 MBytes/sec.

 

[Grisu]

Thanks. I bought a HP Microserver and loaded a version of FreeNAS that I downloaded from the FreeNAS site. Figures for WiFi are in MBytes (typo). I'll have to revisit the stats (I used iperf) but I think wired Gigabit Ethernet was over 850 MBytes/sec.

Dont you realize what you have written yourself?
You have: 1 GigaBIT Ethernet, thats the same as 1000 MegaBIT/s.
How could you transfer 850 MBytes/s over 1000 Mbit/s when 1 Byte = 8 bit, and some overhead is needed too.

 

[Klueless]

Bits n Bytes : -)

Data transfers often measure "payload" thus they're in Bytes. Network speed tests don't know the difference between data and "overhead" (packet headers, descriptors, source & destination addresses, trailers ... ) so they simply measure bits. While there are 8 bits to a byte I simply multiply by ten to both keep the math simple and to account for packet overhead.

• MBps - MB/s, Mega Bytes per second.
• Mbps - Mega (million) bits per second
• mbps - milli bits per second (just to be silly : -)

Calculations are approximations

• 1,000 MBps = 10,000 million bits per second
• 1,000 Mbps = 1,000 million bits per second
• 1,000 mbps = one bit per second

It sounds like what you're trying to say is:

• Ethernet speeds are 850 Mbps or about 85 MB/s.
• WiFi speeds are about 100 Mbps or about 10 MB/s.

If that's true WiFi speeds are about what I'd expect. With some luck you might be able to double (200 Mbps) your WiFi speeds in some areas. Your new router should help some.

 

[Klueless]

What would be some good options for upgrade from an RT-AC66U?
Current router is working OK but I'd like to boost wireless speeds if possible.

The RT-AC86U is capable hardware at a good price.

Kind of curious where you wound up. Did you upgrade, to what, and how did it work out for you?