Upgrade time ... RT-AC66U-B1 to RT-AX68U?

[Tech9]

So our US friends are free to select 2.4GHz Ch.12 & Ch.13, just as I am in the UK?

No. In the US on 2.4GHz band only Ch.1-11 are available.

 

[Natty]

Possibly my Ch.149 setting is illegal , I'd be interested to know

In the UK, Ch.149 is currently legal (since 2017). Asuswrt Merlin is behind the curve in restricting this on my existing router manufactured in 2019

U-NII-3 5.725 to 5.850 GHz UK Legal

Now that Ofcom in the uk has opened up U-NII-3 5.725 to 5.850 GHz. unlicensed from the 7th august 2017 are asus going to add support to my RT-AC88U? this is a uk model sourced from amazon.co.uk that in asus in theyr infinate wisdom region coded to germany...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Natty]

In the US on 2.4GHz band only Ch.1-11 are available

How is this controlled? Is there a non-changeable regional configuration stored in a non-user-accessible area of nvram?

 

[Tech9]

Asuswrt Merlin is behind the curve

Asuswrt-Merlin has only whatever you have available in stock Asuswrt.

Is there a non-changeable regional configuration stored in a non-user-accessible area of nvram?

Yes. Only some routers for the Asian market have Region Change options.

 

[Natty]

whatever you have available in stock Asuswrt

Ah. So ASUS are behind the curve and not catering for changes to UK regs for product manufactured 2+ years after the change. But contrary to that observation, they are putting UKCA marks on their UK mains adapters, so it is not as if ASUS are blind to UK regulatory changes in recent years

 

[Tech9]

So ASUS are behind the curve and not catering for changes to UK regs

I'm pretty sure this is not limited to Asus products only.

 

[Natty]

It actually makes perfect sense from a business perspective. If new regs mandate new labelling (e.g. UKCA) then manufacturers are dutybound to comply in order to continue selling product legally. If some more radio bandwidth becomes available (e.g. U-NII-3) then you might expect that to feature in a new product model, but no manufacturer is going to waste money re-qualifying old product to add the new bandwidth without a compelling reason.

RT-AC66U-B1 lacks U-NII-3, while my 10 year old TL-WDR3600 that had its disposal deferred thanks to DD-WRT has it. Such is life. I expect the 5GHz will still be better with the RT-66U-B1. And U-NII-3 and Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 will be some small things to look forward to in the next upgrade.

 

[Tech9]

but no manufacturer is going to waste money re-qualifying old product

Exactly.