What to replace a flaky RT-AX68U with (EU)?

[ojigi]

Hi,

I have thread here regarding my RT-AX68U freezing/hanging way too often. Someone wrote that it's a model with known issues.

I'm therefore looking to buy a new one now during Black Friday, but what should I get (I'm not returning to my old RT-AC 68U )?

What current model is used a lot, works well and and supported by Merlin?

RT-BE92U is very popular according to price comparison sites but not recommended based on what I read in these forums.


Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[bennor]

One can see the entire list of Asus-Merlin supported (and no longer supported) routers, and the firmware version supported, on the Asus-Merlin website:

Home | Asuswrt-Merlin

www.asuswrt-merlin.net

And

About | Asuswrt-Merlin

www.asuswrt-merlin.net

PS: If you have specific requirements, budget range, specific use case requirements you should list them as well to provide context and help others provide better suggestions.
PPS: And the GNuton supported routers can be found here:

GitHub - gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng: Extends the support of Merlin firmware to more ASUS routers

Extends the support of Merlin firmware to more ASUS routers - gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

 

[Poul Bak]

What ever you decide, definitely go for a wifi 7 router.
And do it correctly, first minimal setup, upgrade to latest stock from GUI, then do a factory reset, again minimal setup.
Let it run for at least 1/2 hour.
Now flash Merlin, followed by factory reset. This time you can setup everything and let it run.

 

[Tech9]

RT-BE92U

Based on user feedback here on SNB Forums - avoid this model. If you want tri-band model - RT-BE96U. Keep in mind ASUS BE-class routers have broken Trend Micro engine and major Asuswrt services like Adaptive QoS, Traffic Analyzer, Parental Controls, AiProtection may be partially or fully non-functional. It’s been like this from release. What is advertised on the box is not exactly what you get.

 

[Tech9]

In EU - 6GHz band is most likely dead behind single brick wall. The other two bands have limited power as well, 100mW on 2.4GHz and 200mW on 5GHz non-DFS. Careful when reading reviews from different regions. They may be totally irrelevant to the router you are going to buy in EU.

 

[Vimes]

Based on user feedback here on SNB Forums - avoid this model. If you want tri-band model - RT-BE96U. Keep in mind ASUS BE-class routers have broken Trend Micro engine and major Asuswrt services like Adaptive QoS, Traffic Analyzer, Parental Controls, AiProtection may be partially or fully non-functional. It’s been like this from release. What is advertised on the box is not exactly what you get.

Oh my, didn't realise that it was that bad.

Then again, personal thoughts, the Asus range of routers that I see currently do not seem to offer great value for money.
In the end, it depends on your needs I suppose.

At some point my AX88U might well need to be replaced as the primary router due to the speed of the WAN port, at least the six of the eight Ethernet ports in use are for low throughput devices. Whilst most of our other LAN is running at 2.5Gb.
It has been useful having the AX88u and, upstairs, a AX58U running as a mesh.

Interesting thoughts also on the 6Ghz band for those living in properties without tissue paper walls.

 

[Tech9]

Oh my, didn't realise that it was that bad.

Many people around already have BE-class ASUS routers, they know about TM issues and don’t use whatever is found not working correctly. May or may not be critical for your use case.

I personally would probably prefer 2x GL.iNet GL-MT6000 Wi-Fi 6 routers running OpenWrt for the price of one ASUS Wi-Fi 7 router.

 

[Vimes]

Many people around already have BE-class ASUS routers, they know about TM issues and don’t use whatever is found not working correctly. May or may not be critical for your use case.

I personally would probably prefer 2x GL.iNet GL-MT6000 Wi-Fi 6 routers running OpenWrt for the price of one ASUS Wi-Fi 7 router.

Thanks

It was those that I was considering, not necessarily the Flint 3 though.
They seem to have not included Mesh, that could have been useful.
Understanding that the Flint 2 also has greater VPN client potential, if important.

For the cost, they seem very decent.
TP Link might also have some worth thinking about.

 

[RMerlin]

Based on user feedback here on SNB Forums - avoid this model. If you want tri-band model - RT-BE96U. Keep in mind ASUS BE-class routers have broken Trend Micro engine and major Asuswrt services like Adaptive QoS, Traffic Analyzer, Parental Controls, AiProtection may be partially or fully non-functional. It’s been like this from release. What is advertised on the box is not exactly what you get.

According to download counts, the RT-BE92U is the second most popular Wifi 7 router among Asuswrt-Merlin users. So, that number of complains does not necessarily reflect a reality of it being that bad - you do get more datapoints for that particular model than for the other Wifi 7 models (aside from the RT-BE88U, which is the most popular).

 

[Tech9]

The most popular RT-BE88U doesn't have so much negative feedback though. Must be a difference.