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Asus RT-AC68U router?

chrisk

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xentr_thread_starter
My old man needs a router and my Netgear I have here would be great for him. Would be an excuse to buy a new one for me :)

I'm liking the reviews I see on this new Asus:
Canada Computers | Networking | ASUS AC1900 RT-AC68U Dual-Band Gigabit wireless Router

Couple of questions:
1. Anyone use this router yet? It's new, but I figured I would ask anywho.
2. Experiences with quality of Asus routers? I was always a Linksys guy, and my current router is a Netgear that has been solid for me.

I know that Asus is faster than my laptop (wireless N), but my S4 is an AC device so I might see a bump there on some in-house transfers. From the little I have read, seems that wireless N range and speed might get a boost from this baby too.

Any thoughts? Do I need it? Prob not...do I want it, :bananafunky:
 
xentr_thread_starter
Wait. No wall-mount option because the ports are in the way?

NOPE.JPEG

I will be keeping my RT-AC66U.

Wall-mount is handy for some folks, but I have never used it. Could come in handy at some point but for the next couple of years I won't need wall-mounting.
 
AC68 is great kit. Im using it now. It replaces my 66 unit (that I just sold). Better range, better speeds...all round just better. The USB 3 port is meh. BUT I really like the new vertical only orientation. No more cables hanging out the top...to interfere with the antennas.

Like the RT-AC66U before it, its been rock solid in testing. IMHO can go wrong with either the '66 or '68. Just be aware that the PCE-AC66 PCI-E card is not compatible with Haswell systems. BUT Asus will upgrade you to the PCE-AC68 for free. Just start an RMA. ;)
 
Love the new Asus units. Got tired of the crap Linksys has been putting out for the last year or two and glad I made the switch.
 
And here I was under the impression linksys gave up networking a long time ago and started making desk ornaments?
 
I have it's younger non-AC sibling the RT-N66U running Tomato firmware. Best router I've owned to date. No issues to speak of and performance is amazing.

I personally don't see the reason to spend $230 on an AC router though unless you rely heavily on wireless and plan to buy compatible 1900Mbps adapters. Your S4 is unlikely to make use of AC. I doubt it even uses N to the fullest either.
 
I spent about $30 on an Intel 7260.HMWG for my HP Pavilion DV4 and this happened. :P
pqr7gcv6rdkq96si7yw4.png

49-50MB/s was awesome though I was in the same room with line of sight and copying a single large file.. However even in the farther areas of my house through a few walls I was still doing 10-15MB/s.(as fast as the same-room line-of-sight speeds for the Intel Centrino 6200 I was previously using with the RT-AC66U)

It does put a hefty load on the poor old&slow 2.2GHz AMD ZM-82 CPU. But so did the Intel Centrino 6200 I had in my notebook before this 7260.

Was the RT-AC66U worth it?
YES.
Is the RT-AC68U worth it?
Of course. IMO at least. But as someone with an RT-AC66U already I am not likely to upgrade. At least not as far as I am aware.
 
xentr_thread_starter
I picked up this router (I actually had the Netgear Nighthawk from Newegg but it showed up DOA....) and I have noticed an issue that I have seen in reviews on other sites. I am running the latest firmware from the Asus support page for the router.

Router seems to work great for a few days, until the speeds seem to slow to a crawl. Powering off the router for a sec and then back on again seems to correct the issue.

To help diagnose this, what I do is when I notice my internet lagging, I go to speedtest and select a nearby server. I reboot the router (I leave the modem alone, and I leave my browser window open on the same speedtest page and server, and I select the "Retest" button). All this is done via my laptop using wireless N. Laptop stays in the same location, with the only change being a router reboot.

As an example, my download speeds 5 mins ago (7am) were approx 6Mbps. After a router restart and speedtest retest, I get 41Mbps.

Any ideas on how I can be sure the router is causing my issue? I have not tried any lan download speeds via wireless, nor any wired tests...only had this router for a week or so and have duplicated the above issue 3 times since Saturday.
 
Chris, I would recommend upgrading to a Tomato based firmware. Although the ASUS firmwares are better then every other home-use router firmware it still isnt as good as Tomato imo.

And worst to worst you can always reflash back to the asus firmware if the problem persists (which I dont think it will)
 

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