| ASUS RT-AC66U Router Any reason to spend an extra $20 on the ASUS RT-AC66U over the ASUS RT-N66U? My primary needs are WiFi penetration, I only have one coax outlet and it's in a remote corner of my apartment.
Any other suggestions for quality WiFi routers? |
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| Only get the AC variant if you plan on getting 802.11ac equipment in the next couple of year that can take advantage of it.
I picked one up last week because it was on sale for only a few dollars more then the non-AC variant. |
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| reply to quickdry21
I've heard of issues with the 5GHz band on the RT-AC66U (constant connection drops and some devices flat out not connecting). There's brand new firmware with an updated wireless driver however which may have solved these issues.
I personally have an RT-N66U and love it. The throughput and range is better than any other consumer router I've had the chance to play with. I upgraded from a Netgear WNDR3700 which at one time was supposed to be the king of wireless throughput and range and with the RT-N66U I can reach areas with good signal that the WNDR3700 wouldn't reach one bit.
The only real caveat to the router (which applies to the AC66U as well) is that ASUS doesn't seem to test their firmware builds that well before releasing them. Features like IPv6 seem to play the game of working -> broken -> working -> broken, and NAT loopback tends to be broken every so often as well.
With that being said though I definitely think if you're looking to spend that kind of money on a router, you can't do much better than the *66U routers. You might want to look into Asuswrt-Merlin as a firmware alternative - it's the Asus firmware with some extra additions and fixes. Tomato runs on the router too, but not very well in my opinion - wireless performance and range tends to take a massive hit. DD-WRT is an option as well, but it's pretty much a mess and difficult to install. |
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kovy
join:2009-03-26
kudos:8 | reply to quickdry21
I got the AC one just for that wireless feature. |
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 El QuintronAnother Yes ManPremium
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| reply to got_milk
said by got_milk:Tomato runs on the router too, but not very well in my opinion - wireless performance and range tends to take a massive hit. DD-WRT is an option as well, but it's pretty much a mess and difficult to install.
As an aside, I'm running Tomato on mine, and the WIFI is pretty good, I have a full brick house, with plaster walls.
One of the issues with Tomato, is that the default wireless power setting is much lower than it would be with the Asus default firmware (even if it did perform better than the WNDR3700) so you can increase it by a healthy margin, and get nearly the same results you would with the default firmware.
EQ
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| said by El Quintron:One of the issues with Tomato, is that the default wireless power setting is much lower than it would be with the Asus default firmware (even if it did perform better than the WNDR3700) so you can increase it by a healthy margin, and get nearly the same results you would with the default firmware.
One of the first things I did upon installing Tomato was boost the TX power levels to the same values that Asus uses by default (80mw if I recall correctly). Using default values and after some serious experimentation and tweaking the best I could do was taking only a small hit in range but a big hit in throughput (over 50% lower than stock Asus).
I take it you're using Shibby's Tomato? I know Toastman uses really old wireless drivers in his builds. |
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 Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | reply to quickdry21
I have an RT-N56U and it's amazing. |
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El QuintronAnother Yes ManPremium
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| reply to got_milk
said by got_milk:I take it you're using Shibby's Tomato? I know Toastman uses really old wireless drivers in his builds.
I am using Shibby's Tomato, it's too bad about TomatoUSB though, it ran like a champ on my RT-N16.
By the way, thanks for mentioning AsusWRT-Merlin, I wasn't aware that was RMerlin from WDLXTV, I went to the site and put all the pieces together, s/he is an awesome coder.
Cheers,
EQ
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| reply to got_milk
said by got_milk:I take it you're using Shibby's Tomato? I know Toastman uses really old wireless drivers in his builds.
Are they really old though ?
From the changelog of Toastman RT-N version 1.28.0501.3:
Revised/recompiled BCM driver backported from Asus GPL 3.0.0.4.220
(may 2012 issue) |
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 GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:19 | reply to quickdry21
A year old? That doesn't sound all that new, especially considering that the driver is dated before the AC66U even came out.
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| reply to quickdry21
It's draft 2.0 802.11ac so it's at least 2 drafts behind (current draft is 4.0)
802.11ac will be finalized sometime later this year. If you can wait for final draft equipment then I would recommend that. Unless you have AC devices (of which there are very few) then I would recommend sticking with the RT-N66U.
Both routers have Merlin firmware capability (check SNB forums) |
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| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:A year old? That doesn't sound all that new, especially considering that the driver is dated before the AC66U even came out.
True, but i don't think Shibby's is any newer. |
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| reply to quickdry21
So I take it the primary difference is one supports the upcoming ac standard? Wireless n should be good enough for me. |
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| reply to silvercat
said by silvercat:said by Guspaz:A year old? That doesn't sound all that new, especially considering that the driver is dated before the AC66U even came out.
True, but i don't think Shibby's is any newer. You're right - Toastman has brought his driver version in line with Shibby's. Toastman used to be really far behind the last I checked, it's good to see him make it up to par. There are much better drivers available now from newer firmwares, it'd be nice to see them get another version bump! |
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 dillyhammerA. Good. Start.Premium,MVM
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| reply to El Quintron
Are you seeing the 50% throughput bottleneck that got_milk  experienced with tomato?
That's a deal killer for me.
Mike |
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El QuintronAnother Yes ManPremium
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| said by dillyhammer:Are you seeing the 50% throughput bottleneck that got_milk experienced with tomato?
That's a deal killer for me.
Mike
Full disclosure:
I flashed it the minute I bought the router, so I can't how it compares to stock, but I live in a four floor backsplit, with full brick and plaster walls, and my router is in the basement.
I can still get wifi all over the house and stream 1080p over wifi when I have tried, but I haven't tried on the top floor where I have Ethernet jacks.
EQ
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dillyhammerA. Good. Start.Premium,MVM
join:2010-01-09
Hamilton, ON
kudos:9 | 1080p over wifi? Wow.
(I got the same setup, router in basement, I'm 2 stories up, house is 1922 double brick and full plaster and lath).
Thanks pal.
Mike |
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El QuintronAnother Yes ManPremium
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| said by dillyhammer:1080p over wifi? Wow.
(I got the same setup, router in basement, I'm 2 stories up, house is 1922 double brick and full plaster and lath).
Thanks pal.
Mike
The N66U is a beast, but that's why I bought it 
I don't see you having any connectivity problems with Shibby in that house.
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GuspazGuspazPremium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
kudos:19 | reply to quickdry21
Well, that's not outlandish... The bitrate of 1080p video on bluray is at most 40 Mbps, and 802.11n wifi will easily do 200+ on a 3x3 device with a good signal.
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dillyhammerA. Good. Start.Premium,MVM
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| said by Guspaz:Well, that's not outlandish... The bitrate of 1080p video on bluray is at most 40 Mbps, and 802.11n wifi will easily do 200+ on a 3x3 device with a good signal.
It all looks good on paper. Later there's running and screaming.
Penetration is a problem for me with a TL-1043ND. Not a top notch device, but not too shabby. At 2 stories up HD video over wireless stutters from time to time. I did track down some issues with the firmware on the media server, but still... not the greatest reception up 2 stories. On the 3rd floor I have to be within 10 feet of the stairs or signal is lost completely.
Sounds like the N66U may take care of [some of] that.
Mike
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