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dlleno4
join:2013-09-26

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1 recommendation

dlleno4

Member

[Other] Asus N66U firmware?

Hi, I'm getting close to hitting the submit button on an ASUS N66U purchase -- for the simple reason that there are fewer complaints with this one than any other consumer grade wireless N router on Amazon. There are a multitude of complaints on this one too -- nasty ones even, but I can only conclude that one or more of the following are true:

1. sometimes you get unlucky; thats what warranties are for
2. some of the bad reviews are from folks without the patience to go through the warranty process
3. sometimes a firmware rev is buggy. update to the latest, and in the case of Asus security updates (for example) you may have to grab an updated firmware rev off the site instead of via the normal automatic process.
4. Some reviews simply must be from folks with skin in the game. on both sides I might add. there are reviews from self-proclaimed exerts detailing how performance degrades over time and how the N66U is made up of unwanted organic material of equestrian origin . THere are other reviews from self proclaimed experts that the device is a solid performer.

ok all those things aside I'm seeing that there are folks loading open source firmware onto their N66Us? Can someone give me the cliff notes version re: is this a good idea? the implications of using open source firmware on industry standard chipsets are:

1. The Open source community can do a better job than Asus
2. Open source firmware is either easier to use, less buggy, or more secure?

are these valid conclusions? are you guys loading up open source firmware in our N66U routers? are there warranty considerations, i.e. if the Asus warranty is 2 yrs and you run Open Source firmware, do you re-flash back to stock and send her back in?

appreciate the comments.

sonarman
Sonarman
join:2000-11-18
Liverpool, NY

1 recommendation

sonarman

Member

So I have a couple of these. I have put Shibby on one. I am also a life long DD-WRT guy. Both work fine, but let me say what I have reverted my primary one to the ASUS firmware. The reason is simply i wanted IPV6. Open source IPV6 is a little spotty with support and I had issues with dropping IPV6 packets. With the standard firmware, IPV6 just works. I also use it for QOS and it is not as robust as DD-WRT, but again, for standard stuff, it works. I have had one issue where I have flashed open source and created a brick due to a bad build. I could not recover and ate the router.. So to answer 1 and 2, it depends on what you want. If you like playing, then yes, you can load open source and some features will work better than stock firmware (QOS, Scheduling). But for standard stuff, I have found ASUS FW pretty good. If you want to play , buy 2. that way when(not if) you brick it, you dont take down the network....

needarouter

Anon

ok that makes sense. my primary question behind my question is reliability -- do the open source FW solutions offer any improvement or is the OE FW solid in its own right? my other critical needs are port forwarding, QoS for VoIP, and static IP assignments ( I'd really like IP address reservations to work like my Netgear).

FYI I'm moving from a Netgear N600 which is starting to poop out (dropping connections and requiring a reboot). I'm out to replace it while it is still good enough for a backup in case I have to send the Asus back for repair or replacement.

BTW I'm honing in on the Asus N66U because its complaint ratio on Amazon is significantly lower than that of the Netgear WNDr4500. In case anyone is interested I compiled the following statistics

Asus N66U
percentage of 1-star ratings: 8%
percentage of 1 and 2 star ratings: 12%

Netgear WNDR4500 (combined v1 and v2)
percentage of 1-star ratings: 22%
percentage of 1 and 2 star ratings: 30%

While I have no doubt that there are some ratings from people with skin in the game, and therefore the reviews themselves are not 100% "fair", it is hard for me to believe that this significant of a difference (nearly 3 times the percentage of 1-star ratings for the Netgear) can be explained by foul play and people blitzing the amazon ratings. I also acknowledge that Amazon has a reputation to protect as well, so they are motivated to keep the foul play at a minimum. I therefore conclude that, since the number of reviews for the Asus are twice that of the Negear, and because the percentage of 1-star ratings is one third that of the Netgear, that I have a greater probability of success with the Asus.

sonarman
Sonarman
join:2000-11-18
Liverpool, NY

1 recommendation

sonarman

Member

On Port Fowarding, QOS and IP assignments. All are in the stock firmware and work great. I have Vonage and use QOS by MAC address and have not had any issues. I would say the Open source is about the same as ASUS in terms as reliability. The radios do work better with Stock than any open source to date. I will say, in Linksys, Belkin and Dlink, I have used those and their Firmware is very unreliable. The bottom line, ASUS works well with Both
Phil75070
join:2005-08-17
Mckinney, TX

Phil75070 to dlleno4

Member

to dlleno4
I have VoicePulse VoIP which uses the Linksys PAP2T and I am having no issues leaving the QOS in the default automatic mode on my ASUS N66U.
Markus8
join:2014-01-31

Markus8 to dlleno4

Member

to dlleno4
I use the latest firmware with voip.ms and Cisco SPA 122. I set QOS by MAC address for the ATA and have had zero problems even when maxing out my connection with torrents and streaming video.

I set static IP addresses for my wired computers, my ATA, my NAS, my Apple TV and my satellite TV receiver. Not a single issue.

I let the kids use the 2.4 GHz wireless band while my wife and I share the 5 GHz wireless band for streaming very HD video via Air Video HD and the NAS and Mac mini to our iPads. The router has never missed a beat.

SteelersFan
join:2001-02-12
Rockwall, TX

1 recommendation

SteelersFan to dlleno4

Member

to dlleno4
I just bought one last week and immediately installed the latest Merlin firmware. I've not looked back yet. Everything (fingers crossed) seems stable. My d/l speeds went up about 4 Mbps from my Netgear N300 and my transfer speeds across LAN increased about 25%. The firmware has everything I wanted and there's plenty of screenshots out there so that you can decide beforehand. See - »www.lostrealm.ca/tower/node/134
for examples.