Asus RT-AC87U General Discussion

[Azriel]

Hey guys,

Just wondering how many people have the Asus RT-AC87U and what your experience is with it so far?

 

[SYNERGY]

Willing to accept donations to review...

All Asus hardware is generally great thou. Interface as well.

 

[ASUS_SA]

Hey guys,

Just wondering how many people have the Asus RT-AC87U and what your experience is with it so far?

Hey guys,

Just wondering how many people have the Asus RT-AC87U and what your experience is with it so far?

Hi Azriel,

It is rated by SmallNetBuilder.com (a prominent media that focuses on wireless networking) as the best router in the AC2350 class.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...and-wireless-ac2400-gigabit-router-first-look

Gamecca (South Africa) gave it a score of 94 out of 100.

http://issuu.com/gamecca/docs/gamecca_sep2015_vol_7_iss_75/23?e=1263362/15148381

Our own experience with this router: it is beautiful, incredibly easy to setup, wifi signal is stable, has enterprise-level security, and delivers outstanding speed and range.

Did we mention that we've won PCMag's Readers' Choice Award 4 years in a roll?

 

[Azriel]

I actually already have one, was just trying to start up a discussion. See how popular it is in ZA.

The quantenna driver is at least improving

Looking forward now though to the 88u

 

[shankley74]

Hi Azriel,

I'm interested in finding out how stable is your the 5Ghz wifi signal on this router. The Small Net Builder review also lists the Firmware as being unstable and on the small net builder forums, people are having endless issues with the wifi signal on this model just dropping. Most are returning the product.

I'd like to get your own experience with this router in SA conditions.

 

[Azriel]

With regards to the 5Ghz, after the recent driver update from Quantenna it's improved a lot. I admit that in the beginning I rather just turned the 5Ghz off it was so bad, however I can't say that I've really had a problem with it recently since the new Quantenna drivers were released in the recent firmwares.
Also from what I read, the current beta firmwares improve this even further.

Can't say I've had problems with the signal dropping though, I'm often at home connected over wifi with VPN and it's perfectly stable, even on the 5Ghz.

It's by far the best and fastest router I've owned. Especially now that the 5Ghz has been improved recently, and still improving, I'm really happy with it.

I've also used the DSL-AC68U (which is just the DSL version of the RT-AC68U) which also works great! It's not quite as fast as the 87U, but I don't think you'd really notice the difference in your every day life. It also uses a different 5Ghz chip if that's your concern.

 

[Azriel]

Also looking forward to the release of the iOS version of the Asus Router app!

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asus.aihome

 

[shankley74]

That's great and what I was hoping for. Yes it seemed to be the Quantenna chipset/firmware that was the cause of the signal drop. I see ASUS has moved to the Broadcom chipset for the new RT-AC88U router.

I'm glad they fixed it. So you've not had any 5ghz signal drops since he Quantenna driver update. How long ago was this update and did you have to install manually or did it come through via the normal ASUS firmware update?

 

[Azriel]

In the GUI, there's a button to check for firmware updates, otherwise you can grab it off the site. Either way, you need to start the update, it doesn't do it automatically and by itself. Although because the drivers were updated, you need to do a hard factory reset afterwards. So just turn on the router while holding down the WPS button, wait around 10 seconds (while still holding down the WPS) till the power LED starts blinking fast, turn router off and back on.

FYI, The GUI of the Asus routers are amazing!

I think the new Quantenna drivers have been in the firmware since end September I think it is, since firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9177. As of today the latest is 3.0.0.4.378.9313.

See https://www.asus.com/Networking/RTAC87U/HelpDesk_Download/

 

[shankley74]

Thanks for that information. Really appreciate it!!