N66U replacement Asus ac86u or Netgear R7800 X4S

V_R

V_R

Soldato
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I've ordered the 86U on back order, I'll be installing the latest Merlin as soon as I get it.
 
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Connected my Asus RC86U up yesterday, in terms of wireless performance, I would say not much in it between my N66U, I think the 5ghz band is a little stronger though.

The speed of the thing is a lot quicker, in terms of setting it up and the UI is snappy.

I flashed Merlin firmware straight away, not had much time to test any of the features yet.

Anyway so far Im glad I went for the Asus.

Does anyone here know if you need to set the AiProtection up or not or does it just do its thing?
 
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@Vimes

What channel do you use on the 5ghz band, I was on Auto for that with channel 100 but my new fire tv stick could not find the 5ghz band, I changed to 44 and it found it ok, not sure why this was the case.
 
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@beachBOYken


I am using channel 52 for the 5Ghz band. AFAIK this applies for the UK.....
  • Band A : 5150 - 5350 MHz (channels 36 - 64)
I could well be wrong but Band A above is for internal 5Ghz and Band B, which includes the higher channels, for the UK is for outdoor use.

I also use the Smart Connect function, so I only have one SSID for both bands and the router allocates the device to the preferred radio.

As I understand it you have to select each of the three parts of the AI function to configure and enable them, if you wish.

There is also an addon for the Merlin firmware for ad blocking at the router level.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ab-solution-the-ad-blocking-solution-v3-11.37511/

I have not used it.
 
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@beachBOYken


I am using channel 52 for the 5Ghz band. AFAIK this applies for the UK.....
  • Band A : 5150 - 5350 MHz (channels 36 - 64)
I could well be wrong but Band A above is for internal 5Ghz and Band B, which includes the higher channels, for the UK is for outdoor use.

I also use the Smart Connect function, so I only have one SSID for both bands and the router allocates the device to the preferred radio.

As I understand it you have to select each of the three parts of the AI function to configure and enable them, if you wish.

There is also an addon for the Merlin firmware for ad blocking at the router level.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ab-solution-the-ad-blocking-solution-v3-11.37511/

I have not used it.

Thank's for the information, sounds like channel 44 is ok then, I did not know there was a smart connect function when I set it up, oh well. I prefer to choose myself what devices go on which band, I have all my high bandwidth devices such as games consoles video streaming devices on 5ghz and phones/tablets on the 2.4ghz, although I'm sure this smart connect feature is pretty good at allocating to preferred band.
 
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@beachBOYken how are you finding the Asus Ac86u? Stable? What are you using it with? I'm looking the buy the Asus and pair it with a Draytek vigor 130 to use with Plusnet FTTC.

Hi

Had it nearly 2 weeks now, I'm using the latest Merlin firmware on it, I haven't had much time at the moment to look into all the features it has, I have about 12 days uptime now, so no issues (touch wood) and very stable.

I just have connected into my VM superhub which is in modem mode.
 
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Hi

Had it nearly 2 weeks now, I'm using the latest Merlin firmware on it, I haven't had much time at the moment to look into all the features it has, I have about 12 days uptime now, so no issues (touch wood) and very stable.

I just have connected into my VM superhub which is in modem mode.

Hi
I was wondering how you are getting on with the asus router and how reliable is it regarding wifi on both 2.4 and 5ghz and how many days uptime has the router managed to reach?
I am using a HH5 which is pretty unreliable on wifi and also reboots every few weeks or so and looking to get something better.
 

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I've had my AC86U for about 2 months now, been perfect, rock solid and not missed a beat. Running latest Merlin FW and using it with an unlocked HG612 modem.
 
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I have a crappy HH5 and wifi is very unreliable and I also use a HG612 but you still get the two weeks maybe less reboot so really want something more reliable.
 

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V_R

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Yes, I use the HG612 as a modem, its unlocked so I can get the detailed stats from the modem, and I use a Raspberry Pi Zero powered via the router's USB port to log the stats via DSL Stats.

All three have been running faultlessly.
 
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Thanks for the info much appreciated.
Can you tell me did you buy yours in the uk or did you order from abroad as i see someone posted a much cheaper price when ordered from abroad?
I would prefer the uk as it would probably be much easier to return if anything were to happen.
 
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Has anyone had a high pitched coil whine type noise coming from their ac86u? I bought one back in December and had to send it back as it was pretty loud. Tempted to try again.
 
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