[Maylyn's Review] ASUS RT-AC87U

[dfran1]

Here are the rest of my settings, I use NO QOS, USB, anything else.

LAN page
- IPTV tab
-Use DHCP Routes = RFC3442 & Microsoft
-Enable multicast routing (IGMP Proxy) = Enable
-Enable efficient multicast forwarding (IGMP Snooping) = Enable

- Switch Control Page
-Jumbo Frames = enable
-NAT Acceleration = Auto

WAN Page
- DHCP Query Frequency = Normal (I need this, most do not)

-NAT Passthrough page
-All options are Enabled

I only add 5 manually assigned IP around the DHCP list
I have 2 port forward ports
I use open DNS

Hope this may help others
and my wifi settings again

I have the 2.4GHz beamforming on and beamforming on for 5GHz!
I also have no 2.4 or 5GHz guest networks enabled, as if I do enable the 2.4GHz guest network, my 2.4GHz network develops weakness and drops quicker.

2.4 band general
wireless mode = Auto optimize for xbox and b/g protection both unchecked
channel bandwidth = 20/40
control channel = 8
extension channel = Below
Authentication Method = WPA2- Personal
Protected management frames = Disable
Network Key Rotation Interval = 3600

2.4 band Professional
enable radio = yes
enable wireless scheduler = no
set AP Isolated = no
Roaming Assistant = Disable
Enable IGMP Snooping = Disable
Multicast Rate(Mbps) = Auto
Preamble Type = Short
AMPDU RTS = enable
RTS Threshold = 2347
DTIM interval = 1
Beacon Interval = 200
Enable TX Bursting = Enable
Enable WMM APSD = Disable
Reducing USB 3.0 Interference = Enable
Optimize AMPDU aggregation = Disable
Optimize ack suppression = Disable
Turbo Qam = Enable
Airtime Fairness = Enable
Explicit beamforming = Enable
Universal beamforming = Enable
TX power adjustment = 100%

5 GHz band general
wireless mode = Auto optimize for xbox unchecked
channel bandwidth = 80
control channel = 157
extension channel = Auto
Authentication Method = WPA2- Personal
Protected management frames = Disable
Network Key Rotation Interval = 3600

5GHz band Professional
enable radio = yes
enable wireless scheduler = no
set AP Isolated = no
Roaming Assistant = Disable
Enable IGMP Snooping = Disable
DTIM interval = 1
Beacon Interval = 200
IEEE 802.11h Support = Disable
802.11ac Beamforming = Enable
Universal Beamforming = Enable
TX power adjustment = 100%

All antennas pointing straight up.

My flash method

1.. Put RT-AC87U in the recovery mode by following these steps:
- turn off the router
- While pressing the "WPS" button at back; turn on the router and keep holding this button for 2 seconds after the router is on and then leave it.
- Quickly press the "RESET" button at back and keep pressing till the power blue led starting blinking slowly.

3. You may not need this step. Change your LAN or WiFi adapter in Windows to a static IP 192.168.1.2 and Gateway 192.168.1.1 if not identified.

4. Go to your browser and navigate to 192.168.1.1 (unless you change it)

5. You should be in the recovery firmware page.
- Press the clear (or reset, I forgot what it says) Nvram button like 3 times giving 10 seconds in-between
- Browse the firmware you downloaded and press upload button.

6. You should wait and do not turn the router off till it restarts itself automatically. The page could looks hanged but it take a minute or less to finish the upload and then wait till the page says "Firmware update is successful completed". There is a percentage level bar at bottom-left of the web page. (Wait ~3 minutes or more for 2.4GHz and 5GHz light to light up

7. configure from scratch (like a new unit)

!!!Cheers all!!!

Edit: adding IOS hard reboot method

You May need to hard reboot your IOS device after you take an update or from time to time by
Holding the power and home buttons down at the same time and keep them pressed until you see the apple logo.

Do this after an update, but let it settle for 5 minutes before you do this.

 

[lawkoh]

Very details...
Thank you

 

[Fuzzywuz]

At this point you need to go back to your vender !
Please do so ASAP!

So now here's the problem. Vendor says this is not his problem. Its as stated on the box regarding improved coverage. So I'm stuck with the router. But no improvement in range compared to Dlink supplied by Starhub or the TPLINK router

 

[Fuzzywuz]

I can see that staying connected is not a problem for Dlink and TPlink also. Just need the range.

 

[Francis85]

I am currently on 6687, hm...... need to wait for reply from Asus.......

YES.
On my Note 4, wifi is set always on. With AC66U 5GHz, my note4 behaves very well during the night when I go to sleep, battery loses about 10% after 6 hours or so. With AC87U 5GHz, my note4 gets warm, and battery runs down faster than normal during the night. When I check my note4 in the morning, the battery is depleted by about 50% after 6 hours. I am running on Merlin 378.54_2 on both routers.

In AC87U DHCP log, the note4 is indicated keeps requesting DHCP every 10 mins, even though the dhcp server's setting for the "lease time" is 86400. I have set static ip reservation on AC87U DHCP for the note4 and also set static ip on my note4 wifi setting for the AC87U 5GHz ssid. This got rid of the DHCP requests. However this did not solve the problem of battery life draining fast.

So next thing I looked out for is this: in the AC87U Wireless log, the flags for my Note4 are AU (Flags: P=Powersave Mode, S=Short GI, T=STBC, A=Associated, U=Authenticated, G=Guest). In the AC66U wireless log for 5Ghz, both my note4 and wife's Iphone shows PAU in AC66U wireless log, which means powersave is on. I suspect that this is causing the battery life to be drained fast because my AC66U 5Ghz has auto 20/40/80 MHz, and WMM APSD on, while my AC87U 5Ghz wireless mode = auto and channel bandwidth = 80MHz but no WMM APSD. AC87U 5Ghz wireless admin does not seem to have WMM APSD setting anywhere.

Will those using stock Asus firmware 6117 or 5134 confirm that there is no WMM APSD in 5Ghz settings and no powersave for connected 5Ghz devices?

 

[thiamhui]

Bro JK,

Are you testing FW Ver 7010 now? Any plan to release it?

 

[ASUS@SG]

Bro JK,

Are you testing FW Ver 7010 now? Any plan to release it? ��

Dear Thiamhui,

Not at the moment.

I rather wait for the new SDK for 5ghz and 2.4GHz. 7010 not much fix for wireless and fix on feature.

6687 Beta still based on SDK beta.

Best regard,
JK

 

[Francis85]

Dear JK,

Just wanna find out from you, if 6687 have any issues causing battery drain and temperature issues for note 4, as there are 2 of us facing this issues. Thanks.

Regards
Francis

Dear Thiamhui,

Not at the moment.

I rather wait for the new SDK for 5ghz and 2.4GHz. 7010 not much fix for wireless and fix on feature.

6687 Beta still based on SDK beta.

Best regard,
JK

 

[ASUS@SG]

Dear JK,

Just wanna find out from you, if 6687 have any issues causing battery drain and temperature issues for note 4, as there are 2 of us facing this issues. Thanks.

Regards
Francis

Dear Francis,

The router can't control the device power settings or switch device to saving mode, so the router cannot cause any device drain or leak power.

Best regard,
JK

 

[dfran1]

Hi all,
After 4 days and 12 hours ( I did not try yesterday) I went to stream a 1080P movie (QNAP NAS) to my samsung TV and the movie stuttered every ~10 seconds.

A simple power cycle of the router fixed the issue.
5GHz

Dear JK (Asus),
Are you aware of this? can you duplicate it if not aware?

6687 firmware, all my settings posted above.
Cheers!!!!

I am still loving this router now

 

[ASUS@SG]

Dear all,

I will be posting beta firmware within this few days.

Best regard,
JK

 

[tanjunse]

For everyone to know, Quantenna 5Ghz does not appear to implement proper powersaving negotiation with connected devices. Full power all the time. We are still getting half-baked 802.11ac? And still no MU-MIMO?

You can follow my question in SNB here.
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/wireless-powersave.25624/

 

[ASUS@SG]

Dear all,

RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_7010 - Unofficial Beta firmware
Download: http://goo.gl/KRDNMI

Changelog:
Update Tuxera filesystem kernel modules
Update Ai Protection signature into 1.054
Fix AiProtection alert mail issues
Fix DDNS name couldn't be saved issue
Fix 5G WPS pincode 12345670 issue
Fix DualWAN LED (RED)
Add 5Ghz diagnostics information
Fix UI issues

*Notice:
This is an unofficial beta release firmware and it contain bugs.
- After update the firmware, enter GUI > Administration > Restore/Save/Upload Setting > Factory default
- Do not restore save settings

Best regard,
JK

 

[thiamhui]

Dear all,

RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_7010 - Unofficial Beta firmware
Download: http://goo.gl/KRDNMI

Changelog:
Update Tuxera filesystem kernel modules
Update Ai Protection signature into 1.054
Fix AiProtection alert mail issues
Fix DDNS name couldn't be saved issue
Fix 5G WPS pincode 12345670 issue
Fix DualWAN LED (RED)
Add 5Ghz diagnostics information
Fix UI issues

*Notice:
This is an unofficial beta release firmware and it contain bugs.
- After update the firmware, enter GUI > Administration > Restore/Save/Upload Setting > Factory default
- Do not restore save settings

Best regard,
JK

What are the known bugs?

 

[MarioCaires]

For everyone to know, Quantenna 5Ghz does not appear to implement proper powersaving negotiation with connected devices. Full power all the time. We are still getting half-baked 802.11ac? And still no MU-MIMO?

SG, any word about the powersaving feature (WMM)?
As a result of this, I can see my devices connected to 5GHz get a big battery impact...

 

[downtown11]

Can the ASUS RT-AC87U allow use of multiple VPN tunnels so that different devices will use different VPN connection?

Also, what's the advantage of getting ASUS RT-AC87U over WRT1900AC?

 

[sentinelvdx]

Dear all,

RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_7010 - Unofficial Beta firmware
Download: http://goo.gl/KRDNMI

Changelog:
Update Tuxera filesystem kernel modules
Update Ai Protection signature into 1.054
Fix AiProtection alert mail issues
Fix DDNS name couldn't be saved issue
Fix 5G WPS pincode 12345670 issue
Fix DualWAN LED (RED)
Add 5Ghz diagnostics information
Fix UI issues

*Notice:
This is an unofficial beta release firmware and it contain bugs.
- After update the firmware, enter GUI > Administration > Restore/Save/Upload Setting > Factory default
- Do not restore save settings

Best regard,
JK

After applying it and making hard reset, found that I cannot connect any device to 5Ghz

 

[dfran1]

All is working great so far, 5GHz is great with beamforming on both bands.

If you are having a problem follow my flash method and settings on the page before this one.

I now made a couple changes and so far so good, on second movie with 5GHz.

 

[tanjunse]

RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_7010

For my usage, everything ok but there still no powersaving for devices connected to Quantenna 5GHz. My Samsung Galaxy Note4 on 5GHz gets warm, battery runs down faster than normal. I would still not regard the router as operationally ready.

 

[MarioCaires]

RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_7010

For my usage, everything ok but there still no powersaving for devices connected to Quantenna 5GHz. My Samsung Galaxy Note4 on 5GHz gets warm, battery runs down faster than normal. I would still not regard the router as operationally ready.

Yep... happening the same with my Nexus 5! The battery consumption triples (at least) when switching from 2.4 to 5GHz... And can confirm by the Wireless log that none of the devices connected to the 5GHz goes into powersave mode!