[Maylyn's Review] ASUS RT-AC87U

[jnashville]

for those who have disconnections on their asus87u on 5ghz,what I did was to change it from router mode to access point mode and I do not have the internet dropping issue already.

currently for new BTOs, normally people will put a gigabit router in the utility box and a better wireless router outside, for my case, its the ac87u. so when I run the ac87u in router mode, frequent drops in 5ghz...once on ap mode its ok.

but well, running on ap mode means I am not able to access the router page by the normal way through the browser.

 

[pigmarcher]

for those who have disconnections on their asus87u on 5ghz,what I did was to change it from router mode to access point mode and I do not have the internet dropping issue already.

currently for new BTOs, normally people will put a gigabit router in the utility box and a better wireless router outside, for my case, its the ac87u. so when I run the ac87u in router mode, frequent drops in 5ghz...once on ap mode its ok.

but well, running on ap mode means I am not able to access the router page by the normal way through the browser.

For the Gigabit router in utility box, any suggestion what brand/model is good?

 

[jnashville]

For the Gigabit router in utility box, any suggestion what brand/model is good?

guess it doesnt matter. can be a louya wireless gigabit router because you wont be using the wireless part but the wired part, thats why you need any gigabit router. hope I am not wrong.

 

[crazydeals]

Can I use it as Access Point alone ?

 

[richneo]

hi maylyn, can you help try dual wan?

i have 2 isp and tried dual wan on ac87u but can never get ip address successfully on both wan and lan port 1

 

[phayze]

Yes. Can use as access point.

Can I use it as Access Point alone ?

 

[pigmarcher]

guess it doesnt matter. can be a louya wireless gigabit router because you wont be using the wireless part but the wired part, thats why you need any gigabit router. hope I am not wrong.

true. never heard of gigabit ports having any difference between the brands. mainly is WIFI signal strength and speed

 

[renfred89]

Just sharing an info I discovered accidentally..

For users having problems such as intermittent 5Ghz drop running on 3561 or earlier, perhaps you wanna try resetting the router via WPS method.

What I did was to force it into rescue mode, but this mode failed badly as I wasn't able to use the firmware restoration utility to restore. Therefore I won't suggest using this method to perform a clean install of firmware.

However after trying the WPS reset method, the router immediately goes back to factory settings, after which I uploaded 3561 again.

After setting up and customised the settings, here are the improvements:

1) 5Ghz + 2.4Ghz are more stable than before reset, though I am still monitoring.
2) 5Ghz won't drop occasionally for no reason.
3) Android devices (2x2) I have are connected to wireless AC at 866mbps constantly. No more fluctuations between 585mbps and 702mbps.
4) 5Ghz broadcasting WPS after a reboot or power cycle even though it is disabled, is still present. Could

No changes in LAN performance, still as good as usual.

Exact procedure to reset via WPS method:

1) Hold down WPS button until WPS LED blinks
2) Switch it off by pushing the power button while still holding the WPS button.
3) Wait for a few seconds before turning back on. Continue to hold the WPS button.
4) Now while holding WPS button, turn on the router and release the WPS button after you see the power LED blinks.

The router is now reset.

Share with us if you are able to regain stability of the router..

 

[TheDream]

For the Gigabit router in utility box, any suggestion what brand/model is good?

I guess it depends on how anal you are in getting as close as possible to Gigabit speeds, especially if your subscription is for 1Gbps.

From some tests, the router speeds can range from <800Mbps to ~940Mbps.
Router Charts - WAN to LAN Throughput - SmallNetBuilder

But I'm not sure about the results of the tests above. For my Asus 87U, I've gotten speedtest results at 940Mbps.

 

[tmfwy]

Will be getting the RT-AC87U but can't seem to find the following info anywhere

a. How do i wall mount the AC87U? Eg: Vesa size and spacing? or a specific wall bracket? Any pictures?

b. What is the length of the power adaptor cable?

I intend to mount this on a wall and need to plan for the placement of the power socket and router.

 

[renfred89]

Will be getting the RT-AC87U but can't seem to find the following info anywhere

a. How do i wall mount the AC87U? Eg: Vesa size and spacing? or a specific wall bracket? Any pictures?

b. What is the length of the power adaptor cable?

I intend to mount this on a wall and need to plan for the placement of the power socket and router.

Mounting is by using screws to hook. Any suitable screw will do. U just need to screws to hook it up.

Cable length is abt 1.5 to 2m.

 

[seller4]

Is the new firmware out yet?

 

[davemishsr]

Does anyone have any idea what this means?

I just found this in my system log:

Nov 17 13:00:46 kernel: nvram: consolidating space!

I have never seen that before. Since when does this router perform such an action? Does anyone have any information?

Thanks.

 

[Ah-Pin-Kor]

I just found this in my system log:

Nov 17 13:00:46 kernel: nvram: consolidating space!

I have never seen that before. Since when does this router perform such an action? Does anyone have any information?

There's a guy over at the dd-wrt forums who has a similar entry in his R7000 log.
I'm guessing it's some Broadcom feature.

 

[renfred89]

just discovered a bug on 3561.

As i just changed to macbook pro with thunderbolt connector, I purchased the thunderbolt ethernet adapter for use with my macbook pro and ac87u.

Although performance is good on this setup, but ac87u will have an erratic LED for that particular LAN.

Instead of steady or fast blinking LED, i get an erratic flickering of LED and sometimes it doesn't light up. So i thought my connection is loose or what, but while doing download and speedtest, no drop in connection or whatsoever, only LED malfunctions.

Tried restarting and refreshing firmware, still the same. So, 3561 might not be fully compatible with thunderbolt ethernet connection with macbook pro...

 

[rapide]

Bro, you're still hanging on to Asus?

I've dumped the 87U and replaced it with Netgear R8000 in my setup. No issues whatsoever with 5Ghz and good range as well. Life is short, get something that works for you and move on.

best regards

just discovered a bug on 3561.

As i just changed to macbook pro with thunderbolt connector, I purchased the thunderbolt ethernet adapter for use with my macbook pro and ac87u.

Although performance is good on this setup, but ac87u will have an erratic LED for that particular LAN.

Instead of steady or fast blinking LED, i get an erratic flickering of LED and sometimes it doesn't light up. So i thought my connection is loose or what, but while doing download and speedtest, no drop in connection or whatsoever, only LED malfunctions.

Tried restarting and refreshing firmware, still the same. So, 3561 might not be fully compatible with thunderbolt ethernet connection with macbook pro...

 

[Andread]

hello asus,

unlike the lower end routers, the 87u doesn't have a repeater mode?

 

[davemishsr]

hello asus,

unlike the lower end routers, the 87u doesn't have a repeater mode?

Not yet. Merlin posted a while back over at the SNB forums that Asus is not going to support the repeater function in the AC87x platform for now. At some point it will be incorporated into the firmware but there is no firm date yet for that to happen.

 

[renfred89]

Bro, you're still hanging on to Asus?

I've dumped the 87U and replaced it with Netgear R8000 in my setup. No issues whatsoever with 5Ghz and good range as well. Life is short, get something that works for you and move on.

best regards

No extra cash.. hahas.. i saw ur post though to dump it.. hahas

 

[rapide]

No extra cash.. hahas.. i saw ur post though to dump it.. hahas

I think I've been patient enough and very supportive to provide all the necessary info to identify the issue. But seems a lackluster of support from Asus technical team is just not a good experience for their product.

So goodbye Asus.