[Maylyn's Preview ~ Networking] ASUS RT-AC68U

[seikatsu]

I am planning to buy the router but i have some questions.

Currently on a Singtel 500mbps plan and using an Aztech 7000grvs as the router and i want to replace it because the wifi signal is horrible.

Here is my situation:
1) I use all 3 services (Miotv, MioVoice and Internet) and i want to accommodate the internet and tv services on the ac68u itself.

2) I run 3 wired desktops and also the wired miotv, that would use up all existing rj45 inputs on the ac68u.

3) I am aware that MioVoice can be ported to the ONT though i am unsure if there are any additional settings to be done.

4) I have zero idea how to go about setting up the router though i am fine with physical connections.

Any help is much appreciated, though i guess a detailed guide would be even more helpful. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

 

[Warocks]

I am planning to buy the router but i have some questions.

Currently on a Singtel 500mbps plan and using an Aztech 7000grvs as the router and i want to replace it because the wifi signal is horrible.

Here is my situation:
1) I use all 3 services (Miotv, MioVoice and Internet) and i want to accommodate the internet and tv services on the ac68u itself.

2) I run 3 wired desktops and also the wired miotv, that would use up all existing rj45 inputs on the ac68u.

3) I am aware that MioVoice can be ported to the ONT though i am unsure if there are any additional settings to be done.

4) I have zero idea how to go about setting up the router though i am fine with physical connections.

Any help is much appreciated, though i guess a detailed guide would be even more helpful. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

You internet speed is good but your router sux should change to asus ac68 ASAP to get the full benefit of the 500 mbps

 

[kashix]

Anyone using dual WAN feature of this router? Thinking of signing up another fiber line and use this router for load balancing.

rt-ac68u got dual wan feature
can do load-balancing or fail-over

 

[mkaeda]

How do I go about connecting my phone to the ONT, really don't want to have to use the PACE modem any longer. Secondly, is the 5ghz signal comparably weaker than 2.4ghz, seems to lose connection past 15m or so

 

[JLance]

rt-ac68u got dual wan feature
can do load-balancing or fail-over

but i thought the fail over is Dual WAN on USB only meaning 3G dongle plus there's only 1 WAN port leh

 

[bslow27]

call 1688 to port over to ont. yes 5ghz signal is weaker.

 

[renfred89]

but i thought the fail over is Dual WAN on USB only meaning 3G dongle plus there's only 1 WAN port leh

Nope. It's one of the 4 rj45 ports that is for the fail over..

 

[mkaeda]

call 1688 to port over to ont. yes 5ghz signal is weaker.

thanks. calling em now

EDIT: will buying https://www.asus.com/Networking/WLANT157/ increase 5GHz signals to significant levels (ie. entire HDB flat?)

 

[maylyn]

More on .501 beta firmware

Copy and paste from smallnetbuilder forums

Having had the chance to study the 501 code, here are the changes that Asus haven't mentioned in the changelog (for those who, like me, like to know such details )

• Asus updated both dnsmasq and radvd to the latest version (first one handles DNS and DHCP, second one handlers IPv6 router advertisement)
  
• Lots of changes surrounding the USB handling.
  
• Regarding the new HW acceleration modes: there are now three modes from what I could understand (note that I'm not 100% sure, but pretty close):
  
  1) No CTF (no HW acceleration at all)
  2) Level 1 CTF (which is the same as previous FW versions)
  3) Level 2 CTF (which is CTF + FA)
  
  FA = Flow Accelerator. It's a Broadcom technology that's supposed to improve network throughput. As usual, there is zero technical details as to how they achieve this, what are the side effects, etc...
  
  
  
  
  Now, the weird part: like other users reported, setting CTF to Level 2 does not seem to work for me either. After it's rebooted it's back on Level 1. I tried querying the wireless driver to see what FA level is supported by the hardware, and it reports... 0. So, either a) not all router models/revisions support it, b) Asus hasn't fully enabled it yet in the driver, or c) the routine that reads the supported FA revision is broken.
  
  If any of you is able to set it to Level 2 and have it stick there after a reboot, please let me know. I'll send you a tool so you can try querying the router for me to see if it returns a different FA revision.
  
• For those wondering about the new info now shown on the Wireless Log page: PSM = Powersaving Mode. You can see that flag get on and off between refresh with mobile devices (I saw it with my Nexus 7). No idea what the two other settings are exactly (SGI = Short GI, and STBC = ...STBC).
  
• Lots of code cleanup around Dual WAN - unsure if there were any real functionality change along the way
  
• They have temporarily disabled the bruteforce attack protection that was recently added to the http server, so you should no longer get locked out of your own router through devices/software constantly hitting port 80 on your router.

Due to both the Wifi and USB changes, a factory default reset is indeed strongly recommended when flashing this FW. (I even did one myself, which I rarely do).

 

[maylyn]

More juicy rumors ~ what to expect from CES 2014?

The next generation of 802.11ac routers aka 2nd Wave 802.11ac

1). More spatial streams ~ 4
2). Channel Bandwidth ~ 160MHz
3). Maximum Modulation ~ 256QAM
4). Typical Maximum Speed ~ 2.6Gbps
5). Beamforming ~ Yes
6). Possibly MU-MIMO /excited ^^



More on MU-MIMO explained







Image Credits ~ Matthew S. Gast

 

[maylyn]

SingTel finally decided to join in and roll-out symmetrical speeds for Fiber Plans as well?

 

[maylyn]

rt-ac68u got dual wan feature
can do load-balancing or fail-over

but i thought the fail over is Dual WAN on USB only meaning 3G dongle plus there's only 1 WAN port leh

Nope. It's one of the 4 rj45 ports that is for the fail over..

The Dual WAN function is primarily serving more for 3G/LTE USB modems for fail over rather than load balancing, it's not working in regular ASUS and Merlin's firmware at the moment.

I have been testing it since pre dual WAN function was released for regular ASUS firmware.

 

[mikecjw]

Same here CTF will jump back to level 1

 

[AnTiLooP]

@maylyn

I noticed merlin has released a beta for the 68u on Xmas Eve. Is that the same beta as released by asus ? Eg build on the same SDK?

 

[FuzzyLop]

Anyone know how to setup the traffic monitor feature? Mine doesn't show the correct information in real-time, 24-hr and daily mode.

I am running 3.0.0.4.374_501

 

[maylyn]

thanks. calling em now

EDIT: will buying https://www.asus.com/Networking/WLANT157/ increase 5GHz signals to significant levels (ie. entire HDB flat?)

The ASUS WLANT157 is a bi-directional antenna so it allows further frontal range transmission over the usual omni-directional stock supplied antenna radius based transmission.

It's really depends on the placement of your router, (i.e centralized of the house as possible and mount the router on the higher point) in order to populate the whole house on 5GHz.

 

[maylyn]

@maylyn

I noticed merlin has released a beta for the 68u on Xmas Eve. Is that the same beta as released by asus ? Eg build on the same SDK?

Nope, the 3.0.0.4.374.36 beta 1 (Winter Knight) Merlin build is still based on the ASUS 3.0.0.4.374_339 GPL source code and the SDK used is one version lower than the 3.0.0.4.374_501

The incoming Merlin build ~ version .37 will based on the ASUS 3.0.0.4.374_501 GPL source code and the newest Broadcom SDK. It's still in an alpha stage and testing have been commenced to test the whole firmware stability + RMerlin's usual dose of goodies

 

[AnTiLooP]

Nope, the 3.0.0.4.374.36 beta 1 (Winter Knight) Merlin build is still based on the ASUS 3.0.0.4.374_339 GPL source code and the SDK used is one version lower than the 3.0.0.4.374_501

The incoming Merlin build ~ version .37 will based on the ASUS 3.0.0.4.374_501 GPL source code and the newest Broadcom SDK. It's still in an alpha stage and testing have been commenced to test the whole firmware stability + RMerlin's usual dose of goodies

nice... cant wait for the new RMerlin to be out

 

[chercm]

SingTel finally decided to join in and roll-out symmetrical speeds for Fiber Plans as well?

what speed are you using ?

 

[uch33by3]

hi can i check is there any special setting/configuration that need to be set to achieve near maximum download/upload speed? im using singtel fiber home plan 300mbps without miotv or home digital line.