[Maylyn's Review] ASUS RT-AC87U

[xonix]

As in any difference other than warranty ? I think need to use adaptor for plug but other than that shld be OK rite ...Or isit better to buy at the upcoming it fair

Unless the price savings is very big, I don't think it's worth giving up the warranty. But to each it's own.

 

[zer0ne]

Can we downgrade latest stock firmware 380 ones to one version before? Latest one seems so buggy.

 

[renfred89]

Can we downgrade latest stock firmware 380 ones to one version before? Latest one seems so buggy.

Have you done a reset?

 

[zer0ne]

Have you done a reset?

You meant reset after the latest firmware upgrade?

 

[xonix]

Can we downgrade latest stock firmware 380 ones to one version before? Latest one seems so buggy.

Try factory reset first. Usually can revert to previous version unless change log mention upgrade is permanent.

 

[renfred89]

You meant reset after the latest firmware upgrade?

yes. you have to reset when you upgrade from one SDK to another.

Meaning, for 380 to 382 is consider one "core" upgrade. you have to reset in order to kill all incompatibilities.

 

[zer0ne]

yes. you have to reset when you upgrade from one SDK to another.

Meaning, for 380 to 382 is consider one "core" upgrade. you have to reset in order to kill all incompatibilities.

What I meant i want to downgrade from 380.7743 to 380.7378.

 

[ELLAW23]

Poor 5GHz performance and connectivity woes

Hello all!

For the past 24 months I did not have issue with the RT-AC87U until recently.

Everything setup using the wizard once installed and stock firmware with update check every now and then. Always updated to latest firmware.

If my memory is right, the most recent firmware update was done about 1-2 month ago and thereafter, 5GHz has been behaving abnormally.

Wifi signal remained connected at full strength but while browsing or streaming, I noticed sluggish speed. Especially when playing a game, it would have frequent disconnect then reconnect (5ghz full wifi still connected). Switch to 4G data, immediately reconnect and stable. Switch back to 5ghz wifi and it starts having issue again. Very stable on 2.4ghz but streaming performance is bad.

Resolution attempted(all to did not fix the problem):
1. Power off for a minute or so and turn it back on

2. factory reset and re-setup using the setup wizard

3. Flashed asuswrt-merlin firmware 380.69

What's next? Make my way to Avertek?

 

[renfred89]

Hello all!

For the past 24 months I did not have issue with the RT-AC87U until recently.

Everything setup using the wizard once installed and stock firmware with update check every now and then. Always updated to latest firmware.

If my memory is right, the most recent firmware update was done about 1-2 month ago and thereafter, 5GHz has been behaving abnormally.

Wifi signal remained connected at full strength but while browsing or streaming, I noticed sluggish speed. Especially when playing a game, it would have frequent disconnect then reconnect (5ghz full wifi still connected). Switch to 4G data, immediately reconnect and stable. Switch back to 5ghz wifi and it starts having issue again. Very stable on 2.4ghz but streaming performance is bad.

Resolution attempted(all to did not fix the problem):
1. Power off for a minute or so and turn it back on

2. factory reset and re-setup using the setup wizard

3. Flashed asuswrt-merlin firmware 380.69

What's next? Make my way to Avertek?

check your wireless channel?

 

[eric3743]

Hello all!

For the past 24 months I did not have issue with the RT-AC87U until recently.

Everything setup using the wizard once installed and stock firmware with update check every now and then. Always updated to latest firmware.

If my memory is right, the most recent firmware update was done about 1-2 month ago and thereafter, 5GHz has been behaving abnormally.

Wifi signal remained connected at full strength but while browsing or streaming, I noticed sluggish speed. Especially when playing a game, it would have frequent disconnect then reconnect (5ghz full wifi still connected). Switch to 4G data, immediately reconnect and stable. Switch back to 5ghz wifi and it starts having issue again. Very stable on 2.4ghz but streaming performance is bad.

Resolution attempted(all to did not fix the problem):
1. Power off for a minute or so and turn it back on

2. factory reset and re-setup using the setup wizard

3. Flashed asuswrt-merlin firmware 380.69

What's next? Make my way to Avertek?

It is the wireless channel.

Encountered this before.
Use a WiFi analysis app to see any conflict on the channels.

 

[ELLAW23]

It is the wireless channel.

Encountered this before.
Use a WiFi analysis app to see any conflict on the channels.

Do you have a app that you can recommend for me to run a scan? My devices are all iOS. The only android is the media box.

 

[eric3743]

Do you have a app that you can recommend for me to run a scan? My devices are all iOS. The only android is the media box.

I use WiFi Overview 360 App for Android but iOS should also be available.

It check all detected Routers wireless bands channels.
Then you may see which channel is same on 2 routers.

As this will able to see which routers channels clash.
As Router usually wireless channels are by default.
Most probably someone is having the same model and is on default setting.

That is why I encountered due to having 2 routers same model.
So I had to manually change both bands on one router.
Thereafter this issue was resolved.

There could have others.

 

[ELLAW23]

Found a old Samsung TAB4 around the house and did the scan. My wifi channel is set to 'Auto' for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz band.

Apparently, 5ghz band auto was using 161 which keep going from optimal to bad repeatedly during the scan. Saw channel 153 being optimal the whole period of scan and hence, I have set it as 153 now. Will need to monitor it now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[VANT]

I have info from Asus that rt-87u is go to End Of Life status, so asus stop support this model. No new fw etc.
For me no more asus product.

 

[ben2608]

Found a old Samsung TAB4 around the house and did the scan. My wifi channel is set to 'Auto' for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz band.

Apparently, 5ghz band auto was using 161 which keep going from optimal to bad repeatedly during the scan. Saw channel 153 being optimal the whole period of scan and hence, I have set it as 153 now. Will need to monitor it now.

Thanks for the help!

I had similar issues like yours, very unstable after almost two years of usage. It started off liked yours, unstablr but usable. Then it got worst to the point that it gets really hot, and starts disconnecting systems more frequently. Updated to latest firmware, reset to factory, reconfigure, still same issues. Read online, quite a number of similar issues where the ac87u heats up and gets really hot and uncomfortable to the touch. It works quite stable when I keep it cool with a notebook fan, but dont think it is supposed to be like that lol. Anyway I contacted Avertek, and they said they will swapped an AC86U one to one for me. Warranty expiring in 4 months time. AC86U is a notch above AC87U in terms of hardware specs so I guess it is a good swap. So maybe you should think of escalating to Avertek

And to add on, yes I did all I could on the channels too .

 

[captylor]

I've this problem when I use the VPN client feature on the router to connect to a VyprVPN server. Every one hour, the VPN client will get disconnected, and it will never reconnect. This causes a problem when I'm doing media streaming such as Spotify or Netflix.

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to fix this issue? Thanks.

 

[xonix]

I've this problem when I use the VPN client feature on the router to connect to a VyprVPN server. Every one hour, the VPN client will get disconnected, and it will never reconnect. This causes a problem when I'm doing media streaming such as Spotify or Netflix.

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to fix this issue? Thanks.

Set the VPN on device only and see if same problem occurs

 

[captylor]

Set the VPN on device only and see if same problem occurs

I've tested it on my home PC and although it does disconnect every hour, it will reconnect and my streaming is not affected. That's why I've narrowed it down to the router as the issue.

 

[ah_cleo]

I think I may have bricked my RT-AC87U. I was reading some forums of people who encountered similar problrms but it was solved by using Merlin's firmware, as the language selection appears on that.

So I downloaded it and updated it through the Japanese GUI. After restart, the power light and WAN light would turn on, blink for a minute or two, then suddenly the 4 port lights would come on simultaneously then off again. The process seems to restart again.

I then tried to use the rescue mode and followed the instructions on the recovery program. Nothing happens.. it goes into rescue mode (power light blinks) but when I try to upload, it counts to like 30 seconds then tells me not in rescue mode. My laptop doesn't seem to detect the router.

What can I do? Will ASUS Singapore help to get this working again?

do u remember ur jap firmware version? i jus encounter something like this and i use back the old firmware and it works again. try recovery afew times den managed to detect.

 

[Gr3yham3]

I am using a ac87 with my singtel fibre plan. Recently my 5ghz wifi download speed has been showing 3 or 4mbps only, while when I connect to my 2.4ghz wifi, can hit up to 87mbps.

However, the upload speed for the 5ghz wifi is up to 216mbps, while the 2.4ghz upload speed only 65mbps.

I have been using speedtest for the results. Anyone can tell me what is wrong?