[Maylyn's Review] ASUS RT-AC87U

ah_cleo

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Anyone selling their faulty ac87? Need casing in good condition. Dropped mine and my casing cracked.
 

dryteletubby

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I will be very wary of Asus routers. You can't predict their product life span. Sometimes they will deem a router obsolete only after a few years even when it's hardware is still modern.

I will prefer software routers like pfsense ,opnsense or small business / carrier grade routers from ubiquiti or mikrotik.

There is a guy on pfsense forums still using Pentium D based router from 2006 which can still support the latest software. The same can't be said of asus or any other consumer routers.
 

Ah-Pin-Kor

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I will be very wary of Asus routers. You can't predict their product life span. Sometimes they will deem a router obsolete only after a few years even when it's hardware is still modern.

I will prefer software routers like pfsense ,opnsense or small business / carrier grade routers from ubiquiti or mikrotik.

There is a guy on pfsense forums still using Pentium D based router from 2006 which can still support the latest software. The same can't be said of asus or any other consumer routers.
To be fair to Asus, they have the longest support among the usual consumer brands. AC68U is still getting firmware updates in 2019.

Running a Pentium D in 2019 is crazy as the power consumption of that model is quite high even at idle. Better to invest in a Qotom passively-cooled PC rather than pay the power companies.
 

kashix

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To be fair to Asus, they have the longest support among the usual consumer brands. AC68U is still getting firmware updates in 2019.

Running a Pentium D in 2019 is crazy as the power consumption of that model is quite high even at idle. Better to invest in a Qotom passively-cooled PC rather than pay the power companies.

Couldn’t agree more with what you said, the ac68u is a very good example of product support. What to do? Haters gotta hate :yawn:
 

dryteletubby

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To be fair to Asus, they have the longest support among the usual consumer brands. AC68U is still getting firmware updates in 2019.

Running a Pentium D in 2019 is crazy as the power consumption of that model is quite high even at idle. Better to invest in a Qotom passively-cooled PC rather than pay the power companies.
Couldn’t agree more with what you said, the ac68u is a very good example of product support. What to do? Haters gotta hate :yawn:


The problem is with consumer routers like Asus is that the updates will just be bug and security fixes without any underlying update to its linux kernel.

My old n56u has been stuck with the 2.x from 2010ish. Compared that to the ubiquiti edgerouter lite which ships with the same kernel but now runs the 4.4x kernel.

Those consumer WiFi routers aren't design with longevity in mind. Especially when they used a lousy chipset that has poor support from the manufacturer.

You can get ubiquiti of mikrotik routers that have the same power consumption as the all in one WiFi routers or a software router running on low powered hardware.
 

Ah-Pin-Kor

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The problem is with consumer routers like Asus is that the updates will just be bug and security fixes without any underlying update to its linux kernel.

My old n56u has been stuck with the 2.x from 2010ish. Compared that to the ubiquiti edgerouter lite which ships with the same kernel but now runs the 4.4x kernel.

Those consumer WiFi routers aren't design with longevity in mind. Especially when they used a lousy chipset that has poor support from the manufacturer.

You can get ubiquiti of mikrotik routers that have the same power consumption as the all in one WiFi routers or a software router running on low powered hardware.
Well, you have to understand that the majority of buyers which these consumer devices are targeted at don't even know their router is running Linux, let alone care about what version the kernel is. All they want is an AIO device that allows them to share internet access at home among all their home devices and is easy to set up. So brands like Asus, Netgear, TP-Link etc. just give them what they want and everyone is happy.

For those who care about kernel versions, there's always openwrt. From the openwrt and dd-wrt forums, I see that most people are running these firmware on consumer type devices, even though those firmware also support some ubiquiti and mikrotik devices. At work, we have RHEL6 servers that have kernel 2.6 and they are still chugging along just fine. RHEL7 has a "less-ancient" 3.10 kernel. :D Also, it's not that Asus are lazy to update the kernel but their hands are tied because the chip vendor broadcom has sdk that specifies certain kernel. I heard the ctf kernel module will break if you even update it to a later 2.6 kernel (for AC68U).

There's market for consumer type devices, and there's market for ubiquiti and mikrotik devices.
 

ah_cleo

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you want to buy mine? fully working condition though :)
got a spare rt-ac68u and rt-ac1200+ as well :o

lol unless u are willing to let go at $30 to $40.. that's why i looking for faulty 1.. i only wan jus the case.
 

LawrenceGan

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Hi alll. Anyone know if there’s a way to switch the region of my RT-AC87U? I bought it in Japan and using in Singapore. I see only Japanese for the admin page, and my 5 GHz only limited to those allowed in Japan.
 

2lits17

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Hello,

Is this router worth to buy? i saw its cheap cheap at carousell? ac86u is more ex than this. any issue on this router? how is the signal range of this ac87u router?
 

kashix

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Hello,

Is this router worth to buy? i saw its cheap cheap at carousell? ac86u is more ex than this. any issue on this router? how is the signal range of this ac87u router?

87u not very stable imo. Get the ac86u instead. Cheap but can’t use long also no use and besides this is a very old model. Get a better one, can use for years to come. Go for 86u b
 

GoldenStars

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Anyone knows if I can use this router as a wifi receiver? My pcie wifi adapter just broke and don't have a spare adapter

Sent from Sony H8324 using GAGT
 

hyper_megaman

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set wireless bridge mode with the far away router, put it near your computer and connect via ethernet?
 

ralphaellow

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Hey bros, can you share with me the links for the latest Merlin firmware for the AC87u? It seems that Asus had forgotten about this router and there are no updates...

Hi after updated Merlin firmware stable or not??
 
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winguy

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first time encountered overheating issues

used to be able to leave it on overnight without hanging. now overnight will hang

if off on while it is still hot, can't turn on
if let it cool first then turn on, no issue

haven't upgraded firmware for months

for now i have added "pads/stands" to raise the router slightly, hopefully it helps in the air convection

any suggestion on how to improve the cooling? thanks
 

-Grift-

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first time encountered overheating issues

used to be able to leave it on overnight without hanging. now overnight will hang

if off on while it is still hot, can't turn on
if let it cool first then turn on, no issue

haven't upgraded firmware for months

for now i have added "pads/stands" to raise the router slightly, hopefully it helps in the air convection

any suggestion on how to improve the cooling? thanks

Cheapo laptop cooler works
 
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