Bought an ASUS RT-AC3200 to replace my RT-AC87U

[Berryracer]

I have bought an ASUS RT-87U router last month (had the RT-AC68U before that which was awesome) but sometimes it takes a long time to connect to the 5GHz band after a reboot or it might drop the connection altogether. I tried different firmwares including the Merlin firmwares and they`re all the same.

Then I saw the ASUS RT-AC32oo as the newer router from ASUS so I quickly ordered it for one reason, the ASUS Smart Connect which basically assigns a connected device to the best available band for maximum speed. I like this feature as now I wouldn't have to worry about which band would give me better connectivity (I have 10 devices connected in total between iPads, mobile devices, and 2 laptops)

BUT.... reading on this site ( http://pcdiy.asus.com/2014/06/rt-ac3200-ultimate-802-11ac-6x6-router-computex-2014/ ) the ASUS rep there is saying that the RT-87U is still the king of performance and max range whilst the AC320 is targeted towards userith lots of devices connected to the 5GHz network as it will divide the connected devices between its two 5GHz antennas and the AC3200 is more like an improved RT-AC68U but the RT-AC87U remains king......

I thought the AC3200 being newer and more expensive would be king, now I kinda regret my decision of buying it. still needs 10 days till its shipped to me here in Dubai

Now I feel bad about my purchase especially that the AC3200 cost me 25% more than the current AC87U that I have ($299 USD)

 

[Accord99]

I think this article is a good starting point to understand the difference between the technology used in the RT-87 and RT-AC3200:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...s-xstream-the-coming-battle-for-wi-fi-airtime

 

[Cerb]

"King" ? At what? Is range a problem? Is bandwidth a problem? By what's in your post, this one that is supposed to be the, "king," doesn't even work (I only accept dropouts from integrated Atheros NICs, on Linux). If range and bandwidth for 1 or 2 devices that need them more than others isn't an issue, I fail to see how the 3200 isn't a better choice, assuming it functions correctly...unless you still have the 68U tucked away somewhere, and could have just brought that back out, instead .

 

[Berryracer]

"King" ? At what? Is range a problem? Is bandwidth a problem? By what's in your post, this one that is supposed to be the, "king," doesn't even work (I only accept dropouts from integrated Atheros NICs, on Linux). If range and bandwidth for 1 or 2 devices that need them more than others isn't an issue, I fail to see how the 3200 isn't a better choice, assuming it functions correctly...unless you still have the 68U tucked away somewhere, and could have just brought that back out, instead .

no the range is not the problem, the problem for me is the random signal drop on the 5GHz band.

I sold the AC68U thinking the AC87U is the better one, on paper, it is, in real life, it is crippled by buggy ASUS firmware.

PS: What I noticed today on the AC87U is that if I connect to the 2.4GHz band, there is no drop out but what's even more surprising is, webpages now load faster and......

my connection from my ISP is 50 MBPS Down / 10 MBPS up. On the 5GHz band, I only get 48 MB down / 10 MBPS up

with the 2.4GHz, I got the full 50 MBPS down / 10 MBPS but what's even better is that there is 0 lag when loading websites, everything loads instantly even on Firefox, it's like a whole new experience for me. I always thought 5GHz is better but today I learned something new, maybe it has more bandwidth but that's useless to me since my connection is only 50 MBPS anyway

 

[Emulex]

Sounds like the age-old different chipsets for client/router problem!

 

[Phynaz]

I think this article is a good starting point to understand the difference between the technology used in the RT-87 and RT-AC3200:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...s-xstream-the-coming-battle-for-wi-fi-airtime

Nice read, thanks for the link.

 

[alcoholbob]

If you look at reviews on all of the high end AC routers by Asus the 5GHz consistently drops. On Amazon probably 20% of the reviews on the AC87U are complaining about 5GHz dropouts. I get good bandwidth on 5GHz on my AC-87U (about 350MBps or about 45MB/s with a wireless AC dongle) but there are continuous dropouts even if I move the router litterally 2 feet next to the PC so streaming uncompressed HD video is basically impossible as every few minutes I get massive buffering artifacts while streaming HD video from a network drive which doesn't happen if I transfer and play the file on a local machine.

I don't know if its just Asus' flagship AC routers which are terrible or if all AC routers are like this.

 

[azazel1024]

Not all AC routers. My TP-Link Archer C8 is steady as a rock. No issues on drop outs, device connectivity issues, etc. In the ~6 months I've owned it I've had to reboot it exactly once for a connectivity issue. Both bands work great.

Berryracer, were you having problems with the AC68u? Because it sounds like you weren't. New doesn't necessarily mean better if what you have is more than fullfilling your needs. Otherwise it is wasted money to say you have the newest, bestest thing. I have a 75/75 connection and even my older TP-Link WDR3600 N600 routers could more than stuff that much wireless data anywhere in my 2500sq-ft two level house. My Archer C8 AC1750 router is overkill for that, but then again I also do a lot of WLAN transfers to/from my server, so having 40-60MB/sec of bandwidth to my laptop for that is rather nice, instead of the 20-25MB/sec I was "stuck with" with my older N600 router.

If it was just internet only I was concerned about, or internet and streaming, my older N600 router was not a limitation in anyway and ran smooth as silk, as 10MB/sec of my internet connection isn't going to be hindered by a router than can provide >>>10MB/sec of wireless performance anywhere in my house.