100M Using Asus RT-N66U with Superhub 2

ruddock08 · 21-12-2014, 22:50

Bit the bullet and just purchased an RT-N66U. I currently have a Superhub2AC which to be fair is generally quite good, no dropouts etc. However, we've just bought 2 new WDTV Live's so a lot of data is going to start being moved over the network from our NAS (which the SUperhub has dealt with up till now). Also, I have 4 home plugs due to bad speed/range but these aren't much better, hoping the RT-N66U will do a better job.

Anyone have any experience of the RT-N66U? Seems to get good reviews!

jalzoo · 22-12-2014, 01:05

I have an N66U it has been rock solid for over a year now, i recommend using it with WRT-Merlin firmware. The 600Mhz Processor + 256MB of ram you can pretty much throw anything at it and it performs well.

adduxi · 22-12-2014, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalzoo

I have an N66U it has been rock solid for over a year now, i recommend using it with WRT-Merlin firmware. The 600Mhz Processor + 256MB of ram you can pretty much throw anything at it and it performs well.

Ditto - as above, but I've had mine for longer and it's never let me down. Also running with the Merlin firmware.

ianch99 · 22-12-2014, 10:37

I second the above replies esp. the Merlin firmware! Router never misses a beat and is happy with any device I have connected to it. Only need restarting when you get bored, mine has been running for over 3 months. You also can setup a OpenVPN server so you can connect to your home network when away from home.

FYI, the versions of Merlin after 374.43 picked up the ASUS code which allegedly reduced the wireless range of the N66U. One user has forked the .43 codebase in order to preserve the wireless range and is patching this to apply security updates, etc. Details here:

[Fork] Update for 374.43 available

ruddock08 · 22-12-2014, 10:43

Merlin fimrware over the Tomato firmware? I'm particularly liking the idea of decent QoS and Bandwidth Monitor..

Kushan · 22-12-2014, 11:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruddock08

Merlin fimrware over the Tomato firmware? I'm particularly liking the idea of decent QoS and Bandwidth Monitor..

Merlin is based on the Asus code and I believe that's based off of Tomato anyway?

crazyronnie · 23-12-2014, 09:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruddock08

Merlin fimrware over the Tomato firmware? I'm particularly liking the idea of decent QoS and Bandwidth Monitor..

One thing to consider, if you going to use Merlin-WRT on the N66U. When using QOS, this will disable hardware acceleration. Which is needed for 100Mb and above connections i believe.

I've been using the N66U with Merlins-WRT firmware for years and its been amazing.

Like Ianch99 says ASUS changed their wireless drivers a good few firmware iterations ago which reduced wireless signal strength but if you get the FORKed version it will work great and you'll get the latest security patches.

roughbeast · 23-12-2014, 11:44

Yes, I have the N66U working with the SH2 in modem mode. However, my set up includes a fair amount of CAT 5e ethernet cable around the house and a number of switches. The Asus supports 3 or 4 PCs, two smart TVs, 2 PS3s, a Wii, a WDTV box, a NAT drive acting as a media server, a USB drive and a variety of smart phones seamlessly. My past experience with Home Plugs is not good. I haven't used them since I upgraded to >100Mb with VM, so I'm not sure how they would cope with that with or without an Asus router.

I have found that, even over our 4-double bedroomed semi the Asus wireless is better than SH2. The house and longish garden have no 'not-spots'.

The Asus has better throughput than the SH and, of course, some of those full router features ISPs don't want to have to worry about in their modem-router combis. There were a few occasions when the SH did not cope with my family fully caning the network. No such problems with the Asus.

Jumping · 23-12-2014, 15:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyronnie

One thing to consider, if you going to use Merlin-WRT on the N66U. When using QOS, this will disable hardware acceleration. Which is needed for 100Mb and above connections i believe.

Dont think that is true as merlin is based on the asus source and I know it have hw on my rt-n66u, other firmware like dd-wrt and open-wrt dont have hardware acceleration, not sure about tomato but dont think it have hardware either.

ruddock08 · 23-12-2014, 17:02

Ive received the router and flashed it with TomatoUSB. Seems to work ok - wireless has improved but not drastically.. Wonder whether it is the position of my router? It is on a wooden desk in my study on the 2nd floor next to an exterior wall with a window above it?

Also, trying to set up QOS.. Never done it before, have looked around online but can't find an easy to follow guide..

All i want is..

Gaming (PS4)
Web
Video
NAS Transfer (so LAN)
Torrents

In that order.. Can anyone help?

Jumping · 23-12-2014, 17:19

I would strongly recommend Merlin-WRT over Tomato as I know it still has HW acceleration.

He has taken a few things from Tomato mainly on the vpn side but keeping most things close to the Asus stock FW which actually is quite good.

Would you really need QoS setup? I never had any problems with anything and not bothered setting up QoS.

The Merlin-WRT have really easy QoS setup with 3 templates built in for what ever suits your need.

Kushan · 23-12-2014, 19:23

I wouldn't have installed a custom firmware before testing the device's wireless. You might be better of installing stock Asus firmware just to test before tinkering with custom ones.

That said, I do believe TomatoUSB is missing hardware acceleration (or at least it was when I last looked).

Jumping · 23-12-2014, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

I wouldn't have installed a custom firmware before testing the device's wireless. You might be better of installing stock Asus firmware just to test before tinkering with custom ones.

That said, I do believe TomatoUSB is missing hardware acceleration (or at least it was when I last looked).

AFAIK there is no difference in wireless from the Merlin-WRT and the Asus-WRT beside if Asus have tweaked it in their source.

Kushan · 23-12-2014, 20:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumping

AFAIK there is no difference in wireless from the Merlin-WRT and the Asus-WRT beside if Asus have tweaked it in their source.

Indeed, it should be the same. What I'm getting at, is that you want to test stock first so you know it's not a firmware bug or limitation.

ruddock08 · 23-12-2014, 23:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

I wouldn't have installed a custom firmware before testing the device's wireless. You might be better of installing stock Asus firmware just to test before tinkering with custom ones.

That said, I do believe TomatoUSB is missing hardware acceleration (or at least it was when I last looked).

I think I may have been a bit hasty about saying the wireless hasn't improved much. One PC has received a 40mbps increase in speed and the wireless now works in my kitchen, albeit not at full signal.

---------- Post added at 23:58 ---------- Previous post was at 23:57 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumping

I would strongly recommend Merlin-WRT over Tomato as I know it still has HW acceleration.

He has taken a few things from Tomato mainly on the vpn side but keeping most things close to the Asus stock FW which actually is quite good.

Would you really need QoS setup? I never had any problems with anything and not bothered setting up QoS.

The Merlin-WRT have really easy QoS setup with 3 templates built in for what ever suits your need.

Only reason I want QoS is because lots of us use Netflix/YouTube and when running torrents, these seem to suffer so the full 1080p stream doesn't come through. Everything else generally works fine

P.S. Thank you guys for all your help so far