[oxygen8]

And I just updated to RMerlin 384.8 which was released last night ;-)

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

jetspeed wrote:

Curious to see what happens to your RT-AC86U after a few days. It looks like the RAM usage increases 1% per day on the DSL-AC88U. I have web history off. Does the unit store more of the system log than we are able to view? I know the unit caches DNS lookups, but is it worth like 6MB/day? Perhaps someone who doesn’t use the internet everyday can test, but don’t like our chances of find someone to do that

My RT-AC86U has been up for 7 days and 12 hours and the RAM oscillates between 66% and 68% usage with AiProtection, Firewall, Parental control, etc, but; I’m using RMerlin 384.7_2 firmware.

I’m even using Smart connect to push clients to the 5GHz and it is working like a charm.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Actually it is quite confusing the way they explain it, if your Asus router has a WAN IP that looks like external then your router is in bridge mode, the idea is to prevent the ADSL from doing the NAT (Network Address Translation) and that it serves as a bridge instead of a router.

Bridge mode is brainless, in that the router will do no CPU work hence it will be faster, that way it will not be a bottleneck for your RT-AC86U speed if you know what I mean.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Here it is (I hope I have found the router you bought) how to set it to bridge mode:

https://www.draytek.com/en/faq/faq-connectivity/connectivity.wan/how-to-use-pppoe-pass-through-and-bridge-mode-on-vigor130/

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Mharv wrote:

modem will be arriving shortly, do you mean the draytek has a firewall built in? i was informed the configuration was auto for the draytek adsl/vdsl… just plug in and away you go, for the ?RMerlin what will it give the router extra…

Well, maybe DrayTek doesn’t have a firewall enabled but surely it won’t be in bridge mode by default so you will have double NAT which in your case there is no need, hence I suggest that you set the DrayTek in bridge mode and leave all the routing to the RT-AC86U, but I’m not really sure how is the DrayTek configured by default, I’m guessing using the historical data I have about routers in general.

That’s how I have it, but in my case my cable modem is in bridge mode so my firewall and NAT is all handled by the Asus router.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Now, can you put the DrayTeK in bridge mode? and let the RT-AC86U do everything, you won’t need double firewall with the RT-AC86U, and go and grab your RMerlin firmware https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Mharv wrote:

Oxygen8 thanks for the recommendation can i ask what modem u r using have ordered the Draytek 130 and 86u from amazon.co.uk

I’m not on DSL, I bought the DSL-AC88U to have a future proof router for when the fiber comes by with the Gigabit thing, so at the moment I’m on cable provided by Virgin Media via Cisco EPC-3925, but its wifi is disabled and it is set in bridge mode so the new RT-AC86U is doing everything:

• Firewall, AiProtection.
• Parental control + Internet scheduled time for my kid.
• Dual band load balancer pushing most clients to 5GHz

To be honest I had forgotten about it, RAM is fine, it just works like a charm, as long as you can put a decent firmware into a router everything is good, lesson learned:

I will never buy a router without open source firmware support

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

You won’t find a better price/value combination than the RT-AC86U, it has the fastest CPUs of all -only matched by RT-5300 and AX-88U-, I also returned my DSL-AC88U and the RT-AC86U is just brilliant, like it was mentioned before, move to RMerlin firmware and you are set.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Well, it is not a matter of faith, it is a well known fact that Asus RT vs Asus DSL difference is like the sun vs the moon, I had an excellent experience with:

• RT-AC56U
• RT-AC3200
• And now RT-AC2900 (AC86U)

I returned the DSL-AC88U via Amazon because I realized their DSL routers suck, that part is a fact, will they fix it? maybe, but for what I have seen I can’t be bothered, I know what works and what has been problematic, that’s all I can tell you.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Also, there is no better combination at the moment of Firmware support + hardware than RMerlin + Asus, it is an important distinction, hardware alone in my experience means nothing without a good firmware, and that’s what you get when you go with RMerlin which is open source and proven to give an extra value to the Asus routers.

Hopefully I can convince you with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdZ–B4fDPc

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Cozak wrote:

Well having thought long and hard about it I’ve decided to cut my losses and replace this router with a Netgear Orbi rbk23. After this poor experience I just couldn’t bring myself to ‘reward’ Asus with more of my money on another one of their routers. As the Orbi does not have a modem I plan to still use the 88u in bridge mode, does anyone know if AI protection still works in this mode?

Don’t make decisions while you are upset, what I mean is that what you are saying could be true but not all of it, you have to realize that be Asus or XYZ company none of them have feelings, they all care about money, that said, I would recommend you to return your DSL-AC88U and get a RT-AC86U, I got mine yesterday and that thing with Merlin firmware is a beast, these dual processors @1.8GHz have no match in the market for £150, don’t be silly and do what’s best for you, not what feels sentimentally right ;-)

I have my RT-AC86U connected to a cable modem which is on bridge mode, works like a charm.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Retired Account wrote:

I just flashed the latest stable merlin build 384.7_2, so far so good.

Mine arrives on Tuesday :D, can’t wait.

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Regarding the routers don’t trust the numbers, meaning, RT-AC3200 is not better than RT-AC2900 (AC86U), the funny thing about the RT-AC86U is that it is only surpassed in power by the GT-AC5300 (doesn’t support Merlin) and the RT-AX88U (which Merlin will support very soon)

But the RT-NX88U is twice the price of RT-AC86U, the difference is quad core @1.8GHz vs dual core and 1GB RAM vs 512KB

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

UK Sentinel wrote:

Regarding RMerlin, not hesitation, highly recommended, just ensure modem used is suitable also, especially if you DSLAM/Exchange is Infineon

Merlin doesn’t support DSL routers, he has explicitly said so on SNB forums, so; if he goes for a non-DSL router he should pick one that supports Merlin, here is the list of supported devices, warning; don’t confuse the names with DSL routers, they are all non-DSL:
https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Supported-Devices

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[oxygen8]

Cozak wrote:

What do people think regarding replacing with an RT-AC88U with merlin firmware?

Actually, there is a cheaper, faster and “smaller” beast, which is the RT-AC86U, dual processors @1.8GHz vs 1.4GHz or 1.0GHz, better antennas and also Merlin support.

Im my experience DSL routers will always have some issue and will never be supported by Merlin which adds the true value to the Asus hardware, hence my personal opinion to split DSL + WiFi, see a longer post I made before describing my personal process and learning.

Here is the list of Asus routers to check their RAM, CPUs and Merlin support:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asus_routers

Edit 1: Older post https://uktechhub.com/forums/topic/asus-dsl-ac88u-firmwares-betas-etc/page/19/#post-1494

Edit 2: The key is to disable the ISP WiFi, any other functionality and set it to bridge mode if possible so that the Firewall, Security and NATing is done all at the Asus router which with the aid of AiProtection + Merlin it should be fast enough which has been proven by my old RT-AC56U and RT-AC3200

Share the knowledge

You need to login in order to vote

[Author]

Posts