RT-AC68U clone $59 - use code WIFI40 - T-Mobile.com

Bought after seeing on Slickdeals but just want to test out to make sure it works.

Do I have to flash if I don't need anything specific for custom FW? Or if I decide to flash later, is that an option or once the router gets updated is downgrading not an option?
 
Bought after seeing on Slickdeals but just want to test out to make sure it works.

Do I have to flash if I don't need anything specific for custom FW? Or if I decide to flash later, is that an option or once the router gets updated is downgrading not an option?

You do not have to flash it if you don't want to. I used 1 for well over a year without any issues without flashing. I only flashed when I ran into an issue with the WAN port which the flash did not fix. I ended up having to get another one.
 
I would personally recommend at least flashing to the stock Asus firmware. From what I hear, the T-Mobile stuff is a lot more limited in functionality.
 
So, I finally got around to configuring (replacing) my existing router with this thing. I was surprised that there is no way to filter URLs for specific clients, instead of the entire LAN. I'm running the latest Merlin.

Is there a firmware that supports such a thing?

Thanks.
 
Just finished flashing up to latest Merlin firmware, everything looks good to go. Great writeups by everyone.
 
Just finished flashing up to latest Merlin firmware, everything looks good to go. Great writeups by everyone.
I got mine and although I'm not particularly foreign to flashing stuff, those write-ups had me running in circles. I've got a firmware that is lower than what the write-up requires to do the first step (enable telnet) but my firebug hacks won't show that option, its hidden behind another javascript. Which writeup (2014 or the 2015) did you use?
 
I doubt it's lower, check the first set of the release. You are likely just looking at the last three/four number of the release.

The option you enable is "ssh" in the admin tab in the router webgui.

FYI, I had to downgrade both of the routers I received, so you likely do as well.


Whole process should take about 20 - 30 minutes.

- hold reset button while powering on router.
- while still holding, navigate to 129.168.29.1 to get to mini webserver
- flash (downgrade) to older T-Mo firmware that engineer has linked (to get access to enabling ssh via the gui)
- dump nvram and backup stock cfe (once you enabled ssh and have logged on OS layer)
- modify cfe on home pc and upload back to router (I used WinSCP on SCP protocol)
- flash CFE
- reboot back into mini webserver (holding reset) - navigate to 192.168.1.1 this time as you are now on RT-AC68U CFE
- flash either the recommended firmware to expand rootfs (Not sure his recommended version really works for that)
- flash what you want....... (as an RT-AC68U)


I chose to go straight to johns fork of merlin, and it's looking good.
 
I doubt it's lower, check the first set of the release. You are likely just looking at the last three/four number of the release.

I was looking at the last seven, but yah, I get the concepts, not my first rodeo with flashing/rooting devices. I suppose my lesson is, "Crack open the beers AFTER the process is done"
 
- hold reset button while powering on router.
- while still holding, navigate to 129.168.29.1 to get to mini webserver

If you use the Asus Firmware Restoration utility, you don't need to do this. Makes it a bit less fiddly, you can just get it into Recovery mode and then engage the utility without having to hold down the reset button.
 
I followed the slick deals wiki, I just skipped the first firmware down grade and enabled the telnet by removing the html disable lines in the browser, f12.

Otherwise it was smooth. Used the little CFE program to extract the Mac address and WPS code. After I wrote the new CFE and cleared the nvram the router didn't boot back to the administration page. I took that as the sign to put it in recovery, which I did and that worked fine. Flashed Asus firmware and everything was awesome after that.
 
For those of you wondering, this is doable on macOS, you just need to use a free app like iHex (available on app store) to edit the CFE binary. Very straightforward, and you can compare the bin files via grep from terminal.
 
Got myself to the latest Asus firmware. I hopped back and forth between the slickdeals text and the youtube video it posted. I had trouble getting it into recovery mode, but I think it's like the video was saying, the led flashing is different. I probaby had it there a few times and didn't know it. Havent really gotten into a lot of this before, so I figured if Merlin has more features, I wouldn't know what to do with them! But I imagine one more flash at this point won't be hard for me. Good timing because I am going to run some ethernet in my house, so in a general sense network improvements are under way! Wondering if a firmware flash would stablize my old WNDR3700 for an AP and a switch purposes upstairs. My middle floor will have hardwired ethernet shortly.
 
I put a version of tomato on my wndr3700, works better, but it doesn't support 5 GHz.
 
I can not seem to get mine to take a flash. It refuses to go to the miniwebserver and using the ASUS recovery tool seems to get the previous firmware to upload, but then the thing reboots and leaves recovery mode on its own.

It came with firmware version 3.0.0.4.376_3827
 
Do a google search on it. There seems to be a way to just enable the "hidden" ssh option within your browser in the latest firmware (so no need to downgrade).
 
I can not seem to get mine to take a flash. It refuses to go to the miniwebserver and using the ASUS recovery tool seems to get the previous firmware to upload, but then the thing reboots and leaves recovery mode on its own.

It came with firmware version 3.0.0.4.376_3827

To get to the Mini CFE server, disconnect the router from power, then plug it in while holding the Reset button and refreshing the router IP in Firefox.
 
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I can not seem to get mine to take a flash. It refuses to go to the miniwebserver and using the ASUS recovery tool seems to get the previous firmware to upload, but then the thing reboots and leaves recovery mode on its own.

It came with firmware version 3.0.0.4.376_3827

I wasn't able to get the Mini CFE GUI on my first one either. However, if you hold 'reset' while powering up for 10-15 seconds, even if there are no LED's flashing, you should be able to access the router via 'tftp'. Make sure you set your transfer mode to binary if it isn't already, and use the put command to upload your firmware (1703 I'm guessing).
 
Got it working after swapping the included LAN cable out with a different one. It figures I was having an innocuous issue.
 
Holy crap, what a clusterfark of instructions posted on the slickdeals site..... Wasn't nearly as cumbersome once I had a clear head.
1) Obtain files -- This was the crucial part, the only good link in slickdeals was the link to the old thread with the link to the all-encompassing files, including the utilities, hex editor, old firmware
2) flash to old telntet'able load (my load had javascript boundaries, simple f12/firebug would not work)
3) modify boot loader, load boot loader
4) load to old-school boot loader
5) flash to basic asus
6) flash to asusMerlin (or whatever).

Enjoy new router. I just got this to get me gigabit LAN and an extra AP. It was fun. Works great.
 
Holy crap, what a clusterfark of instructions posted on the slickdeals site..... Wasn't nearly as cumbersome once I had a clear head.
1) Obtain files -- This was the crucial part, the only good link in slickdeals was the link to the old thread with the link to the all-encompassing files, including the utilities, hex editor, old firmware
2) flash to old telntet'able load (my load had javascript boundaries, simple f12/firebug would not work)
3) modify boot loader, load boot loader
4) load to old-school boot loader
5) flash to basic asus
6) flash to asusMerlin (or whatever).

Enjoy new router. I just got this to get me gigabit LAN and an extra AP. It was fun. Works great.

Yeah the instructions are a bit of a mess. They have new instructions and tools mixed with old instructions and tools. Total information overload instead of focusing on one way that works for everyone (which is what you just outlined). I bought two of these and I was 100% sure I bricked the first one after going down the instruction hell rabbit hole. Finally figured things out and now I have two working AC68U routers running latest firmware.
 
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I found this post by the Slickdeals user 'bootymonger' was a fantastic help:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9330575-as...uter-59-free-shipping?p=92529215#post92529215

His instructions made the most sense and I had my router fixed up and on the latest Merlin in well under half an hour. :)

The only difficulty I ran into was getting the Mini-CFE web interface to come up after flashing the new / fixed CFE. It took a few tries power cycling and holding the tiny reset button before I was able to get the timing just right to open the mini-CFE and then flash the ASUS 376.3626 firmware.

This is a nice piece of kit... I'm considering grabbing another to use as an AP / extender on the other side of the casa...
 
Is the "Mini-CFE" interface the web interface for firmware upload?

I never had to do that because I used the Asus utility to flash FW while in recovery mode...was super simple. Only had to manually set the IP address on my machine.
 
Yes the CFE Mini Server is for uploading firmware. The whole UI for it has one box for selecting a firmware and then two links for resetting the router, it's ultra barebones.
 
Alright. I guess my argument for using the Asus utility is you don't have to worry about timing, you put the router in recovery mode and it will stay there until you do something, in my experience.
 
Alright. I guess my argument for using the Asus utility is you don't have to worry about timing, you put the router in recovery mode and it will stay there until you do something, in my experience.

I never saw anything in the SD thread about using the Asus utility or I might have tried it, but meh... it was one less download anyway. :)
 
Yeah, I actually found it in a link below this video that was posted earlier in the thread: https://hardforum.com/threads/rt-ac...0-t-mobile-com.1917201/page-2#post-1042656130
FWIW: I attempted to use the Asus Utility, however, each time I tried, I was presented with an immediate error saying that the transfer had failed. It wasn't until I modified the CFE bootloader, that it became useable. But, by that time, the process was almost done. I also had a TMO firmware which had some extra hoops to enable telnet (simple f12/firebug would not work), so there are some versions out in the wild, that you had to blast away the CFE bootloader to do anything.
 
I found this post by the Slickdeals user 'bootymonger' was a fantastic help:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9330575-as...uter-59-free-shipping?p=92529215#post92529215

His instructions made the most sense and I had my router fixed up and on the latest Merlin in well under half an hour. :)

The only difficulty I ran into was getting the Mini-CFE web interface to come up after flashing the new / fixed CFE. It took a few tries power cycling and holding the tiny reset button before I was able to get the timing just right to open the mini-CFE and then flash the ASUS 376.3626 firmware.

This is a nice piece of kit... I'm considering grabbing another to use as an AP / extender on the other side of the casa...


I also followed this guide after an hour or 2 with the other one and found this was so much easier and actually worked for me :) I just went to the newest version of the Asus firmware, but this guide was so much nicer.
 
FWIW: I attempted to use the Asus Utility, however, each time I tried, I was presented with an immediate error saying that the transfer had failed. It wasn't until I modified the CFE bootloader, that it became useable. But, by that time, the process was almost done. I also had a TMO firmware which had some extra hoops to enable telnet (simple f12/firebug would not work), so there are some versions out in the wild, that you had to blast away the CFE bootloader to do anything.

Very odd. First thing I did was roll back to earlier T-Mo firmware using the Asus utility and it worked flawlessly. As mentioned before, I did have to set my IP manually on the computer for it to work, but once I did that it was perfect every time.
 
for those who ordered? how long did it take to ship? i ordered on monday, was hoping to have it by the weekend.
 
You can pick overnight shipping and it's still free shipping. I ordered two, one showed up the next business day, the other one took eight days because I picked the slow shipping (this was the first one I ordered). The one with normal shipping took four days to show me a tracking number.

Also I gotta say the range on these routers is really good!
 
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Also I gotta say the range on these routers is really good!

That's really good to hear! I haven't done any range tests yet to compare with my old TP-Link WDR3600... if the range really is much better I might just stay with a single unit central in the house instead of using a second one as an access point. I wonder if a set of bigger antennas would help things out any.... hmmmmm.....
 
Bigger antennas won't help usually, they just focus the signal on a flatter plane. Stock antennas are more omnidirectional and generally better for general use conditions. If you have a multiple level home, "upgraded" antennas can cause signal issues on upper or lower floors.
 
You can pick overnight shipping and it's still free shipping. I ordered two, one showed up the next business day, the other one took eight days because I picked the slow shipping (this was the first one I ordered). The one with normal shipping took four days to show me a tracking number.

Also I gotta say the range on these routers is really good!

I too got the overnight shipping for free
 
the new SSH method is sooooooo much easier.
let the router auto upgrade
enable ssh
start the funny ssh ftp drag and drop program
run one line of code to extract cfe
move cfe to my documents
run cfe exe
move cfe back to router
move cfe flasher to router
flash new cfe


the new method of "start looking for cfe gui page at router boot" also works alot better vs the timed attack.
 
the new SSH method is sooooooo much easier.
let the router auto upgrade
enable ssh


Do you actually have to let it auto upgrade? I believe mine already had the option to turn on SSH before even messing with it. I bought a second to work on as well and i will try that out. Dummy me still picked the standard shipping. I received the router before the email giving me a tracking number (y)
 
Do you actually have to let it auto upgrade? I believe mine already had the option to turn on SSH before even messing with it. I bought a second to work on as well and i will try that out. Dummy me still picked the standard shipping. I received the router before the email giving me a tracking number (y)

The latest firmware has the ssh option, so odds are yours just came with the newest.
 
Wondering if this would be an upgrade over a Linksys EA6900. They're both AC1900. And both circa 2013 hardware. Hmm...
 
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