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

So much for buyer's remorse (initial shock of seeing how complicated I thought this was going to be). Ordered a 2nd!

I'd never flashed a firmware before, after doing this I put DD-WRT on a router I had retired, and used it as a VPN router (WNDR3700). While the new firmware did make it perform admirably (it needed frequent rebooting or would slow to a crawl before), the range on this is much better. I hope to replace that unit with this. I guess I can finally say I geeked out on the network side of things a bit (flashing, the whole VPN thing, etc). Long version of : "thanks!"
 
I wonder how many of these things tmobile has to still have them on sale for almost a month, I just ordered my third one :eek:
 
ClockerXP said:
Also note I had the router do an automatic firmware upgrade after I got the firmware in bootymongers guide installed. I will try to downgrade back to that.

EDIT: POOP Downgrades not allowed by Asus.
Click to expand...
You can downgrade (or flash tomato or ddwrt or openwrt) from the CFE gui. ASUS locks down downgrade rights only on the normal gui.
 
nightanole said:
You can downgrade (or flash tomato or ddwrt or openwrt) from the CFE gui. ASUS locks down downgrade rights only on the normal gui.
Click to expand...

I was actually able to downgrade to the latest version available on the Asus site (the version you get with the automatic upgrade in the firmware appears to be newer). Nonetheless, it made no difference with the b/g protection box not ticking off. My other laptop was connecting at like 150 so i guess it is a non-issue.

Nonetheless, I ordered a 2nd one to use as a router instead of an AP. I guess I will see how that one goes.
My current router has Tomato on it. Is Merlin better?
 
ClockerXP said:
Also note I had the router do an automatic firmware upgrade after I got the firmware in bootymongers guide installed. I will try to downgrade back to that.

EDIT: POOP Downgrades not allowed by Asus.
Click to expand...
Yes they are, you just need to do it through the recovery WebServer. (need to put the router in recovery mode) Then you can downgrade....... for now...... they are working on locking that out altogether.

I also recommend Johns fork over latest asus merlin. Asus is breaking a lot of stuff pushing the new updates for newer routers.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/fo...leases-v20e9-v22b4.18914/page-239#post-294527
 
Can someone link the bootymongers guide? Google search is not helping me find it (other than the reference to it here on this site - lol).

Looks like people have been doing this flash for years and the information is all over the place and partially out-dated. I'd like some clean, current instructions as I'm tech savvy, but by no means am I an IT professional or enthusiast.

worm
 
bullet-worm said:
Can someone link the bootymongers guide? Google search is not helping me find it (other than the reference to it here on this site - lol).

Looks like people have been doing this flash for years and the information is all over the place and partially out-dated. I'd like some clean, current instructions as I'm tech savvy, but by no means am I an IT professional or enthusiast.

worm
Click to expand...

https://slickdeals.net/f/9330575-as...uter-59-free-shipping?p=92529215#post92529215
 
Thanks Ocellaris, that indeed looks easier to follow.

What is the benefit of flashing over to a Merlin or even the standard Asus firmwares? Is there more functionality to the others? Is T-mobile's firmware gimped somehow? I've pulled up the T-Mobile GUI and the only thing I see that somewhat has me concerned (from a quick first look) is the limit on port forwarding (25 if I remember correct).

worm
 
bullet-worm said:
Thanks Ocellaris, that indeed looks easier to follow.

What is the benefit of flashing over to a Merlin or even the standard Asus firmwares? Is there more functionality to the others? Is T-mobile's firmware gimped somehow? I've pulled up the T-Mobile GUI and the only thing I see that somewhat has me concerned (from a quick first look) is the limit on port forwarding (25 if I remember correct).

worm
Click to expand...

For me the big thing was I wasn't able to use the Asus router management app on my phone with the T-Mobile firmware. After converting it over to a proper AC-68U, I was able to. I like using the app on my phone a lot better than going through the browser because it's much faster/easier to log in and block one of my kids through the app when I need to. But for some reason, blocking doesn't work some times on some devices and it's very annoying.

I've considered switching to Merlin or another 3rd party firmware, but I'm afraid managing the router on my phone will be more difficult if I do. I also have a USB drive plugged into my router to server as a poor-mans NAS for now too and am not sure if any other firmware will allow for this. If anyone has any suggestions for other firmware that I can manage easily through an app on my phone, make for easy client blocking, and allow for networked storage via USB, I'd appreciate it.
 
And being able to run an OpenVPN client directly on the router, that's a big one.
 
cybrnook said:
And being able to run an OpenVPN client directly on the router, that's a big one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's cool too. I used to have a sub to FrootVPN and used OpenVPN clients on my phone and desktop when I needed to. I was afraid that routing my whole network through VPN would kill my connection speeds (200/25 pipe at the moment). What service do you use that doesn't interfere with your speeds much? I've seen others here recommend Octane VPN too.
 
T4rd said:
Yeah, that's cool too. I used to have a sub to FrootVPN and used OpenVPN clients on my phone and desktop when I needed to. I was afraid that routing my whole network through VPN would kill my connection speeds (200/25 pipe at the moment). What service do you use that doesn't interfere with your speeds much? I've seen others here recommend Octane VPN too.
Click to expand...
This router can only handle about ~45 Mbps through a VPN tunnel. That's because 1. the ARM cpu at 800Mhz per core is just not powerful enough. 2. OpenVPN is single threaded, so will eat 1 core.

But that is why you can do "Split tunneling" to only direct certain IP's on your network over the VPN tunnel, while the others run wild on your normal line at max speed. For me, ~30-45Mbps is more than adequate for my Kodi streaming boxes........ fyi
 
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T4rd said:
For me the big thing was I wasn't able to use the Asus router management app on my phone with the T-Mobile firmware. After converting it over to a proper AC-68U, I was able to. I like using the app on my phone a lot better than going through the browser because it's much faster/easier to log in and block one of my kids through the app when I need to. But for some reason, blocking doesn't work some times on some devices and it's very annoying.

I've considered switching to Merlin or another 3rd party firmware, but I'm afraid managing the router on my phone will be more difficult if I do. I also have a USB drive plugged into my router to server as a poor-mans NAS for now too and am not sure if any other firmware will allow for this. If anyone has any suggestions for other firmware that I can manage easily through an app on my phone, make for easy client blocking, and allow for networked storage via USB, I'd appreciate it.
Click to expand...

The router has built in features to work as a media server.
 
Ocellaris said:
The router has built in features to work as a media server.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you're answering here? I'm already using it to share out a USB drive I have with the stock Asus firmware. I was asking if there are other firmwares out there that allow this as well, in addition to having a mobile app for management and easy client blocking and block scheduling (like the stock firmware allows as well).

That's another thing; I put my kid's tabs on a schedule so they're blocked at bed-time. I previously had a TP-Link router that was better for this IMO, as it allowed me to set up my guest network for the kids and set the time restriction to everything on that guest network (which was handy for when they had kids over their age and I would put them on it as well so the same restrictions applied to them). On this Asus firmware/router, you have to apply the time restrictions to every specific device on your network; there's no way to apply time restrictions to the whole guest (or even main) network that I see.
 
Made it over to the old Asus 376.3626 firmware after a long scare.

For me, the router kept rebooting over and over after I reset the NVRAM after replacing the CFE. I got it into the Mini-CFE and tried uploading several firmwares (starting with 376.3626), but the router would not complete the upload hanging/disconnecting.

I finally got one to upload all the way (Merlin I do believe), but the router was still continuously rebooting itself after 100% upload.

Finally I noticed on Asus's site for the download of 376.3626 that is specifically says:

[Important] Please press the reset button more than five seconds to reset the router after firmware updated

That did the trick for me. I think I will let it update to the latest Asus firmware on its own.

worm
 
ClockerXP said:
My current router has Tomato on it. Is Merlin better?
Click to expand...

Although I love Tomato, with these routers I'm of the opinion that they work best with some variant of the ASUS firmware on them (including Merlin or the aforementioned fork). You also have the advantage of things like hardware NAT, which only works on the Asus / Merlin firmware. Hardware NAT really shines if you have a 100mbit+ WAN connection, but regardless it takes some of the stress off the CPU when used as a router.
 
Bird222 said:
Anybody know how to remove the T-Mobile badging from the router?
Click to expand...

3m-preferred-converter-3m-1350-1-x-72-yds-black-electrical-tape-1-mil-black_1081784.jpg

:D :D :D
 
After I flash Merlin on my 2nd RT-AC68U I want to set up a VPN client on it. I have a couple questions about it:

1.) Is Private Internet Access a good choice?
2.) Is it possible to set it up so that only certain IPs on my home network actually use the VPN? I only want my FireTVs that have Kodi on them to use the VPN (not my other PCs or anyone who happens to visit and use my WIFI).

Thanks!!
 
ClockerXP said:
After I flash Merlin on my 2nd RT-AC68U I want to set up a VPN client on it. I have a couple questions about it:

1.) Is Private Internet Access a good choice?
2.) Is it possible to set it up so that only certain IPs on my home network actually use the VPN? I only want my FireTVs that have Kodi on them to use the VPN (not my other PCs or anyone who happens to visit and use my WIFI).

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
1.Yes
2.https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Policy-based-routing
 
Took a while to flash due to my failure to differentiate between the reset and wps buttons.....

Just ordered my second one..

Kid
 
FYI the '1703' firmware has SSH in it. I didn't use it though. I just used Telnet.
 
Thanks. I just got mine up and running. I was surprised these things run a flavor or linux or something compatible.
 
I figured this was as good a place as any to post this:

New release of Merlin: 380.64

Link is directly to the RT-AC68U folder, scroll down for the most recent versions.

380.64 appears to be a release version, ie not beta. If you're brave there are alpha releases of 380.65 up on the main site as well. I'd stick to the last release version though. :)
 
Thanks for the update! Do you need to save settings, flash, and then restore settings? Or just flash and all the settings 'stick' like I used to do with the Asus releases?
 
To go against the grain of latest and greatest. John9527 has a new beta of his Merlin Fork of the older code base (Super solid wifi with adjustable transmit power), and it includes a lot of little goodies (some not found in Merlin):
BETA RELEASE: Update-22BA

Update-22BA Highlights
  • Backport of ASUS XSS/CSRF security fix
  • DNSCrypt Enhancements
    • Now supports two DNSCrypt resolvers for redundancy
    • Supports IPv6 DNSCrypt resolvers
    • DNSCrypts resolvers list is now marked with IPv6/DNSSEC support instead of being filtered
    • New option for ARM processors to allow using VPN servers in Exclusive mode for VPN Clients and DNSCrypt for non-VPN (WAN Clients). Sorry, this is not available for the MIPS based processors as it required a kernel backport and the MIPS kernel is too old.
    • NOTE: If you are currently on 22B6, you will need to reconfigure your DNSCrypt settings after moving to 22BA (I needed to change some of the nvram variable names to support multiple resolvers).
  • Fix for QoS Stats charts rounding the byte transfer counts
  • Optimize QoS rules during entry that specify byte counts of 0 to unlimited(blank)
  • Fix when using explicit-exit-notify in OpenVPN client custom configuration. This should also resolve other problems such as 'orphan' routes when stopping VPN clients and problems in setting custom routes in the custom configuration.
  • Improved the OpenVPN Client/Server start and stop sequences
  • Prevent use of registered domain names for the router domain
  • Merlin Backports
    • Update nano to 2.7.1
    • Add IPv6 support for curl
 
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