OK so the XR500 was a disaster!

pp111 · 6 Nov 2018 at 18:07

So I bought a Netgear XR500. What an amazing OS interface that is. Really love it. Shame about the bugs though. I mean you would think in a so called gaming router that it wouldnt crash if you enter the manual prioritisation for a game, but it does. It also doesn't support VPN. Well, actually, it does, but only HMA, and we all know how good they are. The final kick in the teeth is that it locks-up every few weeks even with the WiFi disabled. So tomorrow it's going back. As many of the people say on the Netgear website - it's a paid beta product.
Next I suppose it's the Asus AC88U. I was just wondering if anyone had any horror stories about that one before I go buy one!?!

Bluecube · 6 Nov 2018 at 18:10

I’ve got one flashed with Merlin firmware. Apart from an odd bug affecting TAP VPNs, it’s been rock solid. I’m happy with it.

Coolasmoo · 6 Nov 2018 at 18:15

Are you positive its Merlin? didn't think he or anybody else has adapted 3rd party yet for the Netgear XR500

pp111 · 6 Nov 2018 at 18:42

I think they meant the AC88U.

Bluecube · 6 Nov 2018 at 18:43

The OP was asking about the AC88u. I responded saying I had one. It was this router that’s flashed with Merlin.

BigT · 6 Nov 2018 at 20:31

pp111 said:
As many of the people say on the Netgear website - it's a paid beta product.

Yet in your other thread you said

The Netgear, people have nothing bad to say about that apart from the fact it's over-priced, which I am not really worried about.

I think you’d be best not worrying about interfaces and research what provides the best QoS for gaming and learn that router’s interface. You’ll reap the rewards and it’ll give you a nice sense of satisfaction.

pp111 · 6 Nov 2018 at 21:37

BigT said:
Yet in your other thread you said

I think you’d be best not worrying about interfaces and research what provides the best QoS for gaming and learn that router’s interface. You’ll reap the rewards and it’ll give you a nice sense of satisfaction.

What are you actually saying or did you just drop in to gleefully point out that I was wrong in my first post?

Yes I was wrong. Thing is the XR500 has glowing recommendations but I've come to think the reason is that people don't actually understand what it's doing or not doing as the case may be. I carefully watched what it was doing and soon realised it has fundamental problems. I think most owners are just very accepting that it's doing wonderful things.It's riding a wave of hype.

Thing is that routers are an absolute minefield. People are saying they are great when they aren't and saying they are rubbish when they aren't. The XR500 has way better recommendations than the AC88U, but well, I have to try that next. What else can I do? Fact is I am not sure you can listen to anyone on this, you just have to get what seems good and try it.

BigT · 6 Nov 2018 at 22:12

Apologies, I didn’t mean to cause offence. I stand by the point though that you should look for a router with good QoS implementation and not worry about the interface or marketing labels like “gaming router”. Despite probably a steeper learning curve you’ll be happier in the end.

I’m also acutely aware of the irony of my not recommending anything to help, but I moved away from consumer routers a while ago so wouldn’t know what to suggest.

Avalon · 7 Nov 2018 at 09:38

pp111 said:
What are you actually saying or did you just drop in to gleefully point out that I was wrong in my first post?

Yes I was wrong. Thing is the XR500 has glowing recommendations but I've come to think the reason is that people don't actually understand what it's doing or not doing as the case may be. I carefully watched what it was doing and soon realised it has fundamental problems. I think most owners are just very accepting that it's doing wonderful things.It's riding a wave of hype.

Thing is that routers are an absolute minefield. People are saying they are great when they aren't and saying they are rubbish when they aren't. The XR500 has way better recommendations than the AC88U, but well, I have to try that next. What else can I do? Fact is I am not sure you can listen to anyone on this, you just have to get what seems good and try it.

Routers are very simple, i’d suggest people who buy ‘gaming’ routers may not be the most technically proficient or best suited to providing objective feedback considering they’ve just purchased an over priced product.

pp111 · 7 Nov 2018 at 12:01

BigT said:
Apologies, I didn’t mean to cause offence. I stand by the point though that you should look for a router with good QoS implementation and not worry about the interface or marketing labels like “gaming router”. Despite probably a steeper learning curve you’ll be happier in the end.

I’m also acutely aware of the irony of my not recommending anything to help, but I moved away from consumer routers a while ago so wouldn’t know what to suggest.

Well I apologise for my response too, I thought you were being a smarty-pants. Lol.

I mean it is very difficult for non network peeps to choose routers. I think many of the reviews you find online are buyers who have no idea what their issues are ( more likely to be their ISP than their router or inherant weaknesses in wifi ) and companies who are just placing false reviews online to send prospective buyers to Amazon.
I mean the XR500 has amazing hype surrounding it, and it really is an amazingly nice interface, but it has some really fundamental issues in the very things its supposed to be good at!
So reluctantly I am forced to agree with you. The simple fact is that the XR500 is pretty rubbish really becuase it just doesn't do what it supposed to do. I have been pushed in to understanding QOS and now am in the market for something different.
Amazing thing is that I have re-organised my network and with the addition of a switch and I don't really need smart or adaptive QOS any more. What I really need is device prioritisation. Looking at interfaces in fact the D-LINK 885L is a better buy for me than the Asus RT-AC88U. With the new switch on my network I have bypassed the router and protected it from much of the local traffic and it also means I dont need loads of ports on the router. I don't use the USB on the router so the D-LINK wins out there too. The latest D-LINK Firmware has a re-vamped QOS with traditional application based QOS and device prioritisation. the latter being what I need. Apart from the the two devices are the same hardware and any additional features the Asus has, I don't need. The D-LINK has the advantage that it's significcanlty cheaper than the Asus. Typical Asus. So right now I am looking at the D-LINK. But I have no idea about reliability. What really killed it with the XR500 is the way it would lockup. I don't mind a lockup once ever six months but I do mind once a week!

Avalon · 7 Nov 2018 at 15:28

pp111 said:
Well I apologise for my response too, I thought you were being a smarty-pants. Lol.

I mean it is very difficult for non network peeps to choose routers. I think many of the reviews you find online are buyers who have no idea what their issues are ( more likely to be their ISP than their router or inherant weaknesses in wifi ) and companies who are just placing false reviews online to send prospective buyers to Amazon.
I mean the XR500 has amazing hype surrounding it, and it really is an amazingly nice interface, but it has some really fundamental issues in the very things its supposed to be good at!
So reluctantly I am forced to agree with you. The simple fact is that the XR500 is pretty rubbish really becuase it just doesn't do what it supposed to do. I have been pushed in to understanding QOS and now am in the market for something different.
Amazing thing is that I have re-organised my network and with the addition of a switch and I don't really need smart or adaptive QOS any more. What I really need is device prioritisation. Looking at interfaces in fact the D-LINK 885L is a better buy for me than the Asus RT-AC88U. With the new switch on my network I have bypassed the router and protected it from much of the local traffic and it also means I dont need loads of ports on the router. I don't use the USB on the router so the D-LINK wins out there too. The latest D-LINK Firmware has a re-vamped QOS with traditional application based QOS and device prioritisation. the latter being what I need. Apart from the the two devices are the same hardware and any additional features the Asus has, I don't need. The D-LINK has the advantage that it's significcanlty cheaper than the Asus. Typical Asus. So right now I am looking at the D-LINK. But I have no idea about reliability. What really killed it with the XR500 is the way it would lockup. I don't mind a lockup once ever six months but I do mind once a week!

Moving traffic from the router ports to the switch should have almost zero impact on anything. Any old ASUS will do client prioritisation IIRC, what exactly do you want/need that your current (or previous as you are returning the XR500) router isn’t providing?