Anyone Using an Asus DSL-AC68U

In the opinion of the users of this forum, is it worth the extra £40 to buy a bt openreach modem from eBay in order to use a pure router with which I can install custom firmware?
 
DeltaUK said:
In the opinion of the users of this forum, is it worth the extra £40 to buy a bt openreach modem from eBay in order to use a pure router with which I can install custom firmware?
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I think a lot would probably opt for that route as there doesn't seem to be a solid go-to device that everyone can recommend yet.
 
DeltaUK said:
In the opinion of the users of this forum, is it worth the extra £40 to buy a bt openreach modem from eBay in order to use a pure router with which I can install custom firmware?
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Yes and no. Yes i'd go with a dedicated BTO modem but i'd choose an ECI /r for £10-12. Modem stats are useful in fault finding, but if you have a stable line save £30 or better yet spend £2 on a TTL interface and unlock the ECI. The power requirements of an ECi /r are circa 5w, you'll also get the option of decent routers that can run 3rd party firmware with a lot more tweaking options such as Tomato, Advanced Tomato, Merlin, Shibby's Tomato, Padavan, or Gargoyle to name but a few.
 
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Elevon said:
Thanks for the info, I'm fine with latest official version so will wait for next one, mine has been up solid so far since I purchased it yesterday so looking good.


No tweaks done yet.
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yes there is a rule, if is working not touch
If is stable not need to update even when new official is out ... unless you need the added features (if are any)
 
Avalon said:
Yes and no. Yes i'd go with a dedicated BTO modem but i'd choose an ECI /r for £10-12. Modem stats are useful in fault finding, but if you have a stable line save £30 or better yet spend £2 on a TTL interface and unlock the ECI. The power requirements of an ECi /r are circa 5w, you'll also get the option of decent routers that can run 3rd party firmware with a lot more tweaking options such as Tomato, Advanced Tomato, Merlin, Shibby's Tomato, Padavan, or Gargoyle to name but a few.
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Thanks for this info, where can I find an ECI /r for £10-£12?

Should I buy this? NGA ECI-CPE-MODEMS TYPE 1B Brand new in original box.
Is that an older version?
amazon .co.uk /FIBRE-OPTIC-ROUTER-OPENREACH-TALKTALK-WHITE/dp/B00L4KUV1I/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A2893UIZ2AC5IP
 
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michty_me said:
This unit is probably around 18 months old so I wouldn't be surprised if support starts dwindling in favour of their newer devices.
There is also the d7000 which is worth a look or the new Billion 8900 which is due for release in the coming weeks.
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Works both ways, newer models tend to have a lot of bugs(look at history on any brand or model) while older models tend to have more firmware update fixes and options available.

I find Asus are pretty good with regards to firmware even on older models, end of the day nothing stays new forever so sometimes having a model that has been out a while can have real advantages.
 
Elevon said:
Works both ways, newer models tend to have a lot of bugs(look at history on any brand or model) while older models tend to have more firmware update fixes and options available.

I find Asus are pretty good with regards to firmware even on older models, end of the day nothing stays new forever so sometimes having a model that has been out a while can have real advantages.
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Yes, that's a good way of looking at it.
 
babis3g said:
If is stable not need to update even when new official is out ... unless you need the added features (if are any)
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You should keep the router patched if you use ASUS cloud services. They've had really nasty vulnerabilities in the past.
 
I had a little scare this afternoon, my internet went down when I picked up any of my two landline phones(one upstairs and one downstairs), checked the ADSL microfilters on each one(Sky microfilters) and one upstairs where the modem/router is plugged in, turned out to be faulty, so I had two spare generic ones and they are working fine.

I've ordered some good Billlion ADSL filters for the future.

You never know when your ADSL microfilters will die, thanks a lot Sky lol.

Anyway my Plusnet ADSL with Asus DSL-AC-68U and phones are working fine again :) .
 
Before I drop money on an openreach modem and an RT-AC68U, does anybody here have a good reason why I shouldn't do this? A better alternative or maybe new gen Asus routers out soon? Thanks!!
 
The RT-AC68U is a very good router, although it has been around a fair while now. There's some newer Asus models (including the RT-AC87U and the RT-AC3200). I have the 87U - it is faster than the 68U but the form factor on the 68U is much better in my opinion.

I don't think you'd be disappointed, maybe also worth considering other brands. The TP-Link routers are generally very good value in my opinion for example.

I think the fact that the 68U has held its proce so well is a clue as to how decent it is, still £120 on Amazon.
 
DeltaUK said:
Before I drop money on an openreach modem and an RT-AC68U, does anybody here have a good reason why I shouldn't do this? A better alternative or maybe new gen Asus routers out soon? Thanks!!
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Two points:

1) Don't be conned into thinking you need to buy an HG612 at an inflated price, an ECI /r is £10-12 vs a HG612 £25-45 and will perform almost identically but is harder to unlock if you want line stats. In all honesty if your line is fine you won't need stats. If you do it's a £2 TTL interface and 10-15 mins work to unlock an ECI.

2) Decide if AC1900 and 3x3MIMO is worth the cost (£120 ish) over AC1200 and 2x2MIMO on the AC56U which is under £80. Both share the same dual core ARM 800mhz CPU/RAM/ROM. Personally new wifi standards will always come along quite quickly, I knew i'd add UnifiAP's sooner rather than later and wifi for me is a convenience for tablets and phones rather than a preferred connection method so I saved £40 and put it towards decent AP's, £40 for a theoretical speed increase i'll never use didn't seem worth it.
 
plaistowpaul said:
The RT-AC68U is a very good router, although it has been around a fair while now. There's some newer Asus models (including the RT-AC87U and the RT-AC3200). I have the 87U - it is faster than the 68U but the form factor on the 68U is much better in my opinion.

I don't think you'd be disappointed, maybe also worth considering other brands. The TP-Link routers are generally very good value in my opinion for example.

I think the fact that the 68U has held its proce so well is a clue as to how decent it is, still £120 on Amazon.
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Also older models tend to have more mature firmwares, jumping on latest is great and all until you are waiting for that new firmware to fix things.

One thing I have never done is buy latest modem/router models, I always get a model that has been out for at least a year, probably why I never get any issues and I've used them all ie Broadcom, Atheros, Ralink(now owned by Mediatek) Mediatek based chipsets etc...
 
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keep your eye on ebay - prices fluctuate, I picked up a pare ECI last year that was £10 and came as a bundle with a Homehub 3 (which i got rid of). They come and go but if you keep looking you'll get one at a decent price.
 
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plaistowpaul said:
keep your eye on ebay - prices fluctuate, I picked up a pare ECI last year that was £10 and came as a bundle with a Homehub 3 (which i got rid of). They come and go but if you keep looking you'll get one at a decent price.
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Maybe prices are at an all time high. Right now on ebay they are selling for £70 new. 3 Sold in last 24hours on the £70 listing.
Clearly there is enough demand for prices to go way above £12.
I should probably settle for the one on amazon new for £29
 
DeltaUK said:
I cant find an ECI /r for £10-12. Can you point me to where they are available at that price?
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Ebay - I paid £11 delivered for my last ECI and £21.99 delivered for the HG612, both were back end of last month. Gumtree hasn't been so great for me - they come up rarely but obviously it depends where you are. I only got the HG612 as once unlocked (3 minutes work), it'll handle ADSL/2+ connections as well as VDSL so it's a handy bit of kit to have when you're dealing with multiple connection types and need to test, the Vigor 130 is the other option and they're a heck of a lot more expensive.

*edit* Just looked at the ebay sales history for last 3 months, almost 100 have gone for under £15, some of them for under £4, they may not all be the latest version's, but they work perfectly well and they're cheap/reliable.
 
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