Anyone Using an Asus DSL-AC68U

jonny8888 · 26 Jan 2016 at 20:33

Elevon said:
It should take three days at least, mine dropped due to faulty Sky micro filter(replaced with Billion and XF1-E filter) but went back up after it was stable for three days.

Always best to leave it for awhile before messing with settings and rebooting etc , otherwise DLM(dynamic line management) might think you have a disconnect due to unstable line etc, you can have so many disconnects/reboots etc then DLM kicks in and drops line speed for awhile.

Next week I'm going to move my Asus dsl-ac68u off the phone extension(yes still rock stable ) to the master socket and get more speed out of it, have a BT VDSL faceplate as well to install on the master socket next week.

I always find Asus products solid on reliability and excellent firmware support, Netgear reliability has gone downhill in my books, gone through two in three months.

Thanks, going to leave alone for few days hoping speeds go back up

When I was on Netgear D6200 line was very stable and I got around 7Mbps.

Pretty sure it's not my line as I'm connected directly to master socket, faceplate off, no extensions, sky/BT micro filter and also fancy phone Adsl cable.

edit: Glad your Asus modem is stable mine is the opposite! Had no issues at all with my Netgear however the features cannot compare with DSL-AC68U.

iain_s · 26 Jan 2016 at 22:59

G.INP now working with Sky Fibre

I tried to use the iPhone ASUS Router app to connect to the router and it seems to have caused the router to crash and become unresponsive. I managed to reflash the firmware (latest rescue version), after many hours of resetting and clearing the NVRAM, but was finally successful and now find that I can enable G.INP and get an IP number from SKY. My ping is now around 16ms, and am on FastPath for both up and downstream.

I'm not sure what is different, I'm guessing that I must have previously updated the firmware via the router's webpage and not reset the settings back to the factory default.

I hope this helps, I don't know if it is repeatable, or I have just been lucky...

babis3g · 27 Jan 2016 at 07:51

Hi, how to you clear the NVRAM? thanks

michty_me · 27 Jan 2016 at 09:40

I think Bits&bobs posted it several pages back. Something along the lines of

1. when the unit is powered on, hold down its wps button for 30 seconds
2. while still holding down the wps button, unplug the router from power and hold for an additional 30 seconds
3. still holding down the wps button, turn on power to the router again and hold for 30 more seconds

Avalon · 27 Jan 2016 at 10:47

jonny8888 said:
Thanks. My plan is to use HH4 as modem only and ASUS for everything else. Shame there's no bridge mode on HH4. ASUS 66u is great but shame the modem is very unstable.

Fingers crossed speeds will go up again Can speeds change even though I'm not disconnected?

HH5's are cheap and support bridge, a HG612 is about the same price, if you're on VDSL then an ECI is going to give similar results for about £10-12. Some people suggest chip set matching to your cab but BTO supplied both modem types as/when it suited to customers without any concern so i'd suggest any difference is likely to be very minimal.

If it were me i'd sell the DSL-AC66U (they still get OK money on ebay) and replace it with either a AC66U (single core MIPS based SOC) or the AC56U/AC68U which are based on a dual core ARM SOC and share the same spec other than the wifi speed/extra MIMO support. You'll have access to 3rd party firmware which tends to be a lot more useful.

plaistowpaul · 27 Jan 2016 at 13:24

I think that's good advice - and agree from my experience the Huawei and ECI BTO modems appear to be as good as each other on my connection (no idea what my cabinet is). I use the Huawei and keep the ECI as a spare, but have soak tested the ECI for a week with no noticable difference in speed (speedtest.net) and no connection issues.

If you are not going to use the modem side of a "DSL-" device then a BTO modem and "RT-" router makes the most sense to me.

babis3g · 27 Jan 2016 at 15:09

michty_me said:
I think Bits&bobs posted it several pages back. Something along the lines of

1. when the unit is powered on, hold down its wps button for 30 seconds
2. while still holding down the wps button, unplug the router from power and hold for an additional 30 seconds
3. still holding down the wps button, turn on power to the router again and hold for 30 more seconds

thanks

was thinking if was some kind of telnet commands

RedBull2k · 27 Jan 2016 at 16:04

usage: nvram [get name] [set name=value] [unset name] [show] [commit] [save] [restore] [erase][fb_save file] ...

so i think its either nvram restore or nvram erase

jonny8888 · 27 Jan 2016 at 18:23

Looks like I'm on my 10 day training period as I get disconnected periodically.

Good news it that is looks like my upload speed has increased from 800-ish kbps to around 1Mbps

Bad news is my download seem to have been reduced to 5.5Mbps ish

It's .5Mbps better than SKY however I was getting around 8Mbps before.

If I reset modem early in the morning I can get 8Mbps but I will get disconnected automatically and downstream reduced. Does this mean I'll probably end up with 5.5ishMbps down?

Elevon · 27 Jan 2016 at 19:41

jonny8888 said:
Looks like I'm on my 10 day training period as I get disconnected periodically.

Good news it that is looks like my upload speed has increased from 800-ish kbps to around 1Mbps

Bad news is my download seem to have been reduced to 5.5Mbps ish It's .5Mbps better than SKY however I was getting around 8Mbps before.

If I reset modem early in the morning I can get 8Mbps but I will get disconnected automatically and downstream reduced. Does this mean I'll probably end up with 5.5ishMbps down?

Are you using the Asus DSL-AC68 with latest official firmware or different modem and separate router?..You can make sure DLM in the Asus is enabled(it'll find best line stability), also are you using microfilters or dedicated ADSL line socket ?.. If it's microfilters you can try changing them, faulty ones can cause disconnects so replace them to rule that out.

edit: Glad your Asus modem is stable mine is the opposite! Had no issues at all with my Netgear however the features cannot compare with DSL-AC68U.

My first Netgear(actually my third model Netgear wise) died on first day, second new replacement wireless died after three months. I miss the old Netgear reliability.
Yes mine is still rock solid on Plusnet ASDL, looking forward to moving it to master socket to see how much speed increase I get in a few days time (just need to install a mains extension in the hallway near the master socket(neatly). I'm two floors up from the master socket on the phone extension.

Also check your ISP settings are correct under WAN section of the Asus.

I don't bother touching mine now, just leave it on 24/7, until it's moved to the master socket.

babis3g · 27 Jan 2016 at 22:13

RedBull2k said:
usage: nvram [get name] [set name=value] [unset name] [show] [commit] [save] [restore] [erase][fb_save file] ...

so i think its either nvram restore or nvram erase

Thanks, will give a go some time later

iain_s · 28 Jan 2016 at 18:27

Resetting the NVRAM

babis3g said:
Hi, how to you clear the NVRAM? thanks

I put the device in rescue mode and then loaded the rescue webpage from the device, and clicked on reset NVRAM. I also tried the 30-30-30 second reset procedure too. I could tell that I finally had reset the NVRAM as the IP number had reverted back to 192.168.1.1

I used the rescue version of the firmware, download using the ASUS tool. I had tried tftp, and although there weren't any errors reported, the device remained unusable.

jonny8888 · 28 Jan 2016 at 20:02

Elevon said:
Are you using the Asus DSL-AC68 with latest official firmware or different modem and separate router?..You can make sure DLM in the Asus is enabled(it'll find best line stability), also are you using microfilters or dedicated ADSL line socket ?.. If it's microfilters you can try changing them, faulty ones can cause disconnects so replace them to rule that out.

My first Netgear(actually my third model Netgear wise) died on first day, second new replacement wireless died after three months. I miss the old Netgear reliability.
Yes mine is still rock solid on Plusnet ASDL, looking forward to moving it to master socket to see how much speed increase I get in a few days time (just need to install a mains extension in the hallway near the master socket(neatly). I'm two floors up from the master socket on the phone extension.

Also check your ISP settings are correct under WAN section of the Asus.

I don't bother touching mine now, just leave it on 24/7, until it's moved to the master socket.

I'm only using HH4 now but it seems I get 2-3 disconnections a day. The speed also seems to sync to lower speed @5.5Mb even though I get around 8Mb if I manually reboot HH4.

I've just swapped over the cable and microfilter to the one BT sent me and still connected to HH4. Hopefully it will be stable now otherwise I might try using ASUS as both modem and router...

In the HH4 log the disconnections seems to say it's a user request so I'm wondering if it's DLM or capped profile in action? i.e. it doesn't like me having higher speeds and re-adjust to lower ones?

Below is the error from the HH4 logs:

PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]

Avalon · 28 Jan 2016 at 20:19

jonny8888 said:
I'm only using HH4 now but it seems I get 2-3 disconnections a day. The speed also seems to sync to lower speed @5.5Mb even though I get around 8Mb if I manually reboot HH4.

I've just swapped over the cable and microfilter to the one BT sent me and still connected to HH4. Hopefully it will be stable now otherwise I might try using ASUS as both modem and router.

Stop rebooting it during the trading period, you're only making things worse.

jonny8888 · 28 Jan 2016 at 23:15

Well I noticed after a few times if I sync at a speed higher than 5.5 in 3 hours it will automatically reboot and resync at 5.5.

So I guess either my line has suddenly degraded or perhaps my profile is capped...

michty_me · 28 Jan 2016 at 23:20

Could well be due to all the disconnections. The more you play about with it the worse your connection may get. Leave it be for as long as possible. It may go backup once DLM can see your line is stable I.e. no disconnections.

jonny8888 · 29 Jan 2016 at 13:16

Thanks all. I took a gamble and have used the ASUS as modem and router.
Synced at 8Mb and no disconnections so far ...
However I do notice some CRC errors. I haven't tweaked anything yet so wondering if I should be worried? The downstream noise went up slight to 7db whereas it was 6 before. Do I need to turn DLM on ASUS off?
Curious about MAX rate though as it's higher than I've ever got before. Never managed anything above 8.

michty_me · 29 Jan 2016 at 14:18

I would just leave it be for now. See how it fares. The Max attainable could be reading wrong. When I was using it, mine showed roughly 97000kbps but I could only sync at 67000kbps. DLM should remain on I believe. Leave it a week but just monitor for drop outs.

Elevon · 29 Jan 2016 at 14:21

jonny8888 said:
Thanks all. I took a gamble and have used the ASUS as modem and router.
Synced at 8Mb and no disconnections so far ...
However I do notice some CRC errors. I haven't tweaked anything yet so wondering if I should be worried? The downstream noise went up slight to 7db whereas it was 6 before. Do I need to turn DLM on ASUS off?
Curious about MAX rate though as it's higher than I've ever got before. Never managed anything above 8.

I've lots of CRC errors but to be fair had that on all my previous modems and think its noise due to using my old phone BT extension cable rather then master socket. I've a lot more CRC errors ie 425000(downstream) over seven days and only 184 errors upstream then yours and its still been solid for over seven days since I replaced the faulty Sky microfilter(I'm on Plusnet ADSL).

I leave DLM enabled on mine, it will find the best stability on your line.

Avoid rebooting while your on the first few weeks of your new ISP due to BT DLM etc...

jonny8888 · 29 Jan 2016 at 15:26

michty_me said:
I would just leave it be for now. See how it fares. The Max attainable could be reading wrong. When I was using it, mine showed roughly 97000kbps but I could only sync at 67000kbps. DLM should remain on I believe. Leave it a week but just monitor for drop outs.

Elevon said:
I've lots of CRC errors but to be fair had that on all my previous modems and think its noise due to using my old phone BT extension cable rather then master socket. I've a lot more CRC errors ie 425000(downstream) over seven days and only 184 errors upstream then yours and its still been solid for over seven days since I replaced the faulty Sky microfilter(I'm on Plusnet ADSL).

I leave DLM enabled on mine, it will find the best stability on your line.

Avoid rebooting while your on the first few weeks of your new ISP due to BT DLM etc...

Thanks both. I'll leave everything as it is for now, fingers cross it stays stable at 8Mbps.

Another question though, previously I've switched on QoS features including apps analysis, network monitor and also firewall features. These are all left off by default for now. Will turning these on affect stability (i.e cause disconnects?)