Anyone Using an Asus DSL-AC68U

[pc-guy]

alright folks. I am wondering if I should get the DSL-AC68U. I have the TP LINK VR900 which is a solid performer. no issues and lightning fast.

Now reason for going to ASUS is i want to have VPN server running off my fibre connection.

Questions are:
1) Can i run merlin firmware on the DSL version of this?
2) Is the asus better performer or equal to TP LINK VR 900 in terms of fibre and wifi (regardless the fact that it supports VPN server)
3) are there any issues with this that I need to be aware of (plusnet fibre) such as poor fibre sync rate or unstable connection.

Thanks

 

[michty_me]

Answers to some of your questions:

1) nope. Only Asus dsl-ac68u firmware can be used.

2) I can't be sure if it is better. I believe many people find the TP-link vr900 more stable although I can't confirm first hand.

3) When using the Asus. I lost roughly 9mbps from my downstream sync rate. It would randomly reboot also. The thread is filled with similar issues. Some are lucky and it remains stable on their line now, many are not. I think it boils down to how short your line is and how good it is.

 

[pc-guy]

thanks,
my line is pretty damn far from the cab. approximate 2miles. so no chance of it being any use.

I do like the TP link as it is rock solid and setup & forget. my wifi coverage in my house and outside is also amazing.

maybe in the future asus could bring out a broadcom chip router/modem instead of meditek.

 

[michty_me]

I believe they are. There was a post on this thread about a broadcom based unit coming out in the near future. That's not to say that the firmware will be up to scratch.
I think after seeing the issues first hand with their mediatek devices I would be holding off before buying another device from them.
I'm currently using a Netgear D7000 which has a VPN function in it. The latest support now has support for iOS and Android too but it has always been possible to use the VPN function on Android before with a simple app download.

 

[pc-guy]

Yes, I understand D7000 is also a solid piece of kit as well. unfortunately it is not on sale at the moment

 

[michty_me]

Must be selling well then. Pretty much the same price I bought it for over a year ago.

 

[pc-guy]

I actually got my VR900 at £1 over the century mark so it was a great price and snapped it. but at the time D7000 wasn't even on the market.

but that VPN function is exactly what I need. will be keeping an eye on that.

 

[michty_me]

I actually got my VR900 at £1 over the century mark so it was a great price and snapped it. but at the time D7000 wasn't even on the market.

but that VPN function is exactly what I need. will be keeping an eye on that.

To be fair, that's why I was reluctant on getting rid of the Asus but wanted an all in one box. Quite like the D7000 and gives slightly better sync rates over the hg612 Huawei modem box from BT.

 

[michty_me]

I actually got my VR900 at £1 over the century mark so it was a great price and snapped it. but at the time D7000 wasn't even on the market.

but that VPN function is exactly what I need. will be keeping an eye on that.

Just if you haven't noticed, The rainforest place currently have the D7000 at £119.

 

[Dink44]

Hi all,

Spent a few hours reading from page 1 , this is a long thread !!

Wow , thank god I found this forum before spending money on the ASUS DSL AC68U , lovely bit of kit one of a handful that do the 3x3 450Mbps N wireless that I really want as I have an Intel 6300N wireless card in my HP 8740w and would love to be able to use it at full speed.

Unfortunately being an HP I cannot change it to a more modern AC card ( HP whitelist ) , but this 6300N does 450 Mbps 3x3 on 2.4 and 5 Ghz via N , so in theory should be as good ?

Intel still don't do a 3x3 AC laptop card to upgrade the 6300N as of early 2017 , so maybe they agree ?

Couple of questions :

1/ Has anyone tried connecting to the ASUS with an Intel 6300N wireless card , if so does it report a 450 Mbps connection or only 300 Mbps via Windows ?

2/ It seems as though a short line and a Huawei cabinet is a good combo to start with for this modem ( will go looking for my cab this weekend , the local exchange is only 500 yards away and my cabinet even closer , so I may be lucky if its Huawei , www.kitz.co.uk were a great help locating the number of my cab and some useful pics to identify it ) , have there been any worthwhile updates to the firmware on the modem in 2017 or have ASUS given up on the MediaTek chipset ?

Its going to be a toss up between the ASUS DSL AC68U and the TP-LINK VR900 , I do prefer the looks of the ASUS and may go for the RT version and link that to my TalkTalk HG633 , so what do you all think , is the ASUS dead and buried or does it still have potential and support from ASUS ?

And would it be ok to link an RT or DSL version with the HG633 or would I need another VDSL modem to do this ?

Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vfast]

So apparently ASUS is playing dirty,they refuses to fix the dsl-ac68u because the bugs were submitted almost a year ago,in order to favor a new product on the market the dsl-ac88u.That's illegal! I have proof of that,emails with bugs submitted and so on,and their answers.
Proof???

So asus has 2 choises or more,if they find:
1)Fixes the bugs submitted by users,and it's long time people awaits,specifically UK users who get their line downgraded and speeds reduced by the dlm.
2) Gives the dsl gpl firmware source code to third parties or me (since it's coded),since the product is near end of life and they refuse to fix it,in order to favor their new product.Third parties as mentioned can fix the dsl side of the modem in no time,and bring even more options to the product which we paid money for it,and it's in this bad situation after 3 years of release!!!!
Asus may come with some reasons not to do it.
The reason is Mediatek,the dsl chipset manufacturer.Mediatek company,is also known as Scumbag Mediatek, you can read here: http://www.gizchina.com/2014/03/24/mediatek-dont-share-source-code/
Mediatek will release only if paid some fees,and since Asus paid for those chips,means it's in the possession of the dsl fw source code,and if refuses to fix the modem could release it to third parties,exactly like with it's routers,without the permission from Mediatek, since they bought a flawed product from them and is in this situation.
The current gpl of the asus dsl ac68u has the dsl fw inaccessible.

As i mentioned the points,if asus will refuse even this time,me and other users from EU will report Asus to the EU consumer protection,for unfair marketing and refusing the fix of it's products.I will not spend 250 Euro for another modem,since the current can be fixed.
If you are in the same situation and live in EU,unite to the cause and report Asus to the EU consumer protection at this link: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact/write-to-us_en
Remember that together we are stronger!!

if u still have the modem and interested join us.
thanks

 

[Avalon]

It's a PoS, Asus have no interest in fixing it and will continue to ignore the issue as it becomes obsolete, in a few years the EU could tell them they should have fixed it and charge them a token fine. The US is slightly more aggressive after its recent fine/agreement with Asus, but as we seem as though we won't be part of the EU shortly, it's something of a moot point.

 

[vfast]

Thanks for reply
I understand your point,but at least trying will not harm,we need to send a message,noticeable or not,but we need to do it.
They are simply making fun of people who submit feedback and trying to help to improve a product which should be working since release, they simply will ignore and throw a new product on the market,thinking that people are stupid and will not notice.
Looking at the posts, the UK users have been the most affected by the modem's issue,since you have dlm and will change your profile with lower speeds and higher latency's etc,and you lost time too submitting feedback.
All you have to do is to go to this website https://europa.eu/european-union/contact/write-to-us_en and simply add as subject "consumer rights violation" and simply write about your experience with the asus dsl-ac68u and the promises made (even if you don't have the modem anymore,because a lot of users said that they got rid of it) nothing difficult,simply share your experience,it will really really help.
More reports may rise the question about this issue,because EU can't ignore a certain number of reports.

Thank you

 

[Nexus18]

I've had this router for about a month now and it has been fantastic so far...... What exactly is the issue above about?

Also, a firmware was released not long ago to fix bugs and improve security.... So I don't see how they have abandoned it???

 

[vfast]

this modem has the bearers inverted in terms of parameters,and fec bleeding,and like 6/10 megs wasted in overhead on vdsl,and it does not apply INP in g.inp mode its 0 for us/ds.the major issues are for vdsl.
some of guys on this forum have the tc console(the only way to see the parameters) but for some reason u never took a look at the parameters like with the program called dslstas.
Here u can see the difference with a modem with broadcom chip,broadcom on the left,asus on the right:
G.inp mode bearer 0 is [0]bearer 1 is [1]:

ITU G.993.2(VDSL2):


as you can see a lot of parameters in g.inp mode are applied on bearer 1 instead of bearer 0.told asus in October,and they said that SHINE is INP and those are wrong stats,they simply deny ITU stats.
asked them to release the source code of the dsl side,so we can fix the issues and add more tweaks,they gave a demo gpl thinking that people are stupid and will not understand.so they don't want to release the source code of the dsl side (because is proprietary) and don't want to fix the issues,but will ask me if i want to test the new 88u.so you can see where is the problem.

thanks for your reply.

 

[Avalon]

I've had this router for about a month now and it has been fantastic so far...... What exactly is the issue above about?
Also, a firmware was released not long ago to fix bugs and improve security.... So I don't see how they have abandoned it???

Did you seriously just ask on page 157 of a thread where it's been discussed in immense detail over several years and repeatedly shown this product is unfit for purpose, what the issue is with it? I ask because I genuinely can't believe that anyone who has been registered since 2009 and has a post count of 21k+ and is posting in a thread that's 157 pages long could not be aware of what's wrong with it. Please - even if you did just do that - for the sake of us all, just lie and tell us it was some sort of attempt at irony and we'll never mention it again.

 

[Nexus18]

Did you seriously just ask on page 157 of a thread where it's been discussed in immense detail over several years and repeatedly shown this product is unfit for purpose, what the issue is with it? I ask because I genuinely can't believe that anyone who has been registered since 2009 and has a post count of 21k+ and is posting in a thread that's 157 pages long could not be aware of what's wrong with it. Please - even if you did just do that - for the sake of us all, just lie and tell us it was some sort of attempt at irony and we'll never mention it again.

Let me clarify it for you in the simplest and easiest way possible for you to understand then.....

1. I had no interest a 3rd party router until about a month ago so why I am going to keep up to date with a thread that I have no interest in? Just because I have been here for a certain time and posted a certain amount does not mean that I read every single thread on here
2. I don't base my purchases on what some people from an internet forum say.....

And no, I am not going to read through 157 pages just to see what the issue is and what exactly this issue affects..... I have far better things to do with my time, especially when like I said, the router has been fantastic since I got it, lower latency on the whole and getting my speed constantly throughout the day.....

Oh and I didn't realize that just because there is a big long thread on here that it means that the product is **** and plagued with issues, I guess that wonderful logic of yours will also apply to every other big long thread on here as well then

One last thing, I just noticed that this thread is for the DSL version, I have the RT version so my bad, as you were.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Yeah the router only model is fine, it's the modem side of this that can cause issues but it's only on certain DSLAMs, it's worked fine for me ever since owning it for around 2 years.

 

[Avalon]

Let me clarify it for you in the simplest and easiest way possible for you to understand then.....

1. I had no interest a 3rd party router until about a month ago so why I am going to keep up to date with a thread that I have no interest in? Just because I have been here for a certain time and posted a certain amount does not mean that I read every single thread on here
2. I don't base my purchases on what some people from an internet forum say.....

And no, I am not going to read through 157 pages just to see what the issue is and what exactly this issue affects..... I have far better things to do with my time, especially when like I said, the router has been fantastic since I got it, lower latency on the whole and getting my speed constantly throughout the day.....

Oh and I didn't realize that just because there is a big long thread on here that it means that the product is **** and plagued with issues, I guess that wonderful logic of yours will also apply to every other big long thread on here as well then

One last thing, I just noticed that this thread is for the DSL version, I have the RT version so my bad, as you were.

1 & 2. Look at your sig, first link is the LG thread regarding backlight issues (you call it a review?), 167 pages long, clear issues, surely from that you've learnt to do some research before purchase? Next link the STX II 'review' - seriously, that term can't be applied to that post, it smacks of 'I got a free card to pimp and suddenly had to try and write a review I was horribly unqualified and unprepared to write', you're a person on the internet who's (re)views probably should be ignored, frankly after the horror of the STX II I couldn't bring myself to click link 3. Either way we're beyond irony and well into hypocrisy here.

By your own admission you didn't read the title of the thread which clearly stated it relates to the DSL-AC68U (which you don't own), you made almost no attempt to read any of the 156 pages detailing the tale of woe relating to this SKU, firmware updates and general abandonment by Asus but did just about manage to read the last post on 157, in so far as you then felt self entitled enough to ask for someone to recap the issues just for you, on a product it now turns out you don't own. Fair to say that's not really going to play out well don't you think? As to your flawed assumptions, my hope was much simpler than that, I hope that anyone with as much time spent here and a post count such as yours, might just have learned to read and not be quite so self entitled, i'd also hope they knew what product they owned, but what's a VDSL modem between friends ey? Sadly for you, I was wrong.

I was lucky (read unlucky) enough to have one on a direct to exchange line for a while, it was OK, migrated to VDSL and had issues so ditched it.

 

[Nexus18]

EDIT:

Not even worth the time and effort.