HH5 alternative - Asus DSL-N66U

Hi all,

I'm with BT infinity and I'm looking in changing my HH5 with a combined VDSL modem router that has to have the following:

1. stable vdsl connection (i'm already sync at 40/10mbps so no speed issues)

2. capable of mutlicast from lan as i have connected my viewbox (via powerline ethernet adapter)

3. Good wireless range

4. Being able to use it with VDSL and cable, so either a separate wan lan port or one of the existing 4 converting to wan

5. The modem/router to have live bandwidth graphs. (this one being the most difficult to find in routers)

The last one is a feature that i don't find often in routers and it's the same as the dd-wrt with the bandwidth monitoring. So when logged in to the router you can see the total bandwdith that is current used (up and down) in a graph and in some cases you can see it per lan port or WLAN. This is not the total bandwidth consumed but the current bandwidth graph.

From a small research I can see that the following models have all the above:

Asus DSL-N66u and all the higher models
Billion 8800NL
Fritz 3490
Netgear D6400 and higher models via a separate app (genie)

Unfortunately although TP-Links receive lots of praise they lack the bandwidth monitoring graphs.

I understand the Asus have good wireless range (although i'm reading that this has dropped at the latest firmware update) but there are mixed reviews as to how stable their DSL modem side is. After all the firmware updates are there any users of DSL -N66U that are happy with its stability?

I understand that the Billion 8800NL has very stable DSL modem but its wireless range is not better than HH5, in fact it might be a bit worse.

Fritz i have read very littie about while Netgear is probably the most expensive.

The Asus DSL-N66U will fit the bill for me as I'm not that interested in the ac (higher throughput but less range), however I am concerned on the DSL stability.

At the moment I very rarely have issues with stability on my line, possibly because I'm quite close to the cabinet.

thanks for your help

Edited by deleted (Tue 29-Sep-15 09:10:39)

I've got a DSL-AC68U and have been very happy with it on both FTTC and ADSL if that helps you at all.

Just been looking at a friend's Linksys 1900 and wasn't impressed that the router config is done online...

Asus has just brought out their new RT-AC88U, has 8 gigabit ports.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2991380/home-network...

In reply to a post by Nightglow:

Asus has just brought out their new RT-AC88U, has 8 gigabit ports.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2991380/home-network...

It's announced, but not available

In reference to www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-rog-gaming-router-rt-ac88u,30293.html:

Asus has yet to provide prices for the new RT-AC88U, but the company did announce that the router will be shipping later this quarter.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by Nightglow:

Asus has just brought out their new RT-AC88U, has 8 gigabit ports.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2991380/home-network...

It's announced, but not available

In reference to www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-rog-gaming-router-rt-ac88u,30293.html:

Asus has yet to provide prices for the new RT-AC88U, but the company did announce that the router will be shipping later this quarter.

Shame they didn't squeeze in a dsl modem as well.

I bought a DSL-N66U in the hope of replacing my 2-box (OR Modem + HomeHub) with a neater single box solution whilst being able to select another DNS (instead of being locked to BT's DNS). My ISP service is BT Infinity 2.

The router section of the N66U seems fine but the modem is still not very good for me. The latest F/W (v1.0.9.7) is a big improvement on previous versions, which I found quite unstable. However, the download speed is much lower than the O/R modem. Despite the Asus showing a sync speed of ~65Mbps my measured download speed is only ~35Mbps. As soon as I put the O/R (ECI) modem back on I get measured download speeds of ~60Mbps.

However, some say the DSL-N66U works OK for them, so it seems unpredictable/erratic. Personally, I regret buying the Asus & wish that I had bought a Netgear VDSL modem/router. I still have to run it in conjunction with the O/R modem.

Despite several iterations of firmware, Asus seem unable to make it work reliably as intended.

Just out of interest do you know what type of cabinet, wondering if that could be a potential problem as BT normally match the OR modem to the make of cabinet.

Also I found on the N66U that any kind of web filtering etc switched off hardware acceleration and my peak was around the 35Mbps, switched it off and it shot up to 64-65mbps.

Forget the idea of matching the modem, more often than not it was whatever hardware was in the van.

Wouldn't have anything to do with G.INP on the Asus? Last time I looked on the AC68 was compatible although they have changed.

G.INP should not drop the speed by half.

Tweaking DSL microcode is something router manufacturers were still doing for ADSL2+ years after it was a standard.

What exchange and cabinet is it, can usually then say whether its Huawei or ECI

I'm on Hinckley Cabinet 10.

Google Streetview:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.5392394,-1.3551533...

My modem is ECI.

I'm using the router default firewall settings, with URL, MAC, Keyword & Network services filters all off/disabled.

It seems to run at SNR ~14dB regardless of whether I change the target settings. I've got GINP enabled & it shows Fastpath, but I don't know whether GINP is enabled in the cabinet.

Thats a Huawei cabinet so G.INP is possible, but I'm not sure your ECI modem will support it.

I'm not sure the vented cabinet by the lights is BT. The vents are completely wrong and the casing is wierd. In fact I have my doubts about the smaller one too. It has a side vent.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.539304,-1.3552357,...

Ah! I hadn't seen that one. Thanks.