G.Fast ready Asus DSL-AC88U

Asus will shortly release the DSL-AC88U modem/router in the UK, intended to replace the horrible DSL-AC68U. This is based on the excellent RT-AC88U but with an adsl/vdsl/g.fast modem built-in, supporting speeds of up to 900/500 mbps. Hardware specs are very impressive, and best of all, it seems Asus have finally ditched the Mediatek modem and put a Broadcom modem in it....Hallelujah!! Wifi coverage will be top notch as it uses Broadcom's 4 stream Mu-Mimo architecture, though personally I prefer Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) wifi radios.

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Oh and it looks damn sexy too

https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/overview/
https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/specificat...
https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/gallery/

Edited by deleted (Thu 09-Feb-17 12:11:49)

Almost just want one so can play around with lighting it for photographs

Screams gamer market at me based on the styling

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Do you think there will be much demand at that price?

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Do you think there will be much demand at that price?

Probably not at its initial price but I imagine once its been out for a while and Asus have ironed out all the bugs (Asus routers are often very buggy when just released) it should sell quite well provided its less than £300. The RT variant is ~ £250 and is quite popular amongst router enthusiasts, so no reason why the DSL version can't be a success...provided Asus haven't put in a Mediatek dsl chipset

Edited by deleted (Thu 09-Feb-17 15:04:23)

Mmm I think I'll pass on that and if I ever use G.fast will use ISP-provided hardware. The speed increment from G.fast doesn't really make me feel the need to replace my AC87U.

Very much a niche, enthusiast product for right now, even more so than the RT-AC88U.

Hi

Looks like it is marketing the "mine is faster than yours" crowd with more money than sense at that price.

By the time G.Fast is launched and mainstream the ISP supplied modem will be tuned for the UK G.Fast and so better. It could even be early G.Fast kit never end up working at all on the flavour of G.Fast in the UK that might come about after the trials.

If you are a real gamer you connect using Ethernet anyway, that will do more for latency and speed than any number of aerials you can stick on a plastic box!

Regards

Phil

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

With this model, it has broadcom xdsl drivers/firmware BCM63138 (A2pvfbH043f.d26o supporting g.fast/35b) my guess if there is issue in this case, possibly will be due to broadcom? but other based broadcom ones, seems are ok

I will add later some pictures for all , once i noticed this thread, thanks

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Feb-17 14:58:46)

In reply to a post by babis3g:

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

With this model, it has broadcom xdsl drivers/firmware BCM63138 (A2pvfbH043f.d26o supporting g.fast/35b) my guess if there is issue in this case, possibly will be due to broadcom? but other based broadcom ones, seems are ok

I will add later some pictures for all , once i noticed this thread, thanks

Indeed Broadcom modem routers are usually rock solid, it was due to the very unstable Mediatek chipset on the Asus DSL-68U that users were turning off UPBO to improve stability. Obviously UPBO is there for a reason, to counter cross talk, and if everyone began switching it off then sync rates would be lower as a result. So UPBO won't be a problem on the DSl-AC88U - at least for adsl2+ & vdsl2 lines. On G.fast, who knows...

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Feb-17 15:30:18)

A g.fast modem that is not supporting vectoring will not be welcome and may be rejected by vendors deployed DSLAM

With no vectoring G.fast is a dead duck

You would think, but OpenReach allow the current generation of Asus VDSL2 modems on the network. The mediatek chipset on it is a joke. Allowing you to disable UPBO should be enough to ban it. The modem just can't run at 6dB, it's ridiculously unstable on my line. Then when you have problems with it Asus only advice is to change the target SNRM up to 8 or 10. After that didn't work they sent out a 3rd party app that lets you override DSLAM settings. With it you can override most downstream parameters set by DLM. I'm sure some ISP's actuality supply 1 of the Asus modems. I'll eat Paddy Ashdowns hat if any mediatek modems passed the MCT.

I must say it's the worst purchase I've ever made for a piece of tech. Even in WAN mode with a separate modem it's missing a bunch of settings from its RT equivalent. It's since been replaced by the almost identical non-modem Asus RT-AC68U, right up there with 1 of my best tech buys.

Hopefully Asus don't block the telnet of this device as they did with their only other Broadcom based modem router the Asus DSL-AC87VG. Granted that's designed for the German market, but these devices are priced for the tech minded user.

The DSL-AC88U looks promising. They shouldn't block telnet as there's no VOIP ports like on the AC87VG, which was their reason for blocking it. G.Fast is nice for future-profiling for anyone who plans on taking the service. A dedicated WAN port is also a nice addition over the 68u which required borrowing a LAN port, only leaving 3. The crazy high wireless figures quoted can only be achieved with the PCE-AC88.
https://www.asus.com/Networking/PCE-AC88/

Really need to stick my useless DSL-AC68U on fleabay. Almost feel guilty about it.

Vectoring is not a fundamental part of the VDSL2 system like it is with G.fast - has anyone confirmed that you can turn it off when connected to a G.fast modem (not uncommon for modems to vary the available options based on modulation technology)

I am not from Asus so just passing whatever infos i am aware ...

First should not have previous line issues like the mediatek, because this is broadcom based

I am sure it supports vectoring, is under g.vector g 993.5 (at the pictures dsl settings) ... not tested by me, as i am with adsl (in Greece, not anymore in UK, maybe later & note no DLM in use down here)
How is TalkTalk by the way?

I have the info Telnet it will be blocked ... however Asus has the usual spectrum monitor & reporting few good line stats (but still missing ES/ HEC erros) and has snr tweak (stability adjustment) but adsl lines only, vdsl snr tweak is not there but i have the info, even if was there, can not override the BT vdsl dslam ... Asus asked many times broadcom to add vdsl snr, but no hope with vdsl...

but i agree telnet should be unblocked ... the photo i have with dslstats tool is from an unlocked firmware.
I will pass the info regarding unlocked telnet ... i am 100% with you in this case

I have photo with snr at 12 db (9db default snr target by isp) and one picture with the snr at 4db, adjusted by the modem, for testing stability (adsl)

Few options are missing now (qos etc) but untill comes out, i am sure should be there ready

http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q631/babis3g/ac8...
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q631/babis3g/ac8...
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q631/babis3g/spe...
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q631/babis3g/snr...
http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/babis3g/media/snr%...

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Feb-17 13:15:43)

In reply to a post by babis3g:

I have the info Telnet it will be blocked ... however Asus has the usual spectrum monitor & reporting few good line stats (but still missing ES/ HEC erros)

Exactly, utterly useless. A Web interface that gives no ES figures and telnet blocked on a device that cost most of the way to £300.

Their excuse for blocking the AC87VG was "security because of the VOIP". Why block access to the Broadcom CLI via telnet? That alone, is enough for me to keep my money in my pocket.

Hi, the current info i have at the moment
Regarding telnet, Asus will try to give some kind of access because Note broadcom does not like to have their devices unblocked, they do not recommend to play with telnet settings really ... if i have update i will inform, but my guess may take some time

Regarding ES/HEC errors, Asus will check if possible to add them in the dsl stats page (i don't see to be so difficult)

Note several other manufacturers using broadcom, with their new models, not have even dsl uptime (system uptime they do have) at their stats, they just have crc errors, attenuation, snr, actual speed
Asus has spectrum monitor for the tones, the dsl stats are ok reporting path as well, will add the dslam vendor to appear, has adsl snr tweak, and the dsl setting page whatever they have, are all in one page together (compare to other models which are in different menus) & later may add few more dsl options & hopefully the ES HEC errors as users asking

I am not saying to back up Asus or either for sales, just passing the info i have, Thanks

EDIT not sure about price, but my guess it should be around the rt ac88, i can be wrong on this

Edited by deleted (Mon 13-Feb-17 09:16:29)

In reply to a post by babis3g:

Asus will try to give some kind of access because Note broadcom does not like to have their devices unblocked, they do not recommend to play with telnet settings really ... if i have update i will inform, but my guess may take some time

I think whoever told you that read it in a fortune cookie.
I've used the maxdatarate command for a long time to limit my sync to 50mb. This holds on to fastpath on my line. If I leave it uncapped it runs at 55mb, and gets hit with interleaving and knocked down to 50mb.

So either 50mb capped, fastpath
Or uncapped, 50mb with interleaving.
I wouldn't buy a modem without access to the Broadcom CLI.
My recent change from ECI cab to Huawei wouldn't change that, even though I shouldn't need the maxdatarate when G.INP kicks in. I'm still using it now until then.

Most modems with Broadcom chipsets allow access to it. Only recently newer TP-Link models block it, and use their own duff telnet stats.
It's entirely down to Asus what they do with their firmware. Passing the blame onto Broadcom is a bit of a joke.

Apparently Asus officially announced this model today though I cannot see any press release. According to the Guru 3D this will have a RRP of £219.99 which I would take with a large pinch of salt as the non-modem router version of this costs £250. They've also got the wrong photo - they've used a DSL-AC68U (uuurgghh) photo instead!

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/asus-announces-dsl-...

Edited by deleted (Wed 15-Feb-17 11:31:54)

lol, it's worse they have actually used RT-AC68U photos
The 2nd photo has a blue WAN port instead of the rj11 DSL port