i have Now Broadband Fibre and found you get much better connection if instead of using the old HG612, you instead get a Zyxel Router and put it into Bridge Mode.

I have a VMG1312-B10A connected to the phone socket set into bridge mode and then an Opnsense router connected to it.

First thing I did when I bought my Asus router was stick Merlin on it.

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

Features
With a few rare exceptions, Asuswrt-Merlin retains the features from the original stock Asus firmware. In addition, the following features have been added or enhanced:

System:
Various bugfixes
Performance optimizations to some CPU-bound components like OpenVPN
Some components were updated to their latest versions, for improved stability and security
User scripts that run on specific events such as firewall restart
Cron jobs for scheduled tasks
Customizable config files for router services
Third party software through Entware, with an easy setup script
SNMP support
Nano text editor (for more user-friendly script edition)
NTP daemon, which can synchronize your client devices
TLS 1.3 support for some services (OpenSSL 1.1.1)


Disk sharing:
Optionally use shorter share names (folder name only)
Disk spindown after user-configurable inactivity timeout
NFS exporting of USB drives
Allow or disable WAN access to the FTP server
Updated Samba version (3.6), with SMB2.0 support
TLS support for the FTP server


Networking:
Act as a SMB Master Browser
Act as a WINS server
SSHD support for key-based authentication
Allows tweaking TCP/UDP connection tracking timeouts
CIFS client support (for mounting remote SMB share on the router)
User-defined options for WAN DHCP requests (required by some ISPs)
Advanced OpenVPN client and server, based on code originally written by Keith Moyer for Tomato and reused with his permission.
Support for new OpenVPN 2.4 features like NCP and LZ4
Netfilter ipset module, for efficient blacklist implementation
Wireless site survey page
DNS-based Filtering, enforcing a specific DNS server, can be applied globally or per client
Custom DDNS (through a user script)
TOR support, individual client access control
Policy-based routing for OpenVPN clients (based on source or destination IPs), sometimes referred to as "selective routing", or "split tunneling")
DNSSEC validation
fq_codel queue discipline for QoS (ARM-based models only)
Full cone NAT support (RT-AC86U/RT-AX88U only)
Detailed wireless troubleshooting information (RT-AC86U/RT-AX88U only)
Modern DDNS client (In-a-Dyn), with https support
DNS-over-TLS support
Redirect NTP client queries to the router's own NTP daemon

Web interface:
Performance improvements
Optionally save traffic stats to disk (USB or JFFS partition)
Enhanced traffic monitoring: adding graphical charts, and traffic monitoring per client IP
Hostname field on the DHCP reservation list and Wireless ACL list
System info summary page
Wifi icon reports the state of both radios
Display the Ethernet port states
Wireless site survey
Advanced Wireless client list display, including automated refresh
Redesigned layout of the various System Log sections
Editable entries (on some pages)
User-provided SSL certificate


Some features first debuted in Asuswrt-Merlin have since been integrated/enabled in the official firmware:

HTTPS configuration interface
Persistent JFFS partition
LED control - put your router in Stealth Mode by turning off all LEDs
Turning WPS button into a radio on/off toggle
Clicking on the MAC address of an unidentified client will do a lookup in the OUI database.
WakeOnLan web interface (with pre-configured targets)
Display active/tracked network connections
VPN Status page
DualWAN and Repeater mode (while it was still under development by Asus)
Basic OpenVPN (client and server) support
Configurable IPv6 firewall
Improved compatibility with 3TB+ and Advanced Format HDDs
SSH access

Edited by j0hn83 (Thu 08-Aug-19 14:47:46)

I'm on my third Asus RT router, and they've all run Merlin. One feature I particularly like is if you add a USB stick to one of the ports (I use the USB 2 port) you can get it to log usage to the stick.

The stock firmware records usage, but forgets the information if there is a reboot/power cut, so Merlin added the ability to store it to the USB and it reloads if it reboots. So you get an idea of usage over time.

Just one of many small tweaks that makes Merlin better in my view.

Some other people have replaced the whole firmware with equivalents of Advanced Tomato, but these often lose some of the enhanced WiFi features, so I wouldn't recommend unless you are not using the built in WiFi.

Just a quick thank you. HG612 and RT-AC68U in place now with Wi-fi across the house rather than one room.

Hi I've been trying to get a HG612 3B and RT-AX68U working together on Now Broadband for the past couple of days with no joy I've followed all the directions from this thread in terms of making the password and the rest of the setting and I've still got a red light in the internet indicator on the ASUS router.

I have an ethernet connection from the HG612 to the router which goes from Lan1 to the internet connection on the router. I've unlocked the 612 and put it in bridge mode, I've updated the ASUS router to merlin and filled in the details on option 61 with random stuff but still no joy, I even tried the wireshark finding out the username and password but that failed and came up with 6 random characters instead of the username password string.

Really not sure where to go next is there anyway of testing the HG612 to see if that's working, I had it working with my last ISP I think I had the internet cable go to the HG612 and then an ethernet run from LAN1 to my old ISPs router and that worked so I assume it's not the problem

Sorry for the Necro thread but this seems to be the only useful thread on the internet where someone had success..

If you have unlocked the HG612 then log on to it run "sh" to get a shell and then "xdslcmd info" If is showing you are connected then there is not a problem with the HG612. This is what mine is showing right now. Basically as long as the status is "Showtime" you are good to go. I appear to have lost some download speed recently

# xdslcmd info
xdslcmd: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Retrain Reason: 0
Last initialization procedure status: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 24552 Kbps, Downstream rate = 72992 Kbps
Bearer: 0, Upstream rate = 20000 Kbps, Downstream rate = 75758 Kbps
Bearer: 1, Upstream rate = 0 Kbps, Downstream rate = 0 Kbps