Asus Router Merlin Firmware

[Zak33]

Hi all

OK, Asus Router in place and working (RT-AC66U)

Now... what's all this about Merlin Firmware?

Why is is better, what does it do better?

[peterb]

According to the official website https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca

it fixes and tweaks a few things that Asus haven't done.

Which is good, but if yu are buying a product, you shouldn't have to do that - it should be fit for purpose as is! (IMO)

That said, it does have some additional features that might be useful

https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/features

such as the samba server - but I wonder what the performance will be like - if you are doing serious file shareing, you should probably be using a separate server anyway.

[Zak33]

its for home use.

I set it up easily enough, lovely menu's and easy to navigate.

But.... the wifi strength to my TV isn't good enough to view 4k on Youtube..., with the router in identical position to the two previous Drayteks. On both previous Drayteks, the 4k material never failed.

the only difference is that the Drayteks were fitted under my PC desk, upside down... and the Asus has no holes in the underside to do that.

Could it be that simple?

[peterb]

Could be just that - can you support the router under your desk on a temporary basis? (G clamp, bluetack or similar?)

OTOH, it could be different hardware and the Asus dosen't deliver the same performance. Only way is to try it.

Then you could try the Merlin firmware, provided you can reflash to the original so you can RMA it if it doesnt meet your requirements.

[jimborae]

its for home use.

I set it up easily enough, lovely menu's and easy to navigate.

But.... the wifi strength to my TV isn't good enough to view 4k on Youtube..., with the router in identical position to the two previous Drayteks. On both previous Drayteks, the 4k material never failed.

the only difference is that the Drayteks were fitted under my PC desk, upside down... and the Asus has no holes in the underside to do that.

Could it be that simple?

My old RT-AC66u could be wall mounted as that's how I mounted it, they must have changed the design, which is disappointing.

[DanceswithUnix]

Perhaps the Draytec used a different wifi channel number? If the new router has to go through the thickness of a wooden table then that might be a problem.

Time to get the phone out and wander around with WiFi Analyzer and see what the signal strengths look like with the router in different places I think.

[Zak33]

I used the phone wifi scanner... and stood next to the TV I get way over 40mb/s

And the Asus Router software shows that the TV is connected at over 70mb/s!

But.. none of this changes the fact that the TV won't play 4k Youtube material without pausing and loading constantly.. but the Draytek I used until yesterday would do it perfectly.

This does imply a difference in the type of Wifi connectivity.

The TV ( a Hitachi 4k) has a speed test but I din't trust it at all. However, the speed test was over FAR faster when I DISABLED 5GHz on the router, even though I'd connected the TV tgo the 2.4GHz signal

V v odd

[Zak33]

Perhaps the Draytec used a different wifi channel number? If the new router has to go through the thickness of a wooden table then that might be a problem.

it's under the table, which is upstairs... it's still under it.. just not upside down. To be fair I had a fair old wagle about with the aerial angles, and it made no noticable difference.

Wifi channel number.. on both routers I have them set to Auto choose channel, which I think is best as the neighbours routers will also swap channels regularly. Sticking to one in particular in my experience hasn't helped.

Was wondering in the Firmware might improve the situation.

[GoNz0]

Try the John fork of Merlin https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fo...s-v27e5.18914/
I think you can fiddle with higher power levels.

*edit, I opted for something a little more extreme and edited the CFE to my region (UK) instead of EU and overclocked it at the same time for better bandwidth.

[Zak33]

I've made improvements

I've turned OFF Beam Forming (both versions) and slid the TX power adjustment down from PERFORMANCE to GOOD.

Everything is now faster around the entire house.

The TV still wont stream 4k though. if I keep this router (still in the balance) I'll need to use a Homeplug to bring Cat5 to it

[Wolfclaw]

I use Melrin's firmware on my A87u primary router and AC66 as a media bridge. It tweaks, fixes and adds features to the original firmware from Asus with their blessing.

I normally keep a revision behind the "stable" release, just to ensure all the bugs are ironed out, most common is wifi performance between releases.

[pp05]

Cat5/6 is your best bet especially for 4k.