does it fix 2.4ghz devices like smart home light sconstanty no working I had the RT AC66u_b1 and it was a little unstable especitally with my wifi lights and cameras then I "upgraded" to the Ac 5300 and it has been a total nightmare, this is why i am here, the AC5300 on latet offical FW absoutley sucks one minutes my lights work the next they don't the other thing I noticed is that I can not log in to the router from my browser a lot o the time it either just hangs and does nothing or says imed out or I get a blank black scren or a blank white screen this rarely if ever happened witht e ac66u_b1 do you know if it fixes this issue too my ac 66u_b1 was having issue too, usualy with updting or it would one day show no clients even thought they were working also both routers client list "jump" ao I am trying to look a the clinets and it is constantly moving or jumping around and the clinets are moing to different places on the list . these are reasons for wanting to switch and try Merlin Asus sucks so bad and both these routers have been a total headache but the 5300 especially this thing is not ene useable at all
I had the 86U AC Asus router with Merlin and it was by far the best performing single router I'd ever had, including beating UniFi Dream Machine and Dream Router. I see he supports the XT12 mesh system now too, very tempted to get that and stick Merlin on it..
I just thought I'd do a shout out and say thank you, it was your router videos that made me bite the bullet and buy a new router. What a mission setting it up (my isp didn't really have good instructions, but now that it's done, i'm liking it, I've also upgraded the software to merlin to see how that goes). Your videos are probably the most informed I've seen on the net, and I love the style. Thanks again.
Love your videos! Your explanations are very clear and succinct, and the graphical aids in your videos have a touch of humour to them whilst being equally clear and direct to the issues. Please keep on with your channel - imho you deserve many more subscribers.
Thanks so much John! You just made me so happy :-) and I appreciate it! I'm very glad you enjoyed my videos! That gives me more energy to make better videos! Thanks again :-)
One thing I think is worth of / should be mentioned is that with the ASUS-WRT firmware if you setup the VPN for your clients is that you are forced to connect all of your devices to the VPN server but wit ASUS-WRT-Merlin firmware you can actually decide which devices should go trough the VPN tunnel (encryption) and which devicese should use your normal internet connection and never connect to the VPN server.
Oh wow, I have two of these in a mesh and have been living with the 2.4 GHz radio dying for seconds to minutes at a time once or twice a day. I had no idea it was a widespread or well-known issue. I recently stuck a pfSense router in front of the WiFi mesh, but I still deal with outages several times a week. I should definitely sit down and try out Merlin once and for all and see if that clears things up. Thank you for posting this! Very useful and informative!
Hi! I was browsing for a new router and now i'm deciding between the AC68 or AC86 ... Seeing as you have the later, do you have any issues with the AC86 ?
As long as Merlin supports AI mesh I will think of swapping back to Merlin. Asus GT-AX11000 as the router and my older RT AC5300 as the node. Works fine so far with ASUSWRT.
omg, I watch your video of you loosing the 2.4ghz. On my RT-AC88U, the 2.4ghz stop working from time to time. My house has lots of 2.4ghz IoT device and it's frustrating. Then I see at 1min32 that merlin fix your 2.4ghz issues! OMG, will try this ASAP!!!!
I ended up having the AC 68u due that the 89 wasn't available at my trusted dealer. Having said that, I still didn't regret it. It's a very capable router. Now watching on this as I'm using the stock firmware and not updating it due that you've mentioned some issue with the WiFi. :D
I'm also a fan of Merlin having used it for a couple of years on my AC68U. Will be dropping it on an AX86U in a couple of days! Site survey is the reason I initially installed it since I live in an area with a lot of competition. Hoping WiFi 6 solves that. ;)
Thanks, the video did it's job for me - in my case it told me I really didn't need to install Merlin as the advantages spelled out I really don't need... thanks!
I use Merlín with my AC86u router because it makes proper use of VPN acceleration. Since this (late) model router has the hardware built in to support this cryptographic accelerator, then the CPU isn’t taxed by the VPN running on the router (because of encrypting and decrypting process). Without Merlin my internet speeds would be very slow, I think I would only get around 70 mbps speeds, with Merlin I’m getting full speeds provided by my ISP, over 200 MBPS. Between top shelf firmware running on router, good hardware, and correct VPN encryption cipher settings. Life is good again with full internet speeds. Going with Merlin is a no brainer.
I really like the style of your video, with all the paper cutouts and so on. Makes it easier to understand. As for the the content, thanks, I just got an ASUS router and was wondering whether to use Merlin or stick with stock. The SMB and FTP things might have sold me. Will do more research though. Thanks!
Thanks so much! I'm very glad you like the videos :-) SNMP on ASUSWRT-Merlin!!? That's in fact a very good suggestion, I'll keep that in mind and put that on the list for sure! Thanks :-)
You made my day mate!!!!! Kudos to you Amazing Video. I am facing a strange problem with my Asus rt-ac68u router. Whenever I connect any device with 100 Mbps interface it shows it connected on the physical port but never reflects its MAC address is listed device or the device never works. The merlin Firmware might be able to fix it for me and I shall give it a go. Even if it doesn't, I am still gonna have a look at the other features. Many Thanks! again. Good Job :-)
I have the RT-AC68U, the wifi signal drops or just stops sending packets many times throughout the day, it's even worse coming off the AIMesh router too, I have the latest Asus FW but it's still unstable, have you seen significantly better wifi connectivity with Merlin? Even through AIMesh? I may try to run a daily restart script as mentioned, I noticed it does perform better for a day or two on full restarts.
Your videos are by far the best on the topic I've found. I currently have merlin that won't reset, won't broadcast wifi AND won't allow me to connect by ethernet. Please (anyone) let me know if you have heard of any solutions to these issues. I have used the recovery utility and "successfully" uploaded some stock firmware versions as well as a few merlin firmware versions. All had a similar result and the router was working with the second newest merlin firmware before I tried updating.
I've noticed that 2.4ghz has slowed down quite a bit.. I used to get over 50 Mbps on 2.4 and now I barely get 30-35. Not sure why since I have basically the same devices connected. I have to now use 5 ghz in order to get at least 50 Mbps download. It won't matter if I stand right in front of the router, if I am at 2.4, the speed is the same. Interference is no issue for me because I live in the country and my neighbors are far away from me. I am on WRTMerlin.
Hi, ya mentioned 2.4hgz stopped working in asuswrt but worked in Merlin... I have similar problems with the 5ghz whenever theres an update...but after few reboots manually...it shows up eventually..Am using the asuswrt. Do you think switching over to the Merlin, will solve this issue?
Great Video... Looks super easy. Here are a couple of questions: 1) Does the Asus Mobile App (iOS) still work? I'm assuming yes; but want to make sure. 2) After installing Merlin, how do you keep up with updates? Does "Check for Updates" still work through the UI? --- Or would I need to check the Merlin site for updates. 3) After applying the Merlin firmware, are the settings/configuration still maintained? oooor, do I have to setup the router as if from scratch. Juuuuuust checking :)
@@wsellers awesome! Do you still recommend the Merlin over the stock? Also, I can't decide between the AC86U and the AX86U! We don't have any WiFi 6 devices, but any idea if it's still worth 2.5x the price (I'm in NZ and AC86is 200 and AX86 is 440 both used)
I really have to test them both to be able to give you my final verdict, however, looking at the ac87u specs I can see there is no support for AiMesh which is a must for me, so I guess for that very reason I'd choose AC68U! Thanks :-)
Thanks for an interesting video. Any chance to get a video on how to enable VLAN feature on Merlin? I have a need to isolate clients from a certain Ethernet port on my AC66U from the rest of the LAN (other Ethernet ports)
Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately I can't promise as there are a few projects already lined up, but definitely put that on the list and see what happens. Thanks again :-)
I've done it and for the most part I didn't have any issues especially going from asuswrt to Merlin, however if I remember correctly sometimes going back from Merlin to asuswrt I had some issues such as not being able to connect to wifi or something like that, which eventually had to to a factory reset and do it from scratch. Anyway that was my experience!
I am hoping this firmware upgrade will fix my issue I am having of the router just freezing up on me and nothing working at random. Currently having to reboot my router 3x/day
Hold on - FTP WAN enabled? Security risk? You do realize that by default the firewall blocks all externally initiated sessions? Are you saying that a hole is opened in the firewall that shouldn't be there?
These additions are nice, but they aren't the reason most people buy a WRT. Does the Merlin firmware/software actually do anything, such as increasing bandwidth or throughput, reducing traffic to relieve congestion on a channel or do anything to increase speed of transmission that stock firmware (ASUSWRT) does not do?
Any experience with Sata SSD connected to USB port of router to see any speed improvements in wireless Data transfer (as NAS)? Does Merlin Support TRIM For external SSD?
Hi Behfor, I'm not sure if you've looked at this before, but I would like to share my internet with a neighbour, but I don't know if I should use repeater mode or media bridge? Which one has the best performance? The neighbour only needs to have internet shared via their power line adaptors.
Hi, the media bridge only provides network/internet connectivity for the LAN ports, however, the repeater is a media bridge that can also rebroadcast the WiFi as well to extend the range of WiFi. If the neighbor only needs wired connection then media bridge should be enough, but if they need wireless as well, then repeater should be a better choice. Thanks.
I just upgraded to Merlin for my RT-AX58U so that I could utulize LINK Aggregation with my Synology NAS... however, there doesn't seem to have any setting for Link Aggregation (in the original firmware or in the merlin firmware).. can you tell me how you did it?
Hi Behfor! Are you familiar with RT-AC86u model? I'm trying to find the difference in the balance of processing capacity > temperature > transfer rates (functionality) between the AC68 - AC86. If you have any take on this, would be awesome. Thanks
Hi, unfortunately I don't have the AC86U, but I believe it's just a better and more powerful version of AC68U. For those who AC68U is not powerful enough, the AC86U might be a better option. Thanks.
I’ve had both. If you have gigabit internet, it’s the 86U that works best. If you’re speed crazy, or need the lowest latencies for things like games, then the 86 is best, too. For slower internet and people just surfing around and watching movies, I don’t think it matters much.
What's the best settings for your router or what ones do you use? I have beamforming off I heard it isn't very good for WiFi signal would be interested in your opinion on various settings like this to get the best out of the router.
Need your honest recommendation on asus rt-ax88u vs tp-link archer ax11000.... which one would you purchase and why? there are nuances and you can find features that one has over the others, but this seems like a difficult choice. Assume that bot are the same retail price of $299.99 USD.
Did you reflashed or did a factory restore? They are 2 different things! Restoring to factory default doesn't install the factory firmware so you need to download the factory firmware file and install It (upgrade the router using the firmware file). Good luck!
Thank you for clearing that up. I have the Asus RT AC 88U and look at many tutorials but can find the information to put on a opvpn The firmware was up to date I then added the Asuswrt-merlin and created my SSID As for the rest of the tutorials here they are similar setup pages but are not the same as the Asus88u . Perhaps I missing something but need some pointers for sure . I have the config files with the CA.ipvanish .com.crt certificate . Thank you; in advance J
Thank you for this. But how do i map my usb hardisk connected to asus router ax3000 to my chromebook? I cant seem to map it. Does it have to do with the smb 1?
Hey man, I flashed my AC1900 to AC68U original latest firmware, but after that my WiFi signal decreased a lot. Any clues if it has to be with the FW version? Does Merlin version performs better? Thanks for the answer
i have problems with 5ghz, sometimes disconnect me or stop work. But ac68u is not low cost router, i dont know, if its good to change firmware to merlin. Have merlin notification for new update? its really good or no?
How can i setup a external hard drive plugged on the USB3 and be able to see it as a easy folder on my macbookso i can drop files and see them normally with all the LAN devices in my house? Also, if is doable is it secure from the outside? What does it mean connecting via VPN? please help me
What about performance? And it is possible to increase TX transmission on merlin? I have understood that is no possible on stock firmware. I need to increase to 30dbm. Thank you.
Good afternoon, I need your help. I have an Asus rt ac5300 and gt ac5300. My current setup is the gt as main and rt as mesh, both with default asus firmware. I want to install vpn on my router, but to my knowledge, I need merlin if I want to choose which devices will use vpn once connected to router. According to my research, gt does not support merlin. What can I do and what would be your best recommendation. Thank you for your time.
@@Behfor The truth is My MCU stuff or Phone, PC want to bypass the firewall ,how should I do?Except flash the merlin firmware, should i need vpn acount to embed it to my router?
Hello there. Yes I experienced problems too in 2.4GHz and I had to put the router aside for a few months, now with the latest update it works fine. I measured the VSWR of it's antennas on 2.4GHz and it was higher than 2 which isn't good. Anyway I have also a RT-AC56U router that I flashed the Merlin software hoping that I will get the Mesh functionality. Since it wasn't the case I flashed the dd-wrt version for it and it got stuck. The power LED ia on and after a minute the back led's from each network port flash all together. Do you have any idea how I can bring it back to life? And how to get the mesh functionality on it (RT-AC56U)
I switched to Merlin after your video. I have a unique requirement and new to scripts. My ecobee keeps disconnecting from wifi after few days of use. Found somewhere if I can do a ping to that device as fixed intervals it will stay alive. Any ideas if this can be done by the router itself with merlin and how?
Hi...I need help . my asus rt-51u+ router doesn't support repeater mood . But I need that feature . Please give me a solution for it 🥺 . Is there any way or any other firmware which can help me .
Nice video man! I'm using Merlin on my ASUS RT68W. I'm wondering if you or anyone here ever had issues with LAN ports only being 10/100. Currently ports 3 and 4 are the only 1Gb ports I have. Ports 1 and 2 on same pc give me 100Mbps link speed. Ruled out issue is not my pc. I know its the router. Thanks in advance!
Thanks! I would make sure the latest firmware is installed, also the cable is not CAT5, and is CAT6. I could also set the link speed manually myself to make sure it is set to 1Gbps using Telnet or SSH.
I have a problem with stock firmware on my rt-ac88u everytime a new firmware is released by asus it seems that lan5-8 ports keep getting knocked off and lose connectivity which gets very annoying if you use those ports. Does anyone know if this issue would be solved by using merlin firmware instead?
Does the Merlin firmware have AiMesh? If so I'll install it in all my Asus AC 68u routers. Been having slow speeds lately and I'd like to get that resolved if possible.
For sometime there was no support for AiMesh in the Merlin firmware, but it is supported now. My main router has Merlin firmware and my node hast Asuswrt firmware and AiMesh works fine fir me. But I would suggest to check the ASUSWRT-Merlin website for the most current changelog and for the most updated information as these things might change. Link to the website is in the video description. Thanks!
@@Behfor Merlin actually recomends to run stock firmware on the node's because they will auto update. The main router can run merlin but you will have to manually update that one.
Piet Piraat Behfor you're both right. I only flashed Merlin on the main router and it's already telling me that I have an update. Out of curiosity I hit update on the Asus Router app on my phone and failed. Is there a way to avoid getting the OTA update on the main one?
This is from Merlin changelog website: "384.13 (31-July-2019) - NEW: AiMesh Router and node support. Note that automatic live update of Merlin-based nodes is not supported, you will have to manually update any Merlin-based nodes when a new firmware is available. Asus-based nodes (which is recommended) will be able to make use of the automatic live update." I hope that answers your question and for more updated changes I would suggest to check the Merlin website. Thanks!
@@Behfor thank you, I have two ac-68u that I converted to from T-Mobile routers that I use aimesh in home. I want to change to Merlin but concerned I will loose aimesh function.
I'm curious about putting my RT-AC3100 on Merlin, but I just set up my new AiMesh Node (RP-AC1900). Do you know if I'll run into compatibility issues involving AiMesh if I can't run Merlin on the RP-AC1900 since Merlin isn't for it? I'm sure you haven't tested this, so I would just be looking for your opinion since it was your AiMesh videos that got me in the direction that I have gone. Thanks.
Hi, as far as I know, it's even recommended to install the Merlin firmware only on the main router and use ASUSWRT on the nodes for the best AiMesh support. That's actually what I do myself but my main router and node are both RT-AC68U (one is on Merlin the other one is on ASUSWRT). I would suggest to check the Merlin firmware changelog to get the latest information regarding that, because things keep changing. Thanks.
Could someone help me lately I’ve been getting terrible 2.4 speeds I currently pay for 250mbps and only receive depending on when I test my speed anywhere from 2mpbs to 70 and my 5g runs 240-250 any suggestions? I tried playing with the channels and nothing seems to work
I need Merlin firmware for option 61, otherwise no internet for me. Switching ISP soon, to one that doesn't frown upon 3rd party hardware and try to force users to run their abysmal joke of a "router". Without the custom firmware I'd be so screwed lol
Question, does this router support ExpressVPN on Merlin? Can you install the app via the firmware update software and also have merlin running or is that something that the programmers at ExpressVPN have tweaked; and thus a firmware tweak for ExpressVPN on Merlin would need to be created...?
![5 Reasons why I prefer ASUSWRT-Merlin to ASUSWRT Firmware [RT-AC68U]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
