any known disadvantage/problems when flashed to asuswrt on this router? i think i read about weaker 5ghz signal compared to original tenda firmware. any other caveats?

This post has been edited by neuromancerx: Oct 5 2018, 12:17 PM

After back and forth testing tenda and merlin a few times, I would say Merlin wifi and overall performance more stable.

For my case, Tenda firmware wifi (both 2.4 and 5ghz) will hang or slow if using at 2nd floor. No issue for Merlin.

thanks, good to know that. just walked in to ookas to get this thing and just powered it on, don't bothered to test tenda default firmware, going to flash merlin now

You may test tenda firmware a week, then only flash to Merlin and compare.

Tenda got app can remote reboot or configure router if my family cant online. Merlin one I cant get Asus app to work yet, but so far stable and no need remote check.

ok i just flashed with 380.66_6, cleared the nvram and managed to see asuswrt page. can i directly update to latest merlin or do i need to flash some version beforehand?

Can go in merlin update page and flash to 380.70.

I flash to 378.56 beta then from router ui upgraded to 380.70.
Shouldn't be a problem from 380.66.6 to 380.70

Just remember do not poke reset button when router is powered on.

sorry, just reading this post, was busy doing performance baseline before switching to tenda
BTW, i directly jump to 384.6 from 380.66_6. im not sure what is the effect, hopefully nothing bad happen. Since i'm not using koolshare, i do not have webshell option, i think webshell is only use for configuring the nvram value (Nvram setmodel=RT-AC68U & Nvram set HW_ver=170)

Your expectations is too high for this price range.

u can use telnet too.

i have strong feeling that i'm officially bricked this router. going from 384.6 to 384.7_beta3 then downgrade to 380.69_2, after that all way back to 384.6. so frustrated that asus app unable to detect this router, i decided to clear the nvram or reset the router from the UI (not button), clicked the initialize button then after reboot SYS & LAN led no longer lit

bricked the router after 6 hours owning it

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/382-18547...itialize.42139/

i observed below things when flash to merlin (compared to my existing Huawei WS880 with Merlin):
1. Traffic Analyzer, not showing clients under statistic
2. DDNS not working, showing ddns unable to connect to internet. I'm using the same hostname on asuscomm.com --> happened in all merlin version
3. Case 1 and 2 above could be related to Asus is blocking the functionality when you turned on this feature, there is a message saying they will collect some router data including model version when you clicked agree (Administration -> Privacy). MAYBE when some parameter is difference from the expected value, ASUS classify this unit as rogue/unofficial (since some feature are using trend micro proprietary engine).
4. Performance wise, not much difference compared to WS880. The reason I bought AC18 is because it having double RAM, 256MB.
5. Most annoying, ASUS app stopped working. Hopefully someone will be able to find the workaround.
6. Entware-NG confirmed working fine.
7. Ad-Blocking from AB-Solution is working as expected.

This post has been edited by neuromancerx: Oct 5 2018, 11:56 PM

this may be the workaround for the router to be detected on ASUS App:

1. Get router base MAC address:
admin@WS880-D1B5:/tmp/home/root# ifconfig | grep HWaddr
br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr B4:30:52:38:D1:B5
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr B4:30:52:38:D1:B5
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr B4:30:52:38:D1:B5

2. Set this value to nvram:
admin@WS880-D1B5:/tmp/home/root#nvram set asus_device_list <3>RT-AC68U>192.168.1.1>B4:30:52:38:D1:B5>0>OpenWrt>255.255.255.0>1

*change the bold to your settings,
192.168.1.1 is my router ip
B4:30:52:38:D1:B5 is my router base MAC address
OpenWrt is my 2.4Ghz SSID
255.255.255.0 router subnet mask

Try on your own risk, i wish i have my ac18 now

Ah yes, I warned not to perform factory reset a earlier in this thread.

Wow, I learning to put AB solution too to block ads. For Asus router app will give it a try when I'm free. 😄

Did you manage to get your huawei WS880 connected to Asus router app?

This post has been edited by pisces1529: Oct 6 2018, 12:52 PM

Update: After set asus device list to RT-AC68U, nvram commit and reboot.

The default setting changed to RT-AC68U from TENDA, nvram show | grep asus_device_list shows it stick too.

But Asus router app still not working tho.

Update 2: After some experiment, apparently need to set the odmpid to RT-AC68U only able to use the ASUS router app.

Things I did to make it work.
1. Change TENDA to RT-AC68U in odmpid, nvram set odmpid=RT-AC68U
2. Change TENDA to RT-AC68U in asus_device_list
3. Wifi SSID can be any name.






This post has been edited by pisces1529: Oct 6 2018, 05:51 PM

Does anyone have any solution for router rebooting problem? My router somehow keeps dropping connection when I'm testing speedtest on my phone. Another issue is I can't get wireless speed beyond 200mbps even though I'm on 500, although the issue could come from my phone. I've tested "downloading" huge files with my pc using ethernet connection and I didn't have any problem really.

Wifi has limitation around 200-300mbps on 5Ghz, only wired can get full speed. You may try on other wireless device.

Are you using tenda firmware or Merlin?

im aware about that, but under impression of dont poke the physical reset button

yes, asus app worked out of the box

great findings bro

wow

Give it a try bro. With ddns can remote managed through the app too.

ok sure.