Asus RT-AC68U Wireless AC1900 still being sold 7 years later?

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:07 pm

I bought the Asus RT-AC68U Wireless AC1900 router at least 7 years ago and I notice when looking for a new router that it's still being sold and with decent reviews. Is the router actually that good by today's standards or is there something that I should look for instead? https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00FB45SI4?th=1

My parents need a new router. During Covid they are using 2 PCs to do their work (1 is wired into the router, the other is wireless). They use a Chromecast to stream a bit of Netflix and other than that the odd tablet or cell phone accessing the the wifi and that's about it. They are in a bungalow, getting good range/signal isn't an issue.

I also find it a bit interesting that a router this old has some AIMesh features where you can buy a few of these routers and run them in some kind of mesh system.

My personal experience with the router is this...
1. It's been a pretty stable router, I rarely have to reboot it (one exception see next point).
2. One of the main things I would say about the router is that using VPN and downloading torrent files can overload the router fairly easily. I've have to step back on some firmware updates because of things like this (I found one that was a bit more stable and haven't experimented in years). Overall, I found this router to be more for people that like to tinker and tweak as opposed to just have something that's ready to go. I'm not into tinkering/tweaking anymore really, just want a stable router.

Curious if anyone has any thoughts on if buying this router at this time is still good or if there's much better choices out there (assuming target market here is pretty middle of the road in requirements).

Post by **Philip** » Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:51 pm

They're still great routers.. And as you know AiMesh compatible. I moved up from the RT-AC68U to RT-86U, not much difference, just a bit newer chipset, more processing power.

If I was buying one today, I'd look for a Wifi-6 router probably, something that supports 802.11ax. Maybe even WiFi-6E (6GHz) support for future-proofing. Granted, this is likely not necessary for your parents' needs, just putting it out there in case you want to upgrade your own router.

Maybe something like ASUS AX1800 (RT-AX55, RT-AX56U) or ASUS RT-AX3000

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:45 pm

Thanks Philip. I agree for myself I'm certainly holding out for 6E (and at an affordable price) if my router holds up for that long.

I'll have a look at the RT-AX55, RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U...I've read a few reviews (of course many of them contradict each other a bit). If anyone has last minute thoughts happy to hear them.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:27 am

You have your balance of...
*Budget
*Future proofing
*What hardware do you have now, what hardware will you have in a few years. If you'll still be using hardware that only supports 2x2 MIMO, there is less drive to go get a 4x4 router...since your 2x2 clients can't do more than 2x2.
*New routers with wifi6...when will you get wifi6 clients

Also, check out a good 3rd party firmware called ASUS Merlin...I ran that on my RT-AC87U
https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

They don't drastically change the firmware, just some nice stability added and minor features.

techy · Post by **techy** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:42 pm

Now I use Asus RT-AX55: excellent performance, affordable, fast speeds, perfect Wi-Fi 6 coverage...

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:38 pm

I just got rid of my RT66U and upgraded to the Zen wifi 6600 router. So far I like it and it covers the entire house with just 1 node. Still tweaking it but so far so good!

Post by **Philip** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:32 am

How is the setup/administration on the Zen, is it similar to the RT66U? I know they have an app, but does it still have the full web admin interface?

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:56 am

Philip wrote:How is the setup/administration on the Zen, is it similar to the RT66U? I know they have an app, but does it still have the full web admin interface?

It does have the same setup page as a normal router. I just installed it a couple days ago. Trying to get it tweaked but so far I am getting a lot higher speeds then I did with the RT66U.
I was trying to decide between this and a Dream Machine SE but I decided to go this route.
I'm still working out the bugs to get open VPN working on it for remote access to my network. I'm running Verizon fios gigabyte connection but I have to keep the Verizon modem/router for the Tv menus and VOD etc.