Sorry, this offer has expired. Set up a deal alert and get notified of future deals like this. Add a Deal Alert

Expired Hot Deals

Sorry, this offer has expired.
Set up a deal alert and get notified of future deals like this.
Set up a Deal Alert

Asus RT-N66U Refurbished @ $89.95, HOT?

  • Last Updated:
  • Sep 16th, 2013 7:55 pm
Tags:
None
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 7, 2007
1337 posts
935 upvotes
Portage la Prairie
Dumb question, is Tomato only for people who need better performance, or is it good for even dummies? Just wondering if the N66U works fine with the stock program for your everyday Joe.
Thanks
Deal Fanatic
Dec 6, 2006
5805 posts
1972 upvotes
Toronto
steen wrote: RT-N56U for $50 is a decent deal. A lot of the same features as the RT-N66U and benchmarks well except it has internal antennas and a different chipset. No DD-WRT/Tomato/Asuswrt but there is Padavan firmware available: http://code.google.com/p/rt-n56u/

http://www.nmicrovip.ca/asus-ultra-thin ... furbished/
minirx7 wrote: I really wish i didnt buy my N56U. I bought it for the USB3.0 but its really buggy. There is a design flaw where it will interfere with the wifi if you use usb3.0 on the router.
How's the N56U compare to N66U in signal power without the antennas? I'm living in a pretty congested apartment building so that's an issue. Tho having 5 GHz band will certainly solve (at least partial) that problem since most ppl are still on 2.4.
Sr. Member
Mar 1, 2006
756 posts
166 upvotes
Toronto
boyohboy wrote: How's the N56U compare to N66U in signal power without the antennas? I'm living in a pretty congested apartment building so that's an issue. Tho having 5 GHz band will certainly solve (at least partial) that problem since most ppl are still on 2.4.
http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/asus-rt ... 985-2.html

N56U has 5 internal antennas compared to N66U's 3 external. Apples to apples 300Mbps - slight edge in range to N66U on 5GHz but throughput slightly lower, N56U outperforms in range and throughput on 2.4GHz. Obviously with 450Mbps the N66U is the clear winner.
Member
User avatar
Nov 11, 2005
471 posts
33 upvotes
Langley, BC
Where is a decent place to get one of these new at a good price? I wanna have a good return policy in case it doesn't improve on my hit-and-miss multiple Airport Extreme network...
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 7, 2007
1337 posts
935 upvotes
Portage la Prairie
harpoon wrote: Where is a decent place to get one of these new at a good price? I wanna have a good return policy in case it doesn't improve on my hit-and-miss multiple Airport Extreme network...
Me too, my airport express works intermittently, it's pissing me off.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 13, 2010
1999 posts
416 upvotes
Ottawa
I would suggest using Merlin firmware instead of Tomato or dd-WRT if you don't specifically need the later two. It gives you the best of both worlds (stock and aftermarket) when it comes to firmware and you don't get lost in the settings.
kwk1 wrote: Dumb question, is Tomato only for people who need better performance, or is it good for even dummies? Just wondering if the N66U works fine with the stock program for your everyday Joe.
Thanks
.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
kwk1 wrote: Dumb question, is Tomato only for people who need better performance, or is it good for even dummies? Just wondering if the N66U works fine with the stock program for your everyday Joe.
Thanks
3rd party FW does not always improve performance, it is mainly for more control, extra features, and to be able to see more of how it's working (like adding switches and gauges to a car).

In fact, some tests show stock has the best performance. Really, the differences are minimal.

I installed Merlin because I needed to input a VPN client. He also takes stock, eliminates bugs and adds features.
The stock N66 has 'openVPN' but no where to input a VPN client

Stock FW is perfectly fine for most people.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
Lumber-jack wrote: I would suggest using Merlin firmware instead of Tomato or dd-WRT if you don't specifically need the later two. It gives you the best of both worlds (stock and aftermarket) when it comes to firmware and you don't get lost in the settings.
+1, the N66 community probably uses stock>Merlin>Tomato>DDWRT

Smallnetbuilder is a great site for routers, has a forum dedicated to Asus routers, and is Merlin's main audience/community 2.0 outside his own site.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
FYI

As per Merlin:

[QUOTE]The NTFS driver Asus uses has trouble with larger drives. Go with ext3 if you are going to use either a 3 TB HDD, or one with 4 KB sectors.[/QUOTE]

...should you have headaches (and you likely will) with larger drives that sleep and hang. Use Easus Partion Master, free.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 7, 2007
1337 posts
935 upvotes
Portage la Prairie
Thank you for the excellent replies Lumber-jack and AncasterRFD. Sounds like stock will be perfect for me.
Deal Addict
May 26, 2011
1804 posts
476 upvotes
Vancouver
Does anyone here use either Merlin or stock firmware with VoIP? If so, how does it work for you? Do you ever have to reboot your router or your VoIP equipment?
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
PianoGuy wrote: Does anyone here use either Merlin or stock firmware with VoIP? If so, how does it work for you? Do you ever have to reboot your router or your VoIP equipment?
Flawless with ooma, I rebooted the ooma box once after a power outage unrelated to the router.

Maybe this will help you or others setting up QoS:

[IMG]http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7665/u9sk.png[/IMG]
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 13, 2010
1999 posts
416 upvotes
Ottawa
FYI I think (not sure) but I can't use my Magic jack with my router that is running openVPN. As soon as I plugged it into the normal router it was fine. I didn't spend anymore time on it as I have too many other things on the go I am trying to figure out.
PianoGuy wrote: Does anyone here use either Merlin or stock firmware with VoIP? If so, how does it work for you? Do you ever have to reboot your router or your VoIP equipment?
.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 13, 2010
1999 posts
416 upvotes
Ottawa
Honestly, the stock ASUS firmware is awesome compared to other routers I have used. The only reason why I changed was I needed to run openVPN. When I switched to dd-WRT I noticed it doesn't support a "guest" SSID and it had allot of features that I didn't know what to do with. The Merlin firmware tweaks it slightly and even uses the same interface so it is very friendly to stock users. Note: some people don't flash their routers with dd-WRT or Tomato because they need to - then simply do it because they can...
kwk1 wrote: Thank you for the excellent replies Lumber-jack and AncasterRFD. Sounds like stock will be perfect for me.
.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 13, 2010
1999 posts
416 upvotes
Ottawa
Makes me feel a little better about my purchase

Refurbished items are products that were returned to the manufacturer and cannot be sold as new. These products have been restored by the manufacturer to original specification and repackaged, following inspection. These items are NOT used and they are NOT returning from a lease.

Items qualify as refurbished if they meet any of the following criteria:

Customer Return
Shipping Damage
Cosmetic Damage
Demonstration Units
Defect During Production
Open Box
Overstock Items

http://www.nmicrovip.ca/refurbished-what-is-it/
Evdawg wrote: Any idea if this is refurbished by ASUS or by the retailer?
.
Deal Addict
May 12, 2010
2829 posts
1032 upvotes
Vaughan
AncasterRFD wrote: Flawless with ooma, I rebooted the ooma box once after a power outage unrelated to the router.

Maybe this will help you or others setting up QoS:

[IMG]http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7665/u9sk.png[/IMG]
Who is your internet provider and what are your speeds? I could never get QOS to run properly on my N66U, mainly b/c i still don't really know what i'm doing or how to do it correctly so i just leave it off. If a phone call comes in, I make sure file transfers are off. I'm with distributel 28/0.5.

TY
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
d_source wrote: Who is your internet provider and what are your speeds? I could never get QOS to run properly on my N66U, mainly b/c i still don't really know what i'm doing or how to do it correctly so i just leave it off. If a phone call comes in, I make sure file transfers are off. I'm with distributel 28/0.5.

TY
START cable because I'm in Cogeco land (I don't have a >5M option for dsl).

Ooma recommends at least an up speed of 1 I think and I see you're 0.5. Not sure what is required of your VoIP device.

Check your true speed by using testmynet (not speedtest.net).

You're weakest link is your upload limit of 0.5

The settings you see are all default options in the N66's picklists. The only settings in QoS that I specifically input were my true upload/download entries and my priority entry 'Oooma' and its MAC address.

Hope that helps.
Deal Addict
May 12, 2010
2829 posts
1032 upvotes
Vaughan
I'm with voip.ms for my phone using an Obi110 as my adapter. I don't believe there is a lower upload limit and I've been using it for the past 9 months and if the computer isn't transferring files, it's always worked pretty well. The hardest part to figure out for me is the up/down speeds to enter. I keep getting it wrong and it cripples the network. I'll try what you've listed above. Thanks a bunch!
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2012
15662 posts
10440 upvotes
Southern Ontario
You mean Distributel doesn't offer a 'higher' upload limit, right?

If you want to be sure about settings, ask about "Obi110 + VoIP.ms + QoS" in the N66U section on smallnetbuilder.

For the time being, have you tried manually limiting upload bandwidth in your client to 1kB/s? (unless you belong to a private group requiring high ratios)
It's really upload limits that choke voip.

Top