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
Staples

ASUS RT-N66U Router $134.93

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 7th, 2015 8:59 pm
Tags:
Member
Sep 11, 2007
327 posts
91 upvotes
Windsor
marcsterr wrote: I bought this router at Staples on February 25, 2015 and it was $119.93 at the time.

There was a previous thread for the sale in the Hot Deals section.

Furthermore, they let you apply a $20.00 coupon bringing the price to $99.93.
I PM'd this router with Best Buy at the time and got if for $118.35. The timing was perfect as I had a $50 gift certificate to drop the total to $68.35 OOP for me! Looks like Staples is having sales on routers lately. I'm running Merlin Firmware and is a great upgrade from the crappy 2701-HG offered by Bell.
Deal Addict
Dec 30, 2008
4059 posts
812 upvotes
Windsor
Smart86 wrote: I had more problems with the Merlin firmware than the latest version from Asus
What problems did you have? I'm wondering if I should go back to stock....
Deal Addict
May 6, 2009
1286 posts
305 upvotes
Ottawa
Been running Tomato (shibby) on mine for well over a year (updating as they're released) with absolutely no issues. No problem with hundreds of connections, high throughput over Gbe and wifi. Love the router, have always loved Tomato.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Aug 27, 2014
8474 posts
4467 upvotes
Canuckland
Bootlegeus wrote: Excuse my ignorance but why pay >$50 for a router? I have like a $30 one which I do admit has had problems in the past but none were major. It seems to do the job fine for the majority of the time, what network upgrades do more expensive routers provide?
If you have no technical knowledge there is no point.

NAT, DNS, WLAN, ACLS, dual frequency, custom firmware, etc ...
Deal Addict
Apr 24, 2003
3174 posts
1083 upvotes
Toronto
molebdynum wrote: I PM'd this router with Best Buy at the time and got if for $118.35. The timing was perfect as I had a $50 gift certificate to drop the total to $68.35 OOP for me! Looks like Staples is having sales on routers lately. I'm running Merlin Firmware and is a great upgrade from the crappy 2701-HG offered by Bell.
Sweet deal.

I had the ghetto Rogers modem/router combo before. Even though I live in a condo, the reception is significantly better as I'm able to connect even in my hallway.

Everyone is raving about Merlin, however I read about the features, and I don't know how much value it would add, as I have zero idea what they're talking about in the feature list :(
Deal Expert
User avatar
Oct 13, 2002
19368 posts
1071 upvotes
I like the construction of these 66u-series. External antenna, large heatsink, large flash and RAM space, powerful CPU ..... Pretty impressed so far ...
Deal Addict
Mar 29, 2010
1637 posts
270 upvotes
My third Asus router. All has Tomato firmware and all are running without an issue for a few years now. I have high expectations of my routers, and these all survived my regular hacks and tweaks and I don't think I will be buying any non Asus routers for the next little while, unless I come across some enterprise spec'ed one at a bargain, just to see how it might compare to the Asus.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Apr 9, 2006
10596 posts
15787 upvotes
GT-EH
formicae wrote: Been running Tomato (shibby) on mine for well over a year (updating as they're released) with absolutely no issues. No problem with hundreds of connections, high throughput over Gbe and wifi. Love the router, have always loved Tomato.
+1 for Shibby's AIO 64k version...

I haven't made the switch to the recent newer one (v128) due to the introduction of mySQL server which puts the image just over 20mb!
IMO, any major new stuff added usually introduces a new set of bugs/problems.

Running solid on v124 for now and will upgrade once the mySQL edition gets more stable.
Deal Addict
Jan 5, 2004
1584 posts
113 upvotes
Bootlegeus wrote: Excuse my ignorance but why pay >$50 for a router? I have like a $30 one which I do admit has had problems in the past but none were major. It seems to do the job fine for the majority of the time, what network upgrades do more expensive routers provide?
A less expensive router will bottleneck your broadband connection. I experienced a huge speed boost by upgrading from a wndr3700 to r7000. So I was paying for 50mbps while really getting 30mbps.
Deal Addict
May 6, 2009
1286 posts
305 upvotes
Ottawa
GiOBoY wrote: I haven't made the switch to the recent newer one (v128) due to the introduction of mySQL server which puts the image just over 20mb!
IMO, any major new stuff added usually introduces a new set of bugs/problems.

Running solid on v124 for now and will upgrade once the mySQL edition gets more stable.
I've been on v128 for a little over 24 hours and it's been stable so far. Not a very big sample (uptime before updating sat at 93 days, and that was only because I was a bonehead and unplugged the wrong plug from my UPS), but promising. I was a bit nervous when I saw the image size too, but memory and CPU usage seem to be about the same as before.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 27, 2004
18704 posts
5739 upvotes
formicae wrote: Been running Tomato (shibby) on mine for well over a year (updating as they're released) with absolutely no issues. No problem with hundreds of connections, high throughput over Gbe and wifi. Love the router, have always loved Tomato.
Error2 wrote: My third Asus router. All has Tomato firmware and all are running without an issue for a few years now. I have high expectations of my routers, and these all survived my regular hacks and tweaks and I don't think I will be buying any non Asus routers for the next little while, unless I come across some enterprise spec'ed one at a bargain, just to see how it might compare to the Asus.
which version of shibby?
2007 - Ipod Video (TD), Ipod Shuffle (GM)
2006 - Ipod Nano (TD)
2005 - Ipod Shuffle (TD)
Deal Addict
May 6, 2009
1286 posts
305 upvotes
Ottawa
kiasu wrote: which version of shibby?
I was just coming back to ask GiOBoY which version he ran. :)

I use the KT26-AC builds (just make sure to select the N66 versions, obviously).
Deal Guru
User avatar
Apr 9, 2006
10596 posts
15787 upvotes
GT-EH
formicae wrote: I was just coming back to ask GiOBoY which version he ran. :)

I use the KT26-AC builds (just make sure to select the N66 versions, obviously).
Interesting, using an AC build on this N router?... does it enable wireless AC to work on this?
Deal Addict
May 6, 2009
1286 posts
305 upvotes
Ottawa
Nope, but shibby maintains two N66 forks, I figure I'll use the more 'expensive' one.

I honestly have no idea why he does, or what the difference is. It's just what I flashed first, and have stuck with them since.

Edit: Different SDK apparently. The N build may have better range (not an issue for me), while the AC build may offer better performance/stability. I reckon they're probably equivalent in real use though.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Apr 9, 2006
10596 posts
15787 upvotes
GT-EH
formicae wrote: Nope, but shibby maintains two N66 forks, I figure I'll use the more 'expensive' one.

I honestly have no idea why he does, or what the difference is. It's just what I flashed first, and have stuck with them since.

Edit: Different SDK apparently. The N build may have better range (not an issue for me), while the AC build may offer better performance/stability. I reckon they're probably equivalent in real use though.
Quick google found the answer:

N-branch (SDK 5) or the AC-branch (SDK 6)

SDK6 = uses a newer Broadcom SDK, with wireless driver 6.xx
SDK5 = uses a older Broadcom SDK, with wireless driver 5.100

The SDK6 version of firmware was originally aimed at the RT-AC66U, and then Asus tried to apply it to the RT-N66U so that they'd have less varieties of firmware to support. While the SDK6 firmware is functional with the RT-N66U, the wireless range and throughput is lower using it. My understanding is that Asus is aware of this and is working on it, but until they get this corrected, using the SDK5-based firmware is better for the wireless on the RT-N66U.

SDK5 firmwares are really the best for the RT-N66U at least that's my experience. It has been proven in Asuswrt-Merlin's forum that the SDK5 build for RT-N66U have a higher throughput than the SDK6.
Quote:

RMerlin:

The RT-N66U was initially designed running SDK5 (that means wireless driver version 5.xxx). The RT-AC66U was based on a newer Broadcom SDK (due to the addition of 802.11ac support for instance), and is using a driver version 6.30.xxx.

When Broadcom updated the driver from 5.100 to 5.110, they broke compatibility with a number of wireless devices. Intel devices for instance were unable to connect. When Broadcom and/or Asus tried to fix it and failed, Asus gave up and updated the RT-N66U to use the same driver (6.30) as the RT-AC66U. While this fixed all connectivity issues introduced in 5.110, it caused the RT-N66U to lose a fair amount of signal strength (nearly 10 dBm if I recall correctly), possibly because the router wasn't originally designed/tuned for that SDK.

It took a fair amount of work (it's not just one file that needs to be replaced but various kernel patches as well), but I managed to re-apply driver 5.100 on top of the latest firmware code. That is the so-called "SDK5 build". It lacks some of the HW acceleration improvements of the 6.30 code, might possibly not be as stable (since it's pretty much Frankenbuild), but it resolves the signal strength issue.

Most users will prefer to run the SDK5 build instead of SDK6 build, as so far it has proved to still be as stable as the regular build despite all the "code splicing" it required.

As for whether you need to revert back to factory default, in the case of the RT-N66U, this is needed if:

1) Coming from a much older version
2) Switching between different SDK (Asus's stock 374 is SDK6)

Concerning changes, they are always documented in the linked changelog.
__________________
Asuswrt-Merlin: Customized firmware for Asus routers
Github: github.com/RMerl - Twitter: RMerlinDev
Deal Addict
May 6, 2009
1286 posts
305 upvotes
Ottawa
I've never had any problem with signal strength or throughput, but I might flash the N build tonight just to see.

I wonder if a config file saved from the AC build would load properly on the N build. Would save me having to re-enter everything after the NVRAM wipe.
Deal Addict
Mar 29, 2010
1637 posts
270 upvotes
kiasu wrote: which version of shibby?
Shibby on an old one. On the N66U, I am using Toastman's as I need the bandwidth monitoring feature on a per device basis.

Tomato Firmware v1.28.0503 MIPSR2Toastman-RT-N K26 USB VLAN-VPN
formicae wrote: I've never had any problem with signal strength or throughput, but I might flash the N build tonight just to see.

I wonder if a config file saved from the AC build would load properly on the N build. Would save me having to re-enter everything after the NVRAM wipe.
Very risky move!

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)