Sprint Home Wifi Router [Wi-Fi Connect][Asus AC66u]

[Joey SR]

If you own the router already. I highly suggest asuswrt merlin firmware

 

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[red_dog007]

If you own the router already. I highly suggest asuswrt merlin firmware

I was thinking of trying some of the open source stuff, not just Merlin.  However, I only use these as APs.  Im trying to figure out what goodies these things get with the open source.  Does Merlin have anything extra when in AP mode only, even if it is just repoting/logs?

[travismheim]

I've been having to reboot this router about once a week because WiFi craps out and all my devices stop authenticating. It's still broadcasting, but nothing connects. Has anyone else been running into this or know a fix? Between that and the stock firmware hard limiting my internet speed to ~90Mbps I may just send this thing back. I had high hopes for this router and WiFi calling at home but neither seem to work very well for me.

 

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[lilotimz]

I've been having to reboot this router about once a week because WiFi craps out and all my devices stop authenticating. It's still broadcasting, but nothing connects. Has anyone else been running into this or know a fix? Between that and the stock firmware hard limiting my internet speed to ~90Mbps I may just send this thing back. I had high hopes for this router and WiFi calling at home but neither seem to work very well for me.

 

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Tapatalk

You pretty much own it by now.

 

Follow the steps for changing it to stock asus firmware and the flash asus merlin onto it.

 

Set it to auto reboot late at night every few days.

 

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[greenbastard]

I've been having to reboot this router about once a week because WiFi craps out and all my devices stop authenticating. It's still broadcasting, but nothing connects. Has anyone else been running into this or know a fix? Between that and the stock firmware hard limiting my internet speed to ~90Mbps I may just send this thing back. I had high hopes for this router and WiFi calling at home but neither seem to work very well for me.

 

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Tapatalk

Get it replaced. I've had my original one replaced by Sprint when it stopped working.

[xdfgf]

I've been having to reboot this router about once a week because WiFi craps out and all my devices stop authenticating. It's still broadcasting, but nothing connects. Has anyone else been running into this or know a fix? Between that and the stock firmware hard limiting my internet speed to ~90Mbps I may just send this thing back. I had high hopes for this router and WiFi calling at home but neither seem to work very well for me.

 

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Tapatalk

Mine has become very flaky recently. The instructions I found on small net builder look a little intimidating, but not overwhelming. Is there any easier method that doesn't involve hex editors?

[red_dog007]

Not that I know of. The instructions are great. I spent 15 minutes on it half a sleep when I did mine.

[Dkoellerwx]

Not that I know of. The instructions are great. I spent 15 minutes on it half a sleep when I did mine.

 

Can you point me in the right direction for this?

 

 

On related note, does anyone have any experience connecting a Google Home through this router? I have tried everything I can think of to get my Google Home to connect and it won't work. I can see the WiFi just fine, appears to connect but once the setup is complete, google is "unable to find your device on this network." I have followed all of the trouble shooting advice and even spent nearly an hour on the phone with Google support and cannot get it to work.

[xdfgf]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/how-to-sprint-ac-rt66u-to-stock-asus-firmware.25261/

[mrrogers1]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/how-to-sprint-ac-rt66u-to-stock-asus-firmware.25261/

 

In this response to Dkoellerwx, it's for swapping the firmware but do you know if switching will allow the Google Home?   

 

Thanks for the link out regardless. 

[mc_gusto]

Will these routers be updated cause of the new WPA bug?

[ingenium]

Will these routers be updated cause of the new WPA bug?

Doubtful. I think Sprint has basically written them off at this point. Clients being updated is more important than the AP, at least in a typical home use case.

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[mrrogers1]

Well I guess this is the point where we finally switch to the Asus firmware.... 

[red_dog007]

Any word if Sprint might be getting say the newer AC66U_B1?

[ingenium]

My guess is Sprint is done with it. They have the magic box + calling plus, and the new Airave provides wifi as well as CDMA and LTE. No sense in giving out the router anymore when they can just give out the Airave 3 instead. I think the router was a stop gap for not having an eCSFB capable Airave.

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[burnout8488]

19 hours ago, ingenium said:

My guess is Sprint is done with it. They have the magic box + calling plus, and the new Airave provides wifi as well as CDMA and LTE. No sense in giving out the router anymore when they can just give out the Airave 3 instead. I think the router was a stop gap for not having an eCSFB capable Airave.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, seems like it's at the end of the line for firmware updates as well.

I just ordered one of these for my friend last weekend, so they're definitely still offering it, though.

[burnout8488]

My region recently got a boost in internet speed from 60Mbps to 100Mbps.

We have one of these routers running the stock firmware at my in-law's house. The most it will do over wired LAN and wireless is 70-80Mbps.

If I plug their PC directly into the modem it gets 112Mbps.

Bad router or inherent with Sprint's firmware on these? Can anyone test on a 100Mbps+ connection?

[Dkoellerwx]

15 minutes ago, burnout8488 said:

My region recently got a boost in internet speed from 60Mbps to 100Mbps.

We have one of these routers running the stock firmware at my in-law's house. The most it will do over wired LAN and wireless is 70-80Mbps.

If I plug their PC directly into the modem it gets 112Mbps.

Bad router or inherent with Sprint's firmware on these? Can anyone test on a 100Mbps+ connection?

I get 90-95Mbps on an AC connection with a 100Mbps account. Wired into the modem usually gets similar results.

[burnout8488]

On 12/27/2017 at 9:50 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

I get 90-95Mbps on an AC connection with a 100Mbps account. Wired into the modem usually gets similar results.

Thanks. Might reset it and go from there, hopefully a replacement isn't necessary!

[lilotimz]

32 minutes ago, burnout8488 said:

Thanks. Might reset it and go from there, hopefully a replacement isn't necessary!

Get rid of the old non updated firmware and load up the standard Asus or Asus Merlin.

[burnout8488]

11 hours ago, lilotimz said:

Get rid of the old non updated firmware and load up the standard Asus or Asus Merlin.

I did that briefly, but having two SSIDs was kind of clunky and pointless in a house of non-tech people. The Sprint firmware does band switching on its own which is very nice. I never understood having two SSIDs for 2.4 and 5Ghz... (Coming from an Apple Airport Extreme user)

[ingenium]

I did that briefly, but having two SSIDs was kind of clunky and pointless in a house of non-tech people. The Sprint firmware does band switching on its own which is very nice. I never understood having two SSIDs for 2.4 and 5Ghz... (Coming from an Apple Airport Extreme user)

You can just set them the same and let devices decide which to use. I do that for my guest network.

The reason it's often done is that many devices will pick 2.4 GHz over 5 GHz, or when they get out of 5 GHz range they don't switch back when they come back in range. It's the only way to force 5 GHz to be used. For my personal network I invert the network name, so for example I have "SSID" for 5 GHz And "SSID-2.4" for 2.4 GHz.

Better APs like Ubiquiti can try to make clients use 5 GHz (basically disconnect them and hope they reconnect to 5 GHz), but the band selection is completely under the control of the client device.

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[dedub]

On 12/27/2017 at 8:34 PM, burnout8488 said:

Bad router or inherent with Sprint's firmware on these? Can anyone test on a 100Mbps+ connection?

 

I have this router from sprint, using merlin firmware, I get ~125mbs over wifi to ipad mini and gbit ethernet to pc with charter.

That said, the router is in the garage and I have an additional access point inside house (same ssid, connected over gbit network) so most likely connecting via AP/gbit.

But the router itself, is definately capable of 125+meg, when using current merlin firmware.

 

[dedub]

1 hour ago, burnout8488 said:

I never understood having two SSIDs for 2.4 and 5Ghz... (Coming from an Apple Airport Extreme user)

 

Like ingenium mentioned, using separately named ssid is to give better control over which bands are used and make it dead simple to identify which band is being used.

To make it real easy for guests and non-techs, instead of naming ssd with ghz or band (ie 2.4/g or 5/n/ac), label them fast and slow.

Then people will understand why their internet is slow, if they are connected to the 'slow' wifi, and try to connect to the 'fast' one if possible.

[burnout8488]

6 hours ago, dedub said:

 

Like ingenium mentioned, using separately named ssid is to give better control over which bands are used and make it dead simple to identify which band is being used.

To make it real easy for guests and non-techs, instead of naming ssd with ghz or band (ie 2.4/g or 5/n/ac), label them fast and slow.

Then people will understand why their internet is slow, if they are connected to the 'slow' wifi, and try to connect to the 'fast' one if possible.

Not a bad plan, and I see how they can be used to enable band roaming, but I don't think anyone there is interested in knowing which band is being used. A single SSID and a router that auto-switches back and forth would be ideal. The Sprint one seems to do that fine, it's just the speeds are gimped on mine for some reason.