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[Refurbished] T-Mobile (AC-1900) by ASUS AC1900 Dual-Band Gigabit Router US$60.77 (~AU$78.31) Shipped @ Amazon US

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[Refurbished] T-Mobile (AC-1900) by ASUS AC1900 Dual-Band Gigabit Router US$60.77 (~AU$78.31) Shipped @ Amazon USAffiliate
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elcheapoinoz on 12/04/2018 - 11:09 amazon.com (2624 clicks)
Last edited 12/04/2018 - 11:16 by 1 other user
This post contains affiliate links. OzBargain might earn commissions when you click through and make purchases. Please see this page for more information.

It's back on.
see previous deal for some information
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/369063

blurb, same as before:
This Certified Refurbished product is tested and certified to look and work like new. The refurbishing process includes functionality testing, basic cleaning, inspection, and repackaging. The product ships with all relevant accessories, a minimum 90-day warranty, and may arrive in a generic box. Only select sellers who maintain a high performance bar may offer Certified Refurbished products on Amazon.com.
Dual-band with the latest 802.11ac 3x3 technology for combined speeds of up to 1900 Mbps
1GHz Dual-core CPU enables smart multitasking by dedicating separate lanes for Wifi and USB data
Effortless router setup with the ASUSWRT web-based interface
Monitor and manage your network with ease from your mobile device using the intuitive ASUS Router App

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Computing ASUS Wireless Router

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Amazon US
Amazon US

closed Comments

  • spriggan43 on 12/04/2018 - 11:17

    I have two from the last sale, i find them to be stable, no drop outs. I also flashed them to the normal Asus firmware.

  • ncanau on 12/04/2018 - 11:31
    +2

    As I read recently, Latest asus firmware has disabled AIMesh functionality on these T models? Could someone please confirm?
    Merlin firmware still works?

    • rdallen on 12/04/2018 - 12:02
      +7

      Yes. They not only disabled AIMesh, but reverted their router back to TM-AC1900 firmware. Many of these users are now struggling to get back to ASUS firmware, as ASUS has locked down their devices further.

      How ASUS determined that it was a TM-AC1900 has been determined, and a fix posted. So AIMesh is once again working on these devices. But this doesn't help the people who can no longer upgrade.

      You are taking a risk by purchasing one of these - ASUS could potentially do something similar again. You have to weigh up the risk - is it worth saving the money? For me, the answer is yes - I have two of these and they run really well (I run Merlin). Plus I enjoy messing about with firmware. I am also cautious about my upgrading.

      For others, I'm sure it simply isn't worth it - better to spend the extra money and not have the hassle.

      • elcheapoinoz on 12/04/2018 - 12:13
        +1

        But really, how often do people update their routers firmware?
        me? once a year if that.

        • rdallen on 12/04/2018 - 12:19
          +1

          Not sure I understand your point. You'd be happy to be reverted to a really old T-Mobile firmware in a year's time when you update?

        • elcheapoinoz on 12/04/2018 - 12:23
          +1

          @rdallen: no, my point is i just wont update, if i can't. by the way, do you know ehether Merlin does AIMesh?

          why not use merlin instead of Asus, and risk, the downgrading?

        • rdallen on 12/04/2018 - 13:06
          +1

          @elcheapoinoz: Merlin has exactly the same problem. See this comment from him about the new alpha. Here is his comment:

          One thing that I discovered last night however is that Asus has made changes to the whole RT-AC68U family in the closed-source firmware validation code, affecting more than just the TM-AC1900. Still trying to get more information, but preliminary findings indicate that if you flash the latest 384_206xx firmware from Asus (or 384.5 alpha which is based on it), you can no longer flash back to older versions (I don't know how much older is prevented however).

        • Flattop on 12/04/2018 - 13:53
          +2

          probably every month or 2 with Merlin

        • Namesareapain on 12/04/2018 - 14:38
          +1

          They should update more often than that if possible, router firmware is a haven for major security flaws.
          That along with the fact that major router vendors have borderline contempt (see what the FCC did to Asus and they are now going after Dlink for the same thing) for security (e.g the "misfortunecookie" router flaw that was because of a bug in a 12 year old!!!!! version of a software package called rompager!) is the reason I am only ever going to run routers that have open source firmware I can control like OpenWRT.

        • [Deactivated] on 13/04/2018 - 09:20
          +1

          @elcheapoinoz:

          If you don’t update, then you’ll be on a botnet before long.

          Keeping your router up to date is security 101.

  • stevem42 on 12/04/2018 - 11:44
    +1

    Ordered thanks. I just missed the last deal.

  • ridecwb on 12/04/2018 - 11:44
    +9

    Once again a good deal, I also got one from the last sale and have flashed it to stock Asus firmware.

    For reference here are the best instructions for flashing this unit.
    http://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/

    Some steps are not explained properly so this guy runs through it all step by step in greater detail.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5KcCf3IpEY

    I would also recommend downloading the video and the instructions, as you will need to change the IP address for your computer and plug your Ethernet cable into the new router. Then you can still follow the instructions whilst offline.

    • hippocrit on 12/04/2018 - 11:49

      Thanks, I just received mine yesterday

    • rdallen on 12/04/2018 - 12:17
      +2

      I would also strongly recommend you wipe MTD5 partition, as documented in this thread:

      https://www.snbforums.com/threads/aimesh-on-the-t-mobile-tm-…

      Otherwise, if you upgrade to the latest ASUS firmware, ASUS could potentially switch your router back to TM-AC1900 firmware (it has happened to some people).

      • spriggan43 on 12/04/2018 - 13:47
        +2

        so you need to do

        @Ronald Schwerer method

        cat /dev/mtd5 > original_mtd5.bin
        (then scp the mtd5 out for a back up copy)
        ln -s /sbin/rc mtd-erase
        ./mtd-erase -d asus
        (this should erase mtd5?)
        reboot

        and

        @XVortex / @rdallen commands

        rm -rf /jffs/.sys/RT-AC68U
        nvram unset fw_check && nvram commit && reboot

        from page 67 - https://www.snbforums.com/threads/aimesh-on-the-t-mobile-tm-…

        • rdallen on 12/04/2018 - 14:19
          +1

          There are a couple of different ways. But yes, that will work fine.

        • ridecwb on 12/04/2018 - 21:47

          @rdallen:
          I am successfully running the Asus firmware (FW_RT_AC68U_30043763626.trx), can I just go ahead and execute those commands? Will that allow me to upgrade the firmware or put Merlin on at a later stage?

          On a side note, I loaded the plain CFE on and didn't use the Aimesh one, can I change that as well by flashing a new CFE? Or will I need to re-flash the firmware as well?

        • rdallen on 13/04/2018 - 00:06

          @ridecwb:

          Seems you are on an old firmware. Yes, you can run those commands on your existing firmware version, then upgrade. Do not upgrade until you've run the commands.

          You also can flash a new CFE. Flash the 1.0.2.0 CFE that supports AIMesh. You can upload your existing CFE to the site specified on bayareatechpros, then choose the new one. Download that, and replace your existing. You don't need to reflash the firmware. But I'd recommend resetting the device back to factory defaults afterwards.

          I'd actually do both at the same time.

        • ridecwb on 14/04/2018 - 13:32

          @rdallen:

          Thanks for your help, I have now done all those commands, Is there a way to check that the mtd5 partition has successfully been wiped, before updating the firmware?

          It also looks like the thread above on the SNB Forums has been pulled down!

        • rdallen on 14/04/2018 - 16:44
          +1

          @ridecwb:
          You can see if it is empty with the following commands:

          mkdir /tmp/asus_jffs
          mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock5 /tmp/asus_jffs
          ls /tmp/asus_jffs

          The last command "ls", lists the files. It should return nothing, in which case the files have been successfully removed.

          Yes - the thread at SNB Forums got pulled.

        • ridecwb on 14/04/2018 - 20:48
          +1

          @rdallen:
          Thanks I am not sure it worked then, it returns a file called tmo-086266CAD5C8.tgz.
          Which I take it is a T-Mobile file?
          I will give it another go.

          EDIT: Just tried it again and it failed again.

          So I found another method at http://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/
          Right down the bottom after the end of the instructions.
          This one worked for me!

          cat /dev/mtd5 > /jffs/mtd5_backup.bin
          mkdir /tmp/asus_jffs
          mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock5 /tmp/asus_jffs
          rm -rf /tmp/asus_jffs/*
          sync && umount /tmp/asus_jffs
          rm -rf /jffs/.sys/RT-AC68U
          nvram unset fw_check && nvram commit && reboot

  • XucCac on 12/04/2018 - 12:53
    +1

    Just bought one
    Thnx

  • Master Haggler on 12/04/2018 - 12:58
    +1

    I have a TP-Link VR600 . Would this be an upgrade?

  • Mal68 on 12/04/2018 - 12:59
    +1

    Do they ever do the DSL?

  • Quotationz on 12/04/2018 - 13:26
    +1

    Coming up as $48 Us now?

    • mcnugget on 12/04/2018 - 13:37
      +1

      Plus shipping

      • Flattop on 12/04/2018 - 14:01
        +1

        Yes shipping is about $17 US, brings the price up to $81.48aud

  • timhn on 12/04/2018 - 13:57
    +1

    Wow, nice drop from US$58 I paid couple months back.

  • BargainKen on 12/04/2018 - 14:10
    +1

    Ordered some, replacing my WRT54G router - Served me well but .11G is getting alittle old and the included .11N Wifi on my optus modem is shithouse

  • Soluble on 12/04/2018 - 14:15
    +1

    Got one from the last deal, looked at flashing it to ASUS firmware but ended up leaving it as is. No complaints besides reconfiguring my devices IPs

  • calus on 12/04/2018 - 14:35
    +1

    Kept having lots of internet drop outs with the router supplied by our ISP. Bought this one and didnt even change the firmware as it fixed the drop outs and runs really stable for us.

  • carlJack on 12/04/2018 - 15:09

    Is this a big improvement over TG789 given by Myrepublic?

    • Soluble on 12/04/2018 - 16:07
      +1

      My myrepublic one died a couple of months in, didn't bother getting a replacement, bought this instead. Don't know model numbers but if it's the standard one then I'd upgrade.

  • markb28 on 12/04/2018 - 15:13
    +1

    I have this same T-mobile/ASUS router for my FTTP NBN. It came with Merlin firmware. Its better than the Telstra gateway router in every way (except 4g backup) and covers all three floors with 2.4 /5G frequencies and has a hard disk attached with my media that it shares very nicely.

    Get 95+ down /35+ up speeds everywhere in the house.

    • garylau on 12/04/2018 - 15:45

      did you just change your gateway router into bridge mode and use this as wifi router instead? i have a gateway max and i have turned off the wifi. i also has a Unifi AP pro plug in to run as an AP. not sure if I need to add another layer (AC86U) to my network.

    • sct911 on 12/04/2018 - 16:54

      do you get the 95+ everywhere in the house on both 2.4 and 5ghz ?

      • markb28 on 12/04/2018 - 23:02

        No, the 2.4 usually gets 80+ as there is a lot of other networks around. My telstra gateway is sitting gathering dust - this one does it all for FTTP.

  • renw on 12/04/2018 - 16:19

    This is good for HFC nbn right?

    • Soluble on 12/04/2018 - 16:47
      +1

      Yep

  • cucumber on 12/04/2018 - 16:42

    I bought 2 of these previously, managed to flash the original asus firmware back on them but 1 comes up with AiMesh and the other doesn't. Does anyone know what might have caused this?

  • Umar511986 on 12/04/2018 - 17:55

    I currently have a Budii Lite Modem/Router running on FTTP Exetel service via Opticomm. Would I need to connect this directly into my Huawei (Opticomm FTTP Terminal) modem and use it as a router only or would i have to link this up with the Budii Lite (with WiFi disabled) via Gigabit port?

    • aous on 13/04/2018 - 10:50
      +1

      I am on Opticomm FTTP.

      You just hook up the WAN port of this router directly to Huawei's port.
      If you are with iiNet, then IIRC everything should work out of the box, but you have to set up your wifi.

      • Umar511986 on 13/04/2018 - 10:51

        Thats great, thank you.

  • mt2000 on 12/04/2018 - 19:37
    -2

    So which Asus router this equivalent too?

    • donnot on 12/04/2018 - 19:48

      RT-AC68U.

      • mt2000 on 12/04/2018 - 19:56

        Cheers.

        So by the sound of thing I can buy this and flash the latest Asus RTAC68U firmware on it?

        • misterpotatomato on 12/04/2018 - 20:00

          Sounds like if you do that it will force you to a different firmware version. I don't really know, I just sped read the thread.

        • donnot on 12/04/2018 - 20:30

          Be very careful and do plenty of research if you decide to (issues mentioned earlier in post). If you're happy with how it performs at stock, don't risk it IMO - the 68U firmware isn't going to vastly increase performance - just gives you more configurability in the settings.

  • peuwayaqdq on 12/04/2018 - 19:55

    So the new one is US69?

  • Punkboy on 12/04/2018 - 20:07

    These refurbs are risky. I bought two and one has since lost wifi radio power after about two weeks in use. Some other ozbargainers commented same in previous posts on this deal.

    • BargainKen on 12/04/2018 - 20:50

      Why didnt you return the faulty one?

      • Punkboy on 12/04/2018 - 20:54

        It just happened and haven't had a chance. TBH I could do without the hassle in the first place.

        • BargainKen on 12/04/2018 - 21:20

          Yeah true but even new stuff can break. I dont think it being a refurb has anything to do with it.

        • netsurfer on 13/04/2018 - 09:55
          -1

          @BargainKen: Refurbished items are often repaired ones. I generally have bad experience with refurbished items. They were from branded companies even (Dell, Western Digital). My friend had his iPhone 5 warranty repair done twice by Apple (first replacement unit (obviously it is a refurbished one, while looks like new, had the battery expanded so much the back of the phone expanded) had to be replaced again).

          Wish I read the comment some people had issues with these before I purchased it.

        • BargainKen on 13/04/2018 - 13:05

          @netsurfer: My experience has been the opposite of yours it seems. I guess it depends on the repair process or the person doing the repair job perhaps.

        • netsurfer on 13/04/2018 - 13:40
          -1

          @BargainKen: Dell one was clearly poorly done (company was trying to save cost so they got me a refurbished laptop); Western Digital RMA department was just dodgy. They simply gave me a refurbished drive which would last till the remaining warranty period ends (it was a noisy drive, but because it was working, I cannot really request another one. It eventually died 3 weeks after the remaining warranty finished.

          I used to rate Apple refurbished items highly, but after my mate's incident (the replacement iPhone's battery expanded), I reckon Apple ones are not that much better. Also, if warranty resulted in refurbished unit being provided, it's not necessary a good thing in the long run.

          I'll see how it goes. I already had a chat with Amazon customer support. Support indicated they can only offer return and refund for these (not return for a replacement). While that's actually better for me, returning an item like that is a bit annoying (due to the need to send the item back overseas and Amazon USA doesn't offer a return postage label for people overseas).

  • akanub on 13/04/2018 - 09:15
    +1

    What exactly are the benefits of flashing this back to stock?

    • FuzzyWolf on 13/04/2018 - 16:11

      Maybe its more up to date/less security flaws? Bought this and planned to either use it with Merlin or DD-wrt. Probs would take time though, as i never flashed any router before. Heard you'd have to downgrade to older Asus then flash cfw.

      • fatice on 13/04/2018 - 16:28
        +1

        Downgrade to older TMobile firmware so you can enable ssh. Then use ssh to dump the bootloader for modification before you can flash to Asus firmware.

        • FuzzyWolf on 14/04/2018 - 11:34

          Just curious, what do you think of the default tmobile firmware? If its too much of a hassle, I think I might keep it as is.

        • FuzzyWolf on 14/04/2018 - 12:45

          Can't seem to edit my previous post, do you know whether the default TMobile firmware auto-updates?

  • masmith4 on 13/04/2018 - 10:20

    Hi all I really want to get this for AiMesh if I flash it back to stock firmware, is it worth the risk / hassle ?

  • fatice on 13/04/2018 - 15:17

    Note that this might be 80Mhz instead of 1Ghz. I bought mine from last deal and confirm that was 800Hz even the page stated it is 1Ghz. Amazon will not do anything about it.

    • rdallen on 13/04/2018 - 16:47

      Actually, that's just the CFE. It is set to 800MHz. If you flash to the 1.0.2.5 CFE, it clocks the processor to 1GHz.
      You can also run a command to make it 1GHz.

      • fatice on 13/04/2018 - 17:02

        I bite the bullet and put the 1.0.2.5 CFE. It is now running at 1Ghz with lower CPU temperature 59 degrees instead of 70 degrees when running at 800Mhz.

        • Punkboy on 13/04/2018 - 21:45

          How do you flash to that CFE? I've had a lot of trouble finding CFE guides.

        • fatice on 13/04/2018 - 21:53
          +1

          @Punkboy:
          Follow the instructions (http://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/) to downgrade the TMobile firmware so that you can enable ssh.

          • Once SSH is enabled, ssh into the router to dump the original CFE out. (cat /dev/mtd0 > original_cfe.bin)
          • Get your original CFE out via WinSCP
          • Then upload your CFE to https://cfeditor.pipeline.sh/ for patching.
          • Download the patched CFE and download it to your router via WinSCP

          • Run the following commands:
            chmod u+x mtd-write
            ./mtd-write new_cfe.bin boot
            mtd-write2 FW_RT_AC68U_30043763626.trx linux

          • First command is make the mtd-write executable. The second command is flash the CFE to boot partition. Third command is to write the Asus firmware to linux partition (firmware).

        • Punkboy on 14/04/2018 - 14:04

          @fatice: thanks for your detailed response and summary of the bay area tech pros. Do you have any references or guides on what the different cfe versions do and possible settings for power levels etc? I patched to 1.0.2.1 because I followed the link you posted but there is no info on when or why to use the different cfe versions on the credit or.

        • fatice on 14/04/2018 - 20:01
          +1

          @Punkboy:

          Initially, I was using 1.0.2.1, which gave me 800Mhz. I followed @rdallen advice to use 1.0.2.5, which is meant for AC68P, changed the CPU to run at 1Ghz. It works fine for me. I was flashing between Merlin and AdvanceTomato to compare to features.

          AdvanceTomato can adjust the wifi power levels easily and has lots of customization.

  • elease on 14/04/2018 - 16:24

    Does anyone have issues with wifi drops?

    I have a couple of these units, flashed to Asus firmware with iairMesh. One is connected downstairs to NBN box. Another one is upstairs connected to first one by radio (airmesh).

    My laptop upstairs is connected to the second unit by a utp cable and it has very good connection (ping is shorter and more stable than connecting by wifi to first unit). However, there is a delay of ~30 sec on power up, which is weird but not a big deal. The big deal is that every device on wifi very often gets disconnected from network (not wifi though - the wifi symbol gets an exclamation mark) for an odd minute and then reconnects.

    I have tried to flash to the latest Asus firmware but got burnt as it disables air mesh. Reflashed both back and still suffer with those network drops while on wifi…

    • 333333wade on 18/04/2018 - 17:15

      try to turn on the wifi roaming, set up as -55 or -60 see differences

  • MrFrostySmooth on 15/04/2018 - 11:11

    Thanks just ordered one $81

  • WesthamAreMassive on 15/04/2018 - 23:07

    Will this work with FTTN & FTTP?

  • skyva on 16/04/2018 - 15:31
    +1

    Just a word of caution: the latest firmware updates from Asus/merlin, prevent full conversion to rt-ac68u functionality, and install some sort of backdoor to allow further restriction.

    If you are buying to keep as a TM AC-1900, then fine. If not, then the upgrade path gets complicated, as will updating.

    I updated my TM AC-1900 to Merlin via a complicated flashing process and it worked great (I don't need the wireless functionality).

    However a recent update to Merlin has reduced functionality that I had before. Asus have caught on and are crippling these devices during routine updates. When I say crippling, I no additional functionality over the TM-1900.

    Sad really.

    • fatice on 16/04/2018 - 18:55
      +1

      May I know what exactly is crippling? I don't find any features that I want to be crippled in Merlin.

      • FuzzyWolf on 17/04/2018 - 00:55

        Yeah I'm curious on this too. I think its just AI mesh, maybe slower CPU? Although, I'm pretty sure the feature i am after is available on TM firmware (set it up as a VPN router) but would still flash merlin as I think it has security updates (I heard TM has discontinued this so no longer any update from them).

        • fatice on 17/04/2018 - 09:31
          +1

          As @rdallen suggested to use 1.0.2.5 CFE to have 1Ghz speed. I don't use AiMesh.

        • FuzzyWolf on 24/04/2018 - 15:46
          -1

          @fatice:
          Hey, just got mine today and flashed latest merlin(RT-AC68U_384.4_2.trx). But I followed the instructions and flashed 1.0.2.0 instead. If I want to flash 1.0.2.5 to get 1Ghz do I just enable SSH>192.168.1.1 etc then

          ./mtd-write new_cfe.bin boot

          then click and hold the WPS for nvram reset or do I have to do the whole thing all over again?

          the method you showed before seem to want to flash the older asus again:
          chmod u+x mtd-write
          ./mtd-write new_cfe.bin boot
          mtd-write2 FW_RT_AC68U_30043763626.trx linux

          Also, do I use the orginal CFE or extract it again? (since I put in the 1.0.2.0)

      • skyva on 20/04/2018 - 11:44

        This is an evolving issue so I don't have all the answers yet.
        The latest ASUS (and I think merlin) firwmare has caused some people concern because it now identifies whether the device is an original ASUS or a TM AC-1900. If it is a TM AC-1900, then it rolls it back to that feature set. You will lose AImesh and possibly other features. There is concern that once identified, Asus may now do further crippling in newer updates.

        If you look at the http://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/ site you will see a pink warning box. It pointed to a forum that explained the issue and workaround. That forum was killed by Asus and it now is blank.
        Look at the bottom of the bayarea page, in the messages, and you will see people having issues.

        Mine still works on merlin, but not sure for how long. If you intend to flash, I beleive the initial instructions are the same but now it is probably best not to flash to the latest asus/merlin firmware, you will need something earlier.

        This is still evolving depending on Asus's response. They may let it lie or they may try to plug more gaps. If Asus creates a new firmware that works well on RT-AC68U units but bricks TM AC-1900 units, you will have no comeback if you use it.

        It has nothing to do with cpu speed. Mine is still stock and others who are crippled can still change theirs I think.

        • fatice on 20/04/2018 - 15:28
          +1

          Thanks for the reminder. There is an instruction how to backup and remove the T-Mobile certificates, which stops Asus from downgrading the firmware.

          Not sure if it works, as my router does not revert back to t-mobile firmware

          Telnet/ssh to the router:

          cat /dev/mtd5 > /jffs/mtd5_backup.bin
          mkdir /tmp/asus_jffs
          mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock5 /tmp/asus_jffs
          rm -rf /tmp/asus_jffs/*
          sync && umount /tmp/asus_jffs
          rm -rf /jffs/.sys/RT-AC68U

          nvram unset fw_check && nvram commit && reboot

        • FuzzyWolf on 21/04/2018 - 22:45

          @fatice:

          When do you do this? After downgrading to older TM fw or after flashing the asus fw?

          I plan to follow the link(Flash older TM fw > Asus Fw) then Merlin.

        • FuzzyWolf on 21/04/2018 - 22:50

          What version of Merlin would you recommend?

        • fatice on 21/04/2018 - 23:18
          +1

          @FuzzyWolf:

          I flashed to advancetomato, Asuswrt and Merlin to compare the features.
          I love AdvanceTomato as it offers so much flexibility and performance. But if mac filtering is enabled, it will apply to all including guest wifi.

          Asuswrte Merlin has the support for Asus mobile app, which is useful for parental control. Just be careful on the mobile app, upon the first login, it turns on admin login from WAN. It only happens the first time. Just login to the router and turn it off.

          At the end, I stay in Merlin RT-AC68U_384.4_2.trx

          It does detect lots of hacking attempts

          https://ibb.co/nnnwGx

  • Mouthsmasher on 19/04/2018 - 17:20

    Hi Guys I just received one of this T Mobile, upon set it up I found Wifi was not detectable and I have move my mobile phone next to it and connect. Half meter away the wifi would drop off. Is there any particular setting I have to go through before I can use it. I check the wifi status/log both 2.4 and 5Ghz showing -92dbm.

  • dcuksuop on 21/04/2018 - 01:42

    Got mine today, and got it setup, running merlin FW 384.4_2. I don't see the AI Mesh option, but not going to bother anymore for now.

    • FuzzyWolf on 21/04/2018 - 22:42

      Just curious, what version of T-Mobile firmware did yours come with initially? I'm expecting mine next week.

    • fatice on 21/04/2018 - 22:58

      Merlin does not have AiMesh.
      https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/changelog-382
      384.3 (14-Feb-2018)
      - NOTE: AiMesh is currently not supported. Feasability of
      supporting it is still under evaluation.

      • dcuksuop on 21/04/2018 - 23:08

        ahh, thanks for that info

  • freeman on 21/04/2018 - 11:35

    Ordered one on Wednesday, not shipped yet till now.

  • donnot on 23/04/2018 - 14:59

    Just got mine, really happy with the performance/configuration available with the stock firmware so no plans on switching. Smells very strongly of smoke though - room now has a slight musk.

  • Simmage on 23/04/2018 - 23:09

    Hi i ordered one of these and am living in Australia. Will i need to get a power converter before plugging it in? Should have looked into this before buying it.

    • donnot on 23/04/2018 - 23:59

      Don't need a power converter as the transformer supports 100-240V - just need a US->AU conversion plug like this.

  • BargainKen on 25/04/2018 - 05:45

    Hi

    I got two of these and successfully converted to Asus but for some reason I can't get the router to see the other router in aimesh mode?

    Trying to follow all the threads but not getting anywhere… Both cables and wireless fail, both CFEs are in AM mode also..

    • elcheapoinoz on 25/04/2018 - 11:51

      does the router admin page say ac68u? I had trouble where it converted half way, and solved it by installing tomato fw, and then back to asus fw.
      check the whirlpool thread to make sure it doesnt revert back to stock.

      • BargainKen on 25/04/2018 - 13:19

        Yup wiping the NVRAM fixes that issue which I've done (Hold WPS button upon bootup for 20sec)

  • munted on 04/05/2018 - 17:16
    Merged from Refurbished T-Mobile AC-1900, Rebadged Asus RT-AC68U $48.00 USD + 13.16 USD Shipping ($81.52 AUD with Shipping) @ Amazon US
    Go to Deal

    This was posted last month, see: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/372047
    However that deal this priced at $60.77 USD + Shipping but it has now dropped to $48 USD + shipping which was $81.52 AUD on my 28 Degrees Card (paying in USD).
    According to CamelCamelCamel this is the (equal) cheapest it has ever been!

    There's lots of info from previous posts on how to flash this to Asus RT-AC68U firmware or Asus Merlin although it works fine without flashing, the T Mobile software just doesn't have as many features.
    Also please note this is a refurbished unit from Amazon US so although the power pack is 110V~240V(50~60Hz) you'll still need a US to AU plug converter.
    There is a $20 EFTPOS gift card deal on the Asus RT-AC68U ie not the T-Mobile AC-1900, see https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/375794 but it is $189 at MSY.
    You can buy a new (ie not refurbished) T-Mobile AC-1900 on Amazon US as well, it's $69 USD + Shipping.
    The final thing to note is that this is a router and not a modem.

    Amazon Description:
    * This Certified Refurbished product is tested and certified to look and work like new. The refurbishing process includes functionality testing, basic cleaning, inspection, and repackaging. The product ships with all relevant accessories, a minimum 90-day warranty, and may arrive in a generic box. Only select sellers who maintain a high performance bar may offer Certified Refurbished products on Amazon.com.
    * Dual-band with the latest 802.11ac 3x3 technology for combined speeds of up to 1900 Mbps
    * 1 GHz Dual-core CPU enables smart multitasking by dedicating separate lanes for Wifi and USB data
    * Effortless router setup with the ASUSWRT web-based interface
    * Monitor and manage your network with ease from your mobile device using the intuitive ASUS Router App

    • incipient on 04/05/2018 - 17:29

      The tmobile version is quite gimped compared to what it could be.

      If you're a basic user this is plenty =) if you're a power user that likes to tinker then you'll need to flash it. Not a super trivial task and one I've even not bothered to do as it can brick your device…then again you can turn a $80 device into a $180 device! So that's pretty cool =P

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