NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
R7000 Using Asuswrt-Merlin
I was sceptical about using 3rd party FW, Mainly because it was something outside of my comfort zone. Once you go ASUSWRT-Merlin You'll never go back. Up to six Guest with different times, dhcp lease time, dual WAN, Parental controls, and it's just cool.
I find it a very sad state for us more experienced users to have to resort to third party firmware (even a competitor's firmware like ASUSWRT-Merlin) because NETGEAR has no clue what people need in a router's firmware and instead of improving it, they dumb it down even more, sometimes even removing basic, core networking stuff. And don't get me started on the whole '90s looking firmware interface...
If you're reading this, NETGEAR, if you keep down this path, you'll soon be pushed into obsolescence. ASUS and TP-Link will continue to eat up your lunch every time and you will starve
13 Replies
I find it a very sad state for us more experienced users to have to resort to third party firmware (even a competitor's firmware like ASUSWRT-Merlin) because NETGEAR has no clue what people need in a router's firmware and instead of improving it, they dumb it down even more, sometimes even removing basic, core networking stuff. And don't get me started on the whole '90s looking firmware interface...
If you're reading this, NETGEAR, if you keep down this path, you'll soon be pushed into obsolescence. ASUS and TP-Link will continue to eat up your lunch every time and you will starve
The last time I used that firmware, QoS was broken on IPv6 (was applying upstream QoS to IPv6 downstream). Can't find any evidence that it's been fixed sadly, so I'm stuck with stock FW for now.
@searay wrote:I was sceptical about using 3rd party FW, Mainly because it was something outside of my comfort zone. Once you go ASUSWRT-Merlin You'll never go back. Up to six Guest with different times, dhcp lease time, dual WAN, Parental controls, and it's just cool.
And, you can turn WPS off! ;)
I've been eyeing this firmware for a while now but recently switched to the R7800 and now my 3rd party FW hopes have diminished. :( And now on stock FW I'm experiencing a wired switch bug I've posted about in another thread. Now I am thinking of just getting another R7000. It was such a solid device for me even on stock FW. I've been loyal user DD-WRT for years but these newer firmware distros seem to be really powerful. How's your wireless performance? I know on some earlier DD-WRT builds, wireless performed worse than stock but some of the later Kong builds restored it. My stock R7800 gets about 450 - 550 Mbps from my NAS to my 2x2 AC Surface Pro 3, which is amazing. My R7000 got 300 - 400 typically. This makes me want to "borrow" my old R7000 from the parents for testing. :)
Searay,
I've been considering Asuswrt-Merlin as well for my r7000. You've a had a few days of run-time with it now, have you had any issues or concerns?
I have been running this firmware since the initial release. I have had no issues with any of the firmware releases. However, I run my R7000's in AP mode. 380.59 is solid. 380.61 just came out. Some user's have identified issue's with IPV6 on Comcast. Best to post specific question on the forum - be sure to review the changelogs for more info.
I had been using XWRT Vortex up until 2 releases ago when it started to drain the battery on my Galaxy J5. Couldn't find a fix except for reverting to a previous version... but instead I loaded Tomato (which also gives me an easy way to set up VLANs and Guest network with bandwidth limiting) and been happy ever since. Range and speed is the same as on Vortex and battery drain has disappeared (I do now up to 7 days on a charge, with little use of the phone)
Gandolph wrote:Searay,
I've been considering Asuswrt-Merlin as well for my r7000. You've a had a few days of run-time with it now, have you had any issues or concerns?
None that I'm aware of.
How does one actually test IPV6 other than the simple test sites saying it works? What is the procedure? Do you disable IPV4? If yes How?
Thanks
Does this firmware allow for full power on the lower 5Ghz channels for the R7000? I have an R7800 now and one of the things I like is that I don't need to use the higher channels to get full speed and power. Those channels have become crowded in my area.
