[128bit]

folks, i'm not sure if this is allowed so, let me apologize if my msg is out of bounds.

for several yeas i did linksys - e4200, wrt 1900/3200. for decades, the avg router fit the bill cause there was low demand - little to no streaming. when things got serious, like many of u, i turned to linksys. was fine running stock until i wanted a bit more control and went the dd-wrt route - FOR YEARS!!

it was demoralizing. mr. bs and kong, who has since quit on linksys were doing their damnedest to provide builds and workarounds so that we users could finally take advantage of the device's features but linksys never came through with the correct driver. another linksys zealot named looking... had a thread here on the asus rt-ac86u. so i bit. pricey but i found a new one at a good price on ebay.

all i can say is that it's been a glorious 11 months with the rt-ac86u and i'm running stock! it uses the merlin interface and gets regular updates from asus. if u want to go out on a limb, there's an os similar to dd-wrt with a revised merlin interface. i can tell u, i've never been happier! networking and routers are back in my background where i prefer them to be. everything works. one shortcoming, i have a weak 5g for one tv at the end of the house, so it's on the 2.4 band and works fine. hell, i don't even configure channels - i let it run in auto and life's good.

so, with this long-ass post, if any of u want to give-up-the-ghost so to speak, the ac86u runs rings around the 3200acm. much easier to configure a guest as well. i put my iot devices on as guests so they can't see my nas and other devices. call it paranoia but one never knows what the vendor may be doing internally with their embedded code.

it's the holidays, so whatever your choice, enjoy. as a result of this looking... guy's recommendation, my routing has drastically improved and i'm grateful for his comments and the fine ppl on this board.

. . . just paying it forward for those that care.