"Heart Eater" - ASUS RT-AC68U Router: 802.11ac, usb 3.0, BitTorent, TimeMachine

By February 23 and March 8. Please yourself and loved ones to you

Preface from the author (written 5 minutes before publication)

Initially, I wanted to comprehensively test the device with beautiful graphs and tablets, but something I was so imbued with it and just started to use it, so everything is a bit messy and without facts, only emotions. He just conquered me ... Let's go!

brief information

There are many solutions on the home networking equipment market, but today I want to tell you about one really unique device: the ASUS RT-AC68U router (described on the ASUS website).
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Without delay, I will give the key features of the RT-AC68U , putting it above the rest of the devices on the market:

• newest wireless standard 802.11ac
• connect an external hard drive via usb 3.0 interface
• official time machine feature
• BitTorent standard support (including the previous item)

It is the totality of these features that led me to this acquisition. Of course, I am silent about well-known functions, such as: connecting a printer or a 3G / 4G modem to a second usb2.0 port, working as a home file server, working as a rocking chair for everything.

How it all began

At home, my main window to the network, scary to say, 2007 was the legendary, in narrow circles , the router Asus WL-500gPv.1 (by the way, I’m totally not fixated on this brand and advise all my friends and help you set up the correct Zyxel , D -Link or TP-Link ). Yes, it supports work only in the 802.11g standard and was morally obsolete a couple of years ago when my home Internet provider began offering high-speed tariffs, and devices began to appear in large numbers at home with support for the .n-standard ( kindle, nook, xperia, eluga, iphone , ipad , etc), but the main device for work and entertainment remained, purchased in the same 2007, Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop (those are the most classic “2 cores, 2 gig” , except for the 2009 upgrade to 64Gb ssd Samsung ).
But just a couple of weeks ago, I became the happy owner of an engineering masterpiece of an Apple Macbook Pro 15 Retina laptop (yes, in one of the federal networks it was sold for 71,000 rubles + 5% return of the cost of bonuses ), one of the features of which is just support .ac -standard And I understood: it's time to change something ... Of course, the first thing I noticed was the product AirPort Time Capsule , but then I read the Internet a little and ...

Unpacking

The router comes in a rather large box. Really did not expect so big. At first, I was even scared for the future dimensions of the device - it suddenly does not fit into the limited space.



But it turned out not so scary. Inside the box is quite a lot of free space. In principle, this is not bad, because protects against external influences.



Standard equipment: the router itself, three external antennas, power cable and network cable. Also a bunch of useless waste paper, because it does not even say that by default the wireless network is password protected (login admin , password admin - I had to guess).

External hard drive

Initially the idea was to get not only a router, but also some kind of home NAS. Therefore, together with ASUS RT-AC68U , Samsung's external hard drive was acquired with a furious and silently named STSHX-D301TDB (I did not find the page on the manufacturer’s website, but it seems to me that this is Seagate ), but we are primarily interested in , volume equal to 3Tb and connection interface, in this case usb 3.0.

By the way, also quite a massive device that comes in a decent box.

Testing the wireless connection to the provider's network

My provider provides network connectivity through a PPPoE uplink . To test the speed they are offered two addresses: a direct connection to the server of the provider and with a raise of PPPoE .
Everything was checked in real working conditions: the router hung in the closet in the corridor at a height of ~ 2.5 m above the floor, the laptop was in the next room 5 meters from the closet.
Yes, the promised speed to "100 megabits."





As you can see, a little does not reach the promised level, but it pleases that there is almost no drawdown when raising the VPN channel.
Yes, then launched the download torrent - the speed is below 8MB / s did not fall.

Time machine

But this section explains why this post I took to the Apple hub. And also this is one of the reasons why I bought this router. But in fact, everything is so simple that there is almost nothing to talk about.
Initially, I smashed the hard drive using Disk Utility into 2 sections: 0.5Tb and 2.5Tb, the HSF + file system.
In the web interface, you must specify a folder for backup



And in the Time Machine settings, simply select this disk from the automatically offered list. And that's all.



Yes, do not forget to remove unnecessary folders through the parameters, I have this downloads folder.

Cost and Alternatives

So, cost and alternatives. Alternatives and cost. Whew, the most controversial section. Personally, I saw only one alternative. In general, I’ll just give a summary table.

Parameter	Asus RT-AC68U Samsung 3Tb usb 3.0	Apple Time Capsule 3Tb
Price	7550 + 3950 = 11,500 rubles. (10550 rub. With a disk on 2Tb)	16290 rub. (12290 rubles with a 2Tb disk)
Standard	.ac	.ac
Time machine	Yes	Yes
BitTorent	Yes	not
Design	good	a great

Table: Asus RT-AS68U + Samsung 3Tb and Apple Time Capsule 3Tb Comparison

I think everything is clear. Yes, you can buy the Time Capsule version on 2Tb, put it in a prominent place and enjoy a great design, but I wanted a more functional device: a router with NAS functions, and, as I said earlier, I have a very intricate place of deployment and all the beauty remains would be unnoticed.



Of course, you can purchase a .ac-standard router with a simpler price and take, for example, a 2-disk NAS , getting the same functions plus buns in the form of RAID to preserve the integrity of information. As they say, every whim for your money.

findings

The guys from ASUS managed to develop a really good, modern device with a large stock of functionality. The RT-AC68U router will satisfy any requirements for home networking equipment. He will really win your heart!
What pleases this bundle, so that it works out of the box. No dancing with a tambourine. Just turned on, entered the authentication data, connected the drive and that's it.

As a remark

I deliberately did not provide screenshots of the initial configuration of the router, as well as other specific functions like PPPoE , usb, and whatever. If you have at least once set up your router yourself, then you will not see anything new.
The author is in no way affiliated with all the above listed companies, so the post was not paid generously and is not advertising. If it were such, then, most likely, instead of an external Samsung / Seagate disk, a NAS from the same Asustek or, most likely, Synology would be used , but the personal budget is not rubber.
Yes, I apologize for the slightly yellow header, but really imbued with this device.

Thank you all who read to the end. Have a great weekend!