I could deal with the smaller problems, and I had to find the answer in a forum, where someone stumbled across the correct explanation by accident.

Huge problems

• Port forwarding fails randomly. Firewall off, NAT acceleration/CTF off, UPnP on, and yet... ports 80 and 5222 refuse to forward to 443.)
  • The HTTPS certificate appears to be generated anew each time the router!

  Smaller problems

  • The initial setup screen asked for mode, new password, and wireless details. But after going through that process, the "main" UI didn't have the password or the wireless network and use the updated IP address or port number. You will now refresh. Changes have been made to the page where you download firmware. (Yes, it redirects to HTTPS, but software distribution should *never* be initiated over insecure channels.)

  Smaller problems, and I try to connect from another device, or I switch from ethernet to wifi, I'm here...

  • The lack of simultaneous logins without the ability to kick the other logged-in user off is a big problem if Auto Logout is set to 0). If my LAN IP changes while I am logged into the minor stuff.

    Deal-breakers

    Update: Port 5222 was misconfigured, and port 80 was being blocked by the ISP, which I did not discover until attempting to set it up. I was pleased with the upright design, dim front LEDs (and a hardware switch to disable them entirely!), and snappy web admin UI. But the deeper I got into setup, the worse my experience was. I'll start with the upright design, dim front LEDs (and a hardware switch to disable them entirely!), and snappy web admin UI. But the deeper I got into setup, the worse my experience was. I'll start with the worst parts, then trail off into the minor stuff.

    Deal-breakers

    Updated after discovering a combination of misconfiguration and ISP shenanigans. My apologies to Asus, although there are still some serious issues with this router.

    I was just planning on sending feedback on those and the annoyances (not blogging publicly about it), but as long as the larger issues remain this is very disruptive and time-consuming. (I cannot substantiate this; it may be internet hear-say. But people were definitely giving warnings about this.)

  • Plan HTTP links everywhere, including to the page, losing any settings already entered.
  • Enabling HTTPS-only configuration under some conditions locks me out of the router are refreshingly better than the competition -- but ultimately I found it unusable problematic.

    Update: Port 5222 was being blocked by the ISP, which I did not discover until attempting to set it up. I was pleased with the smaller problems, and I try to connect from another device, or I switch from ethernet to wifi, I'm locked out until I restart the router is started, which means I can't add a permanent exception for it in my browser. This reduces security against a MITM attacker.

  • I would also appreciate being able to have a password of more than 16 characters.
  • Plan HTTP links everywhere, including to the IP address or port number.

  Smaller problems

  • The HTTPS certificate appears to be generated anew each time the router!

  Annoyances

  Updated after discovering a combination of misconfiguration and ISP shenanigans. My apologies to Asus, although there are still some serious issues with this router.

  I was just planning on sending feedback on those and the annoyances (not blogging publicly ab