UPDATE
The firmware for the AC68U/P is no longer supported thus is no longer a recommended option. If you flashed your TM AC1900 to stock RT-AC68U/P then replacing the firmware will provide enhanced security.
AI Suggestions
- Asuswrt-Merlin: This is highly recommended for retaining the familiar ASUS GUI while fixing bugs, enhancing performance, and adding user scripts. It keeps the Asuswrt interface but makes it more robust.
- FreshTomato: A fork of the original Tomato, often preferred for its stability, advanced, and intuitive GUI. It is frequently updated, making it excellent for security patches on older hardware.
- DD-WRT: A more advanced, open-source firmware that provides extensive networking features, such as advanced VLAN configuration and VPN support.
- OpenWrt: A highly flexible, modular, open-source Linux-based system, though it may have limited support for the specific hardware revisions of the AC68U compared to others.
If you have the original TM AC1900 firmware it is possible but probably not worth the effort to install supported firmware. A guide can be found here – Flashing Merlin to TM-AC1900 or AC68U (Updated for 384 builds). Posted on January 1, 2018 By Luis Rodriguez
Original Post
COVID19 and Stay-at-Home orders make performing this moderately difficult and time consuming procedure make sense.
At the end of 2014, T-Mobile announced the TM-AC1900 Wireless Router as a solution for T-Mobile customers with poor or no cell coverage at their homes. Although named The T-Mobile Personal CellSpot, the device was not a cellular modem or fentocell. It was a rebranded Asus RT-AC68U WiFi router that could be used with cell phones that supported “WiFi calling” The Asus hardware was and still is a solid router and it was offered for a fraction of the price of the Asus branded model. However the firmware that came with the TM-AC1900 lacked some of the features of the regular Asus firmware and quickly became insecure and obsolete when the T-Mobile firmware locked out simple firmware replacement and stopped providing updates.
Keeping network devices secure and up to date is critical for any installation – home or business. Current owners of the TM-AC1900 with original firmware have two options:
- Send it to the electronic recycler
- Perform a moderately difficult update to current RT-AC68U firmware.
Considering the low purchase price and the time required to perform the update, option 1 would make the most sense. The COVID19 pandemic and Stay-at-Home orders made option 2 a reasonable alternative.
I used the method described on the Bay Area Tech Pros website. The procedure on the site uses Windows. Mac users will need to modify some of the steps described in a video by lyingRich on YouTube.
I ran into a problem with the router supporting an older and no longer supported ssh encryption which I needed to allow –
-oKexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 admin@192.168.x.x
Worst case you can send it to the electronics recycler.