Best router to buy this day

[joms]

I am looking to get a new router as I will be giving my old one to my parents. I was using an AC66u.

What router should I get with a budget of $300+

We have:
2x desktops (wired)
2x laptops (wireless)
4x IPAD (wireless)
5x iPhone (wireless)
3x TV (wired) (Netflix)
1x PlayStation 4 (wireless)

We mostly browse and watch Netflix. Gaming are only done during weekends but only for roughly 4hours.

We live in the Philippines and we have a connection of 8Mbps download. Usually, we watch Netflix 1x at a time (or at max 2x simultaneously but this is rare). We don't really stream video via our internal LAN.

Most internet use is for facebook, browsing and some youtube.

I want to get the best router that I can given a budget or around US$300. I can go higher if it is needed.

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

Anything from the RT-AC68U or higher.

Try to avoid the RT-AC87U (insurmountable troubles for some).

If you can get the RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U or RT-AC5300 in your area for the budget you have, then you'll have the latest and greatest (and be set for a long time).

Do you need the latest and greatest with the ISP speed and typical use you have today? No.

But even without the best ISP connections, the latest routers offer tangible improvements in many areas. The first gen AC class RT-AC66U you have is basically equivalent (hardware) to the even older N class RT-N66U.

If you can find an RT-AC68U with the latest 1GHz dual processor or the very latest 1.4GHz models I've listed above, you should see a noticeable improvement in your network.

Will it be worth $300? That, you will decide.

 

[Nullity]

With only an 8Mbit internet connection, I think you should focus on traffic-shaping features, like fq_codel. These features help alleviate congested internet connections that often occur with "slow" connections... but, if your current setup is functioning with few problems, forget this entire paragraph.

Even the aging RT-N66U is much faster (wirelessly) than you require, and it's price is only ~30% of your budget. Considering your budget, the RT-AC68U is probably the best choice.

 

[System Error Message]

the best router to buy would be a cisco edgerouter or a mikrotik ccr or a multicore, multi CPU xeon with lots of ram running a linux/unix server with intel server NICs.

What you want is a decent or good router, with such slow internet even MIPS based routers are fast enough, for example mikrotik's RB9xx series with miniPCIe for upgradeable wifi, SFP. If you want usb storage and dont need it at LAN speeds (around 50Mb/s) than those dual core ARM routers are capable. Even mikrotik's RB3011 with usb3 is capable of file sharing too but only if the file system is FAT32. Mikrotik, ubiquiti and pfsense now all have very good QoS so getthing one of them does help as they perform QoS way better than any consumer router even though they require more skill to setup.

As for wifi speeds and capability it depends on how much LAN transfers do you expect to be. ASUS auto QoS is focused for games so it will detect known games (not new ones) and will prioritise it and probably streaming but not much more and it can still fail in your situation if there just is so much bandwidth demand. For example 2 1080p streams will not have enough bandwidth and auto QoS on consumer routers just cant deal with that.

 

[joms]

May I know why the AC68U is better than the AC-88U? I am looking at the AC-88U and it looks good. Does the AC-88U offer longer range? The nice thing about the 88U is that I can see the usage chart of those who are connected so I'd know who is hogging a lot of our bandwidth

The QOS Bandwidth Limiter and the Traffic Analyzer are must haves for me. Does the AC68U have both these? If not then I would only be choosing between the AC88U and the AC5300 (both of them have these right?)

Thanks

 

[pete y testing]

May I know why the AC68U is better than the AC-88U?

its not , its just the 88u and 5300 arnt in your indicated budget

Does the AC-88U offer longer range?

not by much but it has great throughput available

The nice thing about the 88U is that I can see the usage chart of those who are connected so I'd know who is hogging a lot of our bandwidth

as you can with rt-ac68u

Does the AC68U have both these?

with the latest ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 9.0.0.4.380.2695
[Beta release]

it has both

i am using the 88u atm and its great

 

[sfx2000]

May I know why the AC68U is better than the AC-88U?

I think it's the level of maturity in the firmware - both factory, and independent 3rd party developers - RMerlin's fork is probably the best choice there.

Besides - AC1900 class is still the best value - performance/cost wise...

 

[Grievous Angel]

Besides - AC1900 class is still the best value - performance/cost wise...

I installed a 68p for a colleague (rescued her from a 100 dollar geek squad installation) today and got the fever. I've been running an AC66 for several years and have eyed that 68p for a while but I went the other way, thinking "for only 80 bucks more I can get the AC3100." So I did. I probably didn't need to upgrade in the first place but my kid was complaining about issues with his xbox so that's all I needed (an excuse) to hear.

I hear what you're saying--but that AC68U/R/P line has been out a while and is still stuck at 200 dollars. Doesn't seem like all that much of a value compared to say the 3100 . .not after all this time.

 

[System Error Message]

I still vote that one of the best routers would be the cisco blade routers used in internet switching centers.

 

[TonyH]

I installed a 68p for a colleague (rescued her from a 100 dollar geek squad installation) today and got the fever. I've been running an AC66 for several years and have eyed that 68p for a while but I went the other way, thinking "for only 80 bucks more I can get the AC3100." So I did. I probably didn't need to upgrade in the first place but my kid was complaining about issues with his xbox so that's all I needed (an excuse) to hear.

I hear what you're saying--but that AC68U/R/P line has been out a while and is still stuck at 200 dollars. Doesn't seem like all that much of a value compared to say the 3100 . .not after all this time.

If possible over buying is always good. That's what I do when I buy things. Minimizing frustration and seems they stay with me longer too.