HashMaster9K
New Around Here
Hi there, SNB users—
I currently have an ASUS router, and after years of running on the platform and with my most recent router (RT-AXE7800) having a host of issues, I feel like it's time to reach out for help and fix my home network. I'll give you my network's history, then setup, then the issues that have cropped up with the recent router. Hopefully someone will be able to assist and make some good suggestions.
So, to start, here's the history of the network. These are the routers that I've had, and why I've gotten rid of them:
Currently, so everyone can understand my current network map, the basic setup is this:
The Xfinity plan's speed registers that it should be 1200 up, 350 down. The Xfinity Modem is in Bridge Mode, and the RT-AXE7800 (being a Tri-band router) is pushing out 3 different Wi-Fi networks, however we mainly use the 5GHz network, sometimes the 2.4GHz if a device automatically chooses. I've used a third-party Wi-Fi utility to make sure there isn't any channel interference (we live in a condo complex, and I don't want others' routers interfering), everything that can be on a hard-line LAN connection pretty much is. None of it seems to help— it all seems like it's truckin' along fine, and then suddenly the bandwidth will dip, and my security camera base station online indicator will go red, then inevitably the meeting will halt, or the TV show will start spinning its wheel.
The layout of our condo is basically 3 rooms over 660 Sq Ft: The long family room/kitchen hybrid room, the bathroom, and (down a long hallway past the kitchen and bathroom) the bedroom. The RT-AXE78000 stays in the family room, connected to the modem via the CAT8 LAN cable, and then breaks out with the TP-Link hub at the TV/Server setup to connect everything by a hard-line. The Bedroom has an RP-AX56 range extender setup on the ASUS mesh network, and has a hard-line connection to the Apple TV in the bedroom, but is wireless for everything else. I do not have any cable pulled through the walls, or any ports that I can plug into to ferry the network all over the apartment, so a hard-line to the bedroom unfortunately is a non-starter. The Wi-Fi signal isn't as strong as it should be in the bedroom, being less than 300 ft away from the main router, and 5 ft away from the range extender. I'm not too pleased with the crawling network speeds in there, but I understand that's a byproduct of using a range extender.
Conclusion
I've done some research on this for a couple of months and the closest that I could find as a reasoning for this occurring (or at least an argument against keeping this current ASUS router) is that its internal processor either has an issue/wasn't very good/was outdated at manufacture, and that buying the RT-AXE7800 was essentially purchasing outdated/underperforming hardware comparatively to other units released around the same time— this comment came from another SNB Forums thread complaining about the RT-AXE7800.
So seeing as this will be my 5th router in a decade if I purchase something else, I'd like something that'd last a little bit longer and is easy to manage with robust firmware and good hardware. Someone in another thread here suggested that the better purchase would have been a GT-AX6000, but I also have been seeing some people frustrated with that model as well.
At this point, I'm willing to switch to another brand, but I'm also willing to stick with ASUS if it still is the best hardware to utilize for my home network.
Please let me know if you have additional questions, or need additional information to help troubleshoot or to make new hardware suggestions.
Thank you in advance!
I currently have an ASUS router, and after years of running on the platform and with my most recent router (RT-AXE7800) having a host of issues, I feel like it's time to reach out for help and fix my home network. I'll give you my network's history, then setup, then the issues that have cropped up with the recent router. Hopefully someone will be able to assist and make some good suggestions.
So, to start, here's the history of the network. These are the routers that I've had, and why I've gotten rid of them:
- ASUS RT-AC68W — Good workhorse router, and was pretty good when I bought it a decade ago. I ended up getting a hybrid modem/router to replace this to prevent having to pay a premium for a modem from Xfinity. It was still running at a middling level of mediocrity in my parents' house now a decade later.
- ASUS CM-32 — What I thought was a good router/modem combo, but seemingly gave me no end of trouble. It had issues with remembering its firmware settings and would wipe out its port forwarding with no notice, necessitating reprovisioning it all the time. Also, for as much as it touted that it worked well with Xfinity, they wouldn't allow me to get the highest speeds possible because (I'm guessing) Xfinity would throttle it since it wasn't owned by them. It also prevented me from getting a deal on the data cap that Xfinity tries to extort out of us (because we all know that data is a non-renewable resource... ::eye roll:: ). Eventually, a major crash while I was out of town caused me to want to drop it and get very frustrated with ASUS' products.
- TP-Link AX6000 — As a middle finger to ASUS, I ordered this during the pandemic as I started to WFH and needed something that was robust and would function properly. I also was making more money, so to dodge the data cap extortion, I rented Xfinity's XB7-T Gateway and set it into bridge mode. The TP-Link router was almost as bad as the last ASUS in terms of issues: wouldn't allow me to login to the cloud dashboard and I had to constantly reset the login credentials; when I would get to login, the router would occasionally not show up; it'd reboot on its own, for seemingly no reason; the mesh network with a repeater in less than 600 sq ft didn't function right, if at all; It would lose its memory on it's Port Forwarding settings... and I didn't know what to do as this was an expensive router, but would never get the speeds advertised and managing it was a headache.
- ASUS RT-AXE7800 — The most recent router that I bought last February. It has a nasty penchant for simply halting connection for a reason that I can't determine, which throws everything on the network offline. You can tell how "great" it is by the screams coming from my condo when my wife and I need to rush to manually reboot the router when we're in the middle of a video call meeting for our jobs. I can't determine why it does this, as it's not at any specific interval or for a recognizable apparent reason. I've made sure the firmware is up-to-date and have reset it twice now. But it persists in seemingly crashing, and then not logging the reason why. This disappointing as hell router is less than a year old.
Currently, so everyone can understand my current network map, the basic setup is this:
- Hard-line LAN network: Xfinity XB7-T Gateway (Bridge Mode) > CAT8 > RT-AXE7800 > CAT8 > TP-Link 8 Port Gigabyte Switch
- Mesh Network: RT-AXE7800 > Wi-Fi (2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz) > RP-AX56 (range extender) > Bedroom Devices (TV; AppleTV)
The Xfinity plan's speed registers that it should be 1200 up, 350 down. The Xfinity Modem is in Bridge Mode, and the RT-AXE7800 (being a Tri-band router) is pushing out 3 different Wi-Fi networks, however we mainly use the 5GHz network, sometimes the 2.4GHz if a device automatically chooses. I've used a third-party Wi-Fi utility to make sure there isn't any channel interference (we live in a condo complex, and I don't want others' routers interfering), everything that can be on a hard-line LAN connection pretty much is. None of it seems to help— it all seems like it's truckin' along fine, and then suddenly the bandwidth will dip, and my security camera base station online indicator will go red, then inevitably the meeting will halt, or the TV show will start spinning its wheel.
The layout of our condo is basically 3 rooms over 660 Sq Ft: The long family room/kitchen hybrid room, the bathroom, and (down a long hallway past the kitchen and bathroom) the bedroom. The RT-AXE78000 stays in the family room, connected to the modem via the CAT8 LAN cable, and then breaks out with the TP-Link hub at the TV/Server setup to connect everything by a hard-line. The Bedroom has an RP-AX56 range extender setup on the ASUS mesh network, and has a hard-line connection to the Apple TV in the bedroom, but is wireless for everything else. I do not have any cable pulled through the walls, or any ports that I can plug into to ferry the network all over the apartment, so a hard-line to the bedroom unfortunately is a non-starter. The Wi-Fi signal isn't as strong as it should be in the bedroom, being less than 300 ft away from the main router, and 5 ft away from the range extender. I'm not too pleased with the crawling network speeds in there, but I understand that's a byproduct of using a range extender.
Conclusion
I've done some research on this for a couple of months and the closest that I could find as a reasoning for this occurring (or at least an argument against keeping this current ASUS router) is that its internal processor either has an issue/wasn't very good/was outdated at manufacture, and that buying the RT-AXE7800 was essentially purchasing outdated/underperforming hardware comparatively to other units released around the same time— this comment came from another SNB Forums thread complaining about the RT-AXE7800.
So seeing as this will be my 5th router in a decade if I purchase something else, I'd like something that'd last a little bit longer and is easy to manage with robust firmware and good hardware. Someone in another thread here suggested that the better purchase would have been a GT-AX6000, but I also have been seeing some people frustrated with that model as well.
At this point, I'm willing to switch to another brand, but I'm also willing to stick with ASUS if it still is the best hardware to utilize for my home network.
Please let me know if you have additional questions, or need additional information to help troubleshoot or to make new hardware suggestions.
Thank you in advance!
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