AC router advice

[buddy123]

Hi everyone, My name is Eran.
I've been reading reviews and discussions in snb for quite some time, but never registered an account and participated. up until now
Last year I moved to a new home, and wired all rooms with CAT6A cables.
The setup is:
8 * 1gig ports switch, with CAT6A cables running to every room in the house: 3 ports to 3 bedrooms, 2 ports to my TV (for TV & Amazon FireTV), another port behind couch for occassional use, and the last two ports are connected to my service room which is almost at the center of the house, and there I have:
1. Qnap 453Pro NAS
2. Fritzbox 7390

My problem starts and ends with WIFI. In terms of LAN speeds, there's no man happier than I am - Uploading/Downloading at max LAN speeds, everything works like a charm.
The wifi on the other hand is slow and outdated. Its wireless N at most, and in my closest bedrooms I get at most 150Mbps, and in third bedroom, which is some sort of thick concrete walls room (Like shelter), I get maybe 1Mbps. Its a problem when this room is for my baby and my WIFI camera there is barely getting any signal, and of course whenever I want to access information on my NAS.

My WIFI clients today not are not fully supporting AC. I have a macbook air 2012, which is only wifi N. I have a lenovo w541, which has AC wifi card (Up to 600Mbps I think?), My AFTV does have AC but is connected via cable. Other than that - smartphones and iPad, and the Yi home camera 2 for my baby room

My problem with choosing a router is - Its much more convenient for my to get a VDSL2 router and having one box that does both, Instead of keeping my fritzbox as a modem only and have two devices. Not a big deal but I believe most people will agree this is convenient. and If I go that direction, I dont see many options out there, only the Asus DSL-68U. I read alot about how good and stable it is, and that it has many 3rd party firmware which is a great thing for me (I ran freetz for many time on my router before having a NAS), But its also quite old, Should I be looking for something newer? Should I be looking at the Linksys 1900acs which doesnt have a modem builtin?
There is the new TPlink VR2600, which has a modem VDSL2 + Vectoring support, but I read that TPLINK almost never has firmware upgrades and lack of 3rd pary firmwares due to small flash.

What would you suggest for my type of use?

 

[L&LD]

'Convenient' usually translates to 'compromise' and if you really want to improve your WiFi, then you should rule out that possible avenue right now. To clarify further; keep using the ISP's modem indefinitely and always use your own router. That keeps things separate and as configurable and secure as they should be.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/sh...-go-with-the-rt-ac1900p-v3.34748/#post-281391

While you may not have that kind of success as my customer did in my link above, it is the first step I would do (test a current, high end router) to see what performance improvements it can bring.

With all rooms wired, you could even setup AP's as needed. The recommended router from me would be an RT-AC56U (or better) for the area/room you want a stronger signal in.

A single router is highly preferred, ime, if it can handle your needs for your present network environment. Add AP's sparingly (less, really is more) and if you do, make sure they are directly wired (not used in 'repeater' mode).

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...oes-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance

The 4x4:4 antennae/stream setup of the RT-AC3100 is particularly suited to providing even 1x1 and/or 2x2 clients a better connection and higher throughput (just a more advanced RF design).

How fast are your ISP provided speeds? Anything higher than 100Mbps up/down will benefit from a current router like the RT-AC3100. Whether it is worth it to you is up to your budget and expectations.

 

[buddy123]

I dont mind getting a router only, I just stated what would be convenience for me
I prefer not to have AP in rooms, the lan port is intended for Kodi or real-use of LAN ports (like fetching large size content from the NAS) with my laptop
I do want that wherever I am in the house to have a strong and high throughput signal
My ISP is rated 50Mbps (Up to 100Mbps, but 50Mbps is what I can get in my area)
So you recommend the RT-AC3100? Its the priciest one available Is there something a litle cheaper, that will give similar results in terms of coverage and throughput, or should I stress out my budget a little more?
I see the RT-AC3200 cheaper on Amazon, How is it compared?

 

[L&LD]

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/need-buying-advice.34884/

The link above includes my thoughts on the RT-AC3200 vs. the RT-AC3100.

The RT-AC3100 was on sale recently for $191 at Best Buy. I'm sure it will be on sale again soon (hope you have access to a BB in your area).

The RT-AC3100, the RT-AC88U and the RT-AC5300 are the latest and most currently available routers (Asus) which have many advantages over past models (from Asus or even other manufacturers). The RT-AC3100 is the least expensive of this elite group.

If you can save a little longer, that is the router I would begin to start testing with in your network environment.

 

[buddy123]

Thanks L&LD,
Will my current clients feel any difference between the 3100AC to the 5100AC (without any additional hardware)?
It seems like the price difference between the AC3100 and the RT-AC88U is less than 20$ (I'll make the purchase via Amazon), and the main difference between the two is link aggregation, something I cant really use today (My NAS supports it, but I have no way to take advantage of it)
I'll just keep on waiting to see if any of the three price drops

 

[L&LD]

Thanks L&LD,
Will my current clients feel any difference between the 3100AC to the 5100AC (without any additional hardware)?
It seems like the price difference between the AC3100 and the RT-AC88U is less than 20$ (I'll make the purchase via Amazon), and the main difference between the two is link aggregation, something I cant really use today (My NAS supports it, but I have no way to take advantage of it)
I'll just keep on waiting to see if any of the three price drops

Will clients 'feel' any different between the 'AC3100 and the 'AC88U or the 'AC5300? Probably not (all things being equal).

What the 'AC3100 and the 'AC88U offers though is (possibly) better RF with it's 4x4:4 antennae/stream configuration which at least in my customers case has translated into usable 5GHz signal and throughput in his 5000 SqFt home (versus no 5GHz signal at all) and also about 50% better 2.4GHz signal and throughput too.

The 'AC88U offers 4 additional LAN ports. The downside with the 8 LAN ports is that they are not all 'native' to the SoC. With the Quantenna issues in the 'AC87U, I am a bit leery about that aspect (particularly if all 8 ports are 'needed' and used.

The 'AC5300 is a simpler 3x3:3 RF design, but it does have 3 radios. The advantage here is if you have a very large number of wireless devices that need to connect simultaneously. Honestly though? I'd rather have the full control of two routers (with 4 radios between them) than the tradeoffs that a single 3 radio design currently offers (specifically; 'low' channel selection on 5GHz band 1 and 'high' channel selection on 5GHz band 2).

Keep your eye out for sales (and not just at your favorite place to shop, if you can price match or beat other prices) and be ready to jump.

 

[Trentors]

The 'AC5300 is a simpler 3x3:3 RF design, but it does have 3 radios. The advantage here is if you have a very large number of wireless devices that need to connect simultaneously. Honestly though? I'd rather have the full control of two routers (with 4 radios between them) than the tradeoffs that a single 3 radio design currently offers (specifically; 'low' channel selection on 5GHz band 1 and 'high' channel selection on 5GHz band 2).

I agree with you post but this part is wrong. AC5300 uses the same 4x4 RF design as AC88U and AC3100. The sole difference is the extra 5 GHz radio and the extra 4 antennas.
I personally like the triband solutions because they ensure that I can get the fastest possible speed on the devices that support it.

 

[L&LD]

I stand corrected. All current model Asus routers are 4x4:4. Ty.

 

[sfx2000]

I personally like the triband solutions because they ensure that I can get the fastest possible speed on the devices that support it.

that basically don't do anything at all - because both the the radios are in the same physical place...

Apologies that you bought into the X-Stream Kool-Aid... marketeering and big numbers...

 

[Trentors]

that basically don't do anything at all - because both the the radios are in the same physical place...

On a forum like this do you really believe that people are not looking at the actual reviews instead of just the numbers on the box?
Again since all the radios reach every part of my household I do not see the disadvantage. And it still does not change the fact that MU-MIMO everyone is raving about has the same limitation. But unlike MU-MIMO, Xstream actually works.

 

[L&LD]

Trentors, I don't believe in 'Xstream' for myself or my customers either, but what I do believe in is results. If it works for you, 'done'!

 

[RMerlin]

Xstream addresses a very specific scenario. If you have multiple clients that need to transfer at full speed concurrently, doubling the capacity might help. Or if you have a mixture of very old legacy clients and modern 802.11ac clients, this can also help as you can keep them separate (tho personally I'd simply move those legacy clients to the 2.4 GHz band).

 

[sfx2000]

Xstream addresses a very specific scenario. If you have multiple clients that need to transfer at full speed concurrently, doubling the capacity might help.

The only scenario that XStream addresses, in my honest opinion, is Broadcom's Quarterly Shareholder Report...

The number of "legacy" 5GHz clients that do 11a is nearly zero, and same goes for single stream 11n that would support 5GHz...

Most of the clients these days fall into one of three categories - 11n 2.4GHz only (and those do not benefit from XStream), dual band 11n/11ac single stream - not a major problem for any access point that support 11ac, or 2-stream 11n/11ac...

(there are 3-stream 11n/11ac clients out there - MacBook Pro/iMac/MacPro are the most common, and there are add-on USB/PCI/PCI-e cards for WinBoxes - but again, XStream offers little benefit here).

XStream is a spectrum pig first off - it's one thing to perhaps 160MHz Wave 2, which Qualcomm-Atheros offers now, and Marvell shortly will do.. XStream in Wave1 just takes up spectrum - and in many cases, it's neighbor adverse... Even with Wave2, Broadcom's solution makes little sense...

Having two 5GHz AP's right on top of another - zero benefit to the client, and depending on markets, they can actually reduce performance due to near field interference... (and we won't discuss intermodulation issues, as this is way over the head for most forum members unless one has an RF background)

If I could rent a time machine - I would go back and whisper gently into that product manager's ear - "should you do this?" -- and even then, the answer probably would be "erm, let's reconsider..."

 

[buddy123]

I don't know how legitimate question it is, but I just spotted a great discount on the linksys 1900acs on Amazon.co.uk, now at 128£ instead of 244£
I was actually on stand by for black Friday for a satisfying enough discount on the asus ac88u, which is at about 280£, but the big price difference makes me wonder.
what do you think?


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[L&LD]

I don't know how legitimate question it is, but I just spotted a great discount on the linksys 1900acs on Amazon.co.uk, now at 128£ instead of 244£
I was actually on stand by for black Friday for a satisfying enough discount on the asus ac88u, which is at about 280£, but the big price difference makes me wonder.
what do you think?


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

First thing to keep in mind is; things don't go on sale at half price because they're flying off the shelves.

I think I would smile and keep walking past this 'deal'.

 

[thiggins]

SFX, as much as I dislike the push toward higher numbers, tri-radio routers can provide a benefit in the cases Rmerlin cites.

And what does 802.11a have to do with it?

 

[pete y testing]

I don't know how legitimate question it is, but I just spotted a great discount on the linksys 1900acs on Amazon.co.uk, now at 128£ instead of 244£
I was actually on stand by for black Friday for a satisfying enough discount on the asus ac88u, which is at about 280£, but the big price difference makes me wonder.
what do you think?


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

just for info , i have used and tested a lot of routers over the years and the 88u is in my opinion worth any extra cost as its just simply better , has better coverage , better grunt , better features , greater flexibility , its actually the best performing router i have used in years

i havnt looked at the equivalent linksys ea9500 as thats what you would compare the 88u with but i hear its pretty good as well

the linksys on the other hand is nothing special even in the 1900ac class world and you cant really compare it well against wave 2 2156M class