AC1900 for Futureproofing?

[twitchyzero]

looking to replace my aging routers (newest one being Dir-665/655)...right now wireless in the 3storey house is questionable...yes I understand AC doesn't help with signal propgation.

I'm waiting for R7000/RT-AC68u to go on sale

now I understand 11 AC wont be finalized until next year.

Will speeds for AC improve dramatically say few years later when they become more widespread and these 1st gen (1750) and 2nd gen chipsets (1900) not be able to support the faster speeds via software updates?

Currently I've no AC clients and probably won't own any in the foreseeable future besides from mobile devices where blazing speeds aren't crucial.

I'm seeing N66U/AC66U on sale and I'm thinking may be I should just bite
but since many of my routers have lifespan in excess of 5 years I'm thinking I should settle for the latest AC routers esp since I could use all the simultaneous routing performance from multi-core processors. Being able to handle heavy traffic load is my #1 priority...wireless 2nd.

Man if only the AC56U can go on sale this BF it would solve all my problems...seems to be a good balance and very well-rounded

I dont mind paying a bit more if it means it can be in service for a long time...my 10 year old DI-624 is getting long in the tooth

Thanks.

 

[twitchyzero]

surely someone can chime in?

 

[MaxGrit]

no, you shouldn't try to futureproof tech stuff

but I do like the 1GHz dual core on the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

It is $55 more than the Asus N900 which has a 600Mhz dual core.

and since you said, "Being able to handle heavy traffic load is my #1 priority...wireless 2nd."

I would go with the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

 

[thiggins]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/32238-ac1900-innovation-or-3d-wi-fi

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...32183-5-tips-for-buying-a-future-proof-router

 

[twitchyzero]

maxgrit the ac56u also sports a 800MHz dual core like the ASUS flagship model...biggest difference is 2x2 router vs 3x3.

thanks Tim..I haven't read the 2nd article until and it seems to be directed at my question!

However my question was left unanswered..a router cannot have significant improved throughput via FW updates once Draft AC is finalized and matured...correct?

I also have a question about routing performance...say I were to get a 1Gbps up 1Gbps down connection...what should I be looking for?

Does Wan to Lan = download rate and LAN to WAN = upload rate? What does the total simultaneous throughput mean?

Let's take a look at the AC56U figures...778Mbps W2L and L2W 800Mbps...does that mean it would bottleneck a true 1gbps up/down connection? Only a R7000 would be close to obtaining true 1gbps speeds because its W2L/L2W are 930-940Mbps?

 

[stevech]

11ac. ... Too soon. Too $$$

 

[thiggins]

First, it is unlikely that makers will issue firmware updates when the 11ac standard is released. They have from the start not referred to these products as "draft", so why would they issue updates. If they did, ther is nothing that would significantly increase throughput.

If you had true symmetrical Gigabit internet service, there is no consumer product I know of that would support it fully loaded up and down.

 

[twitchyzero]

but is that the right idea/explanation? That on a AC56U max upload rate is 800 and down rate is 778? When you have both running they cannot exceed the sum of the rate of 1250?

 

[thiggins]

I thought we were talking about wired routing throughput.

 

[CooCooCaChoo]

Yeah I would not bother with trying to future proof a tech purchase. There will always be something down the road that is going to be much faster than what you have now. My suggestion is to buy something that will last you a long time that has good performance that suits your needs now and not what you think you will have in the future.

 

[twitchyzero]

I thought we were talking about wired routing throughput.

we were/are

Yeah I would not bother with trying to future proof a tech purchase. There will always be something down the road that is going to be much faster than what you have now. My suggestion is to buy something that will last you a long time that has good performance that suits your needs now and not what you think you will have in the future.

you can't 100% futureproof but you can buy smart. When I bought a mobo for example I made sure I wait for the latest standards to come out first so I know couple years down the road the mobo isn't completely trash and provides a viable upgrade path (things like native USB3...PCIE-3 etc). I also wouldn't buy a N router now that AC is about to come out...what's $100 in couple year's time when your devices will be fully compatible and running at a reasonable speed.

So part 1 of my intial post has been answered...no draft AC devices wont see a significant performance gain once the AC standard matures. Part 2 asks if wired performance the metric 'Wan-to-Lan' and 'Lan-to-Wan' is interchangable with download speed and upload speed in the context of the reviews here.