Advice on replacement modem/router

[Colc]

My adsl down load speed is around 4mbps, I have a D-Link G604T 11g, and two PC,s on the Network (one of the PC's is connected via a dongle) 1 Laptop occasionally. do not do large file transfers but watch Netflix regularly. The D-Link copes with all that but sometimes takes a long time to load Roku/Netflix on the TV.
I am considering the TP Link Archer D7 but would like an opinion; do I require all the bells and whistles to improve my system? if not I welcome suggestion as to a suitable modem/router.

 

[Trip]

Hi Colc. Are you sure that's it's the D-Link which is causing the buffering issues, and not your DSL connection? As you can see here, Netflix recommends at least 5Mbps for "high def" content, as do most other streaming services. If your ISP doesn't offer any higher-speed options, then perhaps going to a router with some good QoS (quality of service) built-in would be a next step.

 

[Colc]

I think it is the Dlink, I have immediate access to a movie on Netflix on my PC, but Roku can take a minute or two to log on then another delay to get Netflix up. I do not expect to receive HD, the options available are Auto, low, medium, high, the low or medium settings are providing a good picture.
I have purchased an Archer D7 which when arrives will be steep learning curve after years of the basic Dlink, I use a VPN with its own DNS for Netflix on Roku. With the two channel setup, is it possible to dedicate the 5ghz to Roku with its own dns and the other channel to the PC with my provider DNS, I do not transfer large files etc.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, Incidentally the speed I mentioned is, by Australian ADSL standards considered good!!!

 

[Trip]

Hi Colc - Hopefully this new unit will let you know definitively about how much the D-Link is at fault... The learning curve shouldn't be too bad, either -- here's a link to the Archer C7 interface. I'd play around in there to familiarize yourself a bit, so you're more acclimated once the unit arrives.

As for DNS, that is something you can specify on the endpoint devices themselves, and it's independent of anything like wifi channel frequency. If you leave DNS fields blank on your endpoints, they should grab the default DNS entries from the Archer, of which only 1 pair (or trio) can be stored (on most soho units, anyways). For wifi, you can dedicate whichever channel you'd like to whichever clients (as long as their radios support the broadcasted frequency and/or channel widths) and segregate streaming traffic, for example, to 5Ghz, while you put all other traffic on 2.4Ghz. That's a very common usage case scenario.

As for your ADSL speed, I hear you. I'm in an area where the DSL provider isn't much faster. That's why having a proper quality-of-service algorithm and/or queuing structure can make a huge difference when trying to squeeze all this different stuff through one thin(ish) pipe. Probably a topic you'll want to read up on if your default setup doesn't quite solve your lag/buffering issues.