Best router for Range, mobile app, and local file sharing

[TomNet]

I have a bunch of family and friends asking me to tell them what wireless routers to buy, so I need some advice.

Here is what I'm after, in order:

- Range, at this time this is mostly for 11n 2.4GHz devices (e.g. tablets). Everyone needs more range.

The SNB 'router ranking' tells me that the best is usually ASUS. The ranking doesn't let me compare routers of different classes, but I assume that the 11ac routers offer no range advantage for the 11n clients.

- Mobile Apps for basic router management (and also for IP Camera for some people)

ASUS falls down here because their apps seem focused on cloud storage and remote file access which no one I know needs. Linksys seems like the best for this to me - I like their 'smart wifi' app.

D-Link would be best for the friends who also wants IP Camera - I like their DCS-942L camera, which I believe can be controlled with the same app. However, D-Link routers do quite badly in range ranking.

- General reliability and lack of firmware quirks and bugs

Reading these forums it appears that Apple is considered best for this, but they don't have my other requirements.

- Local file sharing via SMB or maybe DLNA. So I can connect a USB drive and share movies to a media player or Apple or Android tablet.

Many routers seem to support this and it is easy to figure out which don't. Currently I'm using a Linksys EA3500 which does SMB well.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[thiggins]

I have a bunch of family and friends asking me to tell them what wireless routers to buy, so I need some advice.

Here is what I'm after, in order:

- Range, at this time this is mostly for 11n 2.4GHz devices (e.g. tablets). Everyone needs more range.

The SNB 'router ranking' tells me that the best is usually ASUS. The ranking doesn't let me compare routers of different classes, but I assume that the 11ac routers offer no range advantage for the 11n clients.

Correct. AC routers technically don't improve range. They can provide higher throughput at a given location, when used with AC clients. This can make borderline locations with connectivity but low throughput into usable locations, giving the appearance of improved range.

- Mobile Apps for basic router management (and also for IP Camera for some people)

ASUS falls down here because their apps seem focused on cloud storage and remote file access which no one I know needs. Linksys seems like the best for this to me - I like their 'smart wifi' app.

D-Link would be best for the friends who also wants IP Camera - I like their DCS-942L camera, which I believe can be controlled with the same app. However, D-Link routers do quite badly in range ranking.

This feature is still in early days. It was a hot item last year. Remains to be seen whether manfs will stick with it. I agree, Linksys seems to be the best here, possibly NETGEAR next.

- General reliability and lack of firmware quirks and bugs

Reading these forums it appears that Apple is considered best for this, but they don't have my other requirements.

Hard one to call. But it's clear you might want to avoid ASUS. Just check out the sub-forums to see the continuing problems they have with firmware stability.

- Local file sharing via SMB or maybe DLNA. So I can connect a USB drive and share movies to a media player or Apple or Android tablet.

Many routers seem to support this and it is easy to figure out which don't. Currently I'm using a Linksys EA3500 which does SMB well.

Linksys and NETGEAR tend to lead here.

 

[TomNet]

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, it will be interesting to see where the mobile apps go. I find the linksys app useful, e.g. to turn on guest mode, or to press the WPS button w/o going to the router (which for many people is in the basement).

Linksys' idea of having a mini app-store of 3rd party apps sounded good to me, but it doesn't really seem to have taken off.

Thanks for pointing out the NETGEAR app. The reviews aren't great, but I guess that is probably common with this sort of app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dragonflow

I might consider the NETGEAR WNDR4700 CENTRIA, due to its range and storage options.

Amongst the D-Link's, it sounds like the DIR-827 is a decent option, but it doesn't support the D-Link app and that was my reason for considering D-Link in the first place.

When I go to D-Link's website to see which 11n routers support their app:
http://www.dlink.com/ca/en/home-solutions/connect/routers
The first in line, with a "NEW" tag, is the DIR-855, which I think they released in 2008. D-Link is making it very hard for me to like them.

BTW, I think your 'Router Ranker' is great. It made it really easy for me to zero in on what mattered to me (range) and compare the routers in a class.

 

[thiggins]

Yeah, NETGEAR is coming from behind in app development. But they are throwing some money at trying to attract developers by running a contest. Probably won't be until next year that we see the results.

The main problem is most router buyers focus on price. So the market is small for $200 routers and has trouble funding itself.

The CENTRIA is a decent router. Best one for storage performance.

Thanks for the feedback on the Ranker. Glad it helped.

 

[TomNet]

Hey, now that you point it out, NETGEAR's plans look very interesting.

Would be great to run Twonky on my router, and be able to keep it up to date (as opposed to having it embedded in the firmware as they tried on an old Linksys router).

Seems like most of the apps currently only work on their NAS products. Hopefully they will come to existing routers.