Dear SmallNetBuilders,
I'm about to upgrade my (old) router to something a bit more up to date. While I don't mind spending a good amount on doing so, I don't want to buy more than I need. I currently live in a medium-sized appartment (107 sqm / 1151 sqft) with about half the walls being concrete. I need to have my router in a corner of the apartment in a room with concrete walls.
My current situation and needs:
Below is a simple plan of my apartment:
All outer walls and walls with === are concrete.
Numbers indicate devices:
1) PS3 (2nd generation), WiiU and MacBook Air (A1370, acting as PLEX client).
2) PC with 3 stream N capability.
3) PC with 2 stream N capability
4) Frequent use of laptops with B/G, 2- and 3-stream N is frequently used.
5) iMac and NAS, wired connection (together file and media server for all clients)
Room 1 has the same usage as (4)
Apart from listed devices 3 iPhone 5's, 1 iPhone 4 and 2 Third Generation iPads are frequently used.
I currently have the 2nd generation AirPort Extreme router (A1143), this fails to deliver acceptable performance to (2) and performance to (1) is mostly slow but acceptable, although many times worse than so. Performance to other devices are acceptable, but improvement would be much appreciated.
I'd like to stream 1080p streams with bitrates up to 40 Mbit/s to the MacBook Air at (1). I'm not sure of it's wireless capabilities, but I believe it has 2 stream N (any info regarding this would be much appreciated). Currently, it's struggling with anything over 8 Mbit/s. I'd also like my laptop with 3 stream N as well as the computer (2) to be able to use the NAS and media server with good performance (i.e. being able to stream HD content and transfer large files at an acceptable rate).
It's also of great importance that the wired connection truly is 1Gbps since there is heavy traffic between the iMac and the NAS.
Routers I've been looking at:
If I understand the current situation properly, there's no harm in waiting 1-2 years with buying 802.11ac since current support is limited and it's possible that the standard changes.
I'm also wondering about internal vs. external antennae. From what I've found, there's no difference - is this true?
Asus RT-N66U
Asus RT-N56U
Linksys EA4500
Linksys EA3500
Netgear R6300
Questions:
I haven't been able to find out much about my current router, so I don't know what kind of improvement I can expect from this upgrade. I'm pretty sure that my current router only can operate a single band - so I guess I'll see a performance upgrade there. But I don't know how many streams it supports.
Except for answers on the questions in the text above, I'd love a recommendation on what router to buy. Please feel free to give advice on routers that I haven't mentioned as well. I usually like to buy "the best", but I don't want to waste my money. Of the things above, wired performance and good performance with high bitrate 1080p streaming is most important. If you think I need to change the (main) client for streaming media (MacBook Air) to something else, or perhaps use a USB wireless card - I'd love to know.
I'd like to thank you for any answers in advance.
--beedee
I'm about to upgrade my (old) router to something a bit more up to date. While I don't mind spending a good amount on doing so, I don't want to buy more than I need. I currently live in a medium-sized appartment (107 sqm / 1151 sqft) with about half the walls being concrete. I need to have my router in a corner of the apartment in a room with concrete walls.
My current situation and needs:
Below is a simple plan of my apartment:
Code:
+------------------------------------------+------------------------+
| | (2) |
| | |
| | |
| Room 1 | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| (1) | |
+=======================+=== ===+======+================ ===+
| (3) | | |
| | | |
| | |
| | |
| | (4) |
| +-------------------+ |
| | | | |
+---------------+-------+ | | |
| | | | | |
| | |
| | | | | |
+================= =+=== ==+===================+= ======+
| (5) [Router] | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+-----------------------+ +-----------+
Numbers indicate devices:
1) PS3 (2nd generation), WiiU and MacBook Air (A1370, acting as PLEX client).
2) PC with 3 stream N capability.
3) PC with 2 stream N capability
4) Frequent use of laptops with B/G, 2- and 3-stream N is frequently used.
5) iMac and NAS, wired connection (together file and media server for all clients)
Room 1 has the same usage as (4)
Apart from listed devices 3 iPhone 5's, 1 iPhone 4 and 2 Third Generation iPads are frequently used.
I currently have the 2nd generation AirPort Extreme router (A1143), this fails to deliver acceptable performance to (2) and performance to (1) is mostly slow but acceptable, although many times worse than so. Performance to other devices are acceptable, but improvement would be much appreciated.
I'd like to stream 1080p streams with bitrates up to 40 Mbit/s to the MacBook Air at (1). I'm not sure of it's wireless capabilities, but I believe it has 2 stream N (any info regarding this would be much appreciated). Currently, it's struggling with anything over 8 Mbit/s. I'd also like my laptop with 3 stream N as well as the computer (2) to be able to use the NAS and media server with good performance (i.e. being able to stream HD content and transfer large files at an acceptable rate).
It's also of great importance that the wired connection truly is 1Gbps since there is heavy traffic between the iMac and the NAS.
Routers I've been looking at:
If I understand the current situation properly, there's no harm in waiting 1-2 years with buying 802.11ac since current support is limited and it's possible that the standard changes.
I'm also wondering about internal vs. external antennae. From what I've found, there's no difference - is this true?
Asus RT-N66U
From what I can find, this seems to be the "best there is" at the moment. Everything seems good, but I don't know if I need it. I'm also a bit unsure on how well it would handle sending signals through multiple concrete walls compared to the others. I looked at the AC version too, but I don't see the need (see above)
Asus RT-N56U
Only 2 stream if I'm not mistaken. Test speeds seems to be good however, so I'm unsure if I'll notice the speed differences compared to the N66U.
Linksys EA4500
Same price, seems to be inferior to the Asus, although I've always liked Cisco/Linksys.
Linksys EA3500
Much cheaper, but still good speeds. Will I notice the speed difference?
Netgear R6300
High price, low functionality. Don't really like it.
Questions:
I haven't been able to find out much about my current router, so I don't know what kind of improvement I can expect from this upgrade. I'm pretty sure that my current router only can operate a single band - so I guess I'll see a performance upgrade there. But I don't know how many streams it supports.
Except for answers on the questions in the text above, I'd love a recommendation on what router to buy. Please feel free to give advice on routers that I haven't mentioned as well. I usually like to buy "the best", but I don't want to waste my money. Of the things above, wired performance and good performance with high bitrate 1080p streaming is most important. If you think I need to change the (main) client for streaming media (MacBook Air) to something else, or perhaps use a USB wireless card - I'd love to know.
I'd like to thank you for any answers in advance.
--beedee
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