GT-AC5300 vs RT-AC88U

[Bobgroups]

Hi,

I'm not sure on which 2 go for of these 2 models

RT-AC88U or GT-AC5300​

* 8 x lan ports is good and then i dont need extra switch
* I want fast wired internet when working from home
* I want good wifi coverage for the whole house. currently have a cable modem and does not reach end of garden where I have a small study room for me.

some more qns:

Do gaming routers offer faster wired connections? Thereis a big price difference so wondering if worth paying the extra if i get more wifi coverage. Amazon in UK has more reviews and they seem better for the AC-88U

some 100+ ratings
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019MKO43M/?tag=smallncom-21

some 100 ratings
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074Z5JTLT/?tag=smallncom-21


Thanks

 

[drabisan]

I have a GT-AC5300 for several years. It was never a super solid router, but more than reasonable. For a long while I had a weekly reload scheduled and that does the job really well.
Newest 386 release improved the availability, but it still goes south every now and then so I went back to a weekly reboot during the night.
I would not say the gaming features are making wired faster - it's trivial to pass 1G between any 2 devices in LAN and from Internet to another device. So full line rate is not a challenge.
Wireless, having 3 bands, helps a lot! Especially in Europe where I can put one 5GHz radio on DFS channels that allow 1W. So better coverage, but subject to radar interference.
With 2x2 clients I can easily achieve ~650mbps on wifi on 5GHz. One laptop running Windows and the other one Debian, both can achieve those speeds.

Although a second 5GHz is more than useful and this along with 8 LAN ports are the reasons I bought it, you're paying the premium for gaming features. For me gaming features are simply useless, can't care less about it and I'm seeing it as garbage. If you don't need a second 5GHz radio and have wires through your house, buy the cheaper RT-AC88U and consider building an AiMesh.
I would swap my 4+yo GT-AC5300 for a 3 radio model with 8 LAN ports. Ideally with Merlin support, but I'm not aware of any such model.

 

[Bobgroups]

thanks that makes sense. I dont think i need the tri band. I mainly want to get away from just using my cable modem and have better controls esp parental controls as well as decent performance on wifi and wired when I'm working from home on Teams call - dont really want lag for that if kids are playing games etc

 

[drabisan]

I hear you! I'm in meetings several hours per day and I have 0 problems, no matter what family is doing on the internet. Plus, I have my backups running, locally and to internet.
I'm not using any QoS, but I do have plenty of bandwidth. I'm using Google Meet, but it's not like Teams is not a great product.
You should be good with any of those routers.

 

[Bobgroups]

thanks

 

[L&LD]

Neither of those two routers is a promising idea to purchase today.

The RT-AX86U, the RT-AX88U, and the RT-AC86U are the current models to buy in decreasing 'worth it' points.

All the wireless router models with eight LAN ports seem to get issues (sooner or later) and I would not consider them at all today. A switch is $15 away.

 

[Bobgroups]

ok thanks interesting to know about the potential for problems with 8 port routers....is that something that you saw reported a lot.

 

[Bobgroups]

I'm looking at this - ASUS RT-AC86U Wi-Fi AC2900 (AI Mesh USB 3.0 Router, AiProtection by Trend Micro, AI Mesh, WTFast Game Accelerator Adaptive QoS, Dual-WAN 3G/4G Support): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

is it easy to set up and how easy is it to upgrade to merlin firmware which i see on some of the amazon reviews