Looking for a new router

[thelawnet]

Currently I have a Buffalo wzr-ag300nh router. It's not all that stable, and for that reason I want to replace it.

I have a two-storey house and stream Blu-Rays from server upstairs to streaming box downstairs using 600mbit powerline devices. I have found that these don't provide enough bandwidth, maybe only 30-40mbit if I place them on different floors. However by running a cat5 cable down the stairs I can get around 80-90mbit with the powerline adapters in adjacent rooms.

Obviously this isn't a great solution, so I'm looking at:

(a) good stable router for normal stuff - ipad, phone, etc.
(b) maybe try to stream the blu-ray over wifi, to junk the powerline? In which case I need a bridge/second router as well. But I am not sure if this is possible or worth trying?

So I guess I need at least one 802.11ac router, but maybe two?

 

[Trip]

A few question first: Did you run cat5, or cat5e? Measuring 80-90 mbit transfers, I'm assuming cat5, as 5e should get you near-gigE speed (800-1000mbit). Also, 30-40mbit seems rather low for 600mbit powerline... Possible breaker divisions aside, the circuitry in your place may simply not be powerline-friendly, for reasons above my level of understanding in that area...

Moving on, if you can wire to the second location, that would be preferable. If you're intent on going all-wireless, then I would do a pair of identical wifi routers (or APs), one set as an AP bridge, one set as a wifi router, with the first connecting to the broadcast of the second. And most likely with directional antennae placed on each, pointing directly at one another. Then you'd want to wire in a switch and/or another AP off of the bridged AP. This will preserve full-bandwidth wireless, as opposed to halving the throughput with any devices set as repeaters. A pricey option if you go 100% AC, but you might be able to do the bridge link with 2 quality N-class APs, and at 2x2 MIMO, you could net somewhere in the 100-200mbit/s range, plenty of bandwidth for a few 1080p streams, plus other traffic.

For stability, you can probably get near-continuous uptime out of several of the more mature AC1900 or wired consumer routers, provided whatever choice of firmware (factory or otherwise) has a proven track record. Else, the next level up would be something like an edgerouter lite, entry-level Cisco/Juniper or a even a VPN or security appliance (Fortinet, Zyxel, Cyberoam, etc.).

Hope some of those ideas help!

 

[fistv]

I firmly believe if you have a house and it's yours you should wire it for networking as well as coax for cable, it's a good investment. Friend of mine had a pipe leak in the wall so he has to open walls on two floors, I'm pulling cable this weekend while he has it open, a few all the way to the attic so we can run a couple of other rooms on the second floor from the top down.
I'm also going to agree with a wired core router and wired AP's where needed though I do like the option of using a wired router in AP mode off the main router and getting the benefit of those extra wired ports.

 

[azazel1024]

I firmly believe if you have a house and it's yours you should wire it for networking as well as coax for cable, it's a good investment. Friend of mine had a pipe leak in the wall so he has to open walls on two floors, I'm pulling cable this weekend while he has it open, a few all the way to the attic so we can run a couple of other rooms on the second floor from the top down.
I'm also going to agree with a wired core router and wired AP's where needed though I do like the option of using a wired router in AP mode off the main router and getting the benefit of those extra wired ports.

Meh. Extra power draw and cost. If you need the extra ports, just get a cheap gig switch. An simple 8 port gig switch is maybe going to run you 1-2w (excluding port use), cost maybe $20-30, compared to probably 30-80% more than that for a gig wifi router and probably 3-15w of power consumption.

I completely agree on wiring a house if and when you can. As for the OP, yes a couple of routers in bridge mode should work great for you. Depending on exact distance something like a couple of Archer C7 (because cheap and fast) in bridge mode should cost you $200 or less and depending on exact distance on setup, you could probably net a good 100-400Mbps of throughput (again, depends highly on range). If you need more range/throughput, some bigger antennas on each end won't cost much. Maybe $20-30 for some 7 or 9dBi omnis or half again as much for some small parabolics or yagis. Probably could up net throughput by 25-50% for your installation depending on just how much higher gain.

 

[thelawnet]

I firmly believe if you have a house and it's yours you should wire it for networking as well as coax for cable, it's a good investment.

Not my house.

Just ordered two Archer C7s. A little more expensive here (£85 each with 20% tax) but not much priced less, just the DIR-868L at £75.

Will see how it works with the two routers in tandem. If it's good then the powerline kit can go. If not, I will keep just one of them.

 

[wireless router reviews]

Thank you.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

Assuming your incoming internet connection is strong and fast, here's what I do.

I have two routers, both are refurbs. One is a Netgear R6300 V1. The other is an AC1450 upgraded to a R6300V2. I have DD-WRT (kong) on both. This is just my current set up. I have had others in the past with different firmware. Netgear refurbs have been reliable for me and there's several good deals available now with them.

The R6300V1 is my main router. The R6300V2 is set up as a 5GHz client bridge. This permits the R6300V2 to carry wired signals to media devices. It also allows me to put a 2nd 2.4GHz SSID on the R6300V2 and use the 5GHz connection to the main router as the tether.

5GHz can be a little quirky to set up on DD-WRT. You need to set the region and channel precisely or it may not connect. There are a lot of other set up options for wireless that can affect the speed greatly ... some might seem insignificant but they can make a big difference. Ditto with 2.4GHz, but less so.

Also, with DD-WRT, some versions are more stable than others. I'm using 25015-SP1 on my R6300V1 and 24345M STD OLDD on my R6300V2. Before installing either, you need to flash the routers with an initial flash version.

 

[thelawnet]

So I now have two C7 1750s.

Is there a list of suggested settings for best performance?

On the main router I have everything on default, with WPA/WPA2 enabled, and both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz channels enabled.

On the bridging router I am bridging both channels, as well as broadcasting new channels.

I tested it on a 3d bluray and it's at least 'very good', but I noticed one stutter in my 10 minutes of testing, so I am wondering maybe if I have the best settings.

Do I want to bridge both channels? Or is it better to pick one or the other?

Unfortunately I don't have a laptop, so it's a little tricky for me to test the speed of the bridging router.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

So I now have two C7 1750s.

Is there a list of suggested settings for best performance?

On the main router I have everything on default, with WPA/WPA2 enabled, and both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz channels enabled.

On the bridging router I am bridging both channels, as well as broadcasting new channels.

I tested it on a 3d bluray and it's at least 'very good', but I noticed one stutter in my 10 minutes of testing, so I am wondering maybe if I have the best settings.

Do I want to bridge both channels? Or is it better to pick one or the other?

Unfortunately I don't have a laptop, so it's a little tricky for me to test the speed of the bridging router.

I have no experience with your routers, so my reply is from my own experience using DD-WRT and Padavan's Asus software for bridge routers.

Normally, you only bridge the 5GHz frequency, not both. That would just confuse the router. The purpose of the wireless bridge is to create a wireless tether between the two routers. 5GHz is much faster and/or less congested than 2.4GHz, thus the common use of 5GHz for the bridge frequency. The wired ports on the bridge router commonly connect to media equipment. Some firmware, not all, allows the 2.4GHz frequency to remain available on the bridged router. If you are one of the lucky ones, this gives you the capability to put a 2nd SSID on it. Use it to move some 2.4GHz traffic from your main router to the bridge router.