Looking for a stable wireless router for network with 20+ clients

[amita]

Hello,
Today I have a VDSL modem router of D-Link, model 6740U-G2.
I find that from time to time this router gets stuck in a way that it does not allow internet access for some computers for some time, then it may solve this problem by itself.
When there is a connection issue, the router does not reply to PINGs as well.
Speaking with D-Link support they told me that when my network includes more then 10 clients, the problems that I face are expected - they claim that as this is a home router it will not be able to work with more then around 10 clients due to HW limitations. They say that this is a limitation of all types of home routers - they will not be able to handle more than ~10 clients.
I disagree, as I think that this is a FW issue rather than a HW issue, but it does not help me.

Now, I am looking for a recommendation for a wireless router that can handle 20 and even 30 clients without having connection issues.
I am willing to spend a bit more money to get a good and STABLE router.

I consider the RT-AC66U (I understand that it is exactly the same as RT-AC66R), then I saw that the RT-N66U (as well as the RT-N66R) may also be a good solution - as it have the same amount of RAM (256Gb), which I was told that is the source of the problem with the D-Link that only have 32Gb of RAM.

My connection configuration to the internet will be the D-Link configured as bridge only - in order to serve as VDSL modem, and then connect the new router that I want to buy as the main router and DHCP server of the network.
My network will be extended in the range using several wireless switches (feed from the new router's LAN port to their LAN port).

1. Does anyone have any recommendation for routers that will give stable connection to ~20-30 clients? (not necessarily ASUS, if possible not the most expensive ones)...
2. Does anyone have experience with either the ASUS RT-AC66U or RT-N66U - and working with more than 25 clients and maintaining stable connection to the internet for all clients? if so, please state how many clients are connected and still get the good stable internet connection.
3. Any recommendation for choosing RT-AC66U or the RT-N66U ?

I assume that I will not have any AC client for few years, and I plan on using this router form 5-6 years at least.

Thanks,
-- Amit.

 

[harvad]

Well.. for what it's worth i'm running a Asus RT-AC66U with 28 clients on average. And as a "Home Router" i find it very stable and very well performing.
I'm running Firmware:3.0.0.4.372.30_2 (Merlin build) on it.
A mix of clients. using 2.4 as the junk band and the 5GHz for 802.11n only. (no 802.11a clients there)

 

[amita]

Your information helps !

As I consider buying this router, and expect to have about 20-30 clients, via LAN and via Wireless all together, it is important for me to know that after spending that much of money - it will work OK.
Glad to hear that, Thanks.

BTW, is 'Merlin build' an ASUS official release, or a release of an open source version? is this related to the tomato open source firmware of this router?


Any other people that have experience with this router and with many clients that may contribute some statistics of their usage, please, don't be shy

Inputs for my other 2 questions are also welcome.

Cheers,
-- Amit.

 

[Fraoch]

3. Any recommendation for choosing RT-AC66U or the RT-N66U ?

I assume that I will not have any AC client for few years, and I plan on using this router form 5-6 years at least.

You more or less answered your own question here. ac clients won't be widely available for a year or two. The ac field is changing rapidly, new routers are being released quite frequently and lots more are in development.

I'd wait until ac stabilizes, prices drop, speeds increase and client availability increases.

On the other hand, 802.11n is as good as it will ever get...plus prices have come down. That $200 RT-N66U is now $150.

BTW, is 'Merlin build' an ASUS official release, or a release of an open source version? is this related to the tomato open source firmware of this router?

It's not an ASUS official firmware but it's very close. Developments focus on bugfixes, stability fixes and a few new features. ASUS' own firmware, Asuswrt, is also open-source, Asuswrt-Merlin just expands on it. ASUS does cooperate with Merlin, incorporating some fixes into their own firmware.

Tomato and DD-WRT are more radical departures from the original firmware. Lots of people like Tomato, particularly the Shibby version. I have heard of some problems with DD-WRT and these newer routers though.

 

[amita]

You more or less answered your own question here. ac clients won't be widely available for a year or two. The ac field is changing rapidly, new routers are being released quite frequently and lots more are in development.

I'd wait until ac stabilizes, prices drop, speeds increase and client availability increases.

On the other hand, 802.11n is as good as it will ever get...plus prices have come down. That $200 RT-N66U is now $150.

$50 of price difference is indeed a number not to be ignored.
I understand that the difference between the RT-N66U and the RT-AC66U is in 2 aspects:
1. The WiFi technology 802.11N vs. 802.11AC
2. The Flash size: 32MB for the N version, vs. 128MB to the AC version.

How important is this difference of FLASH memory size?
Can it affect the number of clients that an connect the router and work well?

Will these 2 routers use the same FW version?

Anybody with the RT-N66U which have 25 clients or more connected (both Wireless and LAN) to and that can report that the router is stable and that no disconnections occur?

 

[theirongiant]

The N66U has 256MB of working (volatile) RAM, and 32MB of Flash (non-volatile) RAM. The Flash is only used for the firmware and device settings, and is sufficiently large to allow for expandability.

256MB is more than sufficient to manage 32 clients. It could actually manage several hundred clients with so much RAM. That is how it is able to support 300,000 open connections.

 

[Fraoch]

Will these 2 routers use the same FW version?

No, they're too different - n vs. ac. They have the same CPU and 2.4 GHz radio but different switch chips and 5 GHz radio. Importantly, they have the same amount of RAM (256 MB, which is a lot for a router):

See the parts lists at:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...al-band-wireless-n900-gigabit-router-reviewed

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...-band-wireless-ac1750-gigabit-router-reviewed

This large amount of RAM ensures stability with many clients and connections. 20-30 clients is not a problem.

The firmware is different between the two but the GUI and the router functions are almost identical.

BTW sometimes the flash chips are selected simply based on chip availability and not firmware size. It's possible that 32 MB chips are less commonly available. There's a report of a router where only half of the flash is actually used, for example.

 

[ScottW]

Stable for me

I have a N66U with the RMerlin 3.0.0.4.270.26b firmware, and currently show 28 clients connected. Current uptime is only 17 days due to a power outage, but it has gone much longer than that with no stability or client issues whatsoever.

Clients include:
1 Windows7 desktop (wired)
2 Windows7 laptop (wireless 5g, one using IPSEC tunneling)
2 Windows Vista laptop (wireless 2.4g)
2 Apple Airport Express (wirelesss 2.4g, used for audio streaming)
6 IP Cameras (all wireless 2.4g, and all with port forwards for external access)
2 Iphone 4S (2.4g)
2 Iphone 3GS (2.4g)
2 Ipads (both on 5g)
2 Printers (one wired, one wireless 2.4g)
1 Blueray player (wired, frequent Amazon streaming)
1 Blueray player (wireless 5g, frequent Amazon streaming)
1 Dish network DVR (wired)
1 SiliconDust networked TV Tuner (wired)
2 Android devices (phone and tablet, wireless 2.4g)
1 RT-N66U acting as remote access point in South end of house

Three of the wireless devices are always connected to the remote RT-N66u AP, so they actually appear as "wired" devices to the RT-N66u router. All the other wireless devices are usually connected to the router, except when they move to the South end of the house (they flawlessly switch between the AP and the Router when moving).

I don't use any of the "Cloud" features, and don't have anything plugged into the USB ports.

I previously had a Dlink DIR-655 router, and a Dlink access point. The Dlink router needed to be rebooted (or rebooted itself spontaneously) every couple days. No such problems since swapping them out for a pair of RT-N66U, one as router and one in AP mode.

 

[amita]

Wow, this is impressive

ScottW,
You told me about your uptime, which is really impressive performance, especially considering the impressive network that you have, and impressive detailed reply

Thanks, now I am convinced.

I will order this router.
Willing to pay some dimes more then any other router I had up until now, in order to get this quite head and stable network.

 

[ibsurfin]

I have a growing business and I outgrew the N66U. I was using DSL passthrough on a tiny dsl modem to the N66U. I had a similar setup to Scott, maybe a little bit more connections. but it would get hot and slowdown occationally. So i bought the TPLink Archer D9 because it had better specs however the N66U with dsl passthrough was far better. After wasting my money on the TPLink I bought the Asus AC88U and It works fantastic. Plus with the N66U, i can use it as a repeater, which works flawlessly with a server that has 4 virtual machines running on it, and two wifi cameras. The TPlink was a waste of money. Asus is my pick.

 

[thiggins]

@ScottW: How many of those clients are simultaneously active? Why so many devices on 2.4GHz?

 

[PolarBear]

Now, I am looking for a recommendation for a wireless router that can handle 20 and even 30 clients without having connection issues.
I am willing to spend a bit more money to get a good and STABLE router.

2. Does anyone have experience with either the ASUS RT-AC66U or RT-N66U - and working with more than 25 clients and maintaining stable connection to the internet for all clients? if so, please state how many clients are connected and still get the good stable internet connection.

3. Any recommendation for choosing RT-AC66U or the RT-N66U ?

I have found the RT-AC66U (currently running Merlin 378.56_2) to be very stable. 20 - 30 clients, but probably only about 8 active simultaneously.

Uptime of 90 - 100 days is no problem. The only reason I didn't get longer is because of power outages, or because I updated to a newer version of Merlin.

If I remember correctly there is an article or posting somewhere on the forum saying that an AC router will give better wifi performance, even if all the clients are N.

If I could go back in time I would have chosen the RT-AC68U instead of RT-AC66U. Here, it's only the equivalent of $10 more, and is supposed to give better performance when running a VPN.

 

[ibsurfin]

I know you're referring to the AC version but when i used the N66U, it could stand up to several clients using it at the same time. I have a language school with e-learning time and the students need to use their own laptops and tablets. Lot's of students logging on at the same time, plus all their iphones and ipads running updates as soon as they would connect to a hotspot. I don't use it as my main router anymore but I still use it as a repeater.. I let Merlin sort the traffic. I would use the traditional QOS Merlin provided and set my personal mac to the highest level. I use to remote into the servers. The servers and my co-owners computer to high level. Cameras at laptops i provide to employee at medium. If i noticed an employee doing Facebook, texting, or streaming videos all the time on their personal or school provided laptop, i would set them at lowest. I let the QOS sort the students that log into the guest network out. The Asus N66U would get hot and slow at times, but never failed.