Moving on from a ASUS n-56u. Need suggestions.

[hankscorpio17]

I have no idea where to begin. I was thinking NetGear r7000 which is 179.99 here in Canada but everyone here seems to be saying it'd outdated.

My current experience, the n-56u is no longer usable. Its wifi is sooo bad. So I need some advice.

My setup:

4 laptops - 2.4 and 5 ghz - all of them stream
1 desktop - Wired
3 ipads - mini and ipad 4. both iPad 4's will upgrade to the new iPad pro's when they come out. Heavy netflix and streaming on these.
Roku - heavy streaming on Netflix and Plex. Not 4k yet though.
Nexus Player - heavy Kodi
IPTV
1 printer
PS4 - Wired
Xbox 1- eventually, bro wants to buy one. Will be wired.
Wii-U - wireless
Panny Plasma on wireless
5 phones - 2 are Mu-MIMO enabled

Given these devices what are my options?

in Canada and I can\t justify 300+ on a router. Unless a good case can be made. I want something that will cover me for 3-4 years. I will be a buying a 4k TV soon, so will be doing 4k streaming then.

I am looking at Netgear r7000 which seems to get great reviews but is not MU-MIMO enabled. Also see the Linksys ea7500 for the same price on amazon.ca and is Mu-mimo enabled.

Help me narrow it down guys. I would be willing to go up a bit in price to 220ish if needed.

 

[Nullity]

I think you can get an Asus RT-AC68U (or maybe the RT-AC68P with the faster CPU) for ~$100 or less.

 

[System Error Message]

mu-mimo is useless without any mu-mimo clients so make sure your clients have mu-mimo before getting one.

otherwise netgear r7000 and asus ac68u are both reliable choices dependent on the firmware you prefer and hardware (incase you use it as your main router). 4K streaming uses 20Mb/s which is easy to achieve even on wireless N 2.4Ghz .

 

[avtella]

The AC68U and R7000 (both have similar hardware) are still good even today, both are still getting updates. Probably less issues compared to newer models as they have been out in the wild longer. When you buy the cutting edge models you end up being a guinea pig till issues are sorted out. If you have a bigger budget an R7800 or RT-AC3100 are a bit better range/speed wise, then again early "ax" draft models will be out soon anyway.

 

[hankscorpio17]

The AC68U and R7000 (both have similar hardware) are still good even today, both are still getting updates. Probably less issues compared to newer models as they have been out in the wild longer. When you buy the cutting edge models you end up being a guinea pig till issues are sorted out. If you have a bigger budget an R7800 or RT-AC3100 are a bit better range/speed wise, then again early "ax" draft models will be out soon anyway.

No what is that?

Seems like there is always new tech around the corner. A few more follow up questions.

R7000 vs RT-AC68u is one better than the other? I am in a condo. I will use this as my main router which will be attached to a Hitron CNG3 on bridge mode. Router will be in bedroom 1 but it must reach from bedroom 1,2 to living room. n56u range-wise didn't reach all the way to the end but i feel any of these will.

Someone mentioned the AC3100. would a refurbished one be fine?

I found one here for a great price: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ...HjNwsXr7-jfQ--YKnPK4fAMWaPNUNfE4U4RoCNbrw_wcB

 

[avtella]

Current gen routers are "ac" standard the next gen is "ax".

The AC68U I believe has slightly greater range on 2.4Ghz than the R7000. UI side it's a definite win for the ASUS.

 

[RMerlin]

Look for the RT-AC66U_B1, it's often slightly cheaper than the RT-AC68U, yet based on the same hardware. At least it was the case when I checked NCIX a few weeks ago.

 

[hankscorpio17]

Thanks guys. I'll pick up the ac-68u. They are the same price here.

 

[pege63]

In reality, AC1900 routers rarely provide higher performance than AC1750 (RT-AC66U_B1) routers. This is because the really high speeds are enabled on the 5 GHz band. There the two route types are as fast. AC1900 (RT-AC68) routers can deliver better performance at really long distances, as the range is the major advantage of the 2.4 GHz band. In order to benefit from Turbo-qam technology, the client who connects must also have Turbo-qam support.