Need to upgrade router from a Linksys DIR-655

[dvohwinkel]

I have around 14 current devices using wireless N single band.
2 are capable of N dual band

and yes I have awful wireless speed on my DIR-655 wireless

I want to add....

a Roku 4 (AC) (Stream 4k)
3 laptop adapters (AC)

I'm trying to understand all these new speeds AC numbers and tech like Xstream and MU-MIMO.. So confusing to someone coming from a draft N 150 router. I'm reading that some do not perform too well doing both N and AC.. Obviously I hang on to tech for a while, so something slightly future-proof. I also make use of wired GigE. I can't spend more than $250.

Stability is very important and the ability to run a third-party firmware(Tomato, DD-WRT, etc..) a definite plus but not mandatory.

What should I be considering?

 

[sfx2000]

Don't know what your budget is - but the AC1900 class right now is a good value...

Netgear's R7000, Asus' RT-AC68U, Linksys (many, pick one...), along with Edimax, TP-Link's Archer series - they're all pretty good.

Going into MU-MIMO/X-Stream, etc... probably more than you need...

Check TP-Link's Archer series and see if that works... main site has a number of reviews on that product line.

 

[dvohwinkel]

Don't know what your budget is - but the AC1900 class right now is a good value...

Netgear's R7000, Asus' RT-AC68U, Linksys (many, pick one...), along with Edimax, TP-Link's Archer series - they're all pretty good.

Going into MU-MIMO/X-Stream, etc... probably more than you need...

Check TP-Link's Archer series and see if that works... main site has a number of reviews on that product line.

I am trying to not go about $250 or so..

 

[System Error Message]

MU-MIMO only works if your clients are MU-MIMO capable. It has nothing to do with the number of clients. What an MU-MIMO client does when it has SU and MU clients is that 1 channel is given to SU-MIMO clients whereas MU-MIMO clients get the rest.

If you have large numbers of non MU-MIMO clients than the netgear R7000 would be a good choice as some have put 100 clients on it before. Some routers use software to do the work and the netgear r7000 and mikrotik's indoor APs (basically the rb9xx series) will handle many clients.

 

[L&LD]

MU-MIMO only works if your clients are MU-MIMO capable. It has nothing to do with the number of clients. What an MU-MIMO client does when it has SU and MU clients is that 1 channel is given to SU-MIMO clients whereas MU-MIMO clients get the rest.

That is wrong. Not how MU-MIMO works at all.

 

[System Error Message]

That is wrong. Not how MU-MIMO works at all.

What i mean is that it has nothing to do with how many clients it can support. And some MU-MIMO do differ but i was just explaining the best case scenario or how it was theoratically designed.

 

[L&LD]

What i mean is that it has nothing to do with how many clients it can support. And some MU-MIMO do differ but i was just explaining the best case scenario or how it was theoratically designed.

Still wrong.

 

[avtella]

You can have 3 1x1, 2 1x1 + 1 2x2 or 2 2x2 MU-MIMO clients work concurrently with the QCA9984/94. With other chipsets its 3 1x1 or 1 2x2 + 1 1x1 client.

Normally in SU-MIMO the router rotates between lets say clients a-b-c-d-e-f-g serially, in MU-MIMO mode with lets say a,b,c being 1x1 MU-MIMO clients it would be as following (a,b,c in a group working concurrently) then d, e, f, g so all clients benefit by getting more air time. Nothing to do with extra channels. Correct me if I explained it wrong.

 

[sfx2000]

MU-MIMO only works if your clients are MU-MIMO capable. It has nothing to do with the number of clients. What an MU-MIMO client does when it has SU and MU clients is that 1 channel is given to SU-MIMO clients whereas MU-MIMO clients get the rest.

It might be easier to explain that MU is one or more time slots on the link, rather than a "stream" or "channel" - I understand where you're at...

To do MU, one must have 2 or more MU capable clients - and then the AP may decide to insert 1 or more MU frames on the link, depending on conditions (is the Ranging/Sounding favorable or not)...

But we don't mix frame types - either a frame is MU, or it's SU... but in the timeline/workflow, an MU AP will blend things as needed...

 

[dvohwinkel]

It might be easier to explain that MU is one or more time slots on the link, rather than a "stream" or "channel" - I understand where you're at...

To do MU, one must have 2 or more MU capable clients - and then the AP may decide to insert 1 or more MU frames on the link, depending on conditions (is the Ranging/Sounding favorable or not)...

But we don't mix frame types - either a frame is MU, or it's SU... but in the timeline/workflow, an MU AP will blend things as needed...

I realize you need MU-MIMO capable clients to get the FULL benefit of MU-MIMO.. but wouldn't it be like a 4 x 1x1 where each of the 4 1x1 streams would only have 150mbit max.. so since I have like 12 N 1x1 clients it would be like 12 / 4 = 3 clients sharing each of the 4 150 mbit connections in a round robin fashion.. instead of what I have now with the DIR-655 which is 12 clients all sharing round robin style?
So wouldn't this basically give my clients a 4x (12 / 3) time slot still sharing the 150mbit link.. but with their time slots being 4x longer?

I'm really trying to understand. Thanks

 

[sfx2000]

To get any benefit of MU, one must have two or more MU capable clients...

Any 802.11ac Router/AP is likely going to give a better experience than an older N-class Router/AP - from a Router perspective - more resources, and the 802.11ac capable chipsets tend to do a very good job with 11n...

But plainly put, the client is the limitation - so it might be a better 802.11n, but it's still 802.11n - and it's going to work the same way, whether it's N300/600 (most common) or AC1900 class, or even the bigger numbers...