Netgear R8000 AC Router - If you have one post here

[cc666]

To give background, I have owned the Netgear R7000 and now own the Lynksys WRT 1900ac.

The R7000 I returned for the Linksys. At the time the firmware was not good on the R 7000.

The linksys has been ok, latest update I am getting random reboots. Range is just OK.

Purchased the R8000 and set it up and is running 6 hours. The 2x5.0 GHz bands are just what I was looking for. I have a server with an Asus USB-AC56 wireless adapter attached to. With the Linksys best connection rate was 520 mbs. With the R 7000 it was about the same, This is located in my basement, Router location on main floor of 3,000 sq foot house. Set up the R 8000 with a dedicated AC 5.0 band, connected the Asus USB-AC56 adapter and immediatly got a 650 mps connection.

I then took the Linksys 1900 and turned it into a wireless bridge, moved it to connect to my OPPO 103 player where I stream from Netflix or hi def audio from my server. Connected into the dedicated 5.0 AC band and it connected immediately. Ran a VODOO service connection test and it was burried wide open. Awesome!

I have to say so far the R8000 is a clear winner, It is lightning fast on all connections, and has not had one hiccup so far. When I fired up the router I did update to the latest firmware from the Netgear site.

I was hesitant to make this purchase but I am so pleased with the performance so far, what a pleasant surprise! The Lynksys in the Wireless Bridge mode is where its staying. I finally found my ultimate setup.

Will update as time goes on. If you were on the fence like me about the R8000 I strongly suggest you give it a shot.


CC

 

[sm00thpapa]

How do the antennas feel to you? Most are saying they feel fragile and can break easily. Sucks they are fixed antennas.

 

[cc666]

I set up the load balancing feature, then started stream from server to OPPO 103 (Hi Def music playing) then ran the test from the same server to my laptop (laptop does not have ac) results here. Two heavy streams from the same source.

Upload ---------------- 48.24 MBPS
Download ------------ 91.45 MBPS

See attached. I never had speeds this fast.

As far as the antennas are, not cheap but also not like the traditional antennas. Also they are not fixed they can be angled.

CC

 

[Ciris]

I have one and it is a beast of router but their are minor quips (none really about performance though) my quips are about the antenna design and router setup. Again if its about performance this one is solid.

 

[azazel1024]

Long distance to router? 48/96Mbps is pretty slow. Well, unless you are at resonably long distance.

 

[Searay]

I set up the load balancing feature, then started stream from server to OPPO 103 (Hi Def music playing) then ran the test from the same server to my laptop (laptop does not have ac) results here. Two heavy streams from the same source.

Upload ---------------- 48.24 MBPS
Download ------------ 91.45 MBPS

See attached. I never had speeds this fast.

As far as the antennas are, not cheap but also not like the traditional antennas. Also they are not fixed they can be angled.

CC

Those results are nothing to get excited over, the attached picture is in Mbps not MBps that's a huge difference and easy to get confused, your Download is only 11MBps and yes a big improvement depending on what you're upgrading from.

 

[Searay]

I have one and it is a beast of router but their are minor quips (none really about performance though) my quips are about the antenna design and router setup. Again if its about performance this one is solid.

I 've raised them only 8 times in past 4 weeks. I honestly cannot see any difference in my setup. I'm sure it makes a difference in some locations but mine looks and works as good as the r7000 with them down coverage wise. It does Not get hot either.

I will say when two AC clients are on radio two and downloading two separate 8gig files from two wired servers the r8000 is no match for the r7000. The r8000's throughput dwindles to a 3rd of what it is when only 1 client is downloading. yes the antennas were in the up position.

RTT when tested using LAN Speedtest with LST server option is also double in most cases.

 

[RMerlin]

Just a quick note to tinkerers out there: Netgear already posted the GPL to the R8000 firmware on their website. Kudo for doing this so quickly (and there's even two versions available already).

The R8000 is based on the newest SDK7 from Broadcom.

 

[azazel1024]

I 've raised them only 8 times in past 4 weeks. I honestly cannot see any difference in my setup. I'm sure it makes a difference in some locations but mine looks and works as good as the r7000 with them down coverage wise. It does Not get hot either.

I will say when two AC clients are on radio two and downloading two separate 8gig files from two wired servers the r8000 is no match for the r7000. The r8000's throughput dwindles to a 3rd of what it is when only 1 client is downloading. yes the antennas were in the up position.

RTT when tested using LAN Speedtest with LST server option is also double in most cases.

Any chance it is a disk contention issue from the server? Mechanical drives?

That sounds like a pretty horrendous bug or else mechanical drive thrashing.

 

[Searay]

Two totally different wired server boxes and even it they weren't the r7000 still preform better. Oh and two i5 SVS1511 sony VAIOS with hybrid drives with intel 7260 AC

New beta fW posted on NG Forum .90 for all you new testers who joined the test this past week. LOL

The max rate when using r7000 held at 866.7 on each client while the r8000 dropped to 780 today, but when I checked it 3 weeks ago it dropped to 580. All test were conducted in my home test chamber ( front room )

 

[theveterans]

Two totally different wired server boxes and even it they weren't the r7000 still preform better. Oh and two i5 SVS1511 sony VAIOS with hybrid drives with intel 7260 AC

New beta fW posted on NG Forum .90 for all you new testers who joined the test this past week. LOL

The max rate when using r7000 held at 866.7 on each client while the r8000 dropped to 780 today, but when I checked it 3 weeks ago it dropped to 580. All test were conducted in my home test chamber ( front room )

I wouldn't trust link rates as indication of performance. It's throughput and latency that matters.

 

[Searay]

I wouldn't trust link rates as indication of performance. It's throughput and latency that matters.

My mistake I should had posted results of throughput. r7000 appox 32MBps with two simultaneous downloads and low teens with 2 simultaneous with
r8000. Both routers preform about same with only 1 DL at a time.

I guess my comment regarding a 3rd of the r7000 was not clear.

"The r8000's throughput dwindles to a 3rd of what it is when only 1 client is downloading."

 

[sm00thpapa]

How do the antennas feel for anyone who owns this router?

 

[connorm]

smoothpapa, why are you so curious about something you dont seem to want.......

are you trying to want it? i thought it was out of your price range?

 

[sm00thpapa]

Just curious.

 

[cc666]

setup

Those results are nothing to get excited over, the attached picture is in Mbps not MBps that's a huge difference and easy to get confused, your Download is only 11MBps and yes a big improvement depending on what you're upgrading from.

To put everything in perspective:

In my case this is downloaded to a standard 300 mbps 5.0 GH connection on my laptop. (Intel 6235)

So it looks like this:

FROM
Server (ASUS USB AC Adapter) connecting AC at 650 mps to the R8000 (down 1 floor)

TO:
ASUS Laptop (Intel 6235) connected at 300 mps from the router. Distance from router about 55 feet.

If I had an AC adapter on my laptop numbers would be much higher.

Also I know if I just plugged in my 2 TB HD right to the R8000 the speeds will also be much faster.

This exact same setup with the R 7000 yielded around 7-8 MBps, so there is a direct comparison.

CC

 

[Ciris]

The antennas feel delicate. Best be careful not to break them. But that would probably force me to mod the unit and put some standard antennas. Not sure how much of an improvement that would make. Also theres a full teardown of the router in the ddwrt forums.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Non removable antennas is a deal breaker for me. So I guess Asus is getting my money.

 

[thiggins]

Non removable antennas is a deal breaker for me.

Why? Do you always change your antennas?

I thought all these routers were too expensive for you.

 

[IAAI]

Why? Do you always change your antennas?



I thought all these routers were too expensive for you.

U r everywhere [emoji23]