New Router Choice

[SuperDave21]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum after stumbling around for some answers. I currently have a Netgear R8000 and we just got gigabit installed. I was thrilled to finally go gig, but now I'm disappointed at the lack of speed and bandwidth I'm receiving both wireless and wired. On my 2.4GHz network, I'm only getting between 30-40 down on older devices and 50-60 down on newer devices. On my 5GHZ network, I'm getting between 200-300 down depending on the device. As for wired, I can't seem to get beyond 500 down using a laptop with a gig NIC. We had a tech come out to check the modem/ONT and verified that, directly connected to the modem, it gets around 950 down so the modem isn't the issue.

I'm tossing around the idea of getting a newer, more beefier, router to handle streaming, gaming, and larger file downloads, but I'm seeing some of the reviews on here (especially the WAN to LAN comparisons) are pointing to devices like the Netgear AC1900. Can anyone point me in the direction to a router that would get me the highest bandwidth possible so I can get the most out of my new gigabit internet please? Thanks in advance!

 

[L&LD]

I believe you are already getting the most out of your new GB ISP speeds (congrats, btw).

The limiting factors are not just the router, but WiFi in general and your network specific (devices, location and other WiFi networks nearby).

Having said that, the latest routers such as the RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U or the RT-AC5300 all feature the minimum hardware needed (1.4GHz dual processors, 512MB ram) to truly extract the most from your ISP.

What devices do you have? Are you able to upgrade the WiFi adaptor card on any of them to AC class WiFi? How far from the router and how many walls or other obstacles are between them and the devices?

Are some of these handheld devices? These usually are tuned for greatest battery life, not highest network performance.

Do you have your current router optimally located within the area(s) that require WiFi? At least 10 feet above ground level (not just the floor) and at least 3 feet away from any other obstacles like walls, ceilings and heavy furniture and/or away and out of closets, is ideal.

Have you tested your router for the best channel with regards to throughput and lowest latency? Do not use utilities like inssider and the like. Simply use a fast computer that is directly wired to the router with a large test file and transfer it to a plugged in (to AC power) laptop at various points within the required area. Make good notes of not just the highest transfer speed (best balance for all points tested), but also how fast browsing the internet is too (in addition to your local shares). Do this for each channel (1, 6 and 11) on the 2.4GHz network that doesn't overlap others. And for each channel you can on the 5GHz band too. You will quickly find the channels that give the best overall performance for your devices and your specific network environment.

With all the above said, keep in mind that no one device will be able to fully utilize your 1Gbps ISP speeds. There are very few websites and even fewer use cases where a single device will saturate your connection. What you have with your Gbps speeds is the ability for everyone on the network to get as much (reasonable) bandwidth as needed for normal tasks today.

The steps above will help your router have the best chance of doing that for you.


P.S. All your wired devices should enjoy the full ISP speeds you pay for. The wireless devices will be some percentage of that, even at best case (same room, no interference, no other network activity). At normal usage distances (10 to 100 feet), wireless device's throughput can be half or even less of their indicated connection speeds (because of the additional overhead WiFi demands). Getting a new router may not give you much effective difference in actual network performance because of these factors.

 

[TonyH]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum after stumbling around for some answers. I currently have a Netgear R8000 and we just got gigabit installed. I was thrilled to finally go gig, but now I'm disappointed at the lack of speed and bandwidth I'm receiving both wireless and wired. On my 2.4GHz network, I'm only getting between 30-40 down on older devices and 50-60 down on newer devices. On my 5GHZ network, I'm getting between 200-300 down depending on the device. As for wired, I can't seem to get beyond 500 down using a laptop with a gig NIC. We had a tech come out to check the modem/ONT and verified that, directly connected to the modem, it gets around 950 down so the modem isn't the issue.

I'm tossing around the idea of getting a newer, more beefier, router to handle streaming, gaming, and larger file downloads, but I'm seeing some of the reviews on here (especially the WAN to LAN comparisons) are pointing to devices like the Netgear AC1900. Can anyone point me in the direction to a router that would get me the highest bandwidth possible so I can get the most out of my new gigabit internet please? Thanks in advance!

Another example of forgetting communication is 2 way business. Simply your device's NIC/WiFi card should match your high end router to maximize it's performance level.

 

[pete y testing]

i will start by saying welcome to the forum

, it gets around 950 down so the modem isn't the issue.

so im guessing thats you speed test results over the internet and you have some form of 1000Mbps type internet connection

I can't seem to get beyond 500 down using a laptop with a gig NIC.

and that would be because almost every router available in the domestic market just doesnt have the wan to lan capacity to handle anywhere near the 1000Mbps speeds you have available to you

the wan to lan testing done here at smallnetbuilder are without router functionality and qos enabled , once re enable the throughput speeds can be much lower

Can anyone point me in the direction to a router that would get me the highest bandwidth possible so I can get the most out of my new gigabit internet please?

again unless you want to spend thousands on some sort of commercial grade router you are just not going to get at this stage anywhere near the 1000Mbps plan speed you have

you could however look at running some sort of computer based gateway server setup that would then be able to handle the lan speeds but wifi just isnt fast enough to get anywhere near 1000Mbps yet

pete

 

[L&LD]

There is now an Asus router that can handle 2Gbps u/d speeds.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ne...-dual-wan-vpn-router.32839/page-2#post-265829

RMerlin has already stated that he will not be supporting this Atheros based chipset.

 

[pete y testing]

There is now an Asus router that can handle 2Gbps u/d speeds.

real world speed ? not ipref / ichariot

i will wait to see that tested here at smb because claims never end up in reality

 

[L&LD]

real world speed ? not ipref / ichariot

i will wait to see that tested here at smb because claims never end up in reality

Did you click the link and read it?

 

[SuperDave21]

I believe you are already getting the most out of your new GB ISP speeds (congrats, btw).

The limiting factors are not just the router, but WiFi in general and your network specific (devices, location and other WiFi networks nearby).

Having said that, the latest routers such as the RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U or the RT-AC5300 all feature the minimum hardware needed (1.4GHz dual processors, 512MB ram) to truly extract the most from your ISP.

What devices do you have? Are you able to upgrade the WiFi adaptor card on any of them to AC class WiFi? How far from the router and how many walls or other obstacles are between them and the devices?

Are some of these handheld devices? These usually are tuned for greatest battery life, not highest network performance.

Do you have your current router optimally located within the area(s) that require WiFi? At least 10 feet above ground level (not just the floor) and at least 3 feet away from any other obstacles like walls, ceilings and heavy furniture and/or away and out of closets, is ideal.

Have you tested your router for the best channel with regards to throughput and lowest latency? Do not use utilities like inssider and the like. Simply use a fast computer that is directly wired to the router with a large test file and transfer it to a plugged in (to AC power) laptop at various points within the required area. Make good notes of not just the highest transfer speed (best balance for all points tested), but also how fast browsing the internet is too (in addition to your local shares). Do this for each channel (1, 6 and 11) on the 2.4GHz network that doesn't overlap others. And for each channel you can on the 5GHz band too. You will quickly find the channels that give the best overall performance for your devices and your specific network environment.

With all the above said, keep in mind that no one device will be able to fully utilize your 1Gbps ISP speeds. There are very few websites and even fewer use cases where a single device will saturate your connection. What you have with your Gbps speeds is the ability for everyone on the network to get as much (reasonable) bandwidth as needed for normal tasks today.

The steps above will help your router have the best chance of doing that for you.


P.S. All your wired devices should enjoy the full ISP speeds you pay for. The wireless devices will be some percentage of that, even at best case (same room, no interference, no other network activity). At normal usage distances (10 to 100 feet), wireless device's throughput can be half or even less of their indicated connection speeds (because of the additional overhead WiFi demands). Getting a new router may not give you much effective difference in actual network performance because of these factors.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply! It made start thinking about multiple things that I completely overlooked or forgot to factor in when I had gigabit installed. Not to mention, it made me really start looking at my current setup.

Most of my devices are a mix of newer AC cards (iPhone 6s, iPad Air, Macbook Air, etc) and N cards (game consoles, work laptop, gaming PC with wireless N card, etc), which completely explains the reason why I'm not seeing the higher speeds I initially thought I would have seen. It was a mix of ignorance and naivety on my part.

I also realized that my router is located on the second floor of my house in the room furthest away from the devices downstairs where I spend most of my time. Now I understand why my reception is great on the 2.4GHz network, but slower, and not so great on the 5GHz network, but still very fast. So, that was a poor ONT and router placement by me, which unfortunately I can't change haha.

I conducted one test last night by switching from auto channel to channel 1 on my router and actually noticed a bump in speed. Unfortunately, one of my gaming consoles kept disconnecting, so I switched it back to auto for the time being and will test the other channels tonight. I had no idea how important the channels were to the overall quality of the connection!

I will also test the wired LAN transfer speed using the method you mentioned. I never even thought to run this test and I'm kicking myself right now. It should've been one of the first things I tested when I was experiencing issues.

I can't thank you enough for your help and guidance! I'll post back my test results asap, but I'm positive that the majority, if not all, of my issues will be resolved or answered based on what you posted.

 

[SuperDave21]

Another example of forgetting communication is 2 way business. Simply your device's NIC/WiFi card should match your high end router to maximize it's performance level.

Absolutely true! For some reason, I initially thought I would see an increase in speed for my devices on my 2.4GHz network without thinking about the WiFi cards in the devices. What's worse is I can't physically change or update those cards because they are within devices like gaming consoles or mobile devices, so that sort of made me feel incredibly embarrassed and dumb to not even realize that the WiFi cards would not give me the performance I was looking for. I'm still glad to have gigabit internet since we do a lot of streaming (all legal of course!) and I work from home, and our last plan had a small soft data cap that we destroyed every month. Thank you for the reply!

 

[SuperDave21]

i will start by saying welcome to the forum



so im guessing thats you speed test results over the internet and you have some form of 1000Mbps type internet connection



and that would be because almost every router available in the domestic market just doesnt have the wan to lan capacity to handle anywhere near the 1000Mbps speeds you have available to you

the wan to lan testing done here at smallnetbuilder are without router functionality and qos enabled , once re enable the throughput speeds can be much lower


again unless you want to spend thousands on some sort of commercial grade router you are just not going to get at this stage anywhere near the 1000Mbps plan speed you have

you could however look at running some sort of computer based gateway server setup that would then be able to handle the lan speeds but wifi just isnt fast enough to get anywhere near 1000Mbps yet

pete

Hi Pete! Thank you for the kind words and warm welcome! I appreciate the insight and help!

I guess I got caught up in the theoretical gigabit speeds, which was naive on my part. The 950MBs down that I saw was on the tech's laptop using speedtest.net, and haven't seen that speed on any of my devices both wired or wireless. I had no idea that there was a difference between WAN to LAN speeds for every router. I honestly thought that the WAN to LAN speeds would depend on the connection speed, but nope! I definitely learned a lot after reading all of these posts.

So one question I had related WAN to LAN and routers. In the Router Charts section of the site, it lists the Netgear AC1900 as the top rated router for WAN to LAN while my Netgear R8000 is pretty far down on the list. Reading the reviews and tests for both of these routers, it was mentioned that the R8000 was basically the same as the AC1900, but had a second 5GHz radio as being the only real difference between the two. If, all other components being the same, the two routers are practically identical, why is the WAN to LAN test so drastically different between the two? Is that normal for consumer grade routers? Thank you again!

 

[L&LD]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply! It made start thinking about multiple things that I completely overlooked or forgot to factor in when I had gigabit installed. Not to mention, it made me really start looking at my current setup.

Most of my devices are a mix of newer AC cards (iPhone 6s, iPad Air, Macbook Air, etc) and N cards (game consoles, work laptop, gaming PC with wireless N card, etc), which completely explains the reason why I'm not seeing the higher speeds I initially thought I would have seen. It was a mix of ignorance and naivety on my part.

I also realized that my router is located on the second floor of my house in the room furthest away from the devices downstairs where I spend most of my time. Now I understand why my reception is great on the 2.4GHz network, but slower, and not so great on the 5GHz network, but still very fast. So, that was a poor ONT and router placement by me, which unfortunately I can't change haha.

I conducted one test last night by switching from auto channel to channel 1 on my router and actually noticed a bump in speed. Unfortunately, one of my gaming consoles kept disconnecting, so I switched it back to auto for the time being and will test the other channels tonight. I had no idea how important the channels were to the overall quality of the connection!

I will also test the wired LAN transfer speed using the method you mentioned. I never even thought to run this test and I'm kicking myself right now. It should've been one of the first things I tested when I was experiencing issues.

I can't thank you enough for your help and guidance! I'll post back my test results asap, but I'm positive that the majority, if not all, of my issues will be resolved or answered based on what you posted.

SuperDave21, you're welcome and I hope you can make your current setup work without needing new hardware.

The best part about the ONT is that it is simply a LAN port. Consider running a few CAT5e or higher cables to a more option position for your main router. At the minimum, you will need two cable runs (one for the WAN and one for the LAN ports of the router).

Ideally, I would run for WAN, and all available ports on the router and at least a couple of spares (around 6 to 8 cable runs). If you are considering buying a router in the future with more LAN ports (a few routers currently have 8 LAN ports now), that would change the 'ideal' number of cable runs to 10 to 12 cable runs.

If you're able to do either of the options above, your WiFi network will perform much, much better than even upgrading to any known WiFi router but placing it in the same (current) location.

With the above completed when you do need to replace the router, you will be in the position to get the most benefits the new router offers.

Looking to see the results of your testing.