New router

[Pikok]

Hi all

I'm in the market for a new router. My RT-N66 is still trucking on, but it's internal components aren't as powerful as today's products.
Now the ASUS router has expanded since my initial purchase and I'm having a bit of a hard time of deciding which one is the best choice. All of the current devices are too powerful for day to day use, so I thought I'd come here and check which device is currently "most" supported by Merlin.

What do I do with my router:
- Day to day browsing
- Medium online gaming
- Loads of streaming
- Torrents
- USB disk attached with all my media
- VPN

That's about it really. I'm not a power user. I am considering having some more fun with entware on my new device. The RT-N66 had a bit of a hard time with it's limited power so I gave up on fiddling around with it too much.

The two devices I'm currently looking at are the RT-AC87U and RT-AC3200. The later is probably too powerful for me, but I fear that the AC87 may be "out of support" by Merlin sooner than the AC3200. I'd be gutted if I'd purchase a new router which would stop receiving regular updates after a couple of years.
Sorry for the useless rant, but hopefully someone can assist me with my choice. If another device is "better" for its money, I'm open for any suggestions. The AC3200 is the most expensive I'm willing to go though, the more expensive devices are too powerful to me. I don't see the point in spending that much money on an Asus router.

 

[Pierino]

Get an rt-ac68u or ac68p or ac1900. Any of those are better than the ones you mentioned and can be found cheaply on eBay.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-AC1900P (Best Buy exclusive right now) is the recommended 'AC1900' class you should be buying today. It is the best version of the RT-AC68U with upgraded power amplifiers, a tweaked RF design and 75% faster processor than the original RT-AC68U (1.4GHz dual core versus 800MHz dual core processors).

The RT-AC3100 or the RT-AC88U is the next step up and is also highly recommended. It features the same processor as the RT-AC1900P above but with double the ram and double the NVRAM along with a much better 4x4:4 RF design and a better SDK which the firmware is built from.

There is no such thing as 'too expensive'. The RT-AC3100 was available for $191 not too long ago (below the price of the RT-AC68U 'original'). I would be surprised if it doesn't fall to those levels or less again over the holidays.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/sh...-go-with-the-rt-ac1900p-v3.34748/#post-281391

There is much to be said for the newest and latest models (particularly when paired with RMerlin's firmware, of course).

Theory and 'specs' alone do not do them justice.

 

[sfx2000]

I'm in the market for a new router. My RT-N66 is still trucking on, but it's internal components aren't as powerful as today's products.

If it's working fine and meeting your needs - then all is good...

If money is indeed burning a hole in the pocket, then perhaps consider an AC1900 class device - won't notice that much of a difference in performance compared to others with bigger numbers, and most of the AC1900 class devices are mature and have the bugs pretty much worked out...

 

[yugi]

The RT-AC1900P (Best Buy exclusive right now) is the recommended 'AC1900' class you should be buying today. It is the best version of the RT-AC68U with upgraded power amplifiers, a tweaked RF design and 75% faster processor than the original RT-AC68U (1.4GHz dual core versus 800MHz dual core processors).

The RT-AC3100 or the RT-AC88U is the next step up and is also highly recommended. It features the same processor as the RT-AC1900P above but with double the ram and double the NVRAM along with a much better 4x4:4 RF design and a better SDK which the firmware is built from.

There is no such thing as 'too expensive'. The RT-AC3100 was available for $191 not too long ago (below the price of the RT-AC68U 'original'). I would be surprised if it doesn't fall to those levels or less again over the holidays.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/sh...-go-with-the-rt-ac1900p-v3.34748/#post-281391

There is much to be said for the newest and latest models (particularly when paired with RMerlin's firmware, of course).

Theory and 'specs' alone do not do them justice.

I tested AC1900P vs R7000, and R7000 performed slightly better. I kept R7000, also cheaper.

 

[L&LD]

I tested AC1900P vs R7000, and R7000 performed slightly better. I kept R7000, also cheaper.

I appreciate your input (really), but 'slightly better' performance is not worth the negatives the R7000 possesses versus the Asus hardware.

The whole is more than the sum of the parts (performance is but one part).

 

[yugi]

I appreciate your input (really), but 'slightly better' performance is not worth the negatives the R7000 possesses versus the Asus hardware.

The whole is more than the sum of the parts (performance is but one part).

In this case, speeds were faster on R7000, and there were absolutely no disconnects, unlike with Asus. BTW, you can install Merlin firmware on R7000
http://xvtx.ru/xwrt/about.htm
As for hardware, both R7000 and AC68U are almost exactly the same, except R7000 has faster CPU. AC1900P has faster CPU than R7000, but it didn't help a lot.

 

[pete y testing]

my 2 cents

the netgear r7000 is a good solid wifi performer although i must admit mine has god a bit south of late and doesnt perform as well as it used to

you can install Merlin firmware on R7000
http://xvtx.ru/xwrt/about.htm

no you can install xwrt on the r7000 , you cant install merlin

xwrt also has the asus propriety coding removed

 

[sfx2000]

wrt also has the asus propriety coding removed

Don't go down that path as it tends to step on things...

Netgear has it's own 3rd party community and they support it - DDWRT/OpenWRT or factory firmware on the R7000...

 

[System Error Message]

what router you get depends on 2 things,
1) your internet speed
2) how much wifi you need (coverage, speed ,etc)

Although wifi isnt the performance option routers have a CPU which is what limits the performance. Check what your ISP uses as PPPOE takes a big performance hit. Some routers can do QoS with hardware acceleration though and asus has predefined profiles for existing games.

I would suggest asus for the reason of its stock firmware (or rmerlin's) for gaming reasons but if you are skilled enough to do everything manually than 3rd party firmware is an option and so are many routers. asus, netgear and tplink all have reliable hardware for similar lines (such as the broadcom chipset they all use). tplink usually uses a slower CPU though while netgear's stock firmware is terrible but they do have good hardware.

Just avoid the AC87U.

 

[RogerSC]

Don't go down that path as it tends to step on things...

Netgear has it's own 3rd party community and they support it - DDWRT/OpenWRT or factory firmware on the R7000...

The asuswrt for the R7000 is actually pretty good, even though it has the Asus intellectual property removed. No OpenWRT for R7000, but there's dd-wrt and tomato firmware available for it. I've used all 3, and find that they all work well.