Replacing R7000

[daednoise]

Hello,

My R7000 is reaching it's limits in my 2-story 1800 sqft house with all the 20+ devices competing for bandwidth. I'm looking at getting either the R7800, R8000p or the RAX80.

I know the RT-AC86U is a fan favorite, but I'm not a fan of the UI and for some reason I've not been able to get any ASUS devices to play nice with my NVG589 in bridge mode (despite multiple reboots, resets, etc etc).

I'm liking the idea of the R8000p due to the triple band and allowing all my 2.4 devices to hang out on band 1, streaming devices (TV, chromecasts, etc) to hang out on band 2 and laptops on band 3. However, I also don't want to shoot myself in the foot with "older" tech.

Is the R8000p the best setup, or should I look elsewhere?

 

[rk8531]

I would put my money on RAX80 instead of putting it on a tech from 2015.

 

[Val D.]

I know the RT-AC86U is a fan favorite

Not a FAN favorite. VPN favorite!

However, I also don't want to shoot myself in the foot with "older" tech.

How fast you expect to replace your 20+ devices and how many of them need >1Gbps link speed?

 

[daednoise]

Not a FAN favorite. VPN favorite!



How fast you expect to replace your 20+ devices and how many of them need >1Gbps link speed?

Phones, laptops, tablets, game consoles I can see being replaced every 1-3 years. Other devices will probably only replace if absolutely necessary (TVs, IOTs, streaming devices, etc). I have Uverse 1 Gig up and down, so, utilizing that across the network would be great. Right now only my workstation is hardwired in that uses anything close to that speed.

 

[Val D.]

Phones, laptops, tablets, game consoles I can see being replaced every 1-3 years.

Then you can jump to an WiFi 6 router, but keep in mind early products may not cover all WiFi 6 specs. Do your homework before deciding what exactly product to buy. You obviously spend thousands of dollars on device upgrades every 1-3 years, so $150-200 more for a router won't make that much of a difference in the budget.

 

[pege63]

Phones, laptops, tablets, game consoles I can see being replaced every 1-3 years. Other devices will probably only replace if absolutely necessary (TVs, IOTs, streaming devices, etc). I have Uverse 1 Gig up and down, so, utilizing that across the network would be great. Right now only my workstation is hardwired in that uses anything close to that speed.

There is no need to scrap the R7000 as long as you have clients that support AC, just download the 3rd party FW if you are not satisfied with the original FW.
If you DONT have any AX clients whatsoever, I see no reason to buy such a router.
Don't swallow everything that is said its all sales talks about AX, especially now that their FW is in the early stages.

 

[Trip]

If you're looking to scale total endpoint bandwidth, doing a like-for-like physical replacement of one consumer all-in-one for another may not be the best approach, regardless of if it's draft-AX or AC Wave 2, at least at this point in time with most clients being AX-incapable.

If you have ethernet, or at least coaxial, throughout the house, I'd would consider scaling up to two discrete, dual-radio APs, optionally a centrally-controlled 802.11k/r/v capable system. You'd likely get better coverage at lower power per AP, resulting in better noise-to-signal to the endpoint, plus better client load-balancing, and a redundant access pathway into your switching fabric.

And you don't need to go to draft-AX here, either. Stick with proven AC Wave 2 APs, preferably SMB-grade or better. As long as we're thinking of dropping $200+ anyways, a pair of TP-Link EAP225v3's and an OC200 controller might be worth a look, even for 1800 square feet.

Could be a worthwhile option, if you have the wired backhaul.