Router Advise for Home Network

[Manu7]

Hi ,

I'm looking for a Wireless Router to replace my TP- Link WR1043ND and need an opinion .
I have 3 machines at home constantly connected , one is a server with NAS to which I do backups of my devices and do 1080p streaming movies among other things, another is used for online gaming and downloads and the last is a media center Kodi ( XBMC ) where I see the movies in 1080p streaming and use for watching football streams from Acestream and Sopcast .

I also constantly have 4 Tablets and 2 Smartphones connected wirelessly.
Recently also bought a Nvidia Shield Tablet and want to take advantage of existing gamestream service.

My choice is on these following routers :

Asus RT- AC66U - AC1750 and Gigabit
TP- Link Archer C8 - AC1750 and Gigabit
or
TP- Link Archer C9 - AC1900 and Gigabit ( If offset relative to C8 )

I came here to ask for advice if one of these routers is good enough for my network setup or if I should look at another one?

Thanks in advance

 

[Pierino]

If you can, try to get a used Netgear r7000 or asus rt-n68u/p. The c9 has a 1000mhz cpu but only 16mb of flash. If you plan on using any custom firmware (dd-wrt) you are kind of limited by the flash.
Just my opinion.

 

[L&LD]

I would not consider buying any AC1750 class routers today. Those class of products (especially the Asus model) has been on the market for years now.

I would look at either the RT-AC68U or the RT-AC56U (similar hardware and capabilities with the '68U having 3 vs. 2 antennae but otherwise similar hardware cpu and radios) in the Asus lineup. The draw with the RT-AC56U is that it can be had for around $100 when on sale and it provides performance much higher than the AC1200 class it is advertised at.

As for TP Link, no experience with it, sorry.

Any router should be good enough for your needs, theoretically. The only way to know for sure is to try one in your environment.

 

[Manu7]

I would not consider buying any AC1750 class routers today. Those class of products (especially the Asus model) has been on the market for years now.

I would look at either the RT-AC68U or the RT-AC56U (similar hardware and capabilities with the '68U having 3 vs. 2 antennae but otherwise similar hardware cpu and radios) in the Asus lineup. The draw with the RT-AC56U is that it can be had for around $100 when on sale and it provides performance much higher than the AC1200 class it is advertised at.

As for TP Link, no experience with it, sorry.

Any router should be good enough for your needs, theoretically. The only way to know for sure is to try one in your environment.

Thanks L&LD, the RT-AC68U is out of budget, 170€ is the cheapest price I can find and its too expensive. And the RT-AC56U has no external antenna and that make me kinda step down from it.
Anyway the RT-AC66U scored better in SmallNetBuilders tests then the RT-AC56U (different class I know).
Being around in market for years can be a good thing, at least firmware wise with all the updates the router could be stablier then the new ones and custom firmware should be better on older routers since they are longer in development right?

Thanks for your opinion again L&LD.

 

[Manu7]

If you can, try to get a used Netgear r7000 or asus rt-n68u/p. The c9 has a 1000mhz cpu but only 16mb of flash. If you plan on using any custom firmware (dd-wrt) you are kind of limited by the flash.
Just my opinion.

Thanks Pierino for your reply,

For now I am not planning on using custom firmware, had some nightmares with DD-WRT, worked good for some time in my WR1043ND but in the last weeks its kind of horrible. Reflashed original firmware and it's operating stablier now.
But the flash size can always be changed, I have the tools for resolding a bigger chip if I would need it.

 

[thiggins]

Anyway the RT-AC66U scored better in SmallNetBuilders tests then the RT-AC56U (different class I know).

Be careful drawing that conclusion. They were tested with two different test processes and are two different classes.

AC1750 class is fine. All your devices are 1x1 or 2x2 at best and can't take advantage of the higher link rates in either AC1750 or AC1900 class routers.

Even a good AC1200 class router would probably be a big improvement. The TP-LINK Archer C5 (AC1200 class) is actually the same hardware as the Archer C7 (AC1750 class).

 

[Manu7]

Be careful drawing that conclusion. They were tested with two different test processes and are two different classes.

AC1750 class is fine. All your devices are 1x1 or 2x2 at best and can't take advantage of the higher link rates in either AC1750 or AC1900 class routers.

Even a good AC1200 class router would probably be a big improvement. The TP-LINK Archer C5 (AC1200 class) is actually the same hardware as the Archer C7 (AC1750 class).

Yeah, I know that. I read this morning some forums about user experience with the RT-AC56U and all said the same thing, the AC56U has less range than the AC66U or AC68U on the 2.4 Ghz band (lack of external antenna??). All of them trade the AC56U with one of those two other routers and got better results. On the 5 Ghz band the AC56U had good score on range and speed.
That's one more reason not to buy the AC56U since it cost's +/- 100€ and the AC66U costs 127€.