Router dead kids rioting wife cussing

[jpinks]

Merry Christmas to me. My router died today the wireless. Its an old D-link. I am trying to decide between the Netgear R7000 and the Asus 68u. Any issues with either. My son games online as do I. His pc is a wireless connection my daughter lives on Utube and my wife Netflix and Hulu. We kicked cable a few years ago. The old D-Link would lock up under a heavy wireless load but a reboot and it would go again, but now its done. Wont broadcast ID or anything. Did some looking and it seems these 2 routers have some dropping issues. Is it that bad. I trust Asus as I have used there PC components for years. Netgear scares me had nothing but trouble with previous stuff from years ago. Should I look at these or just throw my wallet to the wolves and get the Linksys WRT1900? Any input greatly appreciated!!

 

[L&LD]

My vote? RT-AC68U with RMerlin firmware.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7846


Had a customer who had been using a Netgear R6300 which died after 12.5 months and after buying the RT-AC68U he hasn't had an issue yet; almost 6 months later.

His network use is almost a mirror of yours.

 

[htismaqe]

You really can't go wrong with any of the 3 AC1900 units, IMO. I settled on the WRT1900AC myself but that was after a long, drawn out litany of issues with Netgear that have since been solved.

 

[stevech]

Some of us say 802.11ac is a very pricey overkill for most consumers. And it's life on the bleeding edge.

 

[jegesq]

Asus RT-68U would be my preference, with, as L&LD says Merlin's firmware. That router retails for about $199 (price today at Frys.com and other online retailers).

If you want to spend a little less, but buy something that's probably just as reliable and solid for what you want (gaming and streaming media), I would suggest the Asus RT-AC66U. It's about $30-60 cheaper than the 68's right now, and the main difference is that the 68U has two processors whereas the 66U has one; otherwise, there's not really much difference you'll see in terms of performance and in my experience, the 66U had slightly better range than the 68. But YMMV depending on your home's construction and placement of the router, proximity to other neighbor's stuff, etc.

Use the $$ you save 0by buying the 66U to also purchase an Asus USB AC1200 dongle or two, because after all, upgrading your router without also upgrading your client devices to 802.11ac kind of defeats the purpose of buying an -ac capable router, doesn't it? While your current -n devices and even -g devices will perform better with a newer router, it's even more fun to use those same devices at even faster speeds if they can use a USB AC1200 adapter instead of a slow, old internal one.

 

[htismaqe]

And it's life on the bleeding edge.

Not any more it's not. The "big 3" are every bit as stable as the much older N900 devices now.

 

[FattysGoneWild]

Linksys WRT1900AC would be my pick. Rock solid stability and built like a tank.

 

[IAAI]

i would recommend asus rt-ac68p

 

[stevech]

Amazing to me that enthusiasts are paying over $200 for a home WiFi router.
IMO, the point of diminishing returns, especially considering the client devices, is about $75.

Retail WiFi product marketeers have really figured it out.

 

[azazel1024]

Amazing to me that enthusiasts are paying over $200 for a home WiFi router.
IMO, the point of diminishing returns, especially considering the client devices, is about $75.

Retail WiFi product marketeers have really figured it out.

This is why I am running a WDR3600 and an Archer C8. Just not willing to pay all that much for my gear, so long as it works well and has good performance. The WDR3600 has probably 90-95% of the 2-stream performance of the N66u (I only have 2-stream clients and until MU:MIMO becomes a thing, more than that on the router is a bit of a waste), at less than half the price and the Archer C8 basically the same, but that would be up against the AC66u.

 

[TonyH]

Hmm,
One reason I always keep basic back up router I can switch in instantly, LOL! Main router for the time being is Netgear R7500.

 

[vnangia]

If you live in the US and are near a T-Mobile store, you can pick up an Asus 68U for $99+tax if you don't mind some magenta branding. It is, to the best of my knowledge, identical to the stock $180 68U, excepting possibly a couple of QOS rules to ensure Wifi calling traffic get priority. That is removable and in any case, Merlin's build can be flashed to it. So there's your AC class router at a price even stevech would approve of! ;-)

 

[MasterBash]

I remember a while ago that people suggested the R7000 over AC68U due to the faster processor, more wireless coverage...

What changed? Its also cheaper.

 

[System Error Message]

under things a human can live without. Internet - 2 hours.#

Make sure you get something stable thats fast enough for your needs. Many ARM based routers use the same chip that the cpu speeds dont matter

 

[jegesq]

If you live in the US and are near a T-Mobile store, you can pick up an Asus 68U for $99+tax if you don't mind some magenta branding. It is, to the best of my knowledge, identical to the stock $180 68U, excepting possibly a couple of QOS rules to ensure Wifi calling traffic get priority. That is removable and in any case, Merlin's build can be flashed to it. So there's your AC class router at a price even stevech would approve of! ;-)

Too good to be true. Back in September (at least in Los Angeles) the three company-owned stores were selling them for that price ($99). Now they are being sold at the straight retail price ($199), the same as you would pay at Best Buy or Frys or anywhere else that sells the AC68U at retail.

But, the people at the three company-owned stores I spoke with each told me about an unbelievable deal that is still being offered:

If you already have a T-Mobile account (or sign up to get one), you can pay a one-time fee of $25 as a deposit, and they will give you an AC68U (Magenta branded by T-Mobile with a "cell spot" for texting and calling with wifi), and there will be no other charges, not even a monthly fee. You get to keep the AC68 until you cancel your T-Mobile service or you decide to return it. Oh, and when you return it, you get your $25 back. So if you're already a customer, it's basically free.

Apparently this deal is only offered at company-owned stores. In Los Angeles there a tons of smaller unaffiliated independent stores that sell T-Mobile and will pop up in Google if you search "T-Mobile Stores". However, none of the independent dealers I spoke with had the router nor did they know anything about the program. I had to Google "T-Mobile Company-owned stores" just to find out that there are only three of them in all of Los Angeles, and they all had the routers in stock and knew about the program.

Sadly, I'm not a T-Mobile customer nor do I have plans to switch from my current provider any time soon. But it's a terrific deal if you're already one of their customers, or looking to switch carriers.

 

[vnangia]

Too good to be true. Back in September (at least in Los Angeles) the three company-owned stores were selling them for that price ($99). Now they are being sold at the straight retail price ($199), the same as you would pay at Best Buy or Frys or anywhere else that sells the AC68U at retail.

But, the people at the three company-owned stores I spoke with each told me about an unbelievable deal that is still being offered:

If you already have a T-Mobile account (or sign up to get one), you can pay a one-time fee of $25 as a deposit, and they will give you an AC68U (Magenta branded by T-Mobile with a "cell spot" for texting and calling with wifi), and there will be no other charges, not even a monthly fee. You get to keep the AC68 until you cancel your T-Mobile service or you decide to return it. Oh, and when you return it, you get your $25 back. So if you're already a customer, it's basically free.

Apparently this deal is only offered at company-owned stores. In Los Angeles there a tons of smaller unaffiliated independent stores that sell T-Mobile and will pop up in Google if you search "T-Mobile Stores". However, none of the independent dealers I spoke with had the router nor did they know anything about the program. I had to Google "T-Mobile Company-owned stores" just to find out that there are only three of them in all of Los Angeles, and they all had the routers in stock and knew about the program.

Sadly, I'm not a T-Mobile customer nor do I have plans to switch from my current provider any time soon. But it's a terrific deal if you're already one of their customers, or looking to switch carriers.

Local T-Mobile stores (all five of the ones I called in NoVA) all say that you can either do the $25 deposit, or the $99 purchase. I called a store in Chicago and a store in NYC, and both of them agree that you can do $99 purchase. The NYC store didn't have any in stock and offered to ship it directly from a warehouse. I just checked 90210 (since that's the only LA-area code I know), and called the one on Beverly and Santa Monica and they also confirm that you can either do a $25 deposit, or a $99 purchase.

There's also about 50 or so stores I could find before it asked me to input another zip code. So I'm not sure what map you're looking up, but feel free to call - http://www.t-mobile.com/store-locator.html.

I'm not clear on whether they need a T-Mobile number, but not a single store asked me for my T-Mobile number (and I didn't call from it - I called from my Google Voice number). If they do, the $99 program is available to prepaid users, and you'd be out an additional $13 for the cheapest prepaid plan for a month.