Router Upgrade questions? (is it needed)

[Raul_77]

Hi Guys,
I am currently running RT-N66U router and recently switched to Fibre internet. (1gbup/down). A friend of mine came over and he is really trying to convince me I should upgrade my router for a more expensive one now that I have Fibre.

Questions:
- What do I gain upgrading? (I am NOT interested in WiFi, all my bandwidth hungry devices are wired)
I been downloading at max speeds, uploading at max speed. I have done bunch of research and it seems like WiFi is the main reason why people are upgrading their routers.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[coxhaus]

The only reason to upgrade is if you are going to get some benefit from it. Security might be one.

 

[L&LD]

The newer routers are definitely more powerful and should make your browsing, even wired only, even more responsive.

The RT-AC86U or the RT-AX58U (depending on which was less expensive at the moment of purchase) would be the router to buy today, in your case, if you were to buy. Anything better (RT-AX88U) won't gain you anything over those two models. And for just wired? The RT-AC86U would be my first choice too (better CPU and AES-NI support for OpenVPN connections up to 250Mbps depending ISP speeds).

 

[ColinTaylor]

The only reason to upgrade is if you are going to get some benefit from it. Security might be one.

I see from your previous posts that you were using John's fork so that covers the security aspect. So there would seem to be no benefit in your use case.

You can have a look at the "extra" features that are available on the newer models, like AiProtection, Adaptive QoS, faster VPN, faster USB sharing, etc. But if you don't plan on using any of that then it would seem a pointless upgrade.

As you are already able to download and upload at gigabit speeds I wouldn't expect there to be any discernible difference in general browsing.

 

[jsz]

The newer routers are definitely more powerful and should make your browsing, even wired only, even more responsive.

The RT-AC86U or the RT-AX58U (depending on which was less expensive at the moment of purchase) would be the router to buy today, in your case, if you were to buy. Anything better (RT-AX88U) won't gain you anything over those two models. And for just wired? The RT-AC86U would be my first choice too (better CPU and AES-NI support for OpenVPN connections up to 250Mbps depending ISP speeds).

I feel like the AX58U is simultaneously both good and bad. AC range to performance sucks compared to the AC86U, but the software/gui feels more responsive and I'm not sure if that's due to the triple core A7 being limited to 32 bit and having access to more ram at a given time or what. I'm not exactly sure if this CPU even uses 3 cores or if its a broadcom special that counts the 2.4ghz radio portion into the equation.

Out of all the research and experimenting I did, I think the AC86U (GT-AC2900), R7800 (XR450/500), and synology RT2600AC offer the best wireless performance for the money. Feature set certainly goes ASUS>Synology>NETGEAR.

Ax58u is nice if you can backhaul two of them wired. AX performance and range to cover an entire home. But as a single unit, I would 100% skip it for the AC86U or GT-AC2900 rebrand (Which is the 86U with more features such as link aggregation, and 160mhz mode that functions similarly to the 58U).

The Qualcomm Radios of the Netgear and Synology have a different performance aspect though. They seem more responsive or faster to me, but slightly worse range. I think the AC86 performs worse then them with clients close by. Both of them also have native 160mhz support for better throughput on clients that support it such as the AX200/201. Only the GT-AC2900 version of the ASUS router has 160mhz (2x2) support on AC.

Netgear is by far the worse of the bunch in terms of router features and feeling outdated my 2c.

 

[Raul_77]

Thanks guys. Considering WiFi is not a concern for me, (only mobile devices use WiFi), looks like there is no real benefit in upgrading my router.
Cheers,