Router Upgrade?

[Momar89]

I recently moved to a 2 floor 1200sq ft apt. My current router is the Netgear R6400 and while it has served me well in the past it is having difficulty reaching the upstairs bedroom. I've temporarily been using an extender but don't enjoy toggling wifi on my phone to switch between the extender/router when I go upstairs and downstairs.

Will upgrading my router to any of the following models improve coverage/range?

Netgear R7800
Asus RT-86U
Synology 2600


Or am I better off going for a mesh system like Orbi or Eero? I'd prefer to stick with a regular router as I have a lot of wired devices.

Thanks.

 

[degrub]

try mounting it on the wall and see if you get better coverage upstairs.
Have you checked the channels used for neighbor interference ? Or is the wireless auto selecting the channel ?

 

[Momar89]

Thank you for the reply. My wife would kill me if I tried to mount the router on the wall. She already hates my two desktop PCs and NAS sticking out from under my desk.

As for interference, I am in an apartment building so there are many wireless signals coming through. I've looked at my router settings before and I think all of the channels that I can switch to have other wireless signals on them. I was interested in the R7800 because of the additional frequencies, but I'm not sure if I actually understand it correctly.

 

[degrub]

only if you can get clear frequency on AC 5GHz
Can you place it on top of a cabinet on the wall outside of view ?

 

[TonyH]

Thank you for the reply. My wife would kill me if I tried to mount the router on the wall. She already hates my two desktop PCs and NAS sticking out from under my desk.

As for interference, I am in an apartment building so there are many wireless signals coming through. I've looked at my router settings before and I think all of the channels that I can switch to have other wireless signals on them. I was interested in the R7800 because of the additional frequencies, but I'm not sure if I actually understand it correctly.

No chance of trying the router upstairs? I mean TRYING for testing. My R7800 located on the loft upstairs covers whole 2 st0ry house from basement to (of course) upstairs, front and back yard patios and front attached garage. My house living space is ~2600 sq. ft. not counting developed basement and loft.

 

[Klueless]

I've temporarily been using an extender but don't enjoy toggling wifi on my phone to switch between the extender/router when I go upstairs and downstairs.

Have you tried setting the extender to use the same SSID (Wifi name) as the router on the off-chance that your phone will actually switch over when it needs to?

 

[Momar89]

No chance of trying the router upstairs? I mean TRYING for testing. My R7800 located on the loft upstairs covers whole 2 st0ry house from basement to (of course) upstairs, front and back yard patios and front attached garage. My house living space is ~2600 sq. ft. not counting developed basement and loft.

Unfortunately, I don't have any coax upstairs to connect to modem>router.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Momar89]

Have you tried setting the extender to use the same SSID (Wifi name) as the router on the off-chance that your phone will actually switch over when it needs to?

It is actually setup this way already. I've found if I move between floors it won't switch automatically, it will stick with one or the other even if the signal is bad.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[TonyH]

Unfortunately, I don't have any coax upstairs to connect to modem>router.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Don't have a roll of CAT5 cable to run upstairs for the testing? For me, I'll do anything when I want to test something. I have to satisfy myself, LOL!

 

[Klueless]

It is actually setup this way already. I've found if I move between floors it won't switch automatically, it will stick with one or the other even if the signal is bad.

Yeah, sometimes you just get a "sticky" client. If it's 2.4GHz that's sticky then try using the 5GHz band, since it doesn't even pretend to go as far your client might actually "switch".

Or, if it's the 5GHz that's sticky maybe the 2.4GHz straight from your router will cover both floors?

 

[Klueless]

Don't have a roll of CAT5 cable to run upstairs for the testing? For me, I'll do anything when I want to test something. I have to satisfy myself, LOL!

I'm with you Tony, I like to play. I picked up a 50' roll of pre-terminated CAT5E (at a local home store, cheaper than computer stores), grabbed my 50' power extension cord and simply walked my router around to different locations while "testing" with a WiFi analyzer I had loaded onto my laptop.

I found what I thought to be a perfect location; my wife didn't agree : -) However, I did learn simply getting it off the floor and a couple feet out of the corner would be "good enough" ... for now.

Planning for the future I showed my wife a picture of the Asus Blue Cave router. She admitted she might be able to live with something that looked like that. (And why not? She's managed to live with something that looks like me for fifty years!)

 

[Momar89]

Haha. You guys are killing me. I know I should probably test it, but I have a lot of wired devices currently near the router. What would be the point of the test? If I found a better location upstairs then I'd have to find a way to relocate the wired devices upstairs, which is a new problem.

I guess ultimately, I was wondering if any of the newer 3 routers I mentioned would have greater range than my current R6400.

Thanks for all of your replies!!

 

[Klueless]

Haha. You guys are killing me. I know I should probably test it ...

• Might not need to place it "upstairs", just closer to the center of house or closer to the staircase.
• A simple switch could serve your wired clients.
• Could lead to a backup plan should the new router's range not be quite enough.
• Could give you an idea for where to place an AP should it come to that.

I don't have one but I like what I've read about the Asus 86U.

 

[avtella]

R7800 has the best 5Ghz of any consumer unit I’ve seen, but the 86U is fairly close and has better VPN performance so it might be a better package.