RT-AC66U as an upgrade for DIR-601?

[jurajkabat]

After checking charts,rankers, reading around and confusing myself even more I decided to ask for help.
My house is connected through Cromecast Arris TM402P and D-link DIR-601 is used as wireless router. I have mostly 802.11n connected Ipods, Galaxy 2 and 3 and HTC phones, Samsung DVD player, Xbox 360, HP and Samsung laptops. On top of this old Wii and older generation Ipod is connecting on 802.11g, so DIR-601 has 802.11g and 802.11n enabled.
My biggest problem is very weak signal on top floors plus something I cannot understand and fix: when more gadgets are connected (and especially 802.11g Wii or old Ipod) all of other 802.11n ipods get kicked out of the wifi and cannot get back until DIR-601 reboot.
So I got tired of troubleshooting and decided to upgrade.
My favorite for upgade became RT-AC66U.
After reading around I am not anymore sure if this will solve my current problem and if AC66U is a best choice.
I know that ac support is a little overshoot at this moment, but for extra $20-$30 it is a good thing to be ready for a future.
I am asking anyone with more experience to help me to choose the good candidate for upgrade.
I am looking for good signal even on second floor of my house, stable connection for several 802.11n and 802.11g gadgets and possibility to connect external USB3 Hard drive to the router and use it as shared drive/NAS to share movies, music and computer backups.
I appreciate your patience and any suggestions.

 

[stevech]

to improve coverage/signal strength, the best/only solution is to add one or more access points (APs). This is fairly easy.
see the several relevant tutorials at
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics

 

[jurajkabat]

to improve coverage/signal strength, the best/only solution is to add one or more access points (APs). This is fairly easy.
see the several relevant tutorials at
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics

Thank you stevech for suggestion!

 

[jurajkabat]

to improve coverage/signal strength, the best/only solution is to add one or more access points (APs). This is fairly easy.
see the several relevant tutorials at
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics

What about the problem with Wii's 802.11g always kicking out ipods with 802.11n from my wifi network? Is that going to be problem even with the new router? I mean is it common when running g and n together, that g devices cause n devices dropout? All my ipods gets disconnected and cannot connect until I switch off the Wii and reboot rauter. There is no way that Wii and Ipods are connected at the same time :-(

 

[theoak]

Yes, go ahead and get a new router ... but ... I say keep your DIR also.

What you might be able to do is use your DIR as an access point (I am not familiar with the DIR). The WAN port of the DIR would connect to the LAN port of your new router.

You could then configure your DIR for say channel 1 with regards to wireless N. Your main/new router could then be configured say for channel 11. Both routers would use different SSIDs.

Use your DIR for wireless G connections ONLY. Use the new main router for your wireless N/AC. This way your G devices are on their OWN wireless network and your N devices are also on their own wireless network.

 

[stevech]

What about the problem with Wii's 802.11g always kicking out ipods with 802.11n from my wifi network? Is that going to be problem even with the new router? I mean is it common when running g and n together, that g devices cause n devices dropout? All my ipods gets disconnected and cannot connect until I switch off the Wii and reboot rauter. There is no way that Wii and Ipods are connected at the same time :-(

sounds like an Apple bug to me.

 

[jurajkabat]

Yes, go ahead and get a new router ... but ... I say keep your DIR also.

What you might be able to do is use your DIR as an access point (I am not familiar with the DIR). The WAN port of the DIR would connect to the LAN port of your new router.

You could then configure your DIR for say channel 1 with regards to wireless N. Your main/new router could then be configured say for channel 11. Both routers would use different SSIDs.

Use your DIR for wireless G connections ONLY. Use the new main router for your wireless N/AC. This way your G devices are on their OWN wireless network and your N devices are also on their own wireless network.

Thank you!
Could TL-WA850RE extender be an possible alternative?
I mean, DIR-601 running N devices, and on the top floor L-WA850RE configured G devices. Is this possible, or they both have to run the same protocol (only N or G)?