Top 802.11n speed?

[bean]

First: OpenWRT is a must. At worst I will consider Tomato. I will not use a closed source router.

Are 802.11ac routers worth it if I can only use 802.11n (tablet, laptop I wouldn't bother changing to 802.11ac)? Both devices are 5GHz capable, the laptop (this is more important) has an Intel 6300 so 3x3. I have 100/20 Internet, the range is not too big, perhaps 5m and if necessary I can arrange things so there are no walls although I'd prefer keeping the current arrangement where the router is in a cupboard.

All in all, what's the fastest 802.11n router these days at 5m or so? My current router is a D-Link DIR-825L B1 which is only 2T2R so I feel there's a lot of potential for "aggressive" expansion.

WNDR 4700? 65CAD at Newegg, very tempting.

 

[azazel1024]

I'd get the WDR4300 or 3600. If all you need is to squeeze 100Mbps internet out of it, either will MORE than handle that, even with open source (and they both take OpenWRT).

With my WDR3600 (TP-Link) I get roughly 200Mbps on 2.4GHz and 204Mbps on 5GHz same room performance and I can get over 80Mbps on my laptop through 3 walls and 40ft across my house on 2.4GHz still.

an AC router would improve things probably some, but I can't speak to open source firmware for performance.

As a general rule, open source firmware will DECREASE wireless performance. There is not as much work done by the open source community, which means not as many optimizations, as the device firmware developers have done with chipset/radio manufacturer support. This means in all likelihood routing and wireless performance will DECREASE and this is my general experience. As a bonus though for the decreased performance, you gain access to features that aren't normally there, like VLANs, maybe WAN QoS, link aggregation, lots of other firewall options, better reporting, SNMP, possibly/probably better security as security holes are more readily addressed by the open source community...supposing the firmware is in heavy active development.

 

[System Error Message]

The top speed of any wireless standard is about 80-90% of theoratical bandwidth and 50% for practical usage. This is from tests and experience.

Open sourced or 3rd party firmware doesnt generally decrease wireless performance, it mainly depends on how fast it is at bridging between wireless and ethernet (utilising CPU) and making use of the wifi chip. Cheap routers like tp-link are slower with other firmware because the stock firmware lacks features which lets them have smaller code base so it runs more efficiently however other routers like ASUS do well with other firmware because they come with beefier hardware.

 

[L&LD]

Third party firmware, especially firmware that uses non-factory drivers, does decrease the performance of almost all routers.

A closed source router is not so bad. For example, RMerlin's firmware which is very closely based on the official Asus releases gives many more options but with same or better performance than stock firmware.

Search for an article by Tim as to the benefits of N class devices on AC class routers. To me and many others, they are more than worth it.

The best N router would still be the RT-N66U in my estimation. But the RT-AC68U has easily surpassed it with the latest firmware for many months now. Depending on your actual use scenario and specific network environment, the RT-AC87U is where I would be leaning for the most 'aggressive" router currently available, even with N class devices.

Your five year old router may be bested by the WNDR 4700, but I would suggest that that is more of a side-grade and not an upgrade.

 

[RogerSC]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the Asus RT-AC87U from your original posting. You're not going to be taking advantage of the extra hardware that you've paid for, and you're paying bleeding edge prices for them at this point. If you want, you can go with either the R7000 or the Asus RT-AC68P, and you'll get better wireless-N performance than you will from an Asus RT-N66U or other wireless-N routers. The price on the wireless-1900AC routers is dropping at the moment (watch for sales on Amazon, etc.), and you'll get enough bandwidth to meet your needs for some time as well as the extra wireless-N performance.

If I were going to pick a wireless-N router, I'd pick the Asus RT-N66U. I found it's performance to be great for a wireless-N router, and it would most likely also meet your bandwidth needs. But you will get better wireless-N performance with a wireless-1900AC router, as mentioned by other posters as well. And you'll also have the wireless-AC capability should you get a new mobile device that can use it. Or even a USB wireless-AC adapter, but you've said that you're not going to do that for the time being...

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

an Asus AC66u will connect at 215mhz per 2.4ghz stream

First: OpenWRT is a must. At worst I will consider Tomato. I will not use a closed source router.

Does a Merlin-equipped Asus RT-AC66u qualify? Fun to see the Asus routers hook up to each other at 215mhz per 20-mhz-wide channel, on the the 2.4ghz band.

 

[sfx2000]

First: OpenWRT is a must. At worst I will consider Tomato. I will not use a closed source router.

Why? That seems rather close-minded...

While we can appreciate the contributions on the FOSS/Linux builds, most folks don't have the knowledge or the time to sort out the various builds and their bugs...

Router/AP's these days are toasters... find one that works well.

Recommendations;

Linksys WRT1900ac - I sent one up to my 70 year old Mom in North Dakota - it just works - closed source and the OpenWRT debacle excepted - the factory firmware routes and provides darn good wifi - she's pretty happy with it - no worries for me - and this provides good coverage across a three level house...

Airport Extreme AC - the definitive closed source AP/Router - guess what? It runs for weeks on end... three builds and basically done - that's the impact of a good QA team.

just saying... consider all the options.

sfx

 

[bean]

WDR4300 acquired. Still slow. Please advise is this a Linux client problem?

Channel 36, 40MHz, 17 dBm (50mw) are the OpenWRT settings. The only other 5GHz client I can see is on channel 149.

Even at a one feet distance to the router the wireless never breaks 60mbit, drops to 40mbit the moment I am a few steps away. The wired speed is easily above 90mbit.

 

[azazel1024]

Try some different driver versions for the laptop and the Intel card. I've seen issues with some Qualcomm chipsets and Intel wireless cards where there is severe performance limitations.

Also make sure you are connecting on 5GHz, and not 2.4GHz (though even 2.4GHz 20MHz should ensure speeds >100Mbps). With my WDR3600 and an Intel 2230 and 7260ac I am able to get >180Mbps close to the router (>200Mbps with te 7260ac), and that is the N600 version of the N750 WDR4300.

Other issue could be, OpenWRT. Try it with the original firmware and CONFIRM if there is a performance issue with the wireless devices before trying OpenWRT. Could be a crap build of OpenWRT.

 

[sfx2000]

WDR4300 acquired. Still slow. Please advise is this a Linux client problem?

Channel 36, 40MHz, 17 dBm (50mw) are the OpenWRT settings. The only other 5GHz client I can see is on channel 149.

Even at a one feet distance to the router the wireless never breaks 60mbit, drops to 40mbit the moment I am a few steps away. The wired speed is easily above 90mbit.

It can be a Linux driver - I'm assuming the linux box is running the Intel 6300 card?

Depending on your distro, check out the compat-wireless packages - depends on the distro what the package is actually named -- with the 6300, in any event, make sure it's using the iwlwifi driver, and not one of the legacy drivers...

 

[jegesq]

I'm with Roger, Russell and L&LD on this one: With Merlin FW, using the original Asus-Broadcom drivers and the performance and feature improvements you get with Merlin's FW, together with the increased performance seen with 11n clients on 11ac routers, I'd have to say that either the 66U or 68U or P will give you excellent performance and reliability. I also wouldn't recommend the 87U for your use either, because as Roger notes, it's overkill for what you're going to pay for it (more than $100 over the 66U and close to that for the 68's).