Upgrade to Wifi6?

[yugi]

My current setup which includes Netgear R8500 (main), R7000 (wired AP), AC2100 (wired AP), RT-AC1900P (AP, connected in a barn via powerline Zyxel PLA6456 G.hn Wave 2) and it's quite stable. However, 2 latest firmware updates for R8500 had DNS resolving issues, so I'm staying with older firmware, which don't have any issues. All the routers are quite old, around 3-6 years old. Should I upgrade to Wifi6? I'm looking at buying used Netgear RAX80 or RAX200 main and 2 EAX80 APs. I like Netgear's hardware, the software is a bit dated, but it meets my needs so far.

 

[Tech Junky]

Upgrade = yes

Netgear = no

AP's I would recommend using the Zyxel NWA210AX 4x4 radios or the NWA110AX 22 radios $160 / $130

You only need 1 router and it doesn't have to have WIFI built in which just means adding 1-2 more AP's which levels the pricing. You can get a wired router w/o wifi for $50.

I got away from Netgear and all other prepackaged setups for the reasons you listed with fixing one thing and breaking another in the process. It got time consuming to fix their F up every time they released new FW.

Here's a snap of the AP dashboard. Off to the left you have the options for performance / configuration / etc.

I setup the AP's in stand alone mode to not have to deal with the Nebula "service" to manage multiple AP's. You can power them from either AC or POE which is nice if you don't have an outlet handy where you want to place it. They made some strides in the FW to make them more stable as well in recent months. I think I've seen 3-4 FW updates in the past couple of years whereas Netgear probably released 10-15 updates.

You also get 8 SSID's per band and if you're doing VLAN's you can choose up to 4000+ to use.

 

[Tech9]

Should I upgrade to Wifi6?

No one has the answer to this question, but you. I would remove the mix of home routers as and build a centrally managed Wi-Fi system, perhaps TP-Link Omada as excellent price/performance SMB hardware. We have discussed similar Wi-Fi 6 setup in another thread just few days ago:

Desperately need advice on upgrading my slow mixed network (SRP541W)

Let me first start off that I'm not a network professional, so I may not understand some terminology. I only know what I researched over a decade ago, and was pretty limited to mostly consumer-grade products. That said, I need to upgrade my aged network. Below is what I have, and what I...

www.snbforums.com

This may give you some ideas for better hardware than home routers. I personally use 4x AC Wave 2 AP's and have no intention to upgrade.

 

[yugi]

No one has the answer to this question, but you. I would remove the mix of home routers as and build a centrally managed Wi-Fi system, perhaps TP-Link Omada as excellent price/performance SMB hardware. We have discussed similar Wi-Fi 6 setup in another thread just few days ago:

Desperately need advice on upgrading my slow mixed network (SRP541W)

Let me first start off that I'm not a network professional, so I may not understand some terminology. I only know what I researched over a decade ago, and was pretty limited to mostly consumer-grade products. That said, I need to upgrade my aged network. Below is what I have, and what I...

www.snbforums.com

This may give you some ideas for better hardware than home routers. I personally use 4x AC Wave 2 AP's and have no intention to upgrade.

I have Cisco PIX-506 laying around, but it's very old.

 

[Tech Junky]

PIX-506

That's a flashback in history!

That won't keep up with todays speed requirements though. Fun to play with though.

 

[Tech9]

I have Cisco PIX-506 laying around, but it's very old.

Not good anymore. If you want to keep user friendly home router interface with many features, you can use RT-AC1900P as wired router running FreshTomato (mainly for VLAN's support) or Asuswrt-Merlin (for TrendMicro AiProtection/Adaptive QoS, custom scripts). The router is fast enough for 300Mbps ISP line with no NAT acceleration (incompatible with some FreshTomato/Merlin features) and Gigabit capable with NAT acceleration enabled. The CPU is the same as in Netgear R8500 - Broadcom BCM4709C0 1.4GHz dual-core. It is very reliable router and still actively supported.

 

[yugi]

Not good anymore. If you want to keep user friendly home router interface with many features, you can use RT-AC1900P as wired router running FreshTomato (mainly for VLAN's support) or Asuswrt-Merlin (for TrendMicro AiProtection/Adaptive QoS, custom scripts). The router is fast enough for 300Mbps ISP line with no NAT acceleration (incompatible with some FreshTomato/Merlin features) and Gigabit capable with NAT acceleration enabled. The CPU is the same as in Netgear R8500 - Broadcom BCM4709C0 1.4GHz dual-core. It is very reliable router and still actively supported.

I was using it as a main router with Merlin software before I bought R8500, and R8500 greatly improved internet throughput compared to AC1900P. Right now R8500 handles 300/300 Mbps internet connection with no issues. I've also got RAX20 for free, but I can't seem to make it's wireless work. It appears for short time, then disappears. Was planning to test Wifi6 with it.

 

[Tech9]

R8500 greatly improved internet throughput compared to AC1900P.

Yes, when the radios are enabled. The older BCM4360 in AC1900P use more CPU. R8500 has newer BCM4366 radios with own processing unit. When used as wired routers though the two will be the same. Anyway, one of the two is good enough to be used as main router - you have a choice. A new AP's system can take care of your Wi-Fi needs. You can upgrade the components separately after. Home routers are AIO disposable devices.

 

[yugi]

Zyxel NWA210AX

This is only 2x2 in 2.4GHz band and 4x4 in 5, while EAX80 is 4x4 in both bands, and costs more than 2 times less.

 

[Tech Junky]

EAX80

Looks like it's $250 Where the NWA210AX is $160

Do you really need 4x4 in 2.4?

 

[Tech Junky]

The upside of the NWA is you have a 2.5GE uplink compared to 1GE and port sharing on the "node". It's funny how it can do 6gbps but only 1gbps port to go anywhere else besides itself.

 

[Tech9]

It's funny how it can do 6gbps

It can't do 6Gbps in real life. Marketing number - the sum of all theoretical speeds.

Do you really need 4x4 in 2.4?

I would prefer 4-stream for better sensitivity/range. It depends on radio used though.

 

[yugi]

Looks like it's $250 Where the NWA210AX is $160

Do you really need 4x4 in 2.4?

Used ones are going around $70-85, RAX80 are also in the similar ranges.
Yes, I think 4x4 is good to have instead of 2x2.

 

[Tech Junky]

It can't do 6Gbps in real life. Marketing number - the sum of all theoretical speeds.



I would prefer 4-stream for better sensitivity/range. It depends on radio used though.

It's funny how it can do 6gbps but only 1gbps port

 

[Tech Junky]

Used ones are going around $70-85, RAX80 are also in the similar ranges.
Yes, I think 4x4 is good to have instead of 2x2.

Not knowing if someone F'd it up and no warranty is a gamble.

 

[yugi]

The upside of the NWA is you have a 2.5GE uplink compared to 1GE and port sharing on the "node". It's funny how it can do 6gbps but only 1gbps port to go anywhere else besides itself.

It can't do 6Gbps, it's only theoretical. Realistically with 2x2 client, you can do 1200 Mbps, and probably even lower.

 

[yugi]

Not knowing if someone F'd it up and no warranty is a gamble.

You can always return within a month, if it doesn't work.

 

[yugi]

It's funny how it can do 6gbps but only 1gbps port

It can connect faster with wireless backhaul, theoretically it can reach 4.8 Gbps router to router.

 

[Tech9]

Realistically with 2x2 client, you can do 1200 Mbps, and probably even lower.

This is the link speed, the throughput is lower, unless 160MHz channel is used.

It's funny how it can do 6gbps but only 1gbps port

Like most home routers, nothing new or surprising. AX11000 class routers come with Gigabit ports.

 

[Tech Junky]

It can connect faster with wireless backhaul, theoretically it can reach 4.8 Gbps router to router.

Ok, then you're limited to your WAN port which these days is either 1gbps or 2.5gbps unless you're investing in something more than a home router.

So, you see how if you follow the path from Client to WAN you have several roadblocks to getting your true potential speed.