We're looking to get a new gig router but don't know for sure which one would best fit our needs. Our problem is we don't have super fast internet (12megs) and we need better range and better multiple user handling. We have a Linksys E1500 right now which is no a gig router and is not dual band. We need something that will put out a signal a good distance away as we need it to go through a couple of walls sometimes. Our main concern is better multiple computer management. We have 4 computers, several iPads, a laptop or two and several guests that have access periodically.
OK. I'm just a novice so take what I say with a grain of salt. When you say "multiple computer management" (for a low bandwidth uplink) I think traffic analysis and QoS thus I always think "Asus" because of their real time traffic monitor. With a quick glance I can see high traffic utilization and where it is coming from (e.g., hard wire, 2.4 or 5 GHz). By using RMerlin I can actually identify which device is the bandwidth hog. All that along with a little
family insight allows me to tweak QoS with a little (in my case damn little) intelligence rather than just guesses, trial and error.
At work we all share a 15 by 1.5 Mbps uplink. As we grew from about 5 devices to 30 and 40 we started having non-stop problems. Of course our ISP told us we needed more bandwidth. As luck would have it we replaced our Linksys with an Asus. The traffic monitor helped us prove to the ISP that the bulk of our problems were not traffic and that the ISP was having intermittent problems (which they fixed).
But that's not to say we didn't have traffic problems. Between Asus and RMerlin we were able to learn that some of the staff were streaming/watching movies, the boss' daughter was playing some pretty intensive games and that some of the iPhones were sucking up bandwidth for device / cloud syncs so we took a closer look at what
work was and used QoS to prioritize it.
It's been eight months since we moved to Asus; everything is running great and we haven't had any trouble since.
Looking at the
thiggins reports Asus range and performance are always on the lucky side of average with some near the top of the heap. As an aside I really wonder how much
performance I need for 10 to 15 Mbps uplinks? And, even though I'm happy my Asus is a Gigabit router, I'm not sure it matters much since most of our work is over the Internet and our 15 Mbps uplink is the
pinch?
I also like all the SSIDs that Asus provides. I use one to lock some production PCs to 5 GHz, another to lock some to 2.4 GHz, another for
BYOD (employees who
Bring Your Own Device) and another for Guests. If things were to ever get inexplicably crazy I take some comfort in knowing I can quickly disable
unknown devices (by turning off
Guest and then
BYOD) in a quick attempt to restore
production.
Good luck and best wishes.
