Wireless router advice - which to buy

[Nickrog101]

Hi

I currently have a asus rt ac5300 router. Love it. However I am looking to upgrade

I am looking at the tp link ax11000, asus gt ax11000 or nighthawk ax120 or ax200 nighthawk

I am looking to at least keep,or exceed my distance range needs. Preferably exceed. Also want to increase WiFi speeds - 2.4 ghz at long distances

Any explanations what I would be gaining or losing from these specific routers? Or if there’s a better option. Thanks
Any recommendations would be very helpful

forgot to mention I do a lot of 4k streaming, gaming, and currently have 17 wireless clients connected to my current router. Not all at once though.

 

[L&LD]

Your best bet for the long-term would be the RT-AX88U instead. RMerlin firmware + amtm support will make for a more capable, stable, and reliable experience than raw/stock Asus.

I didn't have the RT-AC5300 to test with, but the RT-AX88U is above all previous routers I've used personally.

RT-AX88U Upgrade https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...ta-is-now-available.60037/page-31#post-531024

I can't recommend any of the models you indicate. No Asus/RMerlin support, no dice.

 

[psychopomp1]

OP,
I have the Netgear RAX200 and its a significant upgrade from the RT-AC5300 wrt wifi coverage - i also had the same Asus before the RAX200. The RAX200 had some early bugs but the latest firmware is rock solid and its a brilliant router all around. When we have lots of family & friends around, it copes with 50-60 wifi clients simultaneously without breaking a sweat. You won't be disappointed

 

[Nickrog101]

OP,
I have the Netgear RAX200 and its a significant upgrade from the RT-AC5300 wrt wifi coverage - i also had the same Asus before the RAX200. The RAX200 had some early bugs but the latest firmware is rock solid and its a brilliant router all around. When we have lots of family & friends around, it copes with 50-60 wifi clients simultaneously without breaking a sweat. You won't be disappointed

Thanks

Is the rax120 just like the rax200 with regards to the coverage range? Do they have the same range?

 

[psychopomp1]

Sorry can't say anything about the RAX120 as I haven't tried it. But the RAX200 has 3 radios (1 x 2.4ghz + 2 x 5ghx) whilst the RAX120 is dual band only, I've found that extra radio on the RAX200 a Godsend when there's tonnes of clients all competing for bandwidth.

 

[avtella]

OP, don't expect a night and day improvement in range over what you have, due to power limit regulations. However if you really insist on AX, between the two options, the RAX120 has greater performance than the RAX200 at range on both 2.4/5Ghz in my experience, especially on 2.4 Ghz, and more mature radios. If I recall SNBs own tests showed a weird performance dip on Broadcom ax routers.

As for tri band, see if you really need that extra radio. What most people forget is even with numerous clients, few client devices are actually actively in use or transmitting in parallel at any given time like for example are you going to use your phone and tablet and laptop at the exact same time, probably not? Also unlesss you have like gigabit internet or a NAS that you also do tons of transfers to, I don't think that third radio makes much of a difference most home users. I have 25-30 WIFi devices with no significant gain on tri-band, this even with 4 people streaming 4K on a test.

If you really do think you need a triband go for the GT-AX11000 its much cheaper at least here in the US, it uses the same internal hardware as the RAX200 and you actually get a lot more features vs not much more than glorified AP with the RAX200.

The AX88U (same hardware as the RAX80) mentioned by @L&LD is cheaper than all the above and may be the best bang for the buck though...as both the RAX120/200 options are relatively pricey.

 

[psychopomp1]

I definitely wouldn't recommend the Asus GT-AX11000 despite the same RAX200 radios being used in the Asus. Even though Asus tend to release firmware updates every 2 mins for the AX11000 its still buggy as hell - a quick glance on the Asus sub-forums proves this is the case. If the OP wants a tri-band wifi 6 router and the RAX200 is too costly, then the TP Link Archer AX11000 is a much much better option than the Asus junk.