Wireless Router for large household

[Akaz1976]

Hi,

We have a large household (7 users) spread over three floors (each floor ~1400 squarefeet)

Lately I have been noticing lag in my online gaming and I am thinking that we are overwhelming the router (I had stopped online gaming for a few years so only noticed it recently when I got back into it + kids are older and now starting to stream Netflix/youtube)

Typical usage for users other than me is webbrowising/youtube/Netflix. I am the only gamer.

Also wifi signal is weak in our top floor bedroom (router is on main floor fairly central).

We currently have Linksys E4200. Should I upgrade? if yes should I upgrade to Netgear R8000? They seem to be advertising to more user households!

Thanks

 

[Ronv42]

What is your internet speed? That also will help. Your profile is sort of like mine. Large family 7 members, 3 floors, lots of wireless and wired applications. I've used everything from a RT-N16, RT-N66U, RT-AC87R and they all served up the internet for the respective applications just fine.

It's when I got bandwidth boost is when I decided to get new routers. From DSL and their paltry speed all the way to U-verse hitting 50 mbps. I found that bandwidth was taxing the CPU more than anything else due to the SIRQ (software interrupts) to route the packets and packet filter.

 

[stevech]

Hi,

We have a large household (7 users) spread over three floors (each floor ~1400 squarefeet)

Lately I have been noticing lag in my online gaming and I am thinking that we are overwhelming the router (I had stopped online gaming for a few years so only noticed it recently when I got back into it + kids are older and now starting to stream Netflix/youtube)

Typical usage for users other than me is webbrowising/youtube/Netflix. I am the only gamer.

Also wifi signal is weak in our top floor bedroom (router is on main floor fairly central).

We currently have Linksys E4200. Should I upgrade? if yes should I upgrade to Netgear R8000? They seem to be advertising to more user households!

Thanks

Gaming "lag" (increased latency) might be too many people in your home making demands exceeded your ISP's service capability for the price tier you have.

You should do latency-sensitive gaming on a wired connection since WiFi always suffers at time from short delays due to competition for access to the shared wireless channel.
The cure for this one is use a wired connection for gaming.
You can also split the WiFi load between the router and add a WiFi access point on a different WiFi channel (1, 6, 11 in 2.4GHz band). This won't fix the problem of excessive demand for shared ISP speeds.

 

[thiggins]

The R8000 and other AC3200 routers help only if your clients can use 5 GHz.

You might get some improved throughput by moving up to any AC router (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...oes-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance). But don't expect a big range increase.

If you can't run Ethernet up to the top floor to add an access point, you might try a pair of HomePlug AV adapters to get an Ethernet port up there.

Steve's advice about using a wired connection for gaming is also good. But even with a wired connection, competition for bandwidth from multiple Netflix streams can affect lag unless you have some sort of QoS in place to prioritize your gaming traffic.

 

[Akaz1976]

sorry should have posted my internet specs. Its 55/10 cable

http://www.cogeco.ca/web/on/en/residential/internet/packages/ultimate_55/

EDIT: The sense I am getting from posts here is that these new and expensive routers are not necessarily the answer. I should probably figure out a way to set up QoS for my gaming (wire line is not a possibility).

Though not sure what I can do about extending range without running up the wire line for access point (which is also not likely for now but something to keep in mind next time wife does a reno project).

 

[stevech]

alternative to cat5 wired is MoCA or HPNA/Homeplug. See the forum section here.
Either of those allow you to get a wired connection for gaming things and avoid WiFi.
And add an access point for better signal in an area of weak signal.

But gaming where you care about latency is always a problem with WiFi.

QoS will not solve the WiFi latency issue.