Back again, looking for another router...

htismaqe · May 14, 2015

14 days short of EXACTLY 1 year, my WRT1900AC is needing replaced. Last week it has started dropping my VPN connection to work and I'm up now to having to reboot it every 24 hours.

My situation has changed in terms of my wireless needs over the past year, primarily because I've since wired up my office with Cat6. I'm down to only 2 or 3 devices on 5Ghz wireless, so maximum throughput is no longer a concern (I'm still looking for decent range).

Right now, my biggest want is maximum range/throughput on the 2.4Ghz side, since all of 5 of the streaming media devices share it and a couple of them are in back bedrooms.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Asus AC68P but am wondering if there's any other ideas out there since I've been away for so long.

sfx2000 · May 14, 2015

htismaqe said:
14 days short of EXACTLY 1 year, my WRT1900AC is needing replaced. Last week it has started dropping my VPN connection to work and I'm up now to having to reboot it every 24 hours.

My situation has changed in terms of my wireless needs over the past year, primarily because I've since wired up my office with Cat6. I'm down to only 2 or 3 devices on 5Ghz wireless, so maximum throughput is no longer a concern (I'm still looking for decent range).

Right now, my biggest want is maximum range/throughput on the 2.4Ghz side, since all of 5 of the streaming media devices share it and a couple of them are in back bedrooms.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Asus AC68P but am wondering if there's any other ideas out there since I've been away for so long.

Before replacing the WRT1900ac, check the AC adapter, it's a bit on the wimpy side, and it might be going soft...

htismaqe · May 14, 2015

I checked it with a voltmeter on the DC output side and it appears ok, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for other than (slightly above) stated voltage and no radical voltage fluctuation.

sfx2000 · May 14, 2015

htismaqe said:
I checked it with a voltmeter on the DC output side and it appears ok, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for other than (slightly above) stated voltage and no radical voltage fluctuation.

Got to put it under load and check current - it's a constant voltage switcher, but it can drop current to the point that the box will have issues..

htismaqe · May 14, 2015

The TP-Link Archer C9 is intriguing, but it appears it only supports up to 32 DHCP reservations and I have a few more than that.

stevech · May 15, 2015

htismaqe said:
The TP-Link Archer C9 is intriguing, but it appears it only supports up to 32 DHCP reservations and I have a few more than that.

DHCP reservations - is not the number of DHCP clients, right? Reservations means the router can reserve up to x IP addresses for x clients whose MAC address are known. Most often, clients on WiFi don't need a reservation - just any IP will do. Reservations often are used for webcams, servers, etc.

Russ64 · May 15, 2015

I decided on the RT-AC68U (although I use it as a WAP). For me the clincher for Asus over TP-Link, Netgear, etc was RMerlin's firmware which opens up a lot of options and fixes issues far better/quicker than relying on a single vendor.

As for DHCP, I use a netmask of 255.255.255.192 which gives 62 useable IPs for my LAN and then I set the DHCP range to 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.5 to allow certain devices (phones etc) to get dynamic IPs but all permanent LAN devices are setup with static IPs on each device (no need to use DHCP reservations).

htismaqe · May 15, 2015

stevech said:
DHCP reservations - is not the number of DHCP clients, right? Reservations means the router can reserve up to x IP addresses for x clients whose MAC address are known. Most often, clients on WiFi don't need a reservation - just any IP will do. Reservations often are used for webcams, servers, etc.

Wifi clients don't NEED reservations, but I want to use them because I use my IP address space to quickly identify devices and users. I only have about 35 devices but I have my address divided up so that I know instantly that anything in the range from 192.168.0.20-29 belongs to user X. Also I do have several video/audio devices that accept inbound connections. Only truly dynamic devices, aka Guests, get truly dynamic addresses.

Russ64 said:
I decided on the RT-AC68U (although I use it as a WAP). For me the clincher for Asus over TP-Link, Netgear, etc was RMerlin's firmware which opens up a lot of options and fixes issues far better/quicker than relying on a single vendor.

As for DHCP, I use a netmask of 255.255.255.192 which gives 62 useable IPs for my LAN and then I set the DHCP range to 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.5 to allow certain devices (phones etc) to get dynamic IPs but all permanent LAN devices are setup with static IPs on each device (no need to use DHCP reservations).

Static IPs require management at the endpoint. We have 6 laptops, for example. Those laptops don't often leave the building but when they do, I don't want to have to touch them. When they are in the building, I want them to be instantly identifiable. We have the same idea, I just prefer to centrally manage my IP address space, hence the use of DHCP reservations.

stevech · May 24, 2015

annadagu said:
Asus routers are great! They are also compatible with the Cloudcheck app (which I recommend downloading) that can help you figure out the best wifi hotspots in your own home/office as well as determine which channel is least congested to optimize wifi performance.

Does CoudCheck measure how BUSY the SSIDs it hears are? The number of SSIDs heard does not indicate much. Channel busy measurement (channel utilization) of course varies a lot by time of day, neighbors' habits, etc.

sfx2000 · May 24, 2015

stevech said:
Does CoudCheck measure how BUSY the SSIDs it hears are? The number of SSIDs heard does not indicate much. Channel busy measurement (channel utilization) of course varies a lot by time of day, neighbors' habits, etc.

This user@cloudcheck has run the gamut actually across multiple threads - I would flag as SPAM, or at least Cross Posted...

stevech · May 25, 2015

ah, I overlooked that

stevech · May 25, 2015

I tried the cloudcheck app on my HTC One Android phone.
I give it a D for utility and an A+ for price.

Its techniques for broadband WAN speed assessment don't seem valid based on my long use of speedtest.net and selected servers.
It shows a speed for phone to/from my router. How does it get the router to send bulk data (not using a server on the WAN)?

I'll stick with my free "WiFi Analyzer" app for Android.
It's fun to drive around and on the freeway and look at the SSIDs it displays. Some have funny or clever names.

htismaqe · May 26, 2015

Well, I replaced the power supply, flashed the latest firmware (released last week), and re-configured the router from scratch. I'm sticking with the WRT1900AC.

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Back again, looking for another router...

htismaqe

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sfx2000

Part of the Furniture

htismaqe

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sfx2000

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htismaqe

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stevech

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Russ64

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htismaqe

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stevech

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sfx2000

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stevech

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stevech

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htismaqe

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