Best router out there Today? 0-350 dollars

hermelinen · May 27, 2015

Hi,

Got new internet connection with 500/100 mbit and my old N66U needs to be changed for a newer router.
I was looking for the RT-AC3200 and it hits the nordic market in a couple of days, but what I've read, it has some disconnect issues, which it not ok when it comes to gaming, to frustrating. Have they fixed the problem?

Which router is the best within the range 350 dollars?
I've been happy with the user interface in my old Asus n66u.
Which router will do my new connection speed most justice?

Thanks.

microchip · May 27, 2015

There is no "best". And anything above AC1900 is too new and has (lots of) issues. If you want to go ASUS again, get the AC68U or maybe even AC87U

hermelinen · May 27, 2015

Thats what I also realized. It doesnt seem like a good reason to go above ac1900 if the speeds are the same as ac3200, only advantage is duel 5ghz.
The netgear nighthawk seem to top the tests, in reality, is it better than its opponents? Interface and so on.

microchip · May 27, 2015

hermelinen said:
Thats what I also realized. It doesnt seem like a good reason to go above ac1900 if the speeds are the same as ac3200, only advantage is duel 5ghz.
The netgear nighthawk seem to top the tests, in reality, is it better than its opponents? Interface and so on.

Not really. I had lots of issues with its stock FW so I jumped ship and installed the Merlin mod for it. On stock FW it does seem to perform very good if you read the reviews on SNB but it performs the same for me on Merlin's mod. Regarding HW, it's a very decent device that also seems to run a bit cooler than the AC68U. I was going to get the AC68U but then I said "hey, why not use the decent R7000 device instead. Who cares it's not made by ASUS"

Also, I only mentioned the AC87U as it seems to be maturing recently

YeOldeStonecat · May 27, 2015

...although current N66U which was tested here at over 730 megs up and down....is currently not a bottleneck for a 500/100. Based on some rough math.

hermelinen · May 28, 2015

Bought the WRT1900ac.

htismaqe · May 28, 2015

Make sure to update the firmware to the latest revision. I've had some issues with mine but nowhere near the issues I had with the Netgear R7000. And the performance, for me, beats the Asus RT-A68U by quite a bit.

System Error Message · May 29, 2015

There isnt such a thing as the best router, technically you could just gather a PC, install PFsense and wifi card and it can be the best router. You should include the word "embedded".

i find that asus seem to work well but for some reason in my environment the signal bandwidth drops on 5Ghz are significant within 10 meters of the AP. I use a seperate router for internet and wifi. Havent had issues with smart connect yet but i use Asus AC3200 and AC68U for wifi.

hank81 · May 31, 2015

hermelinen said:
Bought the WRT1900ac.

RT-AC87U could be great because it can achieve 1700mbps and has MU-MIMO but its Quantena radio gets broken too frequently.

You've made a good choice. IMHO wrt1900ac and RT-AC68U are the sweet spot at this moment.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

sfx2000 · May 31, 2015

System Error Message said:
There isnt such a thing as the best router, technically you could just gather a PC, install PFsense and wifi card and it can be the best router. You should include the word "embedded".

i find that asus seem to work well but for some reason in my environment the signal bandwidth drops on 5Ghz are significant within 10 meters of the AP. I use a seperate router for internet and wifi. Havent had issues with smart connect yet but i use Asus AC3200 and AC68U for wifi.

Exactly, and I completely agree...

The "best" router at any price is the one that meets your needs at the end of the day - many of the $200+ devices these days are overkill for the average person..

hermelinen · May 31, 2015

I need to ask, if I sit beside the router I get like 540 mbit downstream. But if I move into a room 10(33 feet) meters away from the router, two wooden walls I drop about 300-350 mbit average(getting like 150-230 downstream), should it be like this really?
One wooder wall i, between, 3 meters from the router in another direction and I still get 500+ mbit.
I another room, like 12-13 meters away from the router I get like 40/10. Wooden walls again.
Should it be this poor performance?

The house aint big and its only wooden walls.

System Error Message · May 31, 2015

if you're talking about wifi than yes. i never expect much out of wifi. Wifi to me is only a convenience to access things where performance isnt a concern.

stevech · Jun 1, 2015

hermelinen said:
I need to ask, if I sit beside the router I get like 540 mbit downstream. But if I move into a room 10(33 feet) meters away from the router, two wooden walls I drop about 300-350 mbit average(getting like 150-230 downstream), should it be like this really?
One wooder wall i, between, 3 meters from the router in another direction and I still get 500+ mbit.
I another room, like 12-13 meters away from the router I get like 40/10. Wooden walls again.
Should it be this poor performance?

The house aint big and its only wooden walls.

It's the laws of physics at work. For any RF data system, WiFi included.

High speed or range/obstructions. This is given we have the unlicensed "ISM" bands and necessarily their restrictions on transmitter power.

(wooden walls attenuate RF more than drywall).

cdd543 · Jun 14, 2015

I just had gigabit fiber installed and have been using the wrt ac1900. Grabbed an asus ac3200 to test and my speeds are a little lower than the wrt on 5g in my house. Wired it will get slightly higher hitting over 900 down on specific server. The wrt hits 800's on the same server. I thought the nat acceleration/cut through processing on the asus might make some bigger difference, but it appears that's not the case. And for the record in my opinion the asus is incredibly ugly...lol.

RogerSC · Jun 16, 2015

If you look at a current thread in the Netgear R7000 user forum, you'll see speeds of upwards of 900Mbps currently being reported. Just as reported by the review of the R7000 on this web site. So you don't have to look too far to find routers that support that speed, if you need it.

jlake · Jun 16, 2015

If I lived in Europe with a fiber connection, I'd go with TP-Link. There's some $50 TP-Links that could do 900 Mbps as far back as 2012. Not sure what chip they have inside or what NAT acceleration. But it's not a Broadcom chip and not Broadcom NAT acceleration.

Trip · Jun 17, 2015

If I wanted capacity to route 600Mb/s aggregate reliably, I'd probably do an EdgeRouter Lite or equivalent and then wire in whatever AP or all-in-one you already own for wifi duty, or whatever unit can be bought for the remainder of your budget which gets the best marks for wifi performance. In most cases, a way better approach than just throwing all your hopes onto a single $350 all-in-one.

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Best router out there Today? 0-350 dollars

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