Upgrade from N66U?

nyfirefly11 said:

Hey! I currently have an Asus N66U running 3.0.0.4.376_3861 (I have not checked out John's fork). Generally speaking, it works very well. Most of my devices are hard wired via TP-Link Gigabit switches, but I have a few new devices that are wireless. Here are my devices:

Wireless:
iPhone 6s (ac w/mimo)
iPad Mini 4 (ac)
Google Chromebook Pixel (v1, wireless N)
iPad Air v1
Kindle paperwhite (rarely used)
A few Nexus tablets (rarely used, don't ask

Wired:
Macbook Pro Retina 2015
DIY Desktop
Roku 3
Apple TV gen 2
Bluray
Epson printer
Synology 411+II NAS
OOMA Telo

Uses:
I have a VERY small apartment in a building with 15 other apartments (next to lots of other buildings). Also, I try to only use wifi when I have to, and keep the Tx power to a minimum (I'm trying to minimize RF as I can for reasons I won't go into

I mostly use my devices for web browsing, with some video streaming from the iPhone/iPad to the Apple TV, and some streaming from the NAS. I also do some file transfers around the network, and some printing. But we're not talking about major networking here.

I don't care all that much about price or future proofing right now - I just want something that's stable and that I don't have to worry about. Currently, I use basic port forwarding, static IPs for my devices + DHCP for extra, 1 guest network, on/off scheduling, and only the 5 gHz band.

Current speeds:
TWC Extreme 300
Netgear CM500 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem
Speedtest.net:
- on MBP wired: ping-10ms, download 250-350Mbps, upload 20-23Mbps
- on iPhone 6s wifi: ping118ms, download 15-60Mbps, upload 10-15Mbps (depending on location). Should I be getting better download speeds on wifi with the N66U?

Options:
I've read the reviews/charts on SNB, Amazon, Newegg, and other sites.
Option 1: just keep the N66U, as it's a great router and works just fine.
Option 2: upgrade to the AC66U or AC68U or P (I know some folks on here would say go with the AC66 and some would say AC68)
Option 3: Arhcer C7/9, Netgear R6400/7000 (though I like the features of the Asus f/w without having to use dd-wrt)
Option 4: ???

Thanks so much for reading and for any thoughts.

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Nullity said:

Your internet service is 300Mbit download? I would upgrade, because the N66U will barely be able to reach ~260Mbit wireless. Though, I am a bit obsessed with getting every bit of bandwidth I have paid for.

The RT-AC68U or RT-AC68P would be my choice. 802.11ac is quite a bit faster (~2x-3x) than 802.11n and AC will apparently supply faster speeds to N devices. The increased LAN to LAN speeds can also be very useful if you use local NAS for backups or locally stream media with something like Plex.

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stevech said:

Mixing apples and oranges?
ISP speed is in net yield at IP layer. Residential ISP download speed is most often 6 to 50Mbits/sec in No. America. Cable modem ISP service needed, usually, for more than 6Mbps.
WiFi indicated connection speed is in raw 802.11 burst rate speed. Convert this to net IP layer yield by multiplying by 60% as a rule of thumb. That's best case- absent any competition with neighbors with busy WiFi within 3 channels of yours (2.4GHz).

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nyfirefly11 said:

Thanks Nullity - that's correct. I have a plan from my ISP that provides ~ 300Mbit connection, which I can achieve via my laptop wired directly to the N66U, as measured by Speedtest.net (I can sometimes get higher than that, as ISPs are strange I have NOT measured throughput of my internal network.

For some reason, I can only get a max of 60Mbit as measured by Speedtest.net with my iPhone 6s, but I would imagine that would improve with an A/C router.

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