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Thinking of Upgrading Router

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Signal2Noise

Occasional Visitor
I'm out of the loop on what's hot and what's not in the world of current routers. I have the Asus RT-N66U (latest Asus model-specific firmware) which has been performing for the most part reliably well over the last three or four years. However, I'm curious as to what a new-tech router could bring to the table in terms of speed & signal strength. My 2400 sq foot wood-frame house is in a moderately dense suburban neighbourhood with lots of other wifi around. Router is set up in basement and house has two floors above. There is one spotty section for signal strength but I haven't bothered rectifying it with an extender or anything. I receive high speed cable internet and use for everything one can do as far as browsing, downloading, streaming, etc. Devices connected are as follows:
Wired
PS4
PS3
Apple TV 4
Denon AVR
Sonos system w/ 4 zones
Xbox One
Mac Mini
PC desktop
Synology & Drobo NAS

WiFi
AppleTV 1 & 3
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
Laptops
Smartphones (Android, iPhone, Windows)
Various tablets

So far there are no AC wireless devices, just G/N with both 2.4GHz & 5GHz support.

If there is a good upgrade from the RT-N66U what would it be?
 
I'm out of the loop on what's hot and what's not in the world of current routers. I have the Asus RT-N66U (latest Asus model-specific firmware) which has been performing for the most part reliably well over the last three or four years. However, I'm curious as to what a new-tech router could bring to the table in terms of speed & signal strength. My 2400 sq foot wood-frame house is in a moderately dense suburban neighbourhood with lots of other wifi around. Router is set up in basement and house has two floors above. There is one spotty section for signal strength but I haven't bothered rectifying it with an extender or anything. I receive high speed cable internet and use for everything one can do as far as browsing, downloading, streaming, etc. Devices connected are as follows:
Wired
PS4
PS3
Apple TV 4
Denon AVR
Sonos system w/ 4 zones
Xbox One
Mac Mini
PC desktop
Synology & Drobo NAS

WiFi
AppleTV 1 & 3
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
Laptops
Smartphones (Android, iPhone, Windows)
Various tablets

So far there are no AC wireless devices, just G/N with both 2.4GHz & 5GHz support.

If there is a good upgrade from the RT-N66U what would it be?

I just upgraded myself from an RT-N66U to an RT-AC68U and am happy with the results.

But not what I could recommend as a 'required' update for most (can't find my original post right now).

A better potential upgrade would be to the RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U or the RT-AC5300 depending on how you expect the WiFi environment to change for you and also will depend on how long you keep your router for too. The longer you'll likely keep it, the more I would be spending today.
 
I just upgraded myself from an RT-N66U to an RT-AC68U and am happy with the results.
And I updated just recently form the AC68U to the AC87U (what a WLAN beast!) - see footer! :rolleyes:
Some claim to have issues with the AC87U, but there is not general fault with it - seems to be specific to some users or usage types.

But I keep my N66U as secondary device as the 5 GHz range is not perfect in my reinforced/armed concrete building - for 2.4 GHz the AC87U would be alone good enough!
 
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I should note that the RT-AC68U I bought was the original 800MHz dual core model.

The latest revision of the RT-AC68U should be available with a 1GHz dual core model for the same price.

That will also improve the performance noticeably, similar (almost) to moving from a single core 600MHz router to a dual core 800MHz one.
 
Thanks for those thoughts, everyone! And thanks for that post link, L&LD. That's a good read that I had not stumbled across. I will look into those models.

I guess the first take away from all your comments is to stick with the Asus brand? I've had Linksys in the past, a WRT-610N prior to the RT-N66U. The N66U has a much better signal coverage than the WRT did.
 
If there is a good upgrade from the RT-N66U what would it be?

If you're comfortable with the User Interface of the RT-N66U, then the RT-AC68U is a very good choice... an alternate would perhaps be the RT-AC3100.

There are other vendors that offer comparable solutions - but generally, I tend to advise folks to stay on familiar territory if they're happy with what they have..
 
Okay, based on recommendations and using price as a factor the AC68U seems to be the upgrade I'd tend to go with. Going over $300 CDN (about $75 US right now ;)) just isn't justifiable for me. I'll have to check some B&M stores first since the revision number of the router now comes into play in order to get the faster processor. When checking online retailers I cannot determine if the AC68U is actually spec'd with the 1GHz dual-core rather than the older 800MHz.
 
Okay, based on recommendations and using price as a factor the AC68U seems to be the upgrade I'd tend to go with. Going over $300 CDN (about $75 US right now ;)) just isn't justifiable for me. I'll have to check some B&M stores first since the revision number of the router now comes into play in order to get the faster processor. When checking online retailers I cannot determine if the AC68U is actually spec'd with the 1GHz dual-core rather than the older 800MHz.

If they will let you return it for that reason (slower cores) it may be worth trying (but any savings you might hope for will be burned in shipping fees).

I would rather pay a little more at a local store (no restocking fees) than take a chance with almost anything bought online.
 
I can get the AC68U locally for 230 cdn or AC87U on sale for same price.
 
I can get the AC68U locally for 230 cdn or AC87U on sale for same price.

How much time do you have to play with the potentially problematic RT-AC87U to get the results you want?

@joegreat, where are you? :)
 
^
Since I'd still have my N66U (probably end up going into My Big Box of Computer Parts for in-case-of-emergency scenario) I could technically get the AC87U up to snuff before taking the old one offline. I have a couple of days to think about it before sale is over. Or just wait for a later/better sale.
 
^
Since I'd still have my N66U (probably end up going into My Big Box of Computer Parts for in-case-of-emergency scenario) I could technically get the AC87U up to snuff before taking the old one offline. I have a couple of days to think about it before sale is over. Or just wait for a later/better sale.

I wasn't worried about your abilities to configure the router to your liking.

I was more worried about the potential issues many have faced with the RT-AC87U with stability and performance of certain features. Except for joegreat who has had a trouble free experience since purchase.
 
I wasn't worried about your abilities to configure the router to your liking.

I was more worried about the potential issues many have faced with the RT-AC87U with stability and performance of certain features. Except for joegreat who has had a trouble free experience since purchase.

I thought it was mostly due to the Quantenna 5Ghz chipset, seems similar issues are plaguing the R7500v1 and the EA8350. AC68U is probably the better option.

By the way I heard the AC87U recently got MU-MIMO support, is that true?
 
I wasn't worried about your abilities to configure the router to your liking.

I was more worried about the potential issues many have faced with the RT-AC87U with stability and performance of certain features. Except for joegreat who has had a trouble free experience since purchase.

Gotcha. I will look up the potential problems/setup issues specific to the AC87U and evaluate. I'm actually on the fence of buying immediately any way. The N66U has been decent but I'm not in a hurry to go "better" yet.
 
Gotcha. I will look up the potential problems/setup issues specific to the AC87U and evaluate. I'm actually on the fence of buying immediately any way. The N66U has been decent but I'm not in a hurry to go "better" yet.

In that case, wait until Asus has released it's 2016 routers. :)
 
I went into my local Staples to have a look at the AC87U that was on sale but it was no longer in stock. They did have the AC68U but it is H/W revision A2 which means the 800MHz processor. Sales dude pointed me to the AC3100 & AC5300 but I told him and I didn't want spend over $300 for a router. He then told me that he just received the new shelving plan which meant he expected new stock of 2016 routers soon. So I shall hold off a bit.
 
home wifi routers should not be more than $300. The mikrotik CCR1009 costs a start of $425 so its a big shame to consumer companies as the CCR is many times cheaper per bandwidth.
 
home wifi routers should not be more than $300. The mikrotik CCR1009 costs a start of $425 so its a big shame to consumer companies as the CCR is many times cheaper per bandwidth.

Except we don't buy bandwidth anymore, we buy knobs, bells and whistles, and the privilege of being the first with those new knobs, bells and whistles. :)

Apparently the customers doesn't disagree. As long the people buy it, manufacturers will sell them at those prices. I can't blame manufacturers for making a larger profit on these high-end devices, which allows them to sell the low-end at discount prices.

Same could be said for all other market segments. Video cards at 600$, Intel Extreme Edition CPUs at 999$, ultrabooks at 2000$... You pay a premium to get the latest and greatest, regardless of whether it's actually worth that premium or not. Even if you gain maybe 10% performance gain in exchange for paying 3x as much as the low-end product.
 
Except we don't buy bandwidth anymore, we buy knobs, bells and whistles, and the privilege of being the first with those new knobs, bells and whistles. :)

Apparently the customers doesn't disagree. As long the people buy it, manufacturers will sell them at those prices. I can't blame manufacturers for making a larger profit on these high-end devices, which allows them to sell the low-end at discount prices.

Same could be said for all other market segments. Video cards at 600$, Intel Extreme Edition CPUs at 999$, ultrabooks at 2000$... You pay a premium to get the latest and greatest, regardless of whether it's actually worth that premium or not. Even if you gain maybe 10% performance gain in exchange for paying 3x as much as the low-end product.
but intel extreme has always been at $999 for many years. Im talking about the increasing prices over each new generation. High end routers would typically cost around $300 and now its increased a lot more.

There have been efforts to try and install openwrt on the mikrotik CCR.
 

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