ASUS AC1900 or Netgear R800

[tdub42]

I currently have an AC1900 but I was recently given an Netgear R8000 for free from a co-worker. My home is around 4500sq ft including basement (2 story with basement) and I currently have decent coverage with my asus in my office area. Will I see a performance gain at all switching to this device? I have ATT gigapower and get roughly 800+ up/down. In addition we have at least 35+ devices connected on our network via hardwired or wireless ( I have a home lab in basement running vms). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as I finally have my network stable but a free router I had to jump on

 

[avtella]

It's pretty much the same hardware as your Asus 1900 which is probably an AC68U and also similar to an R7000. Only difference is it has an extra 5Ghz radio. You won't get more coverage but you will have higher througput on 5Ghz as you can split your devices across two 5 Ghz bands. I'm personally not a fan of dual radio 5Ghz routers, already some popping up in my neighborhood occupying upper/lower parts of 5Ghz forcing me to DFS channels. Not that the interference is that high but still annoying .

 

[tdub42]

Thanks so it won't do me any good performance on my home network is pretty good honestly. We actually don't use the 5Ghz enough in my house. Only my phone and my wifes honestly. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[avtella]

5Ghz advantage is higher speeds vs 2.4Ghz at same distances and less interference as you have less overlapping in channels.

 

[tdub42]

Yeah the problem is 5ghz on my upstairs network currently isn't that good I may do an analyzer to verify. If I can get penetration on the updstairs rooms it would be nice to have dedicated 5Ghz zones.

 

[tdub42]

@avtella Would you suggest changing from r68u to r8000 at all? I would have to work my home vpn issue out (incredibly easy with asus). Just asking as you are a senior member.

 

[avtella]

I think you should be fine with the AC68U since the R8000 pretty much has the same hardware plus an extra 5Ghz band, so unless you really need that extra 5Ghz radio, no need. Then again you got it for free so you could replace the AC68U, you will get less congestion on 5Ghz but I doubt its something you'd really notice.

As for VPN there is no option to use the router as a VPN client on the R8000 only a VPN server unless you want to flash DD-WRT or OpenWrt so rather than go through all that stick to the Asus if VPN Client option of the router is needed.

 

[tdub42]

Thanks I contact my home sometimes to manage items and help family (wife and kids) with issues in addition to my home lab. So guess R8000 isn't the device upgrade for me then. Thanks for your assistance!

 

[avtella]

No you can actually do that , that means the R8000/AC68U would be a VPN server which both support. However if you want to use a paid VPN service with the router itself as a client then you would be better off with the AC68U, this is a different scenario then what you described.

 

[doczenith1]

Yeah the problem is 5ghz on my upstairs network currently isn't that good I may do an analyzer to verify. If I can get penetration on the updstairs rooms it would be nice to have dedicated 5Ghz zones.

Am I understanding you correctly in that there are parts of your house where the 5ghz signal from the 68U does not reach very well? If so, and you have an ethernet run to that part of the house you could add the new router as an access point.