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I'm a networking idiot looking to build a home network - please help!

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Yarberger

New Around Here
Hello everyone.

Apologies for a question that undoubtedly has been asked thousands of times before.

I presently have a D-Link DIR-655 router, which began random (and frequent) disconnects two days ago. The disconnects occur every few minutes, and require a power-down and power-up to 'solve'. Router tech support has been discontinued. I performed a firmware update last year, which was required by my internet provider (a cable company here in Ontario) because of a security flaw with some routers.

Our modem is provided by the cable company, and is an ARRIS TM722 model.

I figure I need a new router, as the cable company 'pinged' the line and said that the modem is working fine.

We have two desktop computers and an all-in-one printer that we want to connect via ethernet cable to the router. Aside from that, we just have our smartphones which connect via wi-fi when in the house.

I am VERY confused about which router to buy. Some articles/forum posts refer to multiple routers in a home network set-up. I don't know what I need in order to provide good wired/wireless connectivity.

At some point in the future we might also try to run Netflix through our television, and I'd like a router that would allow for such a change.

I really appreciate any thoughts/suggestions, as I'd like to get started on this today (I work from home).

Thanks so much.
 
You might want to check since you posted the same thread twice. Any new reliable wifi router would work and this website has charts and reviews on various router models. You didnt mention your internet speed so i dont know what kind of speeds you need but im just going to assume its 100Mb/s.

What you're looking for is
1) reliability
2) QoS capability

It doesnt seem like you need speed and 1 wifi router will be sufficient for you.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Apologies for the duplicate post - my router crashed (again) as I was attempting to upload the thread. Oh the irony.

We don't have 100Mb/s - I wish we did, but here in Ontario that kind of package would bankrupt us. We have 30Mb/s download and 10Mb/s upload.

My wife and I don't do anything special, but we do both enjoy gaming from time to time. We didn't see anything awful speed-wise from the DIR-655 during gaming, but wi-fi stability and speed has been terrible for some time now.
 
Thiggins, thanks very much for those links. I had read both the 'how do buy' and the router rankings, and had settled on the R7000 - until I began reading the forums. Now I am questioning both choice and set-up. Is the R7000 overkill, do I need more than one (answered by System Error Message above), etc. I don't want it to appear as though I hadn't done any research, because I've been hopping around on this site for days now!
 
If you don't have a lot of devices and your needs are simple, just pick one of the top-ranked AC1200 or AC1900 products, take it home and try it.
 
Keep in mind some of the SNB regulars are waayy too much into routers and tweaking their networks. (No offense intended, guys!)

If your needs are simple and devices are few, most any name brand AC1200 or AC1900 router will do you just fine. The biggest potential gotcha is that an older device might not get along with a particular router. That's why you have to try the product and judge for yourself, no matter what you read on SNB or anyplace else.

Take full advantage of return periods!
 
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many people say that the linksys WRT1900AC is quite stable in terms of wifi. I use asus and i find the ac68U to be stable too in terms of wifi (the AC56U is the same with internal antennas and cheaper) but the AC throughput drops quite heavily after a few meters away. you dont need to get the best AP, look for a reliable router within your budget that has the features you need. It also sounds like you need QoS so make sure to read thiggin's or whoever wrote the devices reviews for it.
 
I'll be the contrarian, just a few weeks ago I purchased a used wndr3700 for $20 off amazon

Works great, no complaints. At any given moment we usually have someone on netflix, 2 to 4 smartphones, and me vpn'd to the office
 
The WNDR3700 maxes out at 4096 simultaneous TCP sessions. When I first got mine, we had 3 heavier users. About the time my 2 daughters got laptops, the WNDR started dying.
 
The WNDR3700 maxes out at 4096 simultaneous TCP sessions. When I first got mine, we had 3 heavier users. About the time my 2 daughters got laptops, the WNDR started dying.

Hehehe - toreents will do that, lol...
 
I presently have a D-Link DIR-655 router, which began random (and frequent) disconnects two days ago. The disconnects occur every few minutes, and require a power-down and power-up to 'solve'.

Actually, before you go and buy a new Router/AP - try picking up a new power supply/AC adapter.

What you're seeing is a classic example of the cheap AC adapters going bad - basically, they fold when getting high demand on the current side, and they drop on the voltage leg, causing issues with the Router..
 
No torrents but a lot of Facebook gaming.
No surprise there since facebook uses both p2p and http not to mention facebook has a lot of scripts running that increases the number of tcp connections to their servers especially when you use facebook apps and games. This is why i prefer enterprise routers since their connection limit is the amount of ram you have. For every android phone i've owned i've always hacked the file system to remove the resource and battery heavy facebook app from it.
 
No surprise there since facebook uses both p2p and http not to mention facebook has a lot of scripts running that increases the number of tcp connections to their servers especially when you use facebook apps and games

That as well... has nothing to do with routers - but a lot to do with sites visited - and some folks wonder we run ad-blockers...
 
No surprise there since facebook uses both p2p and http not to mention facebook has a lot of scripts running that increases the number of tcp connections to their servers especially when you use facebook apps and games. This is why i prefer enterprise routers since their connection limit is the amount of ram you have. For every android phone i've owned i've always hacked the file system to remove the resource and battery heavy facebook app from it.

The current crop of AC1750 and AC1900 routers have more than enough memory to handle 32K TCP connections and even more. Don't need an enterprise-class router really. Just need something more robust than a router released in 2009/2010.
 
Hello all! Thanks again for the ongoing replies.

An update - I went ahead and purchased the R7000, as it was on sale and the DIR-655 experienced one crash too many. The difference is incredible. No drop-outs, wi-fi is much faster, it doesn't take my wife's desktop 3 minutes to access the internet anymore... Life is good. My wife firmly believes that I am controlling satellites with the R7000 given its rather imposing size and stature, but we're delighted with the vast improvement. Again, thanks for your input.
 
I went ahead and purchased the R7000, as it was on sale and the DIR-655 experienced one crash too many. The difference is incredible. No drop-outs, wi-fi is much faster, it doesn't take my wife's desktop 3 minutes to access the internet anymore... Life is good. My wife firmly believes that I am controlling satellites with the R7000 given its rather imposing size and stature, but we're delighted with the vast improvement.

Sounds like you made a good choice - the R7000 is fairly mature, just ensure you're on the most recent firmware.

And with the Spousal Approval Factor (which is more important than many folks realize), that is even more of a win...
 

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