Need help on choosing a router.

[Alain]

Hi there!
I need a new router since the one I have is useless since it doesn't cover the majority of my apartment (in fact it covers only the room which is in and part of the next room). The router is a TP-LINK TL-WR841N. As a test I tried moving the router in a room that is more centered in the apartment but that didn't improve things (actually they got worse, since I didn't pick a signal in the original room).

Bare in mind that I live in Europe so we have thick bricks walls.

So I would need a router that gives strong signals and good coverage. I would still move it in the room which is more centered in the apartment and hope that it will cover all the apartment.

My devices are: 1 pc and 1 notebook connected via wire, one notebook connected wireless, and several smart phones and tables.

As brands I was interested in Asus and Netgear, but nothing is set in stone.

Thank you.

EDIT: maybe a Netgear R7500-100PES Nighthawk X4 or Asus RT-AC87U? Maybe a AC68P but can't find here in Europe.

 

[Chris313AllNight]

Hi there!
I need a new router since the one I have is useless since it doesn't cover the majority of my apartment (in fact it covers only the room which is in and part of the next room). The router is a TP-LINK TL-WR841N. As a test I tried moving the router in a room that is more centered in the apartment but that didn't improve things (actually they got worse, since I didn't pick a signal in the original room).

Bare in mind that I live in Europe so we have thick bricks walls.

So I would need a router that gives strong signals and good coverage. I would still move it in the room which is more centered in the apartment and hope that it will cover all the apartment.

My devices are: 1 pc and 1 notebook connected via wire, one notebook connected wireless, and several smart phones and tables.

As brands I was interested in Asus and Netgear, but nothing is set in stone.

Thank you.

EDIT: maybe a Netgear R7500-100PES Nighthawk X4 or Asus RT-AC87U? Maybe a AC68P but can't find here in Europe.

I would vote for the Asus 87U. I have a friend who has one and gets full speed on all his stuff, including any wireless toys. Something that may help you is if you put your current router in another room, and use it as an AP to spread any wireless signal around and hopefully get past any wall problems you may be having.

 

[Trip]

Hi Alain. For something that "just works", I would stay a couple steps back from bleeding edge models, as many are released more or less as "test-ware" initially. That said, the 87U appears stable. If that's too pricey, you might consider the AC68U, which will be roughly as powerful and has had more time on market for bug fixes. At a little less money still is the TP-Link Archer C9, which has seemed quite stable and is only slightly less powerful in wifi range then the Asus stuff.

For Asus, if you're comfortable updating to RMerlin firmware (something you can do straight from stock) I would definitely opt for that. It's basically a bug-fixed (or mostly bug-fixed) version of the Asus firmware, and will ensure better reliability across the board.

 

[Alain]

I would vote for the Asus 87U. I have a friend who has one and gets full speed on all his stuff, including any wireless toys. Something that may help you is if you put your current router in another room, and use it as an AP to spread any wireless signal around and hopefully get past any wall problems you may be having.

Thankf Chris3, I don't know why but I didn't think of using my current router as a AP with my future new setup! That's a great idea, thank you!

Hi Alain. For something that "just works", I would stay a couple steps back from bleeding edge models, as many are released more or less as "test-ware" initially. That said, the 87U appears stable. If that's too pricey, you might consider the AC68U, which will be roughly as powerful and has had more time on market for bug fixes. At a little less money still is the TP-Link Archer C9, which has seemed quite stable and is only slightly less powerful in wifi range then the Asus stuff.

For Asus, if you're comfortable updating to RMerlin firmware (something you can do straight from stock) I would definitely opt for that. It's basically a bug-fixed (or mostly bug-fixed) version of the Asus firmware, and will ensure better reliability across the board.

Thanks for your reply Trip!
I must admit that the money they ask for the Asus 87U is a little bit more than what I wanted to spend, but if it's a good investment why not!
I saw that the ASUS AC68U was upgraded with the AC68P which has better USB3 port performance (both read and write), but it's unavailable in Europe (the AC68U is available).
If I get the Asus I will immediately upgrade its firmware with RMerlin's one.

The TP-Link Archer C9 seams good but I'm afraid of it's wifi range, I'm not sure if the wi-fi range the Asus provides is indeed what I need (or overkill) for my apartment or if what the C9 is capable of would suffice.

 

[sfx2000]

I must admit that the money they ask for the Asus 87U is a little bit more than what I wanted to spend, but if it's a good investment why not!

General consensus is that the 87U may not be a wise investment compared to other Asus products - the RT-AC68 series has a good reputation for being stable and fast - and it's on the tail end, so prices are coming down online and in stores...

 

[Trip]

First off, I can almost guarantee you that pretty much any AC1900-class unit will blow the socks your current N-wifi range. The C9 probably a bit less so than the 68 or 87U, but then again it's $50 and $120 cheaper, respectively. For Asus, the 68U is probably the better choice, as the 87 really only adds "Quantenna" (Oooo! lol), which doesn't have much real-world implementation yet (if it ever will).

One nice thing about the 68 is you've got additional firmware options besides Merlin, ie. if you want fq_codel for QoS, you can flash TomatoARM or a newer Kong build of DD-WRT (I'd go Tomato, but to each their own). I'd suspect Tim and others may downplay the ability to monkey around with that stuff as being a benefit or interest to the average person, and I'd actually tend to agree, but it's nice to know it's there if you'd ever want the ability.

 

[System Error Message]

Dont go for the AC87U, it was not well designed.

I see that what you mainly want is better wifi. As long as you avoid Dlink and some weird brands that your ISP gives you than it is fine. The AC1900 is currently a class of the newer wifi protocol that is stable now so your choice of hardware merely depends on your internet speed and features you want to use. In terms of wifi signal strength and coverage 5Ghz is very poor at it so you should expect lower speeds and having to use the 2.4Ghz spectrum that tends to be crowded.

Some wifi routers have detachable antennas that you can replace with better ones. Make sure to use one with the same connector and avoid using antenna cables. Another thing you can do is to use directional antennas if wifi has to be distributed to a small area. For example if you have to distribute wifi to 1 floor and only 1 direction than directional can help a lot in range and coverage. Its important to know that if you use directional all antennas on the router must be pointing to the same direction for best performance. Using directional antennas will greatly improve your wifi range, coverage and signal stability but only to the area you point it to.

In consumer wifi it is very very important that you do not use an amplifier or setting the wifi signal strength too high by hacking or changing the firmware since you risk damaging the radio chip.

 

[Alain]

Thanks Trip and System Error Message for your replies.
The only thing I don't like about the AC68U are the USB speeds (I would like to attach a HD to the router), and therefore was looking forward to the AC68P that doesn't have those limitations.
Probably I could live with those slower speed just fine, but the little geek in me would not be completely happy knowing that there are models of the same brand that are better (probably it's a stupid argument but still).

I just saw the Asus RT-AC3200! WOW! Super pricey! Not sure if the cost is justified (more so than the AC87U).

 

[Trip]

Again, I would lean away from the 3200 just for the supposed gains it touts (many of which are non-existent for the vast majority of SOHO use-cases).

For network-attached storage, if you're that serious about speed/performance... just get a proper NAS. I understand it's another few hundred bucks that you don't want to spend, but honestly, tying a drive via USB to a consumer box for anything much more than occasional access and logging is like put a dual-axle trailer behind a Prius... the HD pickup is just begging to be bought at that point. Probably not what you want to hear, but my 2C nonetheless.

 

[Alain]

Yeah, I have to agree with your reply.
Common sense must win against the geeky me.

I'm pretty sure I'm going with the AC68U.