Netgear vs ASUS

[pawnslinger]

It is time to upgrade my network. I am currently using a D-Link DIR-825 router. I have had it for several years, and I have been very happy with it. But recently there has been an explosion of devices using it - all family members now have cell phones (almost none when it was first put into service), and there are several DLNA equipped TVs in the house (none when the router was first installed). The D-Link router is still hanging tough, but increasingly it has been unable to handle all the streaming videos, both from services like Netflix/Hulu, and local UPnP/DLNA servers.

I have been studying the router market for a couple of weeks now, trying to make up my mind. The new 'ac' routers look interesting, but still seem a little rough... I have pretty much narrowed my decision down to 2 devices: the Netgear WNDR4500 and the ASUS RT-N66U. I really can't make up my mind which would be best. Either looks to have about 4 times the thruput of my current router. So on paper they both look real good.

What do you folks think? Which one would be best for a heavy video streaming environment?

 

[stevech]

streaming from internet? Your ISP contract have enough speed?
streaming from server or NAS? You probably need to add access point(s) on different channels (1, 6, 11) or 5.8GHz and distribute load on multiple RF channels.

And/or get as much streaming off of WiFi as you can. Use MoCA or Homeplug instead of WiFi.

802.11ac: come back in a year.

 

[pawnslinger]

streaming from internet? Your ISP contract have enough speed?
streaming from server or NAS? You probably need to add access point(s) on different channels (1, 6, 11) or 5.8GHz and distribute load on multiple RF channels.

And/or get as much streaming off of WiFi as you can. Use MoCA or Homeplug instead of WiFi.

802.11ac: come back in a year.

Access points? We've got 4 of them, a mix of Netgear and D-Link products. We already distribute the bands, some use the 2.4 others the 5ghz band. Some have no choice, like the phones and tablets, usually they just use 2.4... but most of the TVs are hooked to access points using the 5ghz band. Believe me, we have worked this for awhile. We are actually able to stream 2 good video streams at a time, one Netflix and one DLNA without any hiccup. We have 20Mbps internet, wish I could get faster, but in my area, that is about the top. Usually we have 2 servers in the house going at any given time, one using PS3 Media Server and one using Serviio. My son uses the PS3 Media Server off his PC, and I run Serviio off mine. It actually works well.

The problem is that we want to step up the quality of the video streams. Right now, we can't handle 2 x 720p streams... 2 x SD streams, no problem. We would like to step up to HD, 720p at least. Our testing shows the DIR-825 first chokes out the normal browsers, then starts to stutter the video streams, when it gets too heavy.

We have already started upgrading access points, we have started replacing DAP-1522's with Netgear 2500RP's... and it is rapidly becoming apparant that the roadblock is the DIR-825... it just doesn't have the thruput we need anymore.

 

[thiggins]

To upgrade your wireless bandwidth, you will need to move up to dual-band three-stream N routers ("N900") and clients. Testing shows that they can provide more bandwidth when multiple streams are used.

If you do this, try to separate three-stream traffic onto the new router and two-stream onto the older APs because the two-stream clients will reduce available bandwidth for the three-streamers.

Both the NETGEAR and the ASUS are decent choices. Pick one and try it out, but again, get three-stream bridges to go with it.

 

[sfx2000]

I agree with Tim - three stream routers (802.11n) will take a load much better than 2-stream... and the more clients/traffic you put on them, even 2 stream and single stream clients, they take the load and perform quite well...

One thing to consider - a three stream AP - it's using all three radio chains, and it always operates in three stream mode - irregardless of the clients attached to it, and with three radios, it has better transmit/receive gain - this translates into better capacity for the AP, and typically better performance for the 802.11n clients.

It's a function of how MIMO works - and even single stream 802.11n clients benefit from this....

 

[pawnslinger]

Okay, I got the Asus N66U on order today. I chose it, because I saw the utube video showing the demo of the Asus N900 wifi adapter that can be used with it. Very impressive... I hope it lives up to the hype.

 

[pawnslinger]

The Asus N66U arrived today! I am entering this message using it. So far I am impressed. My APs report link speed increased from 117Mbps to 177mbps. This is on the 2.4ghz band... I haven't had a chance to check the clients on the 5ghz band yet. But to me, this is an impressive improvement. And, of course, at this point, these are all single stream clients... looking forward to upgrading them, but one thing at a time.

I streamed an SD movie over 2 wifi links, from PC to router to TV, so it gobbles twice the bandwidth, and the traffic monitor didn't even hardly show-up, averaging around 4 Mbps. I am a happy camper... and oh yes, it was a snap to setup... maybe I am just getting used to the drill, but I installed the router using the same SSIDs and IPs as my old one, and all the clients logged in like nothing had happened. About half of them, didn't even need to be reset, they just auo logged into the new router. GREAT!!

 

[DaveMishSr]

Okay, I got the Asus N66U on order today. I chose it, because I saw the utube video showing the demo of the Asus N900 wifi adapter that can be used with it. Very impressive... I hope it lives up to the hype.

I use two TrendNET TEW-680MB media bridges with my RT-N66U. I just like their look better, think they go with the Black Knight better than the Asus EA-N66 does. The TrendNET bridge also sports 4 Ethernet ports to one for the EA-N66. I hate having to use an Ethernet hub in addition to an Ethernet bridge so the TEW-680MB was an easy choice for me. The TEW-680MB is also only $60 right now at NewEgg. I stream HD video to two sets without any buffering ever but I also have Cox Ultimate Cable Internet service with 50MPS downstream.