New Router - Best Wireless Range / Performance Advise

[Turbine]

Hello,

I currently own Linksys E4200
I would like to upgrade for high-end home router... ( maybe AC87U ? or the new Netgear ? )

the mose important thing for me is WIFI range.
my E4200 WiFi range is not so good...
What is the best WIFI RANGE / PERFORMANCE router i could buy in these day ?

thank you so much for your help

 

[nadina]

Hello,

I currently own Linksys E4200
I would like to upgrade for high-end home router... ( maybe AC87U ? or the new Netgear ? )

the mose important thing for me is WIFI range.
my E4200 WiFi range is not so good...
What is the best WIFI RANGE / PERFORMANCE router i could buy in these day ?

thank you so much for your help

The coverage of the huawei router can be reliable, as far as I know, Huawei e5175 (which I'm using now), it's signal covers very stable. I live on the second floor, it is on the first floor, my phone is still can receives 3 bar.

 

[microchip]

I have the AC66U and its range is amazing. I live in an apartment and even two apartments away at my neighbor, I still get 3 out of 5 bars on my phone.

I suspect it may have something to do with the 3 external dual-band antenna's it has. Compare to my TP-Link Archer C7 router, which uses 3 internal antennas for the 2.4 band, the AC66U definitely beats it wrt range

 

[sm00thpapa]

The AC66U is a great choice. But if you have the money and want the latest and greatest technology go with the RT-AC87U.

 

[htismaqe]

Price vs. performance, you can't go wrong with running DD-WRT on the Netgear R7000.

 

[RogerSC]

Price vs. performance, you can't go wrong with running DD-WRT on the Netgear R7000.

Yep, I agree 100% with that *smile*.

 

[Miyuo]

Price VS Performance, how would you choose? I know a lot of WIFI router has a wide range of network coverage. Such as Huawei E5186 router, E5175 router, the ASUS RT-AC68U etc.

 

[kbp]

The Asus RT-AC87U is too new as of yet. Right now I would get a R7000/dd-wrt. And Im coming off an Asus RT-AC66.

 

[sfx2000]

Hello,

I currently own Linksys E4200
I would like to upgrade for high-end home router... ( maybe AC87U ? or the new Netgear ? )

the mose important thing for me is WIFI range.
my E4200 WiFi range is not so good...
What is the best WIFI RANGE / PERFORMANCE router i could buy in these day ?

thank you so much for your help

Your E4200 is actually a pretty decent router/AP - so it really comes down to spending some time to sort out the network you already have...

Check your channels, esp in the 2.4GHz space - move things around a bit...

Throwing money at the problem isn't the right solution...

sfx

 

[fistv]

Agree, it's a decent router, I'd put in a copy of netsurveyor on your laptop and look at the other wirelss networks around you, see what channels are empty or less used then change your router to them and see how that works.

 

[stevech]

Agree, it's a decent router, I'd put in a copy of netsurveyor on your laptop and look at the other wirelss networks around you, see what channels are empty or less used then change your router to them and see how that works.

Does netsurvery display channel use (utilization 0-100%) versus time? Few such free/low cost tools show utilization. Too bad, because how busy a channel is (in the busy hours), is key to choosing a channel. Not number of SSIDs, not signal strength.

 

[fistv]

Does netsurvery display channel use (utilization 0-100%) versus time? Few such free/low cost tools show utilization. Too bad, because how busy a channel is (in the busy hours), is key to choosing a channel. Not number of SSIDs, not signal strength.

Kind of but it does show you all the channels and the empty ones are obvious.

 

[Trip]

Hi Turbine - If you're thinking of shelling out $200+ for a so-called "high-end" consumer unit, how about continuing to use your E4200 for routing, dhcp, firewall, etc. and simply wiring in a quality mesh AP setup like Ubiquiti UniFi? That will give you much better coverage and reliability and you'll be focusing your investment on where you really need it. If it must be an all-in-one, though, then for dollars per wifi range it's tough to beat MikroTik's 1000mW stuff - the RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN in particular. Cheers!

 

[stevech]

Kind of but it does show you all the channels and the empty ones are obvious.

"Kind of" ? How about a yes/no?

Don't forget to take into account the 3 adjacent channel overlap in WiFi, which is why channels 1, 6 and 11 are preferred and ideally no one would use others.

 

[fistv]

"Kind of" ? How about a yes/no?

Don't forget to take into account the 3 adjacent channel overlap in WiFi, which is why channels 1, 6 and 11 are preferred and ideally no one would use others.

I don't use it for that, I use it to keep track of what signals are in my building. Lets me keep track of all the imacs that turn their wireless on when hardwired to my network.