Prosumer router recommendation

[loft]

Hello guys,

I'm looking forward to buying a new router but can't decide what to buy. So let me explain my situation.

My appartment is about 55 m2, made out of reinforced concrete (AFAIK even the inside walls) and I'll have the router placed pretty close to the center of the appartment. Any point of the appartment will be closer than 10 m from the router with maximum 2 walls in between. I might move to a slightly bigger place in the future. Currently there are about 5 other networks visible in the appartment.

Right now I have a Linksys WRT54GL running DD-WRT and has two small problems:
- speed: wireless limited to ~2MB/s and WAN to LAN to maximul 4MB/s (torrents)
- unstable: happened more than once to loose settings after I unplugged it and right now I cannot restore some backup that I previously restored.

The current network consists of 1 media center, 1 PS3 (wired), 2 phones, 1 iPod, 2 laptops (wireless). Some of these devices are 802.11n capable.

So I am looking to replace the router with something that has gigabit LAN and 802.11n wireless, preferably 2.4/5GHz dualband with MIMO. I think 802.11ac is overkill. I want to keep it all in one place but, I might use the WRT as AP if the situation asks. I don't want to spend more than 75-80 euros (VAT included), 100 euros being the absolute maximum.

I was looking at a Mikrotik RB951G-2HnD that I could get for under 70 euros, but the fact that it doesn't have 5GHz wireless makes me think of consumer grade sollutions too (living in a block with quite a few other networks around). I was searching for other SOHO brands, but I wasn't able to find any other "all-in-one" sollutions. I am used with DD-WRT and I'm not affraid of Mikrotik's configuration process.

So what would you recommend?

Thank you in advance!

 

[thiggins]

With your wall construction, 5GHz isn't going to be of much use.

An N600 class router is probably your best bet. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/rankers/router/ranking/N600?rank=6

Put whatever you buy on a UPS to protect against power spikes and brownouts.

 

[stevech]

- speed: wireless limited to ~2MB/s and WAN to LAN to maximul 4MB/s (torrents)

MB = megaBytes
Mb = megabits

so 2MB/s = 16Mbps. If you get 16Mbps on 802.11b/g/n, that's great or decent, depending on signal strength, bi-directional.

I didn't see mention of what your ISP promises for speed.

 

[loft]

I get 16-18Mb/s over 802.11g in the same room with a few clients attached, copying from a Vostro 3555 laptop (wireless) to the media center (10/100 wired). A few weeks ago I tested out a Mikrotik for a few hours and I got over 35Mb/s through 2 walls over 802.11n (same computers). I guess that's quite a difference.

My ISP promises 50Mb/s. This morning I tested his promises with speedtest.net and several test servers around Europe (at 7:15 AM). I got around 50-52Mb/s both up and down without the router and around 30Mb/s down and 20Mb/s up through the router. I knew before that WRT54GL might limit the speeds but now I got the confirmation.

I'm also interested in wired LAN speed increase (that's why I want gigabit).

Thanks!

 

[stevech]

My ISP promises 50Mb/s. This morning I tested his promises with speedtest.net and several test servers around Europe (at 7:15 AM). I got around 50-52Mb/s both up and down without the router and around 30Mb/s down and 20Mb/s up through the router. I knew before that WRT54GL might limit the speeds but now I got the confirmation.

Thanks!

that's unusual and quite impressive - both up and down.
I had a WRT54G years ago and had to replace it to get wired speeds of 20+Mbps when my ISP increased.
Here, we have a monopoly at the ISP so I pay a LOT for 15/1 on average.

 

[loft]

So? Any more recommmendations? To Mikrotik or not to Mikrotik, that is the question!

Thanks!

PS: I tried yesterday to give the WRT54GL another chance. Restored the settings, copied everything, restored factory defaults and reconfigured from scratch. The surprise was that at the and, after I saved then applied everything, when connecting to PPPoE, the router was reseting itself. Now I only configured PPPoE and Wireless and seems to be OK.

 

[stevech]

So? Any more recommmendations? To Mikrotik or not to Mikrotik, that is the question!

Thanks!
.

IMO: no. They are kind of tinkers' things, quasi-product, quasi-company. Find for messing around with.

For a step above consumer stuff, with 500% of the features/function bells and whistles you may ever want, I use Cradlepoint. Also has cellular fall-back (plug-in modem), which I've used a few times. eBay prices. I have one at home and several I use in my job, and some of the latter haven't need rebooting in a year. My home one hasn't hung in 2-3 years' use. I do have to reboot it sometimes when my Cable Modem goes wonky on the cable side signal strengths - which happens every couple of months (TimeWarner).

 

[loft]

stevech, which Cradlepoint router are you talking about? From what I found on their site only MBR95 and MBR1200B would suit my needs. But MBR1200B is a little bit over my price range, even if I'd go a little bit over 100 euros.

I've also looked around Cisco wrvs4400n, but even if it's SOHO class, it doesn't seem too reliable.

Thanks!

 

[stevech]

They have travel routers.. CBR or some such. I have an older CTR500 - still use it a lot.

I got an MBR900 I use at home on eBay, like new, for $60.
Just runs, month after month. Not the latest but all I use WiFi for is my Android phone and the iPad - neither of which need more than 5 or so Mbps net to surf the web and do email. Rarely do I have the laptop on WiFi rather than wired. Desktop is wired.
I have plugged my Verizon 4G modem into the MBR 900 a few times when Time Warner cable was hosed up.

 

[kamina]

So? Any more recommmendations? To Mikrotik or not to Mikrotik, that is the question!

Thanks!

PS: I tried yesterday to give the WRT54GL another chance. Restored the settings, copied everything, restored factory defaults and reconfigured from scratch. The surprise was that at the and, after I saved then applied everything, when connecting to PPPoE, the router was reseting itself. Now I only configured PPPoE and Wireless and seems to be OK.

I've used a Mikrotik for some time (450G), but have separate access points so can't comment on that part. I have 100/10 fiber that comes up to the apartment as ethernet. The router handles any load I can throw at it and seems to never have any issues unlike most others I have used.

IMO configuring it is not very straight forward, for example DD-WRT is a breeze compared to it. I work with a lot of networking stuff (Cisco, Juniper, BSD) and can get around it ok, but the web gui is not very intuitive meaning I end up using the command line most of the time.

 

[loft]

In the end I got a Linksys EA2700. Yes, I know that it's not prosumer at all but, giving the prices (anything else than Mikrotik is well above 150 euros) and the fact that Mikrotik doesn't have 5GHz WiFi...
I've looked at Linksys EA6300 and Asus N66U but the prices are a little bit too high.
Now I'm waiting patiently for DD-WRT to work in EA2700.

Thanks for your help!

 

[sfx2000]

"prosumer" routers will have less bells/whistles... and focus on stability/performance.

In your case, punching thru hard walls etc, no gear is perfect for wireless, and start looking at HomePlug or just running some hardline (Cat 5/6)...

sfx

 

[loft]

Don't worry, the old router is still used.
I had some Cat5e wiring from one room to the other (I live in a 2 room rented appartment) and I've configured the old WRT54GL as an AP in the other room, so I have a little bit more coverage. It seems to be stable if it's not crushed by a lot of work.