R7000/AC68U/R7500/R8000/AC87U for wireless coverage/VPN speed? (replacing n66u)

[MasterBash]

I am looking for a new router to replace my RT-N66u. Currently, most of my devices are N devices except for 2 which are 867 MBps AC.

A few things;

- Better range than my N66u on 2.4ghz for N devices. Got thick walls where I live.
- Fast processor for VPN connection. 100 Mbps.
- Good and reliable router, I am not sure if I will use stock, tomato or DD-WRT. I am looking for speed, openvpn, manually assigning DHCP, routing table, processor usage.

I may use USB 3.0, thats always useful for me.

I will probably use 2.4ghz for N devices and 5ghz for AC devices as that would give the most performance on wireless, I think.

I heard the R8000, R7500 and AC87U have unstable firmwares, is that still true? If so, they would be out of the picture. Besides, I don't need that extra 5ghz. The R7500 seem interesting due the faster processor and faster USB3 ports.

Currently, the R7000 is 180$ and the AC68U is 200$, the others are more expensive.

So if the R8000, R7500 and AC87U are out of the picture (if they are still unstable), lets compare the R7000 and AC68U.

Does the AC68U have any advantages over the R7000? Or is the R7000 just overall better?

How big of an improvement on N devices will I see when it comes to coverage if I use a R7000/AC68U instead of a N66u?

This article http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...oes-an-ac-router-improve-n-device-performance claim that the AC68U is faster with N devices, but is the coverage actually better or only the speed? We have seen that higher speed does not mean better coverage with the Amped Wireless.

Thanks.

 

[MasterBash]

Anyone?

Looking for an upgrade over the RT-N66u wireless, especially on N 2.4ghz. 5ghz AC must be great too
Fast processor for VPN connections. 100Mbps
Reliable router, meaning reliable firmware too.

I might use tomato, DD-WRT or RMerlin depending what router people recommend me

Thanks.

 

[Trip]

I guess it all depends on how good and reliable you want that tunnel to be... perhaps one of the more mature models of those, paired with third party firmware. Otherwise, if you want it out-of-box, then go entry-level business class -- edgerouter lite/poe, a vpn box like a Zywall 110, or perhaps a security appliance like a Fortinet/Cyberroam. You could also do pfsense on whatever power-enough hardware it would take. Just some thoughts to consider.

 

[htismaqe]

I guess it all depends on how good and reliable you want that tunnel to be... perhaps one of the more mature models of those, paired with third party firmware. Otherwise, if you want it out-of-box, then go entry-level business class -- edgerouter lite/poe, a vpn box like a Zywall 110, or perhaps a security appliance like a Fortinet/Cyberroam. You could also do pfsense on whatever power-enough hardware it would take. Just some thoughts to consider.

Second this.

If VPN is a primary concern, you'd be better off looking at SonicWall, Fortinet, or one of the other SMB VPN routers...

 

[sfx2000]

Second this.

If VPN is a primary concern, you'd be better off looking at SonicWall, Fortinet, or one of the other SMB VPN routers...

If VPN is a primary concern - look towards a service provider... hosting OpenVPN can be done perhaps, but should it? I'll say from 1st hand experience - most SOHO routers pretty much suck at it - they can do it, at about a 10th of the performance.

There are some very good providers out there that do OpenVPN/IPSec-L2TP/PPTP as a service...

sfx

 

[htismaqe]

If VPN is a primary concern - look towards a service provider... hosting OpenVPN can be done perhaps, but should it? I'll say from 1st hand experience - most SOHO routers pretty much suck at it - they can do it, at about a 10th of the performance.

There are some very good providers out there that do OpenVPN/IPSec-L2TP/PPTP as a service...

sfx

That's a pretty good idea actually. Wasn't think VPNaaS really at all when I replied earlier, was stuck in CPE mode.

 

[Trip]

That's a pretty good idea actually. Wasn't think VPNaaS really at all when I replied earlier, was stuck in CPE mode.

Same, haha! "VPNaaS" - I like it. But yes, sfx's point is valid and something to consider if your setup can warrant it.

 

[sfx2000]

Looking back, my words were probably a bit harsh and subjective - in client mode, which some folks may want, some routers out there aren't too bad at it...

Most of the use cases there would be to work around region blocks - e.g. NetFlix or Streaming outside of the country - BBC for example, has domestic content that is blocked outside of the UK, or perhaps a more relevant item is that NetFlix has a different catalog in the US as to what they offer, let's say, in Canada.

Going back to VPN as a server - while it's possible on a SOHO router/AP, between performance issues with the SOC, the SW used (OpenVPN most likely), and the limited upstream - for basic travel/public WiFi protection, one is almost always better off using a VPN provider rather than trying to host it at home.

There's a lot of good providers out there - most of them have 10GB or better connections to the rest of the internet, usually peering up into the Tier 1 providers.

 

[CaptainSTX]

With hardware setup to handle VPN you can get great speeds. I SOHO router alone is probably not going to get you the throughput you want/need.

I am in SW Florida connecting to a VPN server in Chicago:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3957016372

I use an ASUS N66U with a VPN Accelerator attached to handle the VPN processing. I have no problems using this setup to stream video from London and Stockholm and when I travel and have a decent local Internet connection I can stream USA Netflix. ( I have used my setup in the Caribbean, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Estonia, Sweden, Finland amd Norway.)

 

[sfx2000]

Yep - and hosting OpenVPN or L2TP/IPSEC behind the router/AP works decently - that how I handle my VPN (L2TP/IPSEC in my case) - I do keep a subscription for a third party provider as L2TP can have issues with multiple NAT's that one sometimes finds in the hotel WiFi/Broadband space...

OpenVPN is more flexible there...