Sizing/choosing an AC router

[Marcva]

I'm new to the forums, though somewhat tech savvy. I am a product manager who has built PCs and has a general sense of networking.

As I look at the AC routers. I see AC 1200/ AC 1750 AC1900 +++, I need to supplement my house with a second router to extend to the basement Entertainment area, and don't know how much router to buy. I was zeroing in on an AC 1750 router
1) Netgear Nighthawk 1750
2) TP-Link c8

but wonder if I can get away with an AC1200 unit.

Beyond size of router, I'm wondering if there are differences across brands (support, etc). that matter


The gory details
--------------------

The Space
My house is a longish (80 ft) ranch house with a basement Entertainment room in the middle. The screen in the basement is a 720P/1080i plasma screen. There is a home office in the middle of the house on the floor above the entertainment center, but getting ethernet there would be awkward.

There is a FIOS router at one end of the house. The basement entertainment room currently sees signal strength of -80db. Home office signal strength is -70db. I have Ethernet lines to basement at the far end of the house and to the home office in the middle of the house.

The Pipe and its Users
We currently have a 50 Mbps FIOS pipe. There are two adult users in the house and 8 and 10 year old kids.all phones and most PCs are AC devices. Devices would include 1 connected Bluray player 2 notebooks, 2 phones.

Our Usage
Most of the TV watching (Netflix/ Hulu + DLNA server) is direct ethernet to a TV in the Colo'd w/ the FIOS router. Wife hangs in the LR area for her activity My videos on the DLNA server are encoded to a 2 gig file size. I'll work from home every couple weeks for a half day and need Wifi for my computer (Gotomeeting support, running audio as well as screensharing would be nice)

My Home PC and the printer in the home office are attached to the Ethernet backbone. I would need a wireless router to support the following :

Wireless Needs
2) Streaming services DLNA streaming to basement Bluray player. This would make the basement TV much more popular. Currently, I'm sneakernetting videos down there or playing discs.

1) Occasional traffic to the kids Notebook computers (802.11N hardware). I could see them streaming on occasion to their PCs, but they do not have open access to their devices at all. we focus them on using them for work rather than acting as electronic babysitters.

2) Occasional home use of work PC for GoToMeeting and Google Voice VOIP on my cell phone in home office. nominal BW.

Sorry about the long post, but I figured I would be complete.

Marc

 

[thiggins]

Sorry, I'm not tracking how the second router will be used. Improve coverage? Wireless bridge?

If you have Ethernet to the basement, why not connect the BlueRay player to it?

For the uses you're describing, an AC1200 router would probably work fine. The key thing is placement. Since you have Ethernet to both places where you want better Wi-Fi, the router doesn't need exceptional range.

The reason why AC1900 is generally recommended is that it has a more powerful processor than AC1200 / AC1750. This helps if you have heavy traffic.

The 3x3 configuration of AC1750 and AC1900 helps improve link gain (stronger signal) even with the 2x2 or 1x1 radios most phones, tablets, laptops have.

Get both, see which one you like better, keep the winner, return the loser.

 

[Marcva]

Thanks, the basement connection is not close enough to connect to the player. Since we don't have a lot of traffic, I'll try the 1200. I'll see how the signal strength works and consider the 1750 if signal strength is lacking.

Any huge brand preferences? Or am I getting into religion.

I would probably use the new device as an access point and leave address management to the fios router so easy configuration as an access point is a plus.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-AC56U with RMerlin's (or the forks thereof) firmware is highly recommended over all other AC1200 options.

If you could wait for a sale, you may find it for $50 or so too.