Which Asus router to get if I don't care about wifi?

[KenOp]

Our last 2 routers have been Asus routers, so we're most comfortable working with them.

My SIL is moving into a new house that comes wifi ready, but isn't wired-friendly. We're going to run cables from either the AT&T modem, or the managed switch (where the modem is plugged in), into a couple of rooms to provide a wired solution.

In one of the rooms, she needs to connect via a VPN, so we've been told we need to get a router so we can create a new triplet to isolate that room on its own LAN. (Or something like that; my wife knows more about this stuff than me, and probably knows how to do that.) We'll be disabling the wifi on whatever router we get, since there's already a Ruckus AP in the house that works great.

Should I just go for the cheapest new Asus I can find? Or is there a reason to get something newer or higher end? I assume that creating a sub-LAN (?) like this can be done by just about any router, but maybe I'm wrong about that?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[L&LD]

If you have anything faster than a 50/50 up/down connection from your ISP, you'll find that the RT-AC86U will get you the fastest VPN platform you can buy today.

If your ISP speeds are lower, the RT-AC66U B1 will be sufficient and the lowest end router you should consider.

 

[doczenith1]

If she will be running the vpn client on her computer then I'd agree that the RT-AC66U-B1 would be the way to go. If she is planning on using the router as the vpn client then the 86U will give much better vpn performance than the 66U-B1.

 

[coxhaus]

I would buy a wired only router which supports VLANs. Once you start creating VLANs the wireless router does not fit well.

 

[KenOp]

Thank you for the replies. I will find out for certain, but I'm pretty sure that she plans on using her computer as a vpn client, not the router. The speed is well over 50/50 (> 200/200), but from the replies it sounds like that doesn't matter if she uses her computer as the client. So the RT-AC66U-B1 should do.

If Asus made a wired-only router, that would be my first choice. But the only two I could find are names I'm not familiar with, and (more importantly) have no experience with the i/f. I'd rather go with an Asus and disable the wireless (though I realize that's wasted money ).

 

[RMerlin]

I would buy a wired only router which supports VLANs. Once you start creating VLANs the wireless router does not fit well.

Best to buy a switch that handles VLANs instead. These will typically do a much better job at it than the router.

 

[KenOp]

I have verified that she runs the vpn client on her computer, so the RT-AC66U-B1 it is.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[coxhaus]

Best to buy a switch that handles VLANs instead. These will typically do a much better job at it than the router.

Not if you work at layer 3 as I do. The wireless will not be part of the layer 3 network on each VLAN.

 

[RMerlin]

Not if you work at layer 3 as I do. The wireless will not be part of the layer 3 network on each VLAN.

You won't be able to configure VLAN + wireless on an Asus router either, so your best chance would be to configure the VLAN on a switch port, then connect the router as an AP to that VLAN port, to make it part of that VLAN.

 

[coxhaus]

You won't be able to configure VLAN + wireless on an Asus router either, so your best chance would be to configure the VLAN on a switch port, then connect the router as an AP to that VLAN port, to make it part of that VLAN.

If you connect the wireless router as an AP then you are back to buying a wired router as I recommended.