AC Bridge R7000/WRT1900AC?

[Gascogne]

First I must say that smallnetbuilder is a great website.

Now to my issue.
I would like to get rid of my current network setup, mainly the cable between the router and the switch for the media setup in the living room.
(about 5meters between the router and the switch, straight path)
(*edit* and a wall in between as well.)

So a ac bridge wifi setup would be nice.


Current setup:

ISP speed: 250/100 Mbit/s

Main router: DIR-655 (getting pretty old now..)
iMac
PC
Printer
Philips Hue system

->D-Link DGS-1005G Switch (Media setup)
Apple TV (We do a lot of streaming to the Apple TV.)
PS4

->Wireless equipment (only n standard)
iPhones x 2
iPad x 2


My thoughts was to have 2 of the same router in bridge mode to replace the router and the switch in order to get rid of the cable.
I thought about R7000 or WRT1900AC, but feel free to suggest.

And I thought to keep the old router mainly to handle the n wifi.

 

[azazel1024]

I'd go a couple of TP-Link Archer C7 in bridge mode. That or, I believe whatever the Linksys AC1750 router model is, has refurbs on sale now for sub-$100.

A lot cheaper and I'd bet money that the difference in usable speed between that setup and some R7000/AC1900 is going to be minimal at best.

I'd imagine you could probably net a good 50-60MB/sec, depending on exactly what is in that 5m distance other than open space.

Of course the question is, do you need it? Apple TV is only going to have requirements in the 8-15Mbps range. PS4, what kind of speeds can you hit? I am curious only because my Xbox One even downloading games rarely taxes my internet connection (75/75). I generally see around 3-5MB/sec for game downloads.

Another alternative is to get a couple of TP-link WDR3600, or similar N600 routers and put them in to bridge mode for 5GHz. If that 5 meters is open air, or at most a wall inbetween, you could probably get a good solid 130-150Mbps on the bridge. I would think that would be more than enough to supply an AppleTV and PS4. Save a lot more money that way.

Since all you have is a couple of iPads and iPhones, assuming you don't have a ton of 2.4GHz congestion where you live, you could leave one of the WDR3600 with its 2.4GHz radios on and connect them to that, and then ditch the DIR-655.

 

[Gascogne]

Forgot to mention that there is a wall in the way, so no open space.

According to Netflix; 25 Mb/s – is recommended for Ultra HD.
And I have no idea what the PS4 uses but my guess it would be about the same more or less as the Xbox one.

About the 2.4Ghz congestion, there are about 4 or 5 other 2.4Ghz wifi's in the area.

 

[thiggins]

Why not try a pair of HomePlug AV 2 adapters? Hell of a lot cheaper than a pair of AC routers, even $100 ones.

 

[Gascogne]

Why not try a pair of HomePlug AV 2 adapters? Hell of a lot cheaper than a pair of AC routers, even $100 ones.

I checked that up, it sounded great but only one problem.
Can't connect to a wall socket.

Says in the manual.
"Plug the device directly into a wall socket. Avoid multiple sockets."


Do you have any experience using a multiple socket with HomePlug?

 

[thiggins]

For best performance, HomePlug adapters should connect directly to the wall socket. They will work with a power strip. But you won't get best performance. Many times, that same outlet strip will also have noise generators plugged into it, too, which also reduce performance.

Still, it might be worth a try. Even with degraded throughput, it could be a cheaper and more stable solution than a wireless bridge.

 

[Trip]

Not quite clear if you lack outlet access altogether or just have outlets which are already full, but if it's the latter then you could always go with a pass-through model, such as the ZyXel PLA5215. Just a thought.

 

[Gascogne]

Why not try a pair of HomePlug AV 2 adapters? Hell of a lot cheaper than a pair of AC routers, even $100 ones.

I got pair of devolo dLAN 1200+ starter kit.

Tried with the multiple socket first on the end point.
Got some decent speed with it, between 200-300Mbps.

Removed the multiple socket and got 900Mbps+.



Thanks for the advice about HomePlug adapters.
Feels good to be able to get rid of the cable I wanted to.