ac66u vs r6300 again...

[c0rp1]

Hi and sorry for the same old topic, but its really urgent...
I`v read so many reviews about both these routers and I have a deadline of ordering one tomorrow. The reviews in smallnetbuilder are a bit too technical for me so I need an easy answer of which one of the two models to chose. It`s for an appartment with 2 big floors. Most important things for me are :
1. No drops and no restarts of the WLAN (cause I use only WLAN and not ethernet ports).
2. Range ... the router that my FiberNet Provider gave me was tp link wr740n, which is awful in range ... I don`t get almost any signal on the 2nd floor. And the walls in our appartment are really big.
3. Maintain speed - my connection atm is 30MBps download and 15MB Upload, but I`m planing to upgrade it to 50-25. I don`t want to lose any of the speed when moving around the house.
4. Easy to set up with 3 Powerline adapters (model XAV5602 from Netgear).

Its really urgent so please help
Thanks in advance !

 

[c0rp1]

Anyone ... have like a day or so ...

 

[stevech]

My advice: Most people need no more than a $75 802.11b/g/n WiFi router. Some need an add-on Access Point (AP), due to multi-story or large home. APs can be re-purposed WiFi routers.

I'd read the reviews here and on newegg.
I don't like to recommend WiFi routers by name- as I avoid most all of the consumer ('stuff') and spend 25% or so more for professional grade or M2M WiFi gear. Because I feel that most of these heavily marketed-to-retail WiFi products are too cheaply built, have unreliable firmware. Some exceptions. There's a growing issue of too-thin profit margins = lousy QA. That's probably why Cisco sold Linksys- who was a pioneer in consumer WiFi way back.

Don't forget that flaws and weaknesses in client devices can be just as much to blame. Weak transmitted signal, etc.

 

[Fraoch]

You say you want range and fairly decent speed. Will you be concentrating on 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz? 802.11n or 802.11ac?

Going by hard data:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...ofile-dn/1128-netgear-r6300/1140-asus-rtac66u

2.4 GHz - note that the Netgear drops its connection completely at the extreme while the ASUS keeps it, achieving 42 Mbps while the client couldn't even connect to the Netgear at that point. Also note that for long range the ASUS is superior while at shorter range the Netgear is the same or faster than the ASUS.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...ofile-dn/1128-netgear-r6300/1140-asus-rtac66u

5.0 GHz...there's just no comparison. The ASUS beats the Netgear in every way. At fairly close range the Netgear tested at 237 Mbps while the ASUS tested even higher than full strength at 329 Mbps. At the farthest point/maximum attenuation the ASUS tested at 105 Mbps while the Netgear barely connected at 6 Mbps. No comparison at all really.

And this is with the Netgear using the new test method, which tests higher, and the ASUS using the old test method, which tested lower, so the differences are actually conservative.

Oh and powerline adapters should work with all routers. They just deliver bits and don't care what they're connected to. I presume you will be connecting your old router/modem to this new router using these, as long as they can deliver at least the speed of your Internet connection they won't affect you.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Only thing OP can do is to try both at his place and decide. Really no one, nothing can tell him which is better for him. He has his own unique location and situation.

 

[c0rp1]

Thanks for the replies .... I ordered an AC66 ... hope it will work correctly !

 

[dragons23]

good choose

i did the same and read alot of reviews also this one helped me


http://www.squidoo.com/a-birthday-present-from-heaven-asus-rt-ac66u-router


hope it helps.

 

[thiggins]

The reviews in smallnetbuilder are a bit too technical for me

thus is why we have the Router Ranker.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/rankers/router/ranking/AC1750?rank=6

 

[sm00thpapa]

Right now I would go with the one with the most stable firmware which is the R6300.

 

[whsbuss]

Right now I would go with the one with the most stable firmware which is the R6300.

True, but not their latest firmware for V1 of the 6300.

 

[stevech]

If you aren't a techie-geek, avoid the bleeding edge products!