AC86 over an AC68 - wifi coverage and VPN performance

[Locoblade]

Hi All

Newbie here so I'd appreciate some advice please. I'm in the process of changing ISP meaning I lose my old ISP's (rather flaky but better coverage than single ISP provided router) mesh wifi solution so I need a good quality router to try and retain as much coverage as possible. The house is about 2,000sqft over 2 floors plus loft above that needs signal, but with solid walls throughout I've previously struggled to get signal to all corners of the house with a single ISP provided router so I'm hoping I'll have more success with a better quality product.

My first question is therefore relating to WiFi coverage, I think other threads have answered this but am I right in saying the AC86 should give slightly better speed at range than the AC68 but in terms of coverage there's not a lot between them?

Secondly, I understand from other threads here that the AC86 blows most things out of the water when it comes to OpenVPN server performance including the AC68. However, given I only need it for remote admin into the home network to fix issues for my wife whilst at work etc and given the 52/10 speed of the connection we have I'm unsure if I'd see any significant benefit with an AC86 over a 68?

Finally I read somewhere that the Asus VPN implementation holds onto the router's IP and doesn't support the use of a DDNS service so really needs a static IP from the ISP to reliably connect to the VPN (which I can't get)? Is this actually an issue or can the VPN server now cope with that so I can always connect to the VPN even if the IP changes occasionally?

To conclude I've pretty much decided on Asus over Netgear but I'm trying to determine whether the AC86 is worth the extra ~£65 (£135 against £200 in the UK) over the AC68 for what I need it to do. My first thought is the AC86 is a newer chipset and more powerful with better WiFi specs so would be the best option as the price isn't a massive showstopper but if VPN speed is a non issue I'm wondering if I might actually be better going for an AC68 and putting the £65 saved towards a second AC68 to set up AiMesh if I find I need it?

thanks all

 

[bilboSNB]

I just upgraded from from the ac68u, in my environment I have not noticed much difference in wifi but I do not have the devices that are able to take advantage of the additional WiFi power and I had a fairly decent signal anyway, my house is not massive and I have put the router bang in the middle of it. The 5 GHz seems better.

I upgraded for VPN client (not server) performance down and the extra power to potentially run other scripts and programs on the router without degrading performance as much. Yes the 86u does blow the 68u out of the water in this regard.

I have never had an issue with ddns updating my dynamic ip that I am aware of.

 

[Locoblade]

Thanks, thats good info, I hadn't thought about the VPN client for outbound encryption but thinking about it that's also a nice-to-have that I might use in future, I currently use PIA on mobile devices when on public WiFi etc but I guess I could use that for home as well.