Apple Airport Extreme vs Asus AC66U

[steffmoes]

I am about to exchange my 6 year Airport Extreme router since it's pretty slow and has a lousy range. I am looking for a router with good speed and range. At the moment I am looking at either the new generation of Airport Extreme (with ac) or the Asus AC66U. Does anyone know the pro and cons with these two models? And is the range capabilities very different?

Also I am not sure if it makes sense to buy a AC router at the moment or a N router will do. I don't own any AC ready devices (yet) and I read somewhere that the first generation AC routers are not that great...

kind regards
Steffen

 

[Fraoch]

I am about to exchange my 6 year Airport Extreme router since it's pretty slow and has a lousy range. I am looking for a router with good speed and range. At the moment I am looking at either the new generation of Airport Extreme (with ac) or the Asus AC66U. Does anyone know the pro and cons with these two models? And is the range capabilities very different?

I don't have any practical experience with these routers, but take a look at these:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...ples-new-airport-extreme-offers-no-innovation

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...-band-wireless-ac1750-gigabit-router-reviewed

The AC66 was tested, the Airport Extreme wasn't because Apple doesn't provide equipment for testing purposes since Tim may say something they don't like...

Also I am not sure if it makes sense to buy a AC router at the moment or a N router will do. I don't own any AC ready devices (yet) and I read somewhere that the first generation AC routers are not that great...

kind regards
Steffen

Now this is just my opinion but I decided to give ac a while to mature before I buy into it. Heck, I just got my first 802.11n router back in April! Like you, I have no ac clients and I don't see getting any for at least 2 years. ac is in quite a state of flux right now with manufacturers putting out new products a few times a week if you check the main page. Check out the user reviews for the AC66 posted above, the firmware isn't exactly stable yet for those reviewers. Sure, 3 negative reviews aren't statistically significant based on the number of units shipped but it made me pause a bit at least.

Contrast this with 802.11n. Prices on the ASUS RT-N66U have come down. At this point, we will likely see new 802.11n developments only in making devices cheaper, not higher performance (where developement will only focus on 802.11ac, which has been happening for months now). So the best 802.11n routers are the ones out right now. They will only be getting cheaper, not better. I thought now's the time to get into 802.11n then.

Wait at least 2 years for ac to mature and prices to come down. That's my opinion.