Asus router purchase question

[willyburz]

My brother is looking to spend around $150 on an Asus AC router. What is the best Asus option in this area?! Pros/cons? He doesn't have the best access for hard wiring his Xbox One, so the main purpose is for gaming.

Thank you!

 

[L&LD]

RT-AC56U or RT-AC68U with RMerlin firmware or the john9527 or hggomes forks (the '56U can be found for less than $100 on sale, the '68U can be had for your budget if you look for a refurbished model.

 

[willyburz]

He'll buy brand new. Hows the 56u v. 66u?

 

[L&LD]

He'll buy brand new.

If he has any clients with a 3x3 antennae setup, he might want to consider other models (from Asus).

But the bang for the buck he'll get from the 'AC56U will be hard to beat with double his budget if his clients have 2 antennae or less.

 

[willyburz]

Rock solid range? He's in a loft, and tons of wireless traffic, and thick walls. My ones are Hardwired, they 2x2?

 

[L&LD]

Rock solid range? He's in a loft, and tons of wireless traffic, and thick walls. My ones are Hardwired, they 2x2?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-55-3_hgg-final-mod.26524/page-2#post-199549


I would say it is rock solid (with the right firmware).

What is hardwired? 2x2 what?

 

[willyburz]

Sorry, I meant to say, MY xbox ones are hardwired, was asking if you know the antenna setup in the One?

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, I meant to say, MY xbox ones are hardwired, was asking if you know the antenna setup in the One?

I didn't, but I do now. 2.


http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/06/connected/

 

[willyburz]

They didn't have it in stock, sooooo... he ended up saying the heck with it, and got the RT-AC68P for $170

 

[doczenith1]

Sorry, I meant to say, MY xbox ones are hardwired, was asking if you know the antenna setup in the One?

I did some research a month or so ago and found some info that said the wireless N in the xbox one was 1x1. There was a second antenna but I think they said it was used for talking to the controllers???? Or maybe not enabled in firmware??? Either way, only a dual band N 1x1 antenna. I did some quick searches but couldn't find the 1x1 info. Funny as the reason for my search was that a friend was buying a router and was debating between N and AC so I jumped on Google to try and help him with his decision.

Edit: Just checked out the link that L&LD posted and it does say 2x2 but I seem to remember as mentioned above that the wifi only operated at 1x1.

 

[sfx2000]

IIRC - the XBone's chipset is capable of 2*2:2, but single antenna used - should also note that the chipset is dual-band and capable of 11ac, but consensus is that 11ac driver isn't present right now...

Not much info on the XBone - generally though, better WiFi Router/AP, better performance - I'm more of a PS4 guy...

 

[willyburz]

I got all three of my ones hardwired, that was just a question for my bro.

 

[sfx2000]

My big beef with consoles is that they tend to be brain-dead dealing with NAT and multiple consoles behind that NAT when teaming up - grrr... nobody does it well there - heck, I'd toss PC games into that mix..

Lot of folks try to solve with router configs, but it's really the game developers that are the real problem... and the console vendors aren't helping much (MS/Sony/Nintendo)...

 

[sfx2000]

And for what it's worth - I'm 52, and I still game - not as hard core as some perhaps, my PS4 not excepted...

And as a network engineer - I find this problems as an interesting challenge...

 

[willyburz]

basically I have my house and rooms hardwired, switched, and off the switch I'm running my AC3200 upstairs. All my hardcore gaming stuff is hardwired off the switch directly to avoid nat and any other issues, then everything else is routed and run by my AC3200 over wifi phones, blu ray players, tv's, chromebooks, pcs, etc.