Best wireless-N router with upgradeable antennas

[mjw]

Please could you help by suggesting some recommended wireless routers? I am looking for a 802.11n router with the following features:
1) Upgradeable antennas
2) Excellent range
3) 4 Gigabit ethernet ports
4) Excellent routing performance
5) Excellent 2.4 GHz performance


A nice-to-have would be to also have simultaneous dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz).

I've looked through the top routers in the wireless performance charts and there are none that meet all these criteria. The biggest problem seems to be the lack of upgradeable antennae (perhaps they exist but just haven't been reviewed). I would like the upgradeable antennae since the router must cover a radius of about 300 feet.
I am upgrading from an old 802.11g router that I had to upgrade with a 15" antenna in order to get reasonable (but not great coverage) so I don't want to get stuck with a non-upgradeable router that might have worse coverage than the current router.

 

[lifespeed]

If you're going through walls, 2.4 GHz will give you better range. Also, there are some compromises in an antenna capable of operating at both frequencies. If your 2.4 GHz spectrum is not overly crowded at your location, you might get best range performance with 802.11n at 2.4 GHz and a high-gain antenna optimized for that frequency.

 

[thiggins]

Using the Router Product finder, there are 9 routers with Gigabit ports and upgradeable antennas. You'll have to define "excellent" for yourself.

 

[mjw]

Thanks Tim, that was exactly what I was looking for. ASUS RT-N16 sounds like the best bet given the ability to install custom firmware (DD-WRT and Tomato) and increase the transmit power too if needed.

 

[thiggins]

Increasing transmit power doesn't necessarily help increase range. The client also has to be able to be heard by the router. Higher gain antennas are more helpful to increase range than boosting transmit power.

 

[mjw]

The Asus RT-N66U (formerly known as the RT-N76U) sounds like it could be a beast of a router when it comes out later this year:
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=25929

I was tempted to snag a RT-16U for $66 AR but I think I'll hold out a little longer for the RT-N66U:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2961555

 

[stevech]

I'd say that the "best" 11n routers, i.e., the ones with full MIMO (not marketing MIMO), would likely not have external antennas, esp. the dual-band ones.

So if you want better directional antennas for the sake of range, esp. if that's not omni-directional range, then an 11g with ext. antennas might be better.