Bittorrent, Gaming, many devices

[Chiba]

Hi,

I have been searching around the website by myself a little, but I dont feel experienced enough to make a decision on my new router.
I'm not that tech-savvy, so please forgive me if I mix up some technical termini.

First some information about the current situation:

I have a Netgear WPN824, which must be the first version since I bought it a VERY long time ago. It must be in use since 7 or 8 years now (was pretty new back then) and it has served me well, but lately I get the feeling that it can't take all the load anymore.
The devices connected to the router have been growing over the years. We have now several computers, consoles, smartphones and printers connected to it at the same time.
On top of that we use torrents, sometimes on several computers simultaneously, which seems to bring the router to its knees.
I somehow recall not having had those issues with torrents during the first years, but that might also be due to the speed of my internet connection, which was much slower back then.
Also, I have read somewhere that the WPN824 allows only a limited amount of connections, which is obviously bad for torrents (my knowledge stops here ).


What I am looking for:

* We recently got a 100mbit connection and I don't think that the WPN824 can do it justice anymore. So of course I'm looking for a strong n-capable Router.

* It should be able to handle a lot of torrents at the same time while still allowing surfing the internet and maybe even gaming. The computers in the house will use g as well as n, because I will not upgrade every USB stick.

* I like to play games online, so the ping should be decent and reliable. I know it will never be the same as on a wired connection, but I think my current router is doing a good job and the new one should at least achieve the same.

* Currently I restrict access to the router by MAC address. Additionally I assign every connected device a static IP, so it will be easier to find and open ports for certain devices. It's very important that the interface for these functions works properly and without errors.

* Good range. The router will be on the first floor and should be able to reach two more floors as well as the basement. The walls between the floors are armored concrete, so it will need some power to reach all the way up (which the WPN824 can barely do)

* Guest accounts. As far as I know my current router doesn't have this function. Since we have guests who would like to use the internet with their phones/laptops during their visit, this would be a nice addition, but it is not a must.

* IPv6 support: I'm not sure if this can easily be patched in with a new firmware or if it is very important as of yet. Please give me advice here on what to look out for.


I know that I'm basically looking for an allround router and I know it will not be cheap, but if it will work as reliable as my current router for the next years I'm more than willing to pay for it.

I have found the new Asus RT-N66U N900 very interesting, but can't really get enough reliable information out of the customer reviews. Some praise it, some curse it.
Anyway, it seems that the interface is still in some kind of beta phase, which worries me the most. As I said, I'm not very tech-savvy, so I need a reliable interface for my router. I'm confident that I can do stuff like firmware updates, but if it comes to very technical stuff I'm afraid I will run into a wall.

As a last question I wanted to ask about what to watch out for when buying WiFi USB sticks. There are some n-capable sticks that are very cheap and some very expensive. If they all support the n standard, how can they be so different?

A big thank you to all the experts who can make something of all the stuff I wrote and give me advice on all my questions.

 

[thiggins]

Running multiple simultaneous Torrents will eat up a lot of bandwidth quickly. Unless you manage the bandwidth that the torrents use, you will find no improvement from a new router. You will need to use a combination of Torrent client settings and router QoS settings to do this. Use the Router Finder and filter for QoS features with bandwidth control and bidirectional.

No router is going to span 3 floors in concrete construction. You need to add one or more access points in addition to the router, connected via Ethernet or powerline to get the coverage you want.

You can save money by using single vs dual band routers. 5 GHz doesn't go as far as 2.4, especially with concrete, so it is not worth paying for.

Finally, some USB adapters support only 150 Mbps link rates, which will limit their speed. Make sure your adapters support 300Mbps link rates. If you are connecting desktops, consider using Ethernet bridges vs, USB adapters. You can use longer cables with them for more flexible placement. They are also larger and usually have better antennas which will improve performance.

 

[Chiba]

Of course I am throttling my bandwith when using torrents even now. But I think I read somewhere that the WPN824 can only manage a limited number of connections (256?) whereas the RT-N66U can manage over 30.000. Isn't this also a potential bottleneck for Bittorrent?

The main area the router will have to span is from the first to the second floor. For this it has to go through a concrete ceiling/floor over about 6 meters. Would the 5GHz be too weak for that too?
Since my current router also manages to reach the uppermost floor I except the RT-N66U to also be capable of doing so, at least in the 2.4GHz range, since everyone praises its range.

 

[thiggins]

Adding more connections with limited bandwidth provides diminishing returns. Each connection you add takes a piece of the limited bandwidth.

If you have a lot of activity, 256 connections is low, yes. You would probably be fine with a 1000 or so connections.

Yes, 5 GHz is going to have a difficult time penetrating the concrete ceiling. But only way to know for sure it to try.

 

[Chiba]

I understand that every connection reduces the bandwith, but it shouldn't be the way it currently is, especially not with a 100mbit connection. I already reduced the recommended maximum of connections in my Bittorrent client's settings, but even a single torrent will make the internet unusable for me.
I had an even older WiFi router before this one and it didn't have those issues. With all the information I've read so far I hope it is really an issue specific to the WPN824 and will be gone once the RT-N66U is set up.
Worst case is that I will have to return it and get another one.

 

[tipstir]

I understand that every connection reduces the bandwith, but it shouldn't be the way it currently is, especially not with a 100mbit connection. I already reduced the recommended maximum of connections in my Bittorrent client's settings, but even a single torrent will make the internet unusable for me.
I had an even older WiFi router before this one and it didn't have those issues. With all the information I've read so far I hope it is really an issue specific to the WPN824 and will be gone once the RT-N66U is set up.
Worst case is that I will have to return it and get another one.

On the Windows 7 PC you use for Torrents you should change the TCP.sys that manages the number of connections from 10 to match your router. Then on other PCS just have to make sure they're no higher than 10.

Torrents can really destroy your router in time. I don't run that feature as I did prior. Now it's about 10% instead of 90%.