Genericuser1
New Around Here
Hello everyone, I’m a noob as far as routers and networking goes, I currently have a Linksys N900 which works well enough and I never really thought too much about it. Recently we have cut the cord and with my children nearing teenage years my internet usage and networking needs have exploded so I’m looking to increase performance and range.
If I had the ability I’d just run a number of cat cables around the house but that isn’t an option. The cable modem and router are in a corner of a finished basement and overall signal strength it pretty good through most of the house. With the higher demands of video and game streaming by multiple devices simultaneously I’m in the market for a new router in the next several months.
I’m seeing a number of recommendations for the older Asus 68U with Merlin 3rd party firmware. I’d like to detail some of what I’m looking for and describe what I currently have connected and ask for some recommendations by people with a lot more networking knowledge. I’m not tied to any particular router or brand. I do want AC as a few devices in house use it.
Functionality I’d like (not even sure if this is common or impossible):
If I had the ability I’d just run a number of cat cables around the house but that isn’t an option. The cable modem and router are in a corner of a finished basement and overall signal strength it pretty good through most of the house. With the higher demands of video and game streaming by multiple devices simultaneously I’m in the market for a new router in the next several months.
I’m seeing a number of recommendations for the older Asus 68U with Merlin 3rd party firmware. I’d like to detail some of what I’m looking for and describe what I currently have connected and ask for some recommendations by people with a lot more networking knowledge. I’m not tied to any particular router or brand. I do want AC as a few devices in house use it.
Functionality I’d like (not even sure if this is common or impossible):
- I’d like to prioritize certain services so gaming and video streaming over other tasks (I can see Asus routers do this)
- Either have built in or the ability to use opendns (looks like Merlin for Asus routers do this)
- Ability to see every device or service on the network and its history. For things like tablets, computers and smart phones what websites they have visited.
- Ideally it would be nice to be able to review any data sent over wifi but that probably isn’t possible ot at least no through the router.
- Virus or malware protection. My pc’s have anti-virus but none of the families smart devices do.
- Ability to block file types like executables from being downloaded (probably done at the client level machine but thought I’d ask)
- 2 PCs
- 4-6 handheld devices (tablets, smart phones, gaming)
- 5 streaming devices, roku, fire tv, Tablo
- Gaming systems Ps3, XB1, Wii U, Shield TV
- VOIP
- Smart tv’s