Help choosing cable router

[Paul Ryan]

Hi, following from my previous thread I need help choosing my new router, I'm currently on Virgin Media 152Mb which is soon getting upgraded to 200Mb,

There will be anything up to 20 wireless devices and 3 wired devices connected at once

Here's a list of activities for the router

1. Web browsing
2. Online gaming
3. Newsgroups and torrents
4. Wireless printing
5. Streaming (netflix, amazon, kodi, live football)

Here are the devices I'm considering

NETGEAR R7500-100UKS
NETGEAR R8000-100UKS
ASUS RT-AC87U
ASUS RT-AC3200
D-Link AC3200 Ultra
Linksys EA8500
TP-LINK Archer C2600

Oh and one last thing I must be able to turn off all the lights on it

Must be available from Amazon UK

Budget £200

 

[System Error Message]

the dlink and linksys are bad choices. The asus ac87U is a poor choice. The ac88u is better. Not sure about the netgears as some have been having problems.

My suggestion would be to go with the asus AC3200 or AC88U.

problem with virgin media is the uploads and they do DNS hijacking. BT related VDSL offerings give better upload to download ratio. That 200Mb/s speed wont be worth it when you realise how slow the upload is.

 

[Paul Ryan]

I'm already on Virgin Media and won't swap, I can't get the AC88U on Amazon UK, so you think the Asus AC3200 is the best to get

 

[sfx2000]

Asus RT-AC68 series is pretty decent, and has very good third party support - good part is that it's on the down side of the pricing curve...

 

[System Error Message]

the ac68U is decent but if you are expecting lots of wireless users at one time than it is better to use the ac3200. The use case for the ac3200 is when you have multiple simultaneous heavy wireless users otherwise the ac68U will work fine

I also found the ac88U on amazon UK it costs £300. Its way cheaper in the US so it just shows that people in the UK are just getting ripped off in commerce and services (they dont even have FIOS). Things are just much more expensive in the UK even cars as well.

 

[fiberboy]

I'd like to choose NETGEAR..

 

[Paul Ryan]

Ok so it looks like it's the ac3200, unless the NETGEAR R8000 is just as good, it's slightly cheaper

 

[System Error Message]

the ac3200 has more firmware features and also you can use RMerlin's firmware.

 

[Paul Ryan]

ok thanks is it worth £200

 

[stevech]

I do just fine with speed and reliability with ISP provided 110/10Mbps cable modem DOCSIS 3, into a under $100 ASUS WiFi router without 11ac.
Too much marketing hype on overkill routers.

 

[Paul Ryan]

ok it's between the netgear r800 and asus ac3200, snb rates the netgear higher but I'm swaying more towards the asus,

 

[Paul Ryan]

just ordered the asus