Help! Nighthawk x4s vs Asus RT-AC88u

[Rome Aeterna]

Good Day/Evening to everyone!

Hello SmallNetBuilder.. I Need help from you guys,
I am going to buy a Router but i am still confused on what should i buy, I am a very heavy gamer, I play MoBA games like Dota 2, LoL and Other FPS games, ping stability is very important for me and that's what i prioritize the most, GAMING. but i can't have a smooth gaming because my family members kept on Surfing the net, facebook and streaming (youTube, K-Dramas) and other's are downloading, right now, i only have 3mbps DSL connection but in a week or month i will be upgrading to FIBR, yeah i have a very slow internet but the new bill had been passed(Bless this country more) so i will be upgrading to 20mbps symmetrical. i also need a big wifi coverage, i live in a 3 story kinda big house but im putting it at the 2nd floor (our rooms),
I know that the asus got the WTFast but its not working with my ISP because i already bought it and tried others too like killping, so what do you guys suggest? or are there any router you will suggest but in the same price range? (also thinking about using DD-WRT or other firmware) Thankyou in advance guys! i hope you'll help me and 1 more thing is the QoS going to work if im going to bridge? because the isp provide their own Modem+router so im planning to bridge mode it and connect the router that i will buy, thankyou again!

 

[L&LD]

I would recommend the Asus over the Netgear for many, many reasons. The first one being RMerlin's firmware. As you have seen, WTFast is effectively useless; ignore those gimmicks not only in future products, but also on the router you finally settle on (if it includes that 'feature').

With your current connection, no router will help you in any way shape or form with the network usage you describe.

With the 20/20 Up/Down Fibre connection, there is a glimmer of hope (but it is still a long way from where you need to be with even two or three other concurrent users on the same 'pipe').

When you're gaming; aim to be connected, wired. A wireless connection is just asking for additional issues with that kind of network interference from others in your household. In addition to any that may be coming from your neighbors wifi equipment too.

 

[Rome Aeterna]

I would recommend the Asus over the Netgear for many, many reasons. The first one being RMerlin's firmware. As you have seen, WTFast is effectively useless; ignore those gimmicks not only in future products, but also on the router you finally settle on (if it includes that 'feature').

With your current connection, no router will help you in any way shape or form with the network usage you describe.

With the 20/20 Up/Down Fibre connection, there is a glimmer of hope (but it is still a long way from where you need to be with even two or three other concurrent users on the same 'pipe').

When you're gaming; aim to be connected, wired. A wireless connection is just asking for additional issues with that kind of network interference from others in your household. In addition to any that may be coming from your neighbors wifi equipment too.

thank you very much for your reply, let us know the suggestion of others

 

[psychopomp1]

Personally, I've found routers with Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) radios give me better wifi coverage versus those with Broadcom radios - so I will say the Netgear R7800 X4S is the one to go for.

 

[Rome Aeterna]

Personally, I've found routers with Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) radios give me better wifi coverage versus those with Broadcom radios - so I will say the Netgear R7800 X4S is the one to go for.

Thank you very much! Having a tie right now even in poll, its hard to decide haha is the QoS of the netgear better than the asus?

 

[FatherLandDescendant]

I personally would NEVER suggest Netgear products, just because of their Customer Service, it sucks...

 

[pete y testing]

to be honest you cant really compare the x4s to the 88u as they in a different class wifi wise , the x4s is 1733M class the 88u is 2156M class , the asus also has 8 ports and also does link aggregation

but i can't have a smooth gaming because my family members kept on Surfing the net, facebook and streaming (youTube, K-Dramas) and other's are downloading

you need bandwidth limiting if thats the case and only the asus has that

but in a week or month i will be upgrading to FIBR,

20mbps symmetrical.

you will prob still need bandwidth limiting then as well

so what do you guys suggest?

your looking in the wrong place as if the congestion is being caused by internal factors only bandwidth limiting will fix it

and 1 more thing is the QoS going to work if im going to bridge? because the isp provide their own Modem+router so im planning to bridge mode it and connect the router that i will buy

if your going to fiber you wont need their modem/router as you should just be able to connect any wireless router direct to the NTD

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the netgear and just about all netgears these days have a really slow gui and its dam annoying along with it quite basic gui , and thats why i voted for the asus

 

[Rome Aeterna]

to be honest you cant really compare the x4s to the 88u as they in a different class wifi wise , the x4s is 1733M class the 88u is 2156M class , the asus also has 8 ports and also does link aggregation



you need bandwidth limiting if thats the case and only the asus has that





you will prob still need bandwidth limiting then as well



your looking in the wrong place as if the congestion is being caused by internal factors only bandwidth limiting will fix it



if your going to fiber you wont need their modem/router as you should just be able to connect any wireless router direct to the NTD

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the netgear and just about all netgears these days have a really slow gui and its dam annoying along with it quite basic gui , and thats why i voted for the asus

thankyou very much, now i have idea what should i buy, no wonder you are a very senior member currently im into asus side, but im sad because there is a 40$ diff Asus 240$ netgear 200$

 

[pete y testing]

i can assure you the asus is def worth the extra $40 just for its gui feature set alone never mind its extra ports and faster wifi standard

 

[doczenith1]

thankyou very much, now i have idea what should i buy, no wonder you are a very senior member currently im into asus side, but im sad because there is a 40$ diff Asus 240$ netgear 200$

Have you considered the ASUS RT-AC3100? It's identical to the 88U except it only has 4 Ethernet ports vs 8 on the 88U and is typically around $30 cheaper.

 

[ulaganath]

I would suggest x4s

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

 

[ulaganath]

Many claims Asus is better than Netgear. I would vouch Netgear is most stable router in market even for months. Even if you are heavy user with say 1tb to 10tb wan traffic which is rarely possible it's won't ever slightly slow down. It can run smoothly and stable for months with out switching off

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

 

[pete y testing]

Asus is better than Netgear. I would vouch Netgear is most stable router in market even for months.

shame about the slow and very average gui and pretty lazy gui featureset

 

[ulaganath]

Whats the fancy UI going to do when the WIFI radios or Internet connects are not stable enough for even a days or week. Which has to be shame.

I did see some usefull features are there in ASUS but like Netgear Stock firmware is bad for Asus as well. And one need a Merlin custom firmware to make the system stable enough to give uninterrupted Internet via wired and wireless.

 

[pete y testing]

I did see some usefull features are there in ASUS but like Netgear Stock firmware is bad for Asus as well. And one need a Merlin custom firmware to make the system stable enough to give uninterrupted Internet via wired and wireless.

sorry but you must have a faulty asus there as i have almost all the asus routers here and they perform just as good as the netgear r7000 with no issues as you suggest stability wise with or without merlin fw

 

[ulaganath]

May be you got the right hardware and it worked as it supposed to. But here in this forum and other i see many complaining the stablity of the WIFI as it keeps disconnecting clients very or often times.

only way to avoid is to use the merlin firmware which keeps pushing bug fixes and new features and libraries are upto date.

 

[pete y testing]

only way to avoid is to use the merlin firmware which keeps pushing bug fixes and new features and libraries are upto date.

sorry but even merlin will tell you this is not the case , merlin fw improves on the base fw but doesnt make major changes like that

 

[Rome Aeterna]

okay so this is what happened, i bought the asus ac88u, and this is what happened i've been testing it for morethan a week now, and after 3days of smooth performance, i had encounter a problem in the 4th day, the wifi starts to be unstable mostly on the 5ghz so i tried to turn-off the router and restart it, after about 30mins, the problem occured again, it drops for about every 18mins average, so i decided to bring it back to the mall and be replaced (7days replacement) then i retested it, latest update 3.0.0.4.380.7378, but after a fewdays, same problem occured. In online game testing (QoS) it worked with my low 3mbps internet DSL, but it doesn't run smooth, having ping spikes every 32sec i think while everyone using the internet so i asked my friend again if i can go to their house and try 10mbps fibr internet that they have, but same thing happened ping spikes, (be reminded that i also did this to the first asus router), so the final resort that i see is flash merlin, so i did flash merlin, im so happy on the first full day, everything smooth, i thought that this will be it, but after a day, the 2.4g starts to drop a lot, the 5ghz not much like for around every 3-5hrs, the QoS it works yes, but im still experiencing ping spikes but for every 35mins i think, sometimes an hour(both on 3mpbs DSL and 10mbps fibr both full load) so im really sad, and i decided to buy a nighthawk x4s, im gonna receive it tom and do a test, i will update u guys, but asus really broke my heart(soft antennas), and i also have this problem from ac88u, the temp. is so hot, srsly, when it is exposed to 32deg.cel. it's temp is pumping to 70-78deg.cel its scary for a router i need to put it at 22deg.cel room temp so i can maintain below 50deg.cel. AIRCONDITIONED ROOM ALERT!!!

 

[Rome Aeterna]

sorry but even merlin will tell you this is not the case , merlin fw improves on the base fw but doesnt make major changes like that

pls read my latest reply, thanks!

 

[pete y testing]

when it is exposed to 32deg.cel. it's temp is pumping to 70-78deg.cel

there is nothing wrong with that temp and is well with operating conditions

i can assure you that you must just have got a few lemons as im on 100/40M fiber and the 88u runs smooth and flawless