Help: Wired router + AP recommendation

[tm07x]

I'm new here but I've been reading this forum a lot and done some research to find a solution to my network setup.

I have 8 wired units and two laptops + cellphones and internet radio that need Wi-Fi. The wired connections are PC, NAS, NUC, powerline to downstairs TV, Xbox, ATV etc.

I previously ran an AC-68U with and without switch until the unit died. The 5ghz wouldn't connect and I manage to salvage it as a 2.4ghz AP.

The problem with the AC-68U was that it kept dropping connections, especially when playing online games. It didn't matter whether my wife was surfring the interwebs or streaming movies locally (either onto wired TV or wifi to laptop) you could notice the lag while playing.
I tried a different router (D-link 868L) and the signal got better but now I got latency issues. Internet radio suddenly took forever to load a channel and even wired media boxes got added latency/load times.

I read on this forum that some people suggest a stand-alone wired router with an added AP. Is that a route I should go?
I'd like to keep my wired units wired so I can keep the wireless units to a minimum. All wifi units support AC, except the damn Bose internet radio.

The wifi coverage with either ASUS or D-link was fine through out the house and strangely enough the AC networks worked better on the lower level of the house.

There wifi around here isn't crowded per say, but there are some routers around in the 1 - 6 - 11 channels. Most are found on channel 1, and the db for channel 6 seems to be faint (-80dbi), same goes for 11.

I'm on a 100mbit DSL connection.


Anyone got a recommendation for a wired router with 8+ ports and AP or any other solution that would work?

I have tried hooking the PS4 and XBOX up to the cable modem and it never lags. I have also tried isolating the problem running wired xbox/ps4 and only ONE wired OR wifi client simultaneously and the lag isn't there. But when connecting a few more wired or wifi units (even the bose radio), the lagging occurs.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[System Error Message]

if you are skilled you can go for the non consumer stuff like the RB1100AHx2 from mikrotik or even a mikrotik CCR. Those have a lot of performance. The RB1100AHx2 has 13 Gbit ports. Make sure you check the block diagrams of a routerboard before you choose them if you plan to also use them as a switch. CCRs can switch at wirespeed using CPUs so they dont need switch chips. Some routerboards have weird switch configurations whereby there may be one or more switch chips and some of the ports may not be switched but connected directly to CPU.

Try to have a fan to blow air out of your wifi routers to see if it helps to make them stable. Since you use DSL SFP is useless but if you plan to use fibre optics in the future many routerboards have SFP so you wont need a modem.

in the asus ac68u there is a feature in wireless advanced called airtime fairness. It may help with your problem. Try to use 5 Ghz if you can and use ethernet if possible.

ubiquiti do have 8 port routers but they are very very expansive compared to mikrotik.

If you go with mikrotik or ubiquiti be sure to learn the firewall as they have firewall examples on the wiki that should be implemented.

to solve gaming lag when someone else is streaming or surfing all routers now have QoS. In mikrotik it involves setting up queues and marking and unmarking packets in firewall. Mikrotik queuing is more effective compared to consumer router QoS. CCRs can perform queuing on L2 wth almost no penalty as well because switched and routed packets have to go through CPU.

My setup involves a CCR1036-8g-2S+ (there is a CCR1036-12g-4s that has 12gbit port) as router, a CRS226 with 24gbit ports and 2SFP+ and a netgear 24 port smart switch as switches and an ASUS ac68u with usb fan running merlin firmware as wifi router. I connect most devices using wire but i have no trouble connecting a lot more devices than you have using wireless. Online gaming doesnt lag for me even with my internet bandwidth lower than yours but i get very good latency.

I use managed switches because my servers and others have multiple ports that my router just doesnt have enough ethernet ports. My setup is pretty expansive considering the CRS with SFP+ and a 36 core router with SFP+ which can NAT at wirespeed. It can route 41M packets/s or more but the ports fill up at 4M packets.