Is R7000/AC68U overkill for my setup?

[seitys]

I'm in the market for a new router. I'm still using a wireless G netgear from like 10 years ago.

My two criteria (and I'm willing to flash Tomato, dd-wrt or whatever):

1. ability to support as many devices streaming video as possible (this is primary)
2. stability

I have no AC capable devices. All my devices are N.

I was thinking R7000 but I read about some stability issues. At the same time, the R7000 gets recommended over the AC68U from what I've read.

 

[theveterans]

IMO, anything above AC1900 is overkill today but future proof. Your WiFi clients won't take advantage of all the speed offered by AC1900 but when multiple loads of streaming comes in to play, their dual core chips and lots of RAM should be able to handle it without noticeable performance hit even on N mode.

The stability issues are caused mainly by stock firmware (R7000) and flashing Kong DDWRT should make it perfect for your needs.

 

[stevech]

IMO, any 801.11AC product is overkill, unless you like to spend the $ for fiddling. It's driven by the need and cost for 11AC in the client devices. Handhelds might have 11AC soon, but there's no room in that for the fancy antennas needed. Nor do pedestrian users need gobs of speed.

A desktop needing gobs of speed needs to get it one way or another, via wired, not WiFi.

 

[shawn3090]

Handhelds might have 11AC soon, but there's no room in that for the fancy antennas needed.

Actually, Android handhelds have had 11ac since the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. It is 1x1, but I still get a 433 Mbps connection on my GS4 with a R7000 on ac, whereas I only get a 58 Mbps connection on the 2.4 GHz (n) band.

 

[stevech]

I have an HTC One, and an IPad.
I can't imagine yet, when I'd need more than a few 10's of Mbps at the very most.