N66 v.s ac56 v.s ac68

[opticspen]

Hi, everyone, I was struggling between the N66, AC56 and AC68 to upgrade my home wireless

all of my device are N device, currently running a cisco M20 (wrt310n) router, 2.4g only

i live in a single family house, about 3000sqft

should I just go AC68 for peace of mind? costco have it for 159+tax

ac56 is about 120

n66 is about 80 +tax refurbished

I normally use a router for 3-4 years, appreciate any advice

 

[r00t4rd3d]

AC would be over kill if you have no AC devices. The RT-N66U is probably the best wireless N router on the planet currently. Get one. Most devices made today dont even have AC abilities, hell most stuff doesnt even have dual band radios yet. In 3-4 years it will be time for a AC router. Also, even if you did get a AC router and got AC adapters for all your things, that extra speed is only going to go that fast till it hits your cable modem cause your ISP aint gonna let your butt run around at 800Mbps.

As a die hard Linksys fan I switched from a WRT300N to the RT-N66U and it made a gigantic difference in everything wireless.

 

[sinshiva]

hmm. i think it would be worth getting the ac68 in this case. on the other hand, if OP is considering using the existing AP as a second AP, the ac56 would be a good choice. The N66 is a good router, but i think it's worthwhile paying a little more for some future proofing. i doubt OP will go the next 3-4 years without getting any new AC electronics. Also, Asus does have their ac87 right around the corner; not sure when, though. Of course, if you can save a significant amount of money with the N66, it's very likely that it will satisfy the majority of your needs.

I guess, how has your coverage been with the current AP? anything in particular that you're trying to improve? And what kind of internet connection do you have?

 

[admiral2145]

Get the 68u...i went from the n66u to the ac66u now running the ac68u and loving the extra horse power(dual core cpu).. @ 159 it's a steal.. I payed 229 plus tax. The ac87 is going to be 4 concurrent connections but that is middle of this year I believe.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[L&LD]

At $159 the choice is made: the RT-AC68U.

Everything (positive) I've read about it - especially comparing it to the RT-N66U and the RT-AC66U makes those older products look pretty bad (especially in the 5GHz band).

Last week the RT-N66U was that price (159.99).

The week before the RT-AC56U was $99.

To see a savings of ~$70 now (30% off) on the RT-AC68U now makes me think that either something is coming down the road soon (not likely, I would guess) or that now is the time to grab one if your time frame is 3-4 years down the road for the next purchase.

Buy with a return guarantee and you can always go to a lower end model if you really feel it is not worth the cost.

 

[opticspen]

thanks all for the advice, I will likely give costco a shot tomorrow, since it has 90days return policy, I can try it and see if I want it.

my key quesiton is will the AC becomes the prevalent wifi std in next 1-2 yrs, ie, most of the laptop and tablet will have ac chip inside.

i do need to stream hd video from my NAS, so the wifi speed does matter.

thanks for all of your advice again.

 

[L&LD]

While I don't have the funds put aside yet for an AC class router, I do use my customer's RT-AC56U and RT-AC66U several times a week. Both with my N class laptop and an Intel AC7260 upgraded laptop.

With either laptop I use at my customer's locations; the networking performance is above my RT-N66U I have for my home use.

So in that sense; AC doesn't need to become prevalent for the whole world; you just need to want the fastest network speeds now to own an AC1750 or AC1900 class router today.

 

[opticspen]

thanks L&LD

in that sense, I will jump for AC68, seems like I can get the benefit right away and in the meanwhile I can buy at least some extent of future proof.

hope it can last for 4 years, after that I'll likely replace it.

 

[opticspen]

thanks Shiva, I get relatively unstable wifi signal from wrt310n, and my 2.4g channel is crowded even though I live in a SFH, not sure why, when I search wifi signals, there are probably 10-20 routers around me, Man, it is annoying.

hmm. i think it would be worth getting the ac68 in this case. on the other hand, if OP is considering using the existing AP as a second AP, the ac56 would be a good choice. The N66 is a good router, but i think it's worthwhile paying a little more for some future proofing. i doubt OP will go the next 3-4 years without getting any new AC electronics. Also, Asus does have their ac87 right around the corner; not sure when, though. Of course, if you can save a significant amount of money with the N66, it's very likely that it will satisfy the majority of your needs.

I guess, how has your coverage been with the current AP? anything in particular that you're trying to improve? And what kind of internet connection do you have?

 

[L&LD]

With a 90 day return window, I wouldn't be too worried either.

In four years; if AC class routers become fully realized as we now can see on the WiFi alliance roadmap; we will need 10GBe connections to our routers to feed them with enough throughput to ensure we're not starving them, and that is promised on the Wireless side of the equation too (and finally).

1GBe networks are already slowing me down when I need to sync (backup) my data: they take over 90 seconds for my typical file sizes (~4GB).

10GBe networks will make the future SSD's work hard for their money; and with AC7500 class devices; they'll be working just as efficiently wirelessly too.

 

[Poseidon]

I've owned ALL 3 (plus the AC66U) and in my experience the RT-AC68U is the best of the bunch - especially for wireless. Best router I have ever owned and used. With the latest factory firmware (583), it's super fast and stable. Highly recommend it. $159 is a great price for this router.

Due to a Best Buy glitch, I picked mine up for $79.99 (plus tax)

Can't beat that!!!

 

[opticspen]

that was a steal!

BTW, when I went to Costco today, it's gone, darn
I'll be waiting for few days and see if I can get one at lower prices.

BTW, ac56 and ac68 seems have very same hardware, except one is 2 stream, and one is 3 stream?

will the wireless performance of ac68 be better if you only have 2 stream device?

I've owned ALL 3 (plus the AC66U) and in my experience the RT-AC68U is the best of the bunch - especially for wireless. Best router I have ever owned and used. With the latest factory firmware (583), it's super fast and stable. Highly recommend it. $159 is a great price for this router.

Due to a Best Buy glitch, I picked mine up for $79.99 (plus tax)

Can't beat that!!!

 

[sm00thpapa]

Go with the N66U the AC68U is worthless once the AC87U comes out in a few months.

 

[L&LD]

Go with the N66U the AC68U is worthless once the AC87U comes out in a few months.

Why?

Did the RT-N66U become worthless when the RT-AC66U came out?

 

[opticspen]

BTW, ac56 and ac68 seems have very same hardware, except one is 2 stream, and one is 3 stream?

will the wireless performance of ac68 be better if you only have 2 stream device?

 

[L&LD]

I would think yes: if only for the external antenna.

 

[zjohnr]

Newegg has AC56U for $100 again weekend of Feb 15-16

I'm not sure how much my "me too" comments are worth, but ...

I went with ordering an AC56U a few minutes ago. Newegg has it for $100 again over this weekend.

My (possibly mistaken?) understanding is that the AC56U has the same Broadcom BCM4708A CPU and 256 MB of RAM as the AC68U. I think most of the "extra" you are paying for is in the radios. With the AC68U you get 3 streams (3x3) versus "only" 2 streams (2x2) for the AC56U.

In my case the AC56U is ridiculous overkill given my WiFi devices are 802.11n 2x2 or slower. I also tend to doubt that when I do get an 802.11AC capable device it will support 3x3. So in my particular case I figured I could just simulate getting an AC68U by getting the AC56U and then burying the cash price difference in my back yard during the next thaw.

Re: "n66 is about 80 +tax refurbished"
I rarely, if ever, have had a good experience with a refurbished product. I am not saying that you can't get a good deal on a refurbished product. I am saying I have come to believe that this will never happen to me.

The one exception to this might be Apple. My understanding is that Apple offers the same warranty and support for the refurbished products you buy from the Apple store as for their retail products. My more general point being that if a manufacturer is willing to support refurbished the same as new, then I might take a chance. If not, then I wouldn't touch refurbished with the proverbial 3 meter pole.

But maybe that's just me ...

 

[RogerSC]

I'm not sure how much my "me too" comments are worth, but ...

I went with ordering an AC56U a few minutes ago. Newegg has it for $100 again over this weekend.

My (possibly mistaken?) understanding is that the AC56U has the same Broadcom BCM4708A CPU and 256 MB of RAM as the AC68U. I think most of the "extra" you are paying for is in the radios. With the AC68U you get 3 streams (3x3) versus "only" 2 streams (2x2) for the AC56U.

In my case the AC56U is ridiculous overkill given my WiFi devices are 802.11n 2x2 or slower. I also tend to doubt that when I do get an 802.11AC capable device it will support 3x3. So in my particular case I figured I could just simulate getting an AC68U by getting the AC56U and then burying the cash price difference in my back yard during the next thaw.

You most likely will be very happy with the RT-AC56U, but also the external antennas on the RT-AC68U make it easier to customize your wireless coverage, as well as potentially replacing them with higher gain antennas, if that helps you. I did like the review of the RT-AC56U on this site, though, it looks like a very capable router.

Enjoy.

 

[zjohnr]

... the external antennas on the RT-AC68U make it easier to customize your wireless coverage, as well as potentially replacing them with higher gain antennas, if that helps you.

I am hopeful. But the only way to know is to get it, set it up, and live with it for a while and see what happens.

My house is probably not even 1200 sq ft and I am seldom as much as 25' from the router, so range is not my top priority. Also, I follow what I think of as the Tim Higgin's "Dope Slap!" rule of Wi-Fi router placement: "Don't put it on the floor of a basement closet!" Amazing what benefits that advice can bring.

I am more attracted to the AC56U by what appears to be more processing power. I jumped too quickly, in hindsight, on what I thought was a reasonable discount on a 10/100 Western Digital N600. While I can't be certain, I seem to get "gaps" (?) in my Wi-Fi throughput when IPv6 is enabled.

Of course, it makes no sense to me that enabling IPv6 would cause (Wi-Fi) "dropouts". But it does feel like it happens less often when I've turn IPv6 off. My partially baked guess (delusion?) is that it may be a result of the Atheros AR9344 SoC not being able to keep up if you ask "too much" of it. I believe the CPU in the AR9344 in the WD N600 runs "at up to 533 MHz". (Wow. That fast, eh? )

Hopefully the two 1GHz cores in the Broadcom BCM4708A in the AC56U will be able to keep more balls in the air without dropping anything.

But in the end, it's all just a wild guess on my part. Oh, well. Either way, later next week I'll have another toy to play with. And I think my local SPCA is going to get a 5GHz 802.11n AP with "Guest Access" capability. So I guess it's all good.

 

[mnilsson77]

zjohnr: Are you satisfied with the AC56U? I need a new router and even though AC68U seems like the fastest/best product, I'm leaning towards buying the AC56U since it's currently ~35% cheaper than the AC68U in Sweden (where I live).