Netgear R8000 AC Router - If you have one post here

[jlake]

Why? Do you always change your antennas?

I thought all these routers were too expensive for you.

Yeah, I think you're missing the point to his post(s) in this thread. He's using the same tactics that he used to get a free WRT1900AC. He's showing doubt and skepticism about the product in his multiple posts in this thread.

The line is in the water and hook baited up........
Now to sit back and check message box to see if he's getting a free router to quiet him.

 

[connorm]

Why? Do you always change your antennas?

I thought all these routers were too expensive for you.

i second that. dont hate on stuff being expensive saying u cant afford it then complain about every little thing about something u cant afford....

if asus is gonna get ur money cool. but u claim to not have the money so that wouldn't make sense. and i could care less.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Why? Do you always change your antennas?

I thought all these routers were too expensive for you.

I don't always change the antennas but I like having the option to. I'm waiting for 3 routers to launch and reviews on them before I decide if I am going to purchase one. Asus RT-AC87U, Asus RT-AC3200 and the Nighthawk X4. These prices are getting ridiculous though.

 

[sm00thpapa]

i second that. dont hate on stuff being expensive saying u cant afford it then complain about every little thing about something u cant afford....

if asus is gonna get ur money cool. but u claim to not have the money so that wouldn't make sense. and i could care less.

I could care less about your posts. Later!

 

[RMerlin]

I don't always change the antennas but I like having the option to. I'm waiting for 3 routers to launch and reviews on them before I decide if I am going to purchase one. Asus RT-AC87U, Asus RT-AC3200 and the Nighthawk X4. These prices are getting ridiculous though.

The RT-AC87U and the RT-AC3200/R8000 are two quite different classes of product. First one is ideal for someone with a few 5 GHz client that will eventually go with a 4x4 client for max throughput. The second ones are ideal for people with a mixture of low speed and high speed devices, so they can be spread across the two radios. So first, I'd start by analyzing what your specific needs are - this will be the starting point before deciding whether the 3200 or the 2400 devices are the way to go.

But back on the R8000 topic, I see very few owners chiming in so far. I'm curious to hear how the automatic band steering is working out for you guys when you start running multiple clients.

 

[sm00thpapa]

The RT-AC87U and the RT-AC3200/R8000 are two quite different classes of product. First one is ideal for someone with a few 5 GHz client that will eventually go with a 4x4 client for max throughput. The second ones are ideal for people with a mixture of low speed and high speed devices, so they can be spread across the two radios. So first, I'd start by analyzing what your specific needs are - this will be the starting point before deciding whether the 3200 or the 2400 devices are the way to go.

But back on the R8000 topic, I see very few owners chiming in so far. I'm curious to hear how the automatic band steering is working out for you guys when you start running multiple clients.

Thank you Merlin very informative.

 

[cc666]

The RT-AC87U and the RT-AC3200/R8000 are two quite different classes of product. First one is ideal for someone with a few 5 GHz client that will eventually go with a 4x4 client for max throughput. The second ones are ideal for people with a mixture of low speed and high speed devices, so they can be spread across the two radios. So first, I'd start by analyzing what your specific needs are - this will be the starting point before deciding whether the 3200 or the 2400 devices are the way to go.

But back on the R8000 topic, I see very few owners chiming in so far. I'm curious to hear how the automatic band steering is working out for you guys when you start running multiple clients.

Just updated firmware, turned on the Smart Connect. So far running smooth and fast. Absolutely no slow down on the 5 ghz channels with multiple connections streaming.

Want to see stability, as I said its only 12 hrs but so far so good.

CC

 

[sm00thpapa]

Good to hear. Glad you're enjoying your new router.

 

[lexist2112]

Just updated firmware, turned on the Smart Connect. So far running smooth and fast. Absolutely no slow down on the 5 ghz channels with multiple connections streaming.

Want to see stability, as I said its only 12 hrs but so far so good.

CC

I am assuming it is the latest Firmware Version 1.0.0.90.

Please let us know after further testing the stability of both wired and wireless. I have the unit, on the last FW. Have not updated as of yet. Some users where having problems, but i just want to see if it was their clients or the FW.
Just check the Netgear forums, I look forward to your evaluation

 

[azazel1024]

I am also very curious on how well the band steering is working and what kind of setup/options there are for it. Does the firmware/admin console allow you to select specific device to move to specific channels? Or specific speed classes of devices? Or is it all black box other than setting seperate SSIDs for each 5GHz radio?

The thing that is starting to bother me is the lack of DFS channel usage on routers (and lesser degree some clients not supporting them). With 11ac and 80MHz channel widths, the non-DFS channels only allow two non-overlapping 80MHz networks (180MHz total, 4 20MHz channels in the low range, 5 20MHz channels in the upper range). If you added in DFS though, that would allow (assuming they are all open in your area, and likely most are) another 2 non-overlapping 80MHz networks (IIRC there is 180 or 190MHz of DFS in the US in the 5GHz range).

Just a single R8000 covers both non-overlapping ranges with nothing left over if you wanted to deploy another AP. Or, worse, when 160MHz wave 2 devices hit the market...without DFS a single one without even having seperate radios/bands different devices can connect on will gobble ALL of 5GHz unless DFS becomes a feature and NOT a rare option on routers.

 

[lexist2112]

I am also very curious on how well the band steering is working and what kind of setup/options there are for it. Does the firmware/admin console allow you to select specific device to move to specific channels? Or specific speed classes of devices? Or is it all black box other than setting seperate SSIDs for each 5GHz radio?

The thing that is starting to bother me is the lack of DFS channel usage on routers (and lesser degree some clients not supporting them). With 11ac and 80MHz channel widths, the non-DFS channels only allow two non-overlapping 80MHz networks (180MHz total, 4 20MHz channels in the low range, 5 20MHz channels in the upper range). If you added in DFS though, that would allow (assuming they are all open in your area, and likely most are) another 2 non-overlapping 80MHz networks (IIRC there is 180 or 190MHz of DFS in the US in the 5GHz range).

Just a single R8000 covers both non-overlapping ranges with nothing left over if you wanted to deploy another AP. Or, worse, when 160MHz wave 2 devices hit the market...without DFS a single one without even having seperate radios/bands different devices can connect on will gobble ALL of 5GHz unless DFS becomes a feature and NOT a rare option on routers.

In regard to the 5 GHZ band steering, once you have selected the option to unify both 5GHZ bands, then the router decides which band the client should connect to.

I suppose you could deselect the option and create 2 separate 5ghz SSID such as 5GHZ (slow) and 5ghz (fast). When one of your wireless clients are scanning your network you have control as to which band you want to connect to.

For now I have the option enabled on my networks and it seems to be functioning well. No hiccups, quite pleased

 

[azazel1024]

Hmmm, mildly dissapointed that it sounds like there is no customization. Anyone know if it is round robin assignment? Or does usage based assignment/reassignment/speed class assignment?

 

[thiggins]

Hmmm, mildly dissapointed that it sounds like there is no customization. Anyone know if it is round robin assignment? Or does usage based assignment/reassignment/speed class assignment?

I described how XStream works in this article.

 

[cc666]

Smart Connect experimenting

90 firmware, Router in ROUTER mode, turned on the smart connect, then ran 2 laptops and 2 ipads and an HTC One M8 on the 5.0 channel streaming full 1080P HD all wireless. There was lag.

Logged into the router and saw 5 devices on one of the 5.0 channels and NONE on the other channel. WTF.

I then turned off the smart connect feature and set up a fast and normal 5.0 channel. Selected devices to log into each channel. 2 on one and 3 on the other. Ran the same streams and there was no lag. Looks like the smart connect feature does not work.

CC

 

[thiggins]

90 firmware, Router in ROUTER mode, turned on the smart connect, then ran 2 laptops and 2 ipads and an HTC One M8 on the 5.0 channel streaming full 1080P HD all wireless. There was lag.

Logged into the router and saw 5 devices on one of the 5.0 channels and NONE on the other channel. WTF.

I then turned off the smart connect feature and set up a fast and normal 5.0 channel. Selected devices to log into each channel. 2 on one and 3 on the other. Ran the same streams and there was no lag. Looks like the smart connect feature does not work.

CC

Was there lag on all clients? If only some clients, which ones (1x1? 2x2?).

From what I know about Smart Connect, it only moves devices between radios during idle periods. Would be interesting to know the connect sequence and timing of client connects. Also were all devices in the same room.

At any rate, Smart Connect load balance feature default is to connect first three devices to one radio, then the fourth to the other radio for initial connection.

 

[cc666]

Was there lag on all clients? If only some clients, which ones (1x1? 2x2?).

From what I know about Smart Connect, it only moves devices between radios during idle periods. Would be interesting to know the connect sequence and timing of client connects. Also were all devices in the same room.

At any rate, Smart Connect load balance feature default is to connect first three devices to one radio, then the fourth to the other radio for initial connection.

Here is what I did, turned off all wireless on all devices. Set up smart connect
on router. Then one at a time I turned on the wifi and let them connect individually. after all 5 devices were connected I ran the 1080p test.all 5 devices in same room as the router.

I was really surprised to see ALL devices connected to one radio and none on the other. Are you saying if I would have left it for a few more hours and retested it would have balanced?

Any other questions just ask.

CC

 

[cc666]

UPDATE

90 firmware, Router in ROUTER mode, turned on the smart connect, then ran 2 laptops and 2 ipads and an HTC One M8 on the 5.0 channel streaming full 1080P HD all wireless. There was lag.

Logged into the router and saw 5 devices on one of the 5.0 channels and NONE on the other channel. WTF.

I then turned off the smart connect feature and set up a fast and normal 5.0 channel. Selected devices to log into each channel. 2 on one and 3 on the other. Ran the same streams and there was no lag. Looks like the smart connect feature does not work.

CC

OK I tried again to set the smart connect up. The only difference this time is that after I set up the router I pulled the plug for 30 seconds, plugged back in and let router reboot. Then added the clients one at a time.

THIS TIME IT WORKED PROPERLY. 3 on on and 2 on the other 5.0 band. You need to reboot before adding the clients.

CC

 

[sm00thpapa]

Let's go people who own this router upload some youtube videos. Only 1 guy has a video of it.

 

[thiggins]

Here is what I did, turned off all wireless on all devices. Set up smart connect on router. Then one at a time I turned on the wifi and let them connect individually. after all 5 devices were connected I ran the 1080p test.all 5 devices in same room as the router.

Thanks for the detail. AFAIK, Smart Connect load balancing should have assigned the first three devices to one radio and the fourth to the other.

I was really surprised to see ALL devices connected to one radio and none on the other. Are you saying if I would have left it for a few more hours and retested it would have balanced?

Smart Connect is supposed to monitor client performance and move clients between radios as their connect rates change. But, to my knowledge, the move occurs only during idle periods. I will verify this with NETGEAR.

If you were constantly streaming on all clients, there would be no idle period so no clients would be moved.

 

[azazel1024]

I would kind of assume it would be better to do round robin assignment (1st to 1st band, 2nd to 2nd band, 3rd to 1st band, 4th to 2nd band and so on) rather than load up the first 3 on the first band then move to the second.

Especially in light client load scenarios likely to be a lot better load balancing between the bands.