New Router advice....

[gyrene2083]

Hello All,

I just bought my first home, a 2300 sq ft single floor. I have Spectrum, and they gave me their Cable/Wifi Modem, which I hate, always dropping wifi connections. In my Co-Op I had a Netgear 1900, and had Cat5e throughout the Co-Op.

I plan on running Cat 6 cable to four rooms. Family Room, Living Room, Son's Room, Bedroom. All the drops would come to the Den. I have two Rack Servers, where I have all my blu-rays, and I need to be able to stream to Family Room, Living Room, and Bedroom. My son has a Roku TV and the other TVs are smart TVs. So they all will stream Netflix, and Hulu. (not at the same time) However, my son is a gamer, and he the PS4, XBox One, and his computer.

We also have several wifi devices, phones, tablets, and laptops. So, all that said. I have had great experience with Netgear routers. I had hiccups with DLink, and not so much luck with TLink. I need to be able to have good wifi coverage, because the last thing I need to hear from the family is why is my wifi so slow.

I did have MoCa in my rental house, and it worked ok, it was just a pain to get it up and running with the cable company.

Ok I think I provided you guys with everything I could think of. I look forward to hearing your opinions and suggestions.

Thanks for helping this 'Ole Grumpy Marine out.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

 

[energized]

Hello All,

I just bought my first home, a 2300 sq ft single floor. I have Spectrum, and they gave me their Cable/Wifi Modem, which I hate, always dropping wifi connections.
...
Thanks for helping this 'Ole Grumpy Marine out.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

First, thank you for your service! And second, my sympathies for having Spectrum, you'll be even grumpier before too long. You might also want to check: http://bgr.com/2017/02/01/twc-internet-speeds-complaint-lawsuit/ which was an excellent scam, advertise blazing internet speeds, then give a cable modem that operates at a snail's pace.

My situation is pretty similar, I've done research, but still undecided and also a bit confused, so I don't know if I'll be any help at all.

I've thought about the Asus ROG-AC5300, and believe as sfx2000 stated in the discussion about it: "One is the future - GT-AC5300 is the new SoC and Broadcom SDK... not much 3rd party support at the moment, but that can change...

The other is the Past and Present - RT-AC5300 - well known older SoC, and the SDK is close enough to support with the 3rd party forks..."

However, at $389, I might still be stuck in the past.

Now, I suppose this is ridiculous, but looking at a Synology RT1900, you could buy two, and halfway to a third, so would it be possible to use two of the RT1900s and even have an "extra" 2.4ghz band?

There is also the regular Asus RT-AC5300, which has its advantage with Asuswrt-Merlin firmware option, but I'm such a newbie that I'm not sure about how much that should impact a buying decision.

I'm also thinking that three is better than two as far as wireless bands, but is that really the biggest factor in choosing a router? Then there is CPU speed, and amount of RAM, but RMerlin has stated that isn't a big factor in wireless speed, only VPN and USB disk sharing, but once again, I'm thinking more is better. Then there is "link aggregation" which I guess might be important somehow too.

So yes, I'm hoping some of the experts will add their wisdom here.

 

[gyrene2083]

@energized thanks for the response, I actually looked at the reviews on here regarding the Asus ROG-AC5300 and the GT5300. I also, looked at a few other sites regarding those two, and I can't recall and could be wrong, but I believe there was some wifi drops at some point with the GT model.

I am hoping with this Amazon Day coming up on the 10th I could get a good deal on a good router. I also, looked at the Netgear X10 and X4S. I liked the fact that on the X10 that it had the plex server, and could do some transcoding at 1080p, but the question comes up what happens with HEVC files.

I see that the X4S seems to be solid, and at 192 right now on Amazon, not bad. I also read the review a few minutes ago about the Synology, but I've personally never used one of those routers, so am not familiar with the longevity.

Either way, I hope, as you said, someone chimes in that can shed more light and give more input with what I have provided.

Oh and yes I'm already feeling the dreadful service of Spectrum. I wonder if I should just buy my own modem too.

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

 

[avtella]

The R7800 has probably the best 5Ghz range/performance of any router I have tested or seen reviews of. On 2.4 Ghz it's average. The Synology RT-AC2600 is based on the same Qualcomm chipset as the R7800, it should also perform similarly. Infact the R7800 performs slightly better on 5Ghz than even the R9000 (I tested one) so save your money unless you need link aggregation and CPU power for VPN. It uses a similar CPU to the R7800 but with 2 more cores.

 

[gyrene2083]

@avtella, thanks for pointing that out. I did look at the chipset of the Synology and R7800 just before you posted and saw they had similar chipsets the only difference was the pricing actually. I don't need link aggregation and I do have a VPN but honestly, only run it when I use my laptop.

So, Wifi coverage should be ok with the 7800? and do you think adding MoCa would help if I have wifi issues? and lastly, if that is the case, should buying my own modem, and returning Spectrums all-in-one cable modem/ wifi router benefit me?

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

 

[avtella]

Remember range also depends on building materials in the wall/floors (i.e. Wood vs concrete etc). If the range with the router alone isn't enough than get an extender or anything else.

Avoid modem/router combos, they generally tend to be more trouble than they are worth. Buy your own modem.

 

[energized]

Is there no real enthusiasm for the TP-Link Archer AC5400? There are a couple of reviews on YouTube, but I think some of the experts don't like it as much because it can't be customized to the smallest detail. But for a regular user just wanting the usual settings, I still wonder if it would be an economical choice.

 

[gyrene2083]

@avtella the Modem/Router combo, is the crap Spectrum gave me. I would be more than happy to purchase one, if you had a suggestion or a link I could go to, to research. Also, the walls are made of sheetrock. Not like my Co-Op were they are all cinderblock.

@energized thanks for the input I'll look at one of those videos...

-Semper Fi
gyrene2083

 

[avtella]

The Motorola/Arris SB6183 should be pretty good.