Nighthawk / ASUS??

[Entourage]

I am debating between the Nighthawk X4S, X6, or X8. Want to know what your opinions are based on these routers. Also open to ASUS routers, if anyone wants to mention ASUS routers.

1. Currently live in 1 bedroom apartment with 15 devices.
2. Gaming is a big factor - Computer gaming, phone gaming, xbox one
3. Comcast Xfinity with 100mbs down / 10mbs up

Old Router: ASUS RT-AC56U

1. Leaning towards the X4S but i feel like its a little outdated compared to the X6 or X8
2. i think based on the numbers the X4S outperforms the X6 so the X6 might be off the table, if someone can confirm this.
3. Having the 2 extra ports on the X8 wouldn't hurt either.

 

[thiggins]

I suspect this is related to your EA9500 thread. There are no guarantees any of them will solve your 5 GHz range problem.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/too...ghthawk/2283-netgear-r8500/2538-netgear-r7800

Higher class numbers do not equal higher performance.

If you really want to throw money at the problem, get an Orbi.

 

[Entourage]

Looks like the X4S outperforms the X8 from that graph. Not that the difference would be noticeable.

 

[sm00thpapa]

X4S also is the only one that runs in 160MHz mode. I just picked up the Orbi system as well but haven't tested it yet.

 

[Entourage]

Finally pulled the trigger on the X4S, should be here Monday. Going to test it for a couple days and if it works better than the EA9500, then I will be sending it back.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I can guarantee you it will work better than the EA9500.

 

[Entourage]

I can guarantee you it will work better than the EA9500.

All the stuff I see on this website says EA9500 is ranked #1 and Nighthawk x4s is ranked as #2.

I tried uploading picture, idk if it's going to work since I'm uploading from my phone.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I have both and my EA9500 is boxed up in the garage and my X4S is kicking butt. I have over 50 devices connected and the EA9500 was a total failure. WiFi was horrible compared to the X4S.

 

[Elisha]

As a brand, I like Asus because they give you tonnes of advanced features for the money but in the end of the day, the hardware and mostly the software always seems like a beta product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Csection]

I have both and my EA9500 is boxed up in the garage and my X4S is kicking butt. I have over 50 devices connected and the EA9500 was a total failure. WiFi was horrible compared to the X4S.

+1 on the X4S. It is very powerful and a little better wifi range(I think it is because of the Atheros chips.) than my RT-3100. I use it in bridge mode. The only reason I don't use it as main router is cause the adaptive qos isn't as good as the 3100 and I can use RMerlin(more flexible) on it.

 

[microchip]

I no longer recommend Netgear routers due to the following issues:

- Very poor firmware full with bugs, ugly and restrictive GUI interface
- Known and unknown security issues
- Netgear has a "most models sold" mentality. They tend to release firmware often for the models that get sold the most. The rest is not important much, unless some (huge) security issue pops up

ASUS actively audits its code and fixes issues, whether security ones or not, in a timely matter. They don't sit on their bottom, waiting for others to find issues, report them and then do nothing. They also tend to listen more often to user issues, whereas Netgear always promises while never delivers. I can't count how many times I've reported to them the famous ICMPv6 blocking issue, they always promising to fix it, and never did (and I don't think they ever will)

 

[sm00thpapa]

Most of these routers have the same hardware. The AC5300 and X8 are identical hardware I believe.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[sm00thpapa]

I was never a Netgear fan until I tried the X4S and now Orbi. They really hit a home run with both. I'm keeping my Asus routers but they are boxed up for now.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[microchip]

I was never a Netgear fan until I tried the X4S and now Orbi. They really hit a home run with both. I'm keeping my Asus routers but they are boxed up for now.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I'm not really brand-bound myself and I tried to like Netgear (no, really. I tried hard) but I can no longer put up with their issues. Forcing me to run a third-party firmware because the stock one is very limited and full of issues is a no-go for me. They are putting so many models on the market, hoping to gain market share, while in the process neglecting many of them because their small development team can't keep up. ASUS knows how to treat its customers when it comes to networking. I'm not the biggest ASUS fan myself, but I recognize when they get things right.

 

[pege63]

Dont be so fixed with just the Routers, you also must have the right wifi client card/usb that supports the Routers specifications also.
And your home environment is also to get in to your mind, where you put the stuff and so on.

 

[Entourage]

I finally got my x4s today and just started playing around with it a few hours ago. Any recommendations for settings? I did some minor stuff out of the box but nothing too crazy. The 2.4ghz channel still seems to suck but the 5ghz is good.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I finally got my x4s today and just started playing around with it a few hours ago. Any recommendations for settings? I did some minor stuff out of the box but nothing too crazy. The 2.4ghz channel still seems to suck but the 5ghz is good.

What do you mean by suck? Use inSSIDer to see what the channels look like. Maybe it's neighbor interference. Run the 2.4Ghz band in 20Mhz mode may help.

 

[pege63]

I finally got my x4s today and just started playing around with it a few hours ago. Any recommendations for settings? I did some minor stuff out of the box but nothing too crazy. The 2.4ghz channel still seems to suck but the 5ghz is good.

Start to read here how to setup a 2,4GHz wifi network, and here to how to setup a 5GHz wifi network.

Dont be so fixed with just the Routers, you also must have the right wifi client card/usb that supports the Routers specifications also.

And your home environment is also to have in to your mind, where you put the stuff and so on.

 

[Entourage]

What do you mean by suck? Use inSSIDer to see what the channels look like. Maybe it's neighbor interference. Run the 2.4Ghz band in 20Mhz mode may help.

The 2.4GHz performs the same as the EA9500 when playing games or doing anything network intensive. However, I'm getting full strength everywhere in apartment with the 5ghz channel now where as the EA9500 was dropping off.

In the netgear settings their is no way to specify 20mhz or 40mhz for the 2.4ghz. It's either 20/40 Co-exist or not which I assume that means 20 and 40 if checked. If not checked than only 40.

 

[Entourage]

What do you mean by suck? Use inSSIDer to see what the channels look like. Maybe it's neighbor interference. Run the 2.4Ghz band in 20Mhz mode may help.

More pictures different app. Not inSSIDer because that app cost $10 and these seem to do same thing...