Old Dude... help me build new AC network

[CarDaddy]

Hi all!

So first, to get this outta' the way... I've read (and lurked) around here for a few years plus now. Needless to say I'm nowhere NEAR a router 'nerd' (that's a good thing btw though for those that are) but I am a tech nut.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance, because I tend to go into a bit of detail with my forum posts. Anyone on Autogeek will tell ya' that. I am pretty active over there with the same UID.

Also want to thank those of you that post regularly for the AMAZING amount of information you've been putting out there for years now. (That especially mean's you Tim! And you as well sfx2000.)

Currently I'm running a pair of tried and true DIR-655's (one as a secondary AP) and they've been serving me well. (Remembering that 'way back when' these puppies were $170.)

My problem is (just like everyone else these days) I have just WAAAAAAY too many devices in/on my network. Not only that, but I'm thinking most of them are 'ac' these days. *Unsure about my HP AIO printer.*

Devices on the main system:
DIR-855, plus a 4-port gigabit switch
DirecTV DVR's x 3 (one 5-tuner and two 2-tuner devices)
DirecTV stand alone receivers x 4 more.
(All of the above are of course networked through the main router.)
Home Theater receiver
Blu-Ray player
AT&T Micro-Cell device
shopping scanner (it's a reward/survey system thingy)

These are just the wired devices. In addition, (all on the main level) we have multiple wireless devices, most of which are "ac" an iPhone 6, 1~2 Samsung S4's and an iPad. Then there is a HP wireless printer/scanner, AND another Android tablet (generic device) PLUS my main laptop (Centrino Advanced-N 6205).

Downstairs in the game room is my son's PC (wired) and 3-game consoles!
Plus there (at any given time) will be up to 3~4 smartphones. I keep a guest node open for those as our cell coverage in the basement is spotty at best.

My needs are simple. (Now THAT'S an oxymoron.)

1. I need a FAST, network that can handle the insane needs for high bandwidth these days.
2. But I also need something with some range. Our home is a ranch (about 2480 sq ft per level) on a finished basement. I am disabled, and as such have days that I'll stay in the bedroom all day. Even though the DIR-855 is only about 45' away (on the same floor) there IS NOT a usable signal in the bedroom. (Although I can see the router from inside the bedroom if I stand in the doorway.)
3. I *ABSOLUTELY* will purchase a new usb 3.0 wireless adapter to use with my laptop.(NEED SUGGESTIONS for that as well.)
4. Need to 'throttle' individual mac addresses to control download usage for my son's friends! (This is VERY CRITICAL.) One friend brings his PC and stays for 2~3 days gaming and D/L-ing via torrent. Which TICKS me!
5. Need strong gaming performance for my son's PC, and 3 gaming consoles. (Hoping he's going to grow out of it being as he's 21 now.) LMAO
6. I'll also use/need a USB 3.0 connection for music/cloud storage.

I know better than to say things like "future proof", or "best out there @ xyz $$$".... been hanging around here long enough to figure that part out. But I do want the best thing I can get within reason. And YES a budget is something I need to think seriously about, in that a pair of $325 routers is out of the question.

Actually... if I can get away with only 1 new one, then use one of the 855's and or pair of 4~8 port switches that'll be fine. (Downstairs everything is wired/gigabit except the smartphones.)

Again, I apologize for the long post. I also want to TYIA for any/all help.

Later,
CarDaddy aka/Tony

 

[htismaqe]

At a high level, you could start with a strong AC router as your central focus. Maybe a Netgear R7000 or Linksys WRT1900AC. You could still use your D-Links as APs if you need them.

I'll have to dig into the specific feature requests later but overall I think that's where you should start.

 

[System Error Message]

5 Ghz has poor penetration so to get range out of 5Ghz you will need a good antenna and large rooms. If you want AC go with a good one (there are many charts on this website and reviews about various models). 2 or 3 stream AC AP in a central location will be sufficient for those high speed needs if they are within the same room. Just relocate your Dlink APs to spread out even further. If you have a large area and no neighbour 2.4Ghz to worry about you can set each APs to different channels whereas the unlicensed 5 Ghz has so much spatial space that you could have 10 APs in a small area if you wanted.

Instead of going for an expensive AC router consider going for two 2 stream AC APs that are like $80 or $70 each and compliment it with a strong wired router. There is no point trying to get an AC3200 if it isnt going to cover your entire house. Spread those APs around a central area. The best way to do this is if you have a large bulding, take the measurement from the center of it to the corner and in the middle of that place 1 AP each to cover the entire building (4 APs total for a square building). If you have a 3 story building place the APs on the first or 2nd story of it. There is no point having performance when you dont have proper coverage in the first place. if you need performance connect the AP with wire to your network. Another way you can distribute the AP is by rooms i.e. put the AP in the center of neighbouring rooms that use wifi.

Once you're done placing the APs, set their channels manually. There are some software that helps such as inSSIDer or wifi analyser (for android) for determining what channels to place them.

For gaming, a gaming router is a router that prioritises gaming over other applications (since you dont game you will regret getting a gaming router if you dont want your son's gaming to be given priority over your use). What you're asking for is QoS and routerOS has the best QoS because you can set different algorithms, queues, generate by scripts, use L2 all the way to L7 and use all sorts of creative ways but mikrotik routerOS requires a lot of skill and knowledge to set up. "gaming routers" like the ASUS ac87U and AC3200 that have adaptive QoS (some kind of automatic QoS system) will prioritise gaming over other things which is good for gamers and the unskilled though you can achieve better results with proper planning and configuring. I suggest using priority based QoS with a little bit of bandwidth control (ensuring that important things get bandwidth aside from priority, not limitting the bandwidth of other things). When i set QoS i first identify what type of traffic will run on my network. I than give them all priorities and for certain things i set a minimum bandwidth for things that are very important such as streaming uploads.

Many routers have QoS, some better than others so i suggest taking a look at their interfaces to see their what kind of QoS settings they can use. If you want really good QoS you will need to look at non-consumer but if you are happy with what most routers can give with their QoS than you have a lot of choices. When it comes to gaming there are 2 types of games, latency sensitive games that use little bandwidth(such as FPS games) and games that use a lot of bandwidth but arent latency sensitive (such as MMORPG). latency sensitive games should be given priority over other things in QoS because their traffic doesnt impact other applications while other types of games should be given a lower priority over other more important things. Downloading that involves torrents or p2p can be restricted easily. Torrent is a protocol that many routers should recognise and p2p is a type of connection that routers should also recognise (note that skype and some games like GTA 5 uses p2p). It is very likely your son downloads using the torrent protocol so you will need to configure in QoS for torrents to have the lowest priority.

Im sorry for the long post but i hope i've explained a lot to you. I dont have recommendations on particular models though i suggest you try taking on a budgeted approach i mention by getting 2 inexpensive 2 stream AC APs and get a good router. My suggestion for QoS based router is go with one thats compatible with Tomato and has a good CPU (the ASUS AC56U should have dual core ARM with wireless AC) and merlin firmware does have its benefits too. On top of that would be configurable routers like Ubiquiti edgerouter and mikrotik routerboards that have much better feature sets but require a lot more skill just to configure and use. If you have any QoS configuration based questions feel free to ask me.

 

[CarDaddy]

Thanks for the reply brother.... was beginning to wonder if anyone has any ideas on the subject.

I already know that I'll want a strong AC router as the base, just which one would give me the range I need (when in the bedroom for instance).

I've been looking at the 7000, (and the 7500) but that front ported USB 3.0 is a turn off to say the least. (Considering I'll have a permanent 2TB drive connected to it.)

Also the 87U, as well as the EA8500 on the low end of the spectrum.

That distance (as I mentioned) is 45'..... straight through the family room, then right off the kitchen and through an open doorway at a 90° angle to the long wall... but the kicker is that the wall(s) it (the signal) passes through to get there is the inside corner (all brick home) of an exterior wall. So *yes* while I can see the router from the doorway, the signal itself doesn't 'bend' through that doorway. So *that* part at least is why I'm interested in a robust (USB3.0) client for my laptop.

I understand the mechanics of mu-mimo (especially over su-mimo) and see that certainly as an option I'll need. I also however see that at this point the reality of that happening on a grand scale with 3200 is along the lines of vaporware. (Knowing that some manufacturers are including the circuitry within their hardware, just that it's not enabled via firmware at this time.) I'm curious as to who (are you listening Tim) would have insight as to when an enabled device/firmware might be available (in the VERY near future).

In a perfect world it'd be great to get by with a $200 router (certainly as my wife see's it). Yet I have no problem dropping the extra $$$ if I (she) can see the benefit 'day one'.

Overall, it's having all these devices now that are native 'ac' and not having ANY available pathways for them that's killing our performance.

Finally... the difference between 1x1, 2x2, 3x3 is something that is new to me, (that I could use some help with).

Thanks again,
CarDaddy aka/Tony

 

[htismaqe]

I think AC1900 is the sweet spot personally. I wouldn't look at anything beyond that, you're paying a lot more for not a lot more functionality, IMO.

 

[System Error Message]

Actually the front usb3 port is to reduce interference. The Ubiquiti edgerouter lite (dual core 64 bit MIPS (wirespeed hardware accelerated NAT), software NAT much slower) costs $80, the mikrotik RB850gx2 (gigabit software NAT) which has a dual core PPC CPU costs $120 while there are some dual stream AC routers/APs that costs $80. You shouldnt expect range on 5Ghz, the best you can do is position them as best as you can in an open area. I know mikrotik has routerboards with 1500mW output power but its not going to make a difference since the clients transmit power is restricted (you can see the AP but cant use it). The ASUS AC56U (500Mb/s or lower software NAT) costs $120 and has a dual core ARM but has internal antennas than again 5Ghz range isnt something to boast about compared to 2.4 Ghz so if you want coverage you should be reusing your d-links to give coverage where it is poor and use the AC AP in areas of high density traffic(assuming they use AC). You will be surprised as to how many devices still do not use wireless AC and printers for one wont because they have no need to (they have been working fine with usb1 which is 12Mb/s for years). I suggested the stronger CPU based routers as your main router because it should give you sufficient CPU power for you to create a lot of firewall and QoS rules while driving your internet at the same time but you never mentioned your internet speed. Theres are just examples.

1x1 is single stream, 2x2 is dual stream, 3x3 is tri-stream. All it means is that both the client and AP can use the number of streams. If you have a 3 stream AP and a 3 stream client than you will get full bandwidth but if you connected a single stream client to a 3 stream AP than the max speed will just be a single stream. Many AC devices use 1 stream (mobile devices), many laptops use dual stream AC while only the higher end use 3 stream. 4 stream clients are very rare and for MU-MIMO to work properly all the clients and the AP must use it. The more streams the higher the bandwidth but also the bigger the frequency width. On the 2.4 Ghz the true non overlapping channels of 20Mhz widths are 1,6,11 but when you increase it to 40Mhz that means that you can only have 1 40Mhz width wifi with another 20Mhz width wifi to fully use the available spectrum. Its similar on the 5 Ghz too but 5Ghz is defined a little different and has a larger spectrum to use. Each stream basically uses 20Mhz and the more streams you have the more bandwidth you can have. There are also many usb AC wifi but i chose to get intel's dual stream AC mini PCIe card for my laptop. I use ASUS USB-53 i think but there are many choices that you dont need to get the premium ones. I just went with what i know would be good. Most devices use dual streams max so theres really no point getting 3 streams when you wont be using it. Make sure to get a usb3 AC wifi and dual stream once seem to be more common and perform well. Some use the ASUS PCE-68 which is a 3 stream AC wifi PCI-e based card that works well for some but not everyone. Go with something that works more reliably and gives you a bit more range rather than trying to go with more performance.

While my situation is very different from yours i too use a lot of performance that i rarely use wifi, My internet is handled by a mikrotik CCR1036 that does wirespeed software NAT(28Gb/s forwarding capacity) and all the firewall and QoS configs i throw at it which connects to a managed switch which has a cluster connected to it. Whenever i can i connect my laptop to wire because i find that wireless AC isnt as cracked up as everything thinks it is. After a few meters away from the AP my bandwidth drops significantly to the minimum for wireless AC. Not only that but i am not impressed with the current state of 5 Ghz wifi routers when it comes to how well wireless performs. I only use wifi as a convenience and if i need performance i use gigabit ethernet. I use an AC3200 and AC68U as wifi APs. I am basically telling you from experience that AC wifi while faster than wireless N isnt going to really give you speed but because it is on 5Ghz it lets you have a lot of 5 Ghz stuff in a small area.

regarding multi streams, on wireless N each stream is 150Mb/s which means that 3 streams would be 450Mb/s of wireless N. For wireless AC each stream is 433Mb/s so 2 streams is 866Mb.s and 3 streams is 1299Mb/s max theoratical bandwidth. Many gamers are between the age of 20-40 so i can tell you that there is no growing out of PC/console gaming, only the type of games he playes switches from children to teenage to adult games.

 

[CarDaddy]

WOW... now THAT is a reply! I'd like to SERIOUSLY thank you for your time.

Yeah I understand 5 Ghz has fairly short penetration/range, which is why I'm wanting a new main AP with as much power/as many antenna's as possible.(Beam forming/shaping...). OTOH, my rooms (at least for a residence) are big. The family room is 21x26 (with a 18' cathedral ceiling) the AP on the (far) long wall about ¼ way from the outside wall (back of the house). The kitchen (that the singnal needs to pass through to get to the bedroom) is about 24x19, and the bedroom is 16x18 (with a 16'ceiling).

What you're saying makes sense for sure. My modem (a brand new Cisco DPC3216) was installed two weeks ago, for VOIP coming this week. Although at this point I'm ready to tell Comcast to chunk it and go for my own hardware. (Ooma perhaps). So far Charter has been out THREE times to install it and hasn't been able to get my number(s) ported correctly. That and they promised me one price and the last guy I spoke with (a supervisor) quoted me $43 higher, which is almost TWICE the original quote.

Were I go go this (wired to wireless) main/initial router approach, the one thing I'm thinking about is connecting my DirecTV system directly to the 'wired' router. As I mentioned in the opening post, I have several DVR's (enough to record 9 channels at once) and with VOD sometimes I get warnings that my Internet connection is too slow. That connection btw is 60/4 and will constantly test (wired) in the high 50's to mid 60's (down) always running around 4.2~4.3 up.

My concern is interoperability between that (DirecTV system) and the rest of the network. It is it's own network so to speak being as all receivers connect to the (main) network via one unit (and the SWIM multi-switch). Yet the router of course addresses each mac/IP individually. It'll need to operate seamlessly with the main Home Theater processor which MUST BE connected via a wired connection. We control the main system via iPhone, iPad and Android devices (via aps) as well as it's own remote.

Having a wired router at the modem would free up ports on the wireless unit for sure. Again, as long as control, files, photos, music, video etc. and the ability to stream apps through various other components would run both directions. For instance; Pandora I'll run inside the receiver OR on one of the DirecTV units, (and it's also available on blu-ray players both upstairs and down). Same thing for other apps that we'd use on the blu-ray players that are not in the main system.

I'd also be willing to jump on either the DIR-890, R8000, or AC3200 if (and I know this is a huge) *IF* the hardware can/is/will be supported by solid firmware now, or at least VERY soon... (not 8~9 months from now). Not having a client that'll support that hardware at the time is of course the prudent reason not to invest in it at this point. (Not to mention 900Mhz should be coming next year.)

What I find puzzling is that the new RT-AC3200 is neither a "wave 2" nor does it support Mu-MIMO.

Being completely honest... I can read the test results with the best of them (and generally understand them). Just not going to delve into the plots, charts, and graphs.

It's 'hands on' input that I'd rather hear about if ya' catch my drift.

I'm not one to constantly 'tweak' a router for the last nth of speed/performance, but I've been into mine more times than I can remember. Not terribly interested in custom flashing the rom etc (after getting it all up and running like I want it).... moreover just having one that's stable day in - day out. (I hardly ever have to reboot the 855's for instance.) There was a time when I'd build a PC for nothing but speed, been there, done that. But again... these days I'm more likely to use one out of the box (rather than build the box as in the past). This is however why I mentioned mac address priority filtering. I'd say it's not at the top of the list of 'must haves' but certainly something that I'd like to have access to.

You mentioned a 2-stream AC for AP's. Would this include the TP Link C7's? That is one budget router that I've seen great reviews on. I'd be willing to forego the 855 downstairs and replace it with that unit. That way the smartphones that my son and all his friends use would have their own device (that I could separate from the upstairs network). That and he's currently using a switch down there because he needs more ports for all his gear.

You mentioned "I suggest using priority based QoS".
This is what I've done in the 855, setting my son's friend (that comes for DAYS, brings his own PC.... and does nothing but download and game) wireless connection as high as 250 to stop him from both gaming and downloading without choking the pipe. Then he/they figured how to get around it by moving to a wired connection (where I've not seen a Qos setting that'd apply in the 855). I do NOT however pretend to know all that I should/could on the matter.LoL

I do know my son plays both FPS and MMORPG games like crazy. With WOW being his favorite MMORPG (often not logging off for days on end) as well as having most all of the Battlefield, Halo, and COD games. None of which have any 'direct' settings in the 855 (as they do on many routers these days).

I also have a small switch (unmanaged) upstairs. Basically this is because I need more ports, period. Seems that with a decent 2-stream working downstairs I might could use a smart switch running off of it to control throughput speeds (crude, but effective... and even QoS to a degree) in the gameroom for when 'others' are plugged in, while leaving my son's devices already on the router their normal settings.

Overall I could likely pick up a TP Link smart-switch with a C7 for downstairs, then another smart-switch for upstairs and then a more powerful mu-mimo unit and be set. Well..... I'd still need a USB client for my laptop, but that'll happen no matter which way I go for the rest of the network.

Thanks again for your most informative reply, don't think it went unnoticed!

 

[thiggins]

For the difference / definitions of streams:
SmallNetBuilder's Classification System for Wi-Fi Products - 2015

Skip any first generation 4x4 router (AC2340/AC2400). There are both device compatibility problems with the 5 GHz Quantenna radio and the fact it's unlikely they will release MU-MIMO code.

By the time MU-MIMO devices are plentiful (and you upgrade your phones and tables to get MU-MIMO radios), there will be another round of AC2600 routers. Not to mention the Broadcom AC3100 MU-MIMO routers will be out. In other words, hold off on MU-MIMO for now.

 

[CarDaddy]

@htismage

I'm starting to see what you're saying RE ac1900. Hard to argue against the measurements.

@System Error Message

On your second reply... Which again is very informative!
(Albeit some of it is at the fringe of my understanding of how routers work.)

I do however understand frequency waves (lengths etc.)
I might add that I am a massive home theater geek. I owned a HT design/consulting/installation firm in the late 90's~2004. Which makes CES a neat business expense. Although haven't been to CES since 2002.

Yes, I've already read why they put the USB3 on the front. Just seems like they could have shielded it and put it on the rear.
The thing is... right now, today, that unit seems like the 'top dog', with little competition.

I tried to ask my son-in-law about these things as his masters from Ga Tech is in RF Antenna Theory and he actually designs microchips that are used for RF switching circuitry. He'll be glad to explain how he builds a chip that'll fit on a pencil lead, (I mean they are so small you can put a dozen on an eraser), and how he worked on the SpaceX project (amongst others)..... but he knows nothing about routers. LOL

I have to admit that I am intrigued with the idea of the wired to wireless router setup, (along with smart switches of course). Seems that'd be a fantastic way to get the flexibility I want, along with layers of firewall protection.

Thinking about the Ubiquiti as you mentioned it has an easier setup routine. (If for no other reason it's cheap, and I could at least play around with the GUI outside of the network.)
The Mikrotik hardware however is AMAZINGLY affordable, as well as flexible although the idea of having to drop to CLI to get it setup makes me lose sleep. Especially when you said; "mikrotik router OS requires a lot of skill and knowledge to set up."

Now if you wanna' talk me through it.... it'd be a great phone conversation for sure!

The channel info I really appreciate, I can use that now to analyze my settings. The tip on an Android app to scan for channels is something I'll be looking for tonight. I suspect I need to do that already to see what I'm competing with. Here we are on acre plus lots, but I still see 3~5 networks easily. I suspect ALL of them are at 2.4.

Like I mentioned going in, I'm thinking all my devices are "AC" except my printer, blu-ray, and laptop. (The laptop will shortly have the AC adapter of course.)

I've been searching for a mini-pci card for my laptop but I have yet to find one. Although honestly I doubt that ANY internal antenna would ever work in the 5 Mhz range (beyond 10' unobstructed view).

So far I've been able to find 2x2 USB3 adapters (1200) but in the tests all they seem to focus on is speed. I honestly don't care if it's a pair of antennas that I clip to the screen, of when in the bedroom even sit on the nightstand. As I said in the beginning.... I need range. Guess this is where you'd tell me to run more Cat5 to the bedroom and just stick another AP in there. (That's not out of the question btw as I still have 2 rolls of cable, a bag of connectors, plenty of crimp tools and 3 glo-rods for fishing wire.)

WOW dude, that CCR1036 is a beast!
My budget would be more like the RB2011UiAS-RM (or if I were lucky the RB1100AHx2) but a "managed" switch is out of the question. I can see where you'd never want for speed!

@TimHiggins

Tim I see you recently published the 8500 review, and that it clearly tromped the 8350. That aside, you're still saying the Quantenna radio and code issue still make having even this device more of a bragging statement (to your buddies) than a real, everyday, workhorse of a router? Thinking no amount of firmware is going to bring it to the level of the much heralded 7000.

(Not to mention the 7000 seems to still rule the chart!)

 

[System Error Message]

mikrotik routerOS is actually GUI based but having CLI lets you copy paste configs. Get the router that has the features you want and is fast enough for your internet with software NAT. You can still get usb3 on an AC wifi AP instead of on the router. Both ubiquiti and mikrotik require skill because you can lock yourself out network wise and have to reset. The speeds quoted on mikrotik's website are CPU based L2 bridging and L3 routing but not NAT. For NAT performance and with QoS i suggest looking at the speeds with 10 firewall rules.

I use priority based QoS and it works but its because routerOS lets you configure a bunch of things like the algorithm, size and lets you add complexity. One of the things people sometimes forget is to tag other traffic and give it a medium priority below all other traffic but above p2p and torrents. I also add minimum bandwidths for very important things. On consumer routers priority based QoS doesnt work that well and you have to use bandwidth control too. Ubiquiti and mikrotik have wiki and manual on configuring their routers and examples whereas for consumer ones there is always SMB.

 

[thiggins]

I'm saying for the next year or so, AC1900 class routers are the best option.

If you want to limit bandwidth per user, get a router that lets you do exactly that. Priority based QoS won't let you set exact bandwidth caps.

Use the Router Finder and set the QoS Filters to Type= B/W or Both and Direction=Both.

 

[System Error Message]

Thiggins you can use priority and bandwidth control at the same time but i set a minimum bandwidth for important things so that they will always have the bandwidth they need. Im not sure how it works on a consumer router but on routerOS you can create more complex QoS options. For example you can have multiple different queues and have them processed differently with different priorities (higher priority queues would be processed first and would contain packets that you want to have higher priority). using both priority and bandwidth control on users means you can set a user to have higher priority and setting a maximum or minimum bandwidth for them too.

The whole point about having priority is so that latency sensitive applications wont be affected much when bandwidth is full and you can use bandwidth control to prevent something from using too much bandwidth or to make sure some applications will always have the bandwidth they need.

If you set QoS right you should try using up your internet with a variety of applications and they would need to work the way you want them to otherwise you still need to tinker around.

 

[thiggins]

syserror: Would be helpful if you showed an example settings screen from a router that supports both priority and b/w QoS

 

[System Error Message]

So im guessing only routerOS can do it? My current configuration in routerOS has priority QoS applied at L2 for one network and for the rest i use both priority and bandwidth control with bandwidth control applied to limit the speed of things like broadcast, make sure that some applications will always have the bandwidth they need (minimum) and every application gets its own queue while some queues are part of a sfq type queue. Basically i have a sfq queue of fifo queues. I always thought other routers like asus let you configure both priority and bandwidth QoS. At the moment im the only user of my network in a sense that i do not have to load balance the same game server over multiple servers for example so i can stick with fifo on the packet side and sfq as a more global way to handle the different queues.

 

[htismaqe]

Enterprise class routers like Cisco and Juniper can do bandwidth limiting and CoS/QoS at the same time, as well as other mechanisms. But I'm not aware of any SOHO devices that can.

 

[CarDaddy]

Had to find the "finder". Seems if I use those search parameters Tim that I'm surely moving to a wired router. Hmmm... need to rethink this situation. I'm to assume (hate that word as it puts and 'butt' before 'u' and 'me') that any/all AP's (g,n,ac,xx) would have no problem downstream then?

While I have you here. Was looking at mini-cards for my laptop. Any input on this: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 ?
Says it's 2x2, even includes Bluetooth 4.0 (don't have a need as I have 3.0 currently). The 7265 is the same, just has Bluetooth. Then there is the 3160, albeit 1x1.

Was looking at my old 855 log last night and it's CRAZY how much packet loss there is. Did D/L a couple of Android apps to scan with as well. No competing channel in sight. The neighbors, depending on where I hold my phone are on 1, 3, 6 & 8 but the only one that shows up constantly is 6, (really low signal -93dBm), I'm on 11 -45dBm @ 2.4. The weird part is I'll get a solid link speed at first, 65+ then it'll drop to 13, or usually 5.

Which of course is WHY I need another router. This thing is driving me NUTS!

Don't know what that has to do with 'this' site however. I know that I can't even compose a message without waiting for my onscreen characters to catch up with my typing. (Sometimes I'll be a whole line ahead!) I also have problems with pages not loading, being blank, graphics broken up etc. That and I'll get warnings from NAV that it's a "harmful web page" and gives me a blank page, (IE blocking the page). This is the only site that has these (speed and loading) problems btw.

 

[thiggins]

Had to find the "finder".

The Router Finder is linked from the Tools > Finders and LAN&WAN menus.

The Intel cards are about the only mini-PCIe AC cards you can commonly buy. You might be able to find others on eBay, but good luck finding drivers.

I don't know what your problems are with using SNBForums. If others were seeing such problems, believe me, they'd let me know.

 

[CarDaddy]

Tim, Next time I get the NAV warning avout the site I'll save the screen. Could e-mail it to ya. :dunno:

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[System Error Message]

i am using the intel dual band ac 7260 and i do like it not to mention i got it below £20 which is so much cheaper than my asus usb-ac53 which requires using asus software.

If you see strong signal on channel 6 than just set your APs to channels 1 and 11 and keep it at 20mhz channel width each. You can reposition your APs and limit your new APs to 5 Ghz if you know all your devices are 5 Ghz capable. When it comes to new APs aside from the suggestions posted mikrotik has inexpensive dual stream AC routerboards that are like $80 or less though they are just the board itself without power or case. You could than buy the power supply from somewhere else or use POE and you can use plexiglass or even plastic for the case or just keep the bare board exposed but you will need to purchase the case from mikrotik if you want to mount it on the wall. you will also need to ask mikrotik if those routerboards are fully dual band and the one with mini-PCIe is only compatible with wifi cards from mikrotik if you fancy having dual 5Ghz radios just like the AC3200 has but with 2 streams each.

Adding 2 more APs will really help distribute wifi around your house and you may come to prefer stable wifi over high performance but unstable wifi. If you are having trouble with your dlink APs flashing a firmware like openwrt can add stability for wifi (if the wiki doesnt list any problem for your particular model) but it will mean slower wifi. When you add more APs you can set them on 2.4Ghz to channels 1 and 11 but you might end up halving throughput if all 4 APs are used at the same time at 2.4Ghz which should be unlikely if all your wifi devices use wireless AC. I can personally tell you that setting up wifi with mikrotik can be difficult so you may want to use consumer APs if it is within your budget and performs how you like not to mention that the additional ports on the wifi routers can also be used as switches too.

I always thought that consumer networking gear let you set QoS for both priority and bandwidth control, i suppose the cheapest enterprise class router would be mikrotik. Both their TILE and PPC based routerboards take less of a throughput hit when you start to add more rules and if you are using a PPC based routerboard you can go with try using less rules but with more complexity while their TILE based routerboards can handle many simple rules without breaking a sweat. Many of their high end routers are very noisy from the fan though but thats if you have to deal with a summer or a hot weather where the fans run at max all the time. The cisco RV series does not count as an enterprise device, it is the cisco version of consumer gear so if you want cisco you will need to be prepared to spend $1000 and make sure it uses the cisco IOS that is configurable. There is a fanless 9 core TILE routerboard that costs $500 which has a big heatsink, 8 ports, 1 SFP and 1 SFP+. Impressively it can be powered from POE but for usb purposes it doesnt make a good NAS or usb wifi AP. For your simple NAS consider getting a consumer wifi AP with usb 3 like the netgear R7000, asus AC56U or AC68U. The asus routers with P at the back have a faster CPU although you can overclock those broadcom ARM based routers. The max overclock you can do is 1.4Ghz with the broadcom ARM A9 which will significantly increase your NAS throughput. Sure some higher end ones have dedicated processors to handle wifi traffic but as a wifi AP giving only wifi and usb storage you dont really need those as the CPU in the AP wont have to do firewall and NAT.

Before buying an intel wifi card make sure your laptop doesnt use a whitelist for wifi cards and that it has miniPCIe.

 

[CarDaddy]

Yeah my laptop has a mini PCIe in it now. ( I can't remember the model number off hand but I was looking at it yesterday online.)

My concern with the new ones that I mentioned is driver support. (As Tim also mentioned.) Considering both of the 2x2 units have a feature that I do not currently have.... USB 4.0 and/or Bluetooth.

The older 1x1 unit might actually work but, what's the point.

I went ahead and ordered the Netgear 7000 today as well as an 8 port and 5 port Smart Switch also from Netgear. And treated myself to the Asus USB AC56. (With the ability to setup the antenna externally I could even (hopefully)use it in the .)

Charter will be back tomorrow, for the FOURTH freaking time.... and hopefully they will get VoIP working.

The solution that I went with today is not optimal in that I was thinking about doing the router and multiple AP's. In fact it's much more PnP then I really wanted to do.

But physically I am just unable to pull any more wires at this point. (Awaiting yet another low back AND neck surgery.) the one place where I need another run of cat6 is my bedroom and that's just not going to happen right now.

I figure I'll take one of the 855's and put it in the basement / game room for an AP down there. Then I can run the 5 port switch off of it which will be enough for all three game consoles, Blu ray player, my son's PC, and any guests that may show up. (To game and download for days on end.)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk