Recommend Me A Router...

[Smithy225]

So my 3rd BT Smart Hub has died and i'm in need of replacement.

Ideally wanted modem included however not an issue if not as i can get an openreach modem.

So far ive looked at Asus AC68U £140 and AC86U £140 and also the TP Link Archer AC2800 £150 but cant decide.

Currently in a 3 bed apartment with brick walls so wifi in the corners can be an issue. I do a LOT of gaming, mainly Xbox over wired and wireless, have a few chromecast/google home devices along with philips hue. I don't have a huge amount of knowledge in this world but enough to get me by! I use IPVanish VPN occasionally for "streaming" and use a lot of wireless devices Phones, Tablets, Laptops etc...

My current fiber connection is slow... (Down is 28mbps and Up is 6mbps) and only guaranteed to 26mbps

 

[L&LD]

With your low ISP speeds and the prices you quote, the RT-AC86U is still the best choice, long term.

At the same price, the RT-AC68U shouldn't even be considered, but it was a great router for its time. That period has passed, though.

The RT-AC86U has much better hardware (more RAM, faster CPU's and better radios) that will offer a substantially more responsive networking experience, even with low ISP speeds.

Make sure to check out the RMerlin firmware for it and also the amtm + scripts available (even if just for the swap file that can be so easily enabled and will help the router be even more reliable).

Please see my link in my signature below for more details of getting the most from the RT-AC86U, including the M&M Config and the amtm Step-by-Step guide.

 

[Val D.]

Ideally wanted modem included

You you want to tie the router to the service? Get a normal router you can use with any ISP.

 

[microchip]

I agree with L&LD. The AC86U is the way to go and the AC68U should no more be considered unless for specific reasons

 

[Val D.]

My current fiber connection is slow... (Down is 28mbps and Up is 6mbps) and only guaranteed to 26mbps

No matter what router you chose, you won't see any big improvements until you upgrade your ISP line. In this price range RT-AC86U is the best price/performance ratio router, but it won't help you to speed up your Internet. It will offer you faster internal network, but you'll still have to squeeze all your Internet traffic in 26Mbps ISP line. QoS on consumer products is not very effective and won't help much in your situation. Your games may still struggle with high latency issues.

 

[L&LD]

@Smithy225 the ISP speeds you have is exactly where (Adaptive) QoS will be most effective. Make sure you check out the FreshJR QOS Script that even with stock settings, helps supported Asus routers like the RT-AC86U make the most of the connection you have.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...ements-custom-rules-and-inner-workings.36836/

 

[Val D.]

@Smithy225 the ISP speeds you have is exactly where (Adaptive) QoS will be most effective.

QoS can't control the download and the upload speed available is just 6Mbps. He has to lower it down to 5Mbps for QoS to work or at least to have a chance to do something. Those "a lot of wireless devices" will have a big fight who's pushing data first. He may try, but most likely it won't work well. This slow ISP is a very limiting factor.

 

[Trip]

@Smithy225 - Presuming you can't upgrade your internet speed to at least a few hundred Mb/s, you're going to continue to experience a lot of bandwidth contention, even with a new router running legacy QoS, resulting in a fair amount of bufferbloat. The biggest difference-maker would likely be the ability to run fairness flow queuing as the primary form of QoS (via fq_codel or CAKE).

Most recent Asus models loaded with Merlin will offer fq_codel as a qdisc, and several Netgear models (R7800) can be loaded with OpenWRT, which can run either fq_codel or CAKE, plus now also have support for flow offloading (aka. accelerated QoS). If you want something as plug-and-play as possible, a single Eero Pro base runs CAKE on the internet port and is ready to go right out of the box.

As far as a modem goes, ideally you want your ISP to provide a plain fiber modem/pass-through gateway, so that they can support as much of your CPE equipment and as many issues that may arise with your fiber drop/connection as possible. I would look to them to provide you a (hopefully) modem-only replacement, to be connected to your router of choice. That would be the optimal setup, if you can arrange for it.

 

[L&LD]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...and-inner-workings.36836/page-190#post-528165

 

[Smithy225]

Really appreciate all of the info guys!

I picked up the AC86U on the way home from work as the ISP has a standalone modem on the way to me.

Unfortunately I'm tied in for another 8 months with the current supplier and there aren't many other options available in my area at the moment. I think the next option when this expires is FTTP!

 

[Smithy225]

*Update*
So you certainly were not wrong, wow this thing is a beast!
The wifi connection time time is outstanding, literally 1 second vs 8-10 seconds on the ISP kit.

Without modifying at all yet, I've seen a small increase on down and big increase on the up speeds.

I ran some dslreports and they showed a ping of around 14ms, D ranking for the bufferbloat and and an A+ for the quality with down speeds of 28.5mbps and up of 8.8mbps.

Yonight i shall go through all your recommendations on settings/scripts and report back.

Really appreciate the help guys!

 

[L&LD]

@Smithy225, I expect to see the same kind of difference going from my RT-AC86U to an RT-AX88U.

But I will wait until the prices are more realistic of the hardware we're buying...