Router died so I get a free replacement but can't decide...

[chrismsales]

Hello everyone,

I am hoping to get some advice on a new router purchase. I have reviewed the rankings and different articles since finding this site and now find myself with maybe too much info to think straight now.

My current router is a two year old Netgear Nighthawk X6 that was awesome when I first purchased it but over the last 6-months we have issues with the 2nd 5G radio dropping and not showing as available and we now have buffering issues that we never experienced before. My purchase was through Best Buy and the extended warranty allows me to replace my router with the same model or to even choose another model. I basically have a $280.00 credit there to replace my router.

We live in a 2400 sq foot home and we are a family of three with heavy internet usage. I work from home and need fast and steady internet (wired) for VOIP ShoreTel system and heavy WebEx conferencing during the day. My current ISP plan provides 200 down and 25 up, most days.

Our network setup consists of:
( 6) iPhones/iPads
(4) laptops
(3) Alexa dots with multiple (about 30) smart home devices connected (lights, thermostats, locks)
(4) Firestick streaming devices that are used very heavily for IPTV and other streaming sites. I am converting these devices from wifi to wired to help our buffering issues and prevent wifi bottleneck issues.
(2) Xbox gaming systems for online gaming

So we have many devices and stream everything very heavily now. Coverage in our house is really not an issue and I do have an older Linksys RE6500 range extender I can use if needed. I have never used any type of Open Source but with all the streaming we do I would like to use some sort of VPN if it would not slow down things too much. Online gaming is important so looking for something that will provide low latency and low pings as well.

Best Buy currently has the Asus AC5300 on sale for $297.99 and it seems to be regarded as a great router. Anyone else who has replaced the Netgear X6 with this model Asus? Also, is there another model I should consider based on our current setup and desire to use some sort of OpenSource flash?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[chrismsales]

As a follow-up after further reading on the forum, is there really that much of a need for tri-band vs a strong dual band router? I always assumed that a tri-band with the extra 5G radio was better but sounds like that may not be the case unless every device connecting is a 5G device. Would I be better off with an Asus AC3100 or Nighthawk X4S instead? Especially if I plan to hardwire the firesticks and go with a custom firmware?

Thanks!

 

[MichaelCG]

How are you going to hard wire a Firestick? They don't have Ethernet ports.

How are the various smart devices connected? WiFi, Z-Wave, or ZigBee?

The biggest perk of a tri-band is being able to segment your slower devices from the faster devices on the 5GHz channels. For example, if you have some older non-AC capable devices, they stay on WiFI-A while your newer more bandwidth intensive devices stay over on WiFi-B. A similar concept can be accomplished with multiple distributed APs as well. Splitting the available airtime over multiple radios.

 

[chrismsales]

How are you going to hard wire a Firestick? They don't have Ethernet ports.

How are the various smart devices connected? WiFi, Z-Wave, or ZigBee?

The biggest perk of a tri-band is being able to segment your slower devices from the faster devices on the 5GHz channels. For example, if you have some older non-AC capable devices, they stay on WiFI-A while your newer more bandwidth intensive devices stay over on WiFi-B. A similar concept can be accomplished with multiple distributed APs as well. Splitting the available airtime over multiple radios.

Thanks for the reply.

I ordered some ethernet adaptors through Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1X28F1/?tag=snbforums-20) that will hopefully work well.

All of the smart devices are connected via a Wink Hub that I can then access via the couple Alexa dots that have.

That is how I had the Netgear R8000 configured but started having issues with the 2nd 5G band dropping all of the time. I had read somewhere on here that having multiple SIDs was not a good thing so that is why I was wondering if another tri-band was the way to or not.

Thanks!

 

[chrismsales]

So I went to Best Buy intending to just replace my Netgear with the same model and they had the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 on sale for only $209.00. I thought it was a mistake as online it shows the price at $389.99. I went ahead and purchased it and ended up with $25.00 back after another 2-year replacement warranty. Figured for that price I could not go wrong.

 

[avtella]

That’s a pretty good deal, $209.

 

[Chris313AllNight]

So I went to Best Buy intending to just replace my Netgear with the same model and they had the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 on sale for only $209.00. I thought it was a mistake as online it shows the price at $389.99. I went ahead and purchased it and ended up with $25.00 back after another 2-year replacement warranty. Figured for that price I could not go wrong.

You might wanna be aware that the GT-5300 has issues if you have any issues. See here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rog-rapture-gt-ac5300-owners.38794/

 

[chrismsales]

You might wanna be aware that the GT-5300 has issues if you have any issues. See here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rog-rapture-gt-ac5300-owners.38794/

Thanks for the link, was not aware any issues with the GT. No issues so far except with my ISP, having consistency issues but it is on their end right now.

I pulled the trigger on this one because it was only $200.00 but if I start having issues will just take it back. I may go ahead and do that as I just noticed on that link that there is no support for Merlin custom firmware. Not sure if that means no custom firmware at all on this model or just his firmware?

May not matter as I am not sure if I even have the right skillset to even try to flash a router or not!

 

[Chris313AllNight]

Thanks for the link, was not aware any issues with the GT. No issues so far except with my ISP, having consistency issues but it is on their end right now.

I pulled the trigger on this one because it was only $200.00 but if I start having issues will just take it back. I may go ahead and do that as I just noticed on that link that there is no support for Merlin custom firmware. Not sure if that means no custom firmware at all on this model or just his firmware?

May not matter as I am not sure if I even have the right skillset to even try to flash a router or not!

Well, I hope that it works out well for you. If you experience issues that aren't fixed when a new FW is available, I'd recommend returning it. And you may consider getting one of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/?tag=snbforums-20 to replace it. It is also supported by Merlin's FW. As for the GT-5300, Merlin doesn't support it with his FW and as far as I'm aware, no one else does either, currently. Therefore, you're stuck with the stock FW that ASUS themselves puts out. I could be wrong about there not being other 3rd party FWs available for the GT-5300 as I don't follow that unit or any development outside of Merlin (I'm not a huge tinker anymore and I need my equipment to be fast and stable for as long as I can get it)

I hope that helps you and I hope you enjoy your new router for years to come.