RT-AC68U or RT-AC86U?

[PegasusG]

Hey everyone.

I have a fiber internet line of 100Mbps, with the router that came with it. I was thinking of upgrading, but I’m not sure which of the routers to upgrade to.

I enjoy gaming (especially Overwatch), and since I play on European servers from South Africa, I need enough bandwidth to go to my laptop. However, my brother often watches Netflix in HD at the same time, and my sister with YouTube, which causes my game to lag a lot, but my game doesn’t cause their streaming to buffer/slow down much.

I know that both the RT-AC68U and RT-AC86U have QoS (and AiMesh) to solve this problem, and that the 86U has MU-MIMO technology (and some other tech), so do these features give the 86U enough of an edge over the 68U for me to buy it?

Thanks very much in advance everyone.

 

[ApexRon]

When you purchase a new router it's all about price vs performance, a tough decision. Here is a post that may help you decide:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/86u-vs-68u-wifi-throughput.42754/​

I have a fiber internet line of 100Mbps, with the router that came with it.

Since you want to purchase your own router, can your ISP provide you with a modem rather than a router? Connecting your router to an ISP router can be challenging depending on its make/model. Should you need to retain the ISP router make sure that you disable its WiFi and firewall. In other words, make it as modem like as possible.

I visited your country (Johannesburg) back in 1995. Beautiful.

 

[Dave Parker]

Have been using the ac68u for about 2 years. Just got an ac86u. Get the 86u, you won't be sorry. BTW I got both of these used on eBay. I know, you take a chance buying used stuff but I've been lucky. Both routers have been excellent buys. Got the 86u for $139 us. So far its working perfectly. Still on Asus firmware but that will change later today if I have time. Been using Merlin's firmware since my n66u.

 

[PegasusG]

When you purchase a new router it's all about price vs performance, a tough decision. Here is a post that may help you decide:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/86u-vs-68u-wifi-throughput.42754/​

Since you want to purchase your own router, can your ISP provide you with a modem rather than a router? Connecting your router to an ISP router can be challenging depending on its make/model. Should you need to retain the ISP router make sure that you disable its WiFi and firewall. In other words, make it as modem like as possible.

I visited your country (Johannesburg) back in 1995. Beautiful.

Thank you very much for the advice. I forgot to mention that the ISP provided a modem and router, so I would only be upgrading the router.

Also, thank you very much for saying South Africa is beautiful

 

[PegasusG]

Thank you very much for the tips

 

[MarkyPancake]

The last several years our router duties have been handled by a N66U, then onto an AC68U and now an AC86U. All running Merlin firmware. The previous two were great for their time and are still capable devices, depending on the circumstances, but the move to the AC86U was noticeable and I wouldn't look back now.