Trying to decide

[JD575]

Hello,

I have been observing SNB for while now since I am in the market for a new router. I am taking SNBs buying advice to heart and limiting my budget to $100. I see AC routers falling in prices, especially in the 1750 and lower class.

I have a single story 4000 sq ft home in a rural area. Currently have 5 devices that can use 5ghz band. No AC at this time. Mainly tablets, phones, and a netgear 2001 adapter. Currently use a netgear 3500v2. Not the L.

I am looking at the Asus ac56u (can find it for $80) and putting in the Merlin FW.

I am wondering if Merlin FW will improve the range and over all performance? I see ASUS has not put out FW for this router since early this year.

Or should I wait for a 1750 with dd-wrt. Like Buffalo or Dlink which are hovering just above $100. I see also the Netgear r6250 coming down too.

 

[Trip]

Is there anything that would keep you from continuing to use the 3500v2 for gigabit switching and/or routing? Then you could focus more exclusively on the wifi performance of the new purchase, less it's routing, as opposed to trying to replace all functionality outright if you don't absolutely need to. But perhaps there's something in Merlin or another third-party firmware you're looking for?

Regarding wifi, a tip on placement -- if you go with a single AP solution, obviously central placement will be best. Otherwise, perhaps consider a twin approach with the 3500v2 in one place handling, say, low-bandwidth or guest 2.4Ghz, then your new unit doing higher-bandwidth media, 2.4 for roaming and 5Ghz for line-of-sight, etc.

 

[JD575]

Thanks Trip. Throw in some more details on my setup. My router is connected to a managed switch (Cisco SG300) which handles my LAN, including a NAS. So the 3500 is just to get out to the internet and my wireless clients to LAN. The 3500 sits smack central in the house where everything is home run too.

So I am mainly looking for wifi performance. Best bang for the buck. I am thinking the third party FW on a cheaper router would improve the wifi performance?

 

[RogerSC]

Thanks Trip. Throw in some more details on my setup. My router is connected to a managed switch (Cisco SG300) which handles my LAN, including a NAS. So the 3500 is just to get out to the internet and my wireless clients to LAN. The 3500 sits smack central in the house where everything is home run too.

So I am mainly looking for wifi performance. Best bang for the buck. I am thinking the third party FW on a cheaper router would improve the wifi performance?

Well, generally speaking, third-party firmware is used to get access to features (or stability in some cases) not available in OEM firmware. The actual wireless performance isn't going to be much better, and sometimes not as good as the router manufacturer's firmware. So generally, people don't look at third-party firmware for extra wireless performance, they're looking at it for features that they can't get in the stock router firmware.

 

[JD575]

Thanks RogerSC. That changes my thinking on third party FW and my focus a little. Then in terms of good performance and coverage around $100+/- currently (I know things get cheaper as time passes), any opinion on to stay and wait for the 1900s to come down or is there good AC routers now (like the ac56u, buffalo, dlink, etc) that would be a bargain.

 

[Trip]

Thanks for the clarity. Well, you could connect the new unit to the SG300 as an AP, or replace the 3500v2 (perhaps connect the 3500v2 in AP-mode then), or just do the swap if you want fewer devices/wall-warts and/or greater simplicity.

On firmwares, the different variants often use slightly different radio driver versions and/or code bases, which can product better overall performance/stability than the OEM's firmware (but sometimes not). The only real way to tell is to test them in your network and see.

Thinking about what to buy, it appears either Asus or Netgear would be a decent choice. If Asus has a weakness it appears to be QC and RMA/support, so hopefully you get a good unit. That said, some of the Asus models have been reported to perform better "out of the box". But that's when Merlin/DD-WRT/Tomato enter the game and things change, of course. I'd personally drop another $50 for an external-antenna model of either brand, as I think the increased reach would be worth it.

 

[JD575]

Agreed, Trip. I don't want hassle of returning an enclosed unit if I know right off the bat it may have limitations on the range. Thanks for the advice.