Trying to find the right AC1900 router = no sleep and very frustrated

[cpexton]

I've been using Airport extreme and then Time capsule routers for many years. They simply work, but there are clearly better performing routers.

I use the MAC address timed access controls provided in Airport Utility. It's a piece of cake to shut down wifi access to my school aged kids at midnight and have it turn back on at 7 am.

I'm ready for a big boy router but don't want it to be a big boy project. I want the benefits of improved throughput, some QoS, maybe some port mapping I want to use the USB 3 port the way I do today on my time capsule. Hang a usb 3 hub off of the USB port and have multiple devices connected to it. And I want my stinking timed access by MAC address.

According to ASUS and Linksys tech support, their firmware supports MAC address timed access. The Netgear R6700 (recently purchased from Coscto) does not. There are no firmware updates for this router, it appears to be a dumbed down r7000. I would be happy to pay more for the r7000 if the firmware updates allow me to do timed access by MAC address, but according to Netgear tech support, this isn't supported in the r7000 either.

Netgear is the router I want but it doesn't do the one thing I want it to do. So it appears I need to buy the Netgear and then flash it with 3rd party firmware to get what I want. Coming from the world of Airport, I don't want to have another thing to manage in my house. I've got enough stuff to do without worrying about my router. Can I install the latest kong version of dd-wrt, get mac address timed access and then set it and forget it or is this a fantasy as well?

I want the simplicity of the Airport Extreme but with the USB 3 and performance of the Netgear. Am I completely SOL or am I missing an option here? My house is 3 stories, 4000 square feet with users at far corners of the basement and my router at the opposite side of the house on the main floor. Airport Extreme performance has been degrading, it's over 5 years old.

I have 4 AC devices at this point with another 20 n devices of one type or another. I don't believe the r7000 is overkill, I just need it to do the one simple thing I've come to rely on for a little bit of access sanity in my home, time access by MAC address.

 

[thiggins]

Any reason why you aren't considering a latest version Airport Extreme? If you haven't dealt with DD-WRT before, be warned there is a learning curve. I'm sorry, but I can't advise you whether it supports scheduled internet access.

 

[htismaqe]

If you're already familiar with Airport Extreme, I would second Tim's suggestion and take a look at the latest version.

 

[sfx2000]

I would agree here - if you're a happy Airport user, the current 802.11ac devices are a decent move - they're competitive in performance/range with other 11ac vendors - they may have less "features", but they make up for it in stability.

Moving from an 11n based Airport to an 11ac based Airport is very easy...

sfx

 

[Trip]

Perhaps we're forgetting Tomato (Shibby or AdvancedTomato)? Put that on an R7000, then go to Advanced Settings > Access Restriction, make rules, adjust all other network settings, set and forget. Done.

Otherwise, the newest Airport Extreme.

 

[htismaqe]

From what I've heard, Tomato (Shibby) on the R7000 is "beta-ware" at best. Certainly not as stable as DD-WRT.

And from what I'm hearing, not as stable as the latest stock firmware either.

 

[cpexton]

Thanks for the replies.

I love the simplicity of the airport extreme, I've been using a time capsule this last go around and it's been fine. But it doesn't get to all corners of my house and things have slowed down significantly as we've added more devices.

I would go with the new AC Airport and have considered it, but the router chart on this very site shows it way down the list in throughput, also the lack of USB 3 is show stopper because I'd like to hang a couple of USB 3 drives of it for time machine and other network storage (this is a stop gap until I pick up a Synology NAS). Which raises another question, how much could my choice of routers now impact my future NAS performance/experience (considering if the NAS was purchased in the next year). The Synology I'm considering is dual gigabit with link aggregation but I can't see how that matters much in this discussion.

My family is very happy now with the R6700 I got from Costco. Signal is strong everywhere in my house and multiple use cases are being supported. I might like to delve into some QoS settings and I did actually go in and force some IP Addresses which I then tied to the services filter and managed to shut down access to the internet based on those IP addresses using a schedule. But it's the same schedule for all IPs, and I'd of course rather use MAC addresses.

Maybe it's enough. My kids are getting older and need to manage themselves. But it's been nice to know my wifi shuts down at 11:30 on school nights for their devices. Computers are still up and I have a number of gigabit connected machines.

If you more experienced router folks are telling me that I won't notice the performance differences between a new Airport and the Netgear r6700/7000, then I might consider it, but I still think a USB 2 port is ridiculous for a device updated last year.

I also recognize that there are some issues with USB 3 performance on these AC routers, but I'm under the impression that the Netgears do a better job of shielding and that I can get decent results especially compared to the ASUS. Should i expect significantly better performance than my old dual band 1tb time capsule which also has a couple more attached, but rarely accessed external drives as well.

Thanks again.

 

[htismaqe]

I wouldn't make your purchase based on the USB ports alone, especially if you know you already want a NAS.

I have a Linksys WRT1900AC that has an eSATA port (in addition to USB2 and USB3) and my NAS absolutely blows it away. There's no comparison, especially in terms of feature set.

I can't imagine the newer Airport would underperform the R6700 but I don't have any experience with either so I can't say for sure.

 

[Trip]

From what I've heard, Tomato (Shibby) on the R7000 is "beta-ware" at best. Certainly not as stable as DD-WRT [...] not as stable as the latest stock firmware either.

I've seen a few dozen with a couple months or more of uptime on Tomato Anon, but I'll take your word for it. Days up doesn't give any real indication of stability/performance while running... so the wait continues, I guess.

I wouldn't make your purchase based on the USB ports alone, especially if you know you already want a NAS [...] There's no comparison, especially in terms of feature set.

Indeed, many want the silver bullet, but it's tough to find in networking. Piecing out the setup is probably the better way to go. More complexity, yes. More plugs, yes. More money, yes. But ultimately more convenient down the line, imho.

 

[htismaqe]

I'm mostly basing my opinion on browsing various forums. RogerSC (he posts here and on the Netgear User forum) has pretty extensive experience with all 3. He used DD-WRT for months but he's back on stock now. He says Tomato still has a ways to go...

 

[JD575]

My family is very happy now with the R6700 I got from Costco. Signal is strong everywhere in my house and multiple use cases are being supported. I might like to delve into some QoS settings and I did actually go in and force some IP Addresses which I then tied to the services filter and managed to shut down access to the internet based on those IP addresses using a schedule. But it's the same schedule for all IPs, and I'd of course rather use MAC addresses.

CPEXTON, how do you like that R6700? I see from your posts that it has limited options, but what about speed/throughput and range. I am looking at that R7000 and WRT1900ac. However this one seems like a bargain, especially when Costco may through out a coupon soon and their great return policy.

 

[azazel1024]

Do you need AC1900? What about going with AC1750? If the later, TP-Link Archer c7 is pretty decent and very low cost.

Just a thought. So long as you don't need any of the features of the big boys, it has roughly the range and speed (it is ranked #2 in the AC1750 catagory for SNB router tests).

 

[RogerSC]

CPEXTON, how do you like that R6700? I see from your posts that it has limited options, but what about speed/throughput and range. I am looking at that R7000 and WRT1900ac. However this one seems like a bargain, especially when Costco may through out a coupon soon and their great return policy.

Haven't used it, but the R6700 is wireless-1750ac. They must have dropped turboQAM, but that isn't a loss for most people, anyways *smile*. Yes, Costco does have a great return policy, and I think that it was $160 last time I was at Costco. On the other hand, I see the R7000 at Amazon for $185, and at Newegg and Bestbuy for $188.

I like that the prices are dropping on the wireless-1900ac and wireless-1750ac as the next generation of not yet useful wireless routers is coming out. I don't see any point in getting one of those yet, so the 1750AC and 1900AC wireless routers are looking very attractive.

 

[JD575]

Thanks RogerSC. I see you everywhere! Good point about the pricing nowadays. If one is savvy with Amazon's CC promo deal, you can get them down to into the $120.

I am still very interested in the WRT1900 since OpenWrt is moving along finally. But to expensive for my tastes at this time.

I like Thiggins suggestions about buy refurb and a generation back. So I am keeping my eye on the EA6900 for 129 from Linksys. They did well on the last head to head tests.

 

[htismaqe]

Make sure to buy some rubber feet and a small fan. The EA6900 can get REALLY hot (like leave blisters on your fingers hot).

 

[JD575]

Make sure to buy some rubber feet and a small fan. The EA6900 can get REALLY hot (like leave blisters on your fingers hot).

Thanks htismaqe.

I did not know it got that hot. That is crazy. Did it perform well for you anyways? I believe you said you did not like the range on it for your situation?

 

[htismaqe]

Thanks htismaqe.

I did not know it got that hot. That is crazy. Did it perform well for you anyways? I believe you said you did not like the range on it for your situation?

It didn't have the range of the R7000 or the WRT1900AC. For my house (which is almost 3000 square feet), it just wasn't quite enough.

 

[whirldy]

do the R7000 and the ApE have comparable range?


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