Worthwhile upgrade? Cisco E4200 to ASUS RT-N66U

[ciao120]

Hi,

I currently have a Cisco e4200 v1 and I changed the firmware to DD-WRT, however I recently moved, and am in a pretty wireless network congested area. Most of their channels have been adjusted all over the place, with one router broadcasting settings on 40 mhz at channels 2, 7, 10, and 5 others at the standard 1,6,11. The overlapping is driving me nuts, but there isn't much I can really do about it.. except convert to wired, which isn't an option for family members using tablets.

I was thinking of purchasing a new router, one that could cut through the smog better, or at least a higher average throughput since there's a lot of devices connected to the network. I was thinking of purchasing the ASUS RT-N66U, since only one iphone 6 in the household is even capable of using AC.. Does anyone know whether I would get much improvement with the upgrade? Would anyone recommend a different router that could cut through the smog? Anyone have advice on setup?

I would change to 5mhz, but a couple laptops' wireless cards don't support it, so I'm chained to 2.4 . Any recommendations or advice is greatly appreciated and thank you in advance!

 

[Trip]

First off, FWIW, many observations on SNB and other sites elude to the fact that merely using an AC-class router will add a boost to the reach and bandwidth-per-distance of all broadcasts, N included.

If you do stick with N-only and the hardware is pre-ARM (like the N66U), then you might be better off with Tomato (or AdvancedTomato). FWIW, I've always seemed to get better reliability over the long-haul vs DD-WRT. But to each their own.

Lastly, MikroTik offers some seriously powerful 1mW (!!!) 2.4Ghz radios on the RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN, CRS109-8G-1S-2HnD-IN and CRS125-24G-1S-2HnD-IN. They aren't for the feint of heart, but I'd like to think that anyone savvy enough to be flashing third-party firmware has a decent shot at taming RouterOS... but I've been proven wrong before.

Hope some of those thoughts help!

 

[ciao120]

Thanks for the recommendations!

I'm hesitant to upgrade to AC since only one device in the household supports it, and from what I gather... most AC routers have buggy firmware or other issues they're still working out. I'll most likely be converting my e4200 v1 router into an AP so reach won't be an issue anymore.. the bandwidth per distance would be nice, but dealing with CSRs is always a nightmare.

I had to flash the e4200, because I got fed up with linksys/cisco when a worm ,"TheMoon", infected the original firmware and how much the original firmware was under utilizing the router.