Routers & Other Networking Stuff

Utnayan

F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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Ok so looking at replacing a rented comcast/wireless modem combo and upgrading to a higher end cable modem and separate router. I would like to get full coverage of the house without repeaters (Roughly 4,000 Square feet) and outside on our deck would be nice as well to stream music/swim in the pool.

I have my decision made on the modem. Arris Model: SB6183 - 16 Channels.

However, I am seeing that the routers are all over the board. And it seems reviews are all over the board too. I was looking at an Apple Airport Extreme, Netgear R7000 or R8000, or an ASUS router of the same caliber of the Netgear. Features aren't really needed that much. Adaptive QoS would be nice, if it works, but there are usually only 1-2 others on the internet at the same time as me if at all, and we have more than enough bandwidth (Comcast Blast - around 60-70 Meg)

Devices: Hard Wired: PC

Wireless Devices: PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, 3DS, Apple TV, a Mac Book Air, 4 iPhones, and an Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Most of which are hardly ever on at the same time.

Any nice recommendations? I am stuck in review land and I keep seeing negatives on Software issues and hardware/support issues with Netgear, ASUS seems to have a lot of software glitches according to some, and Apple's Extreme seems to have solid range but doesn't have adaptive QoS (Which may not even matter)

So basically, I am stuck and cannot make a decision. Looking to spend anywhere from 199-299.

Everything works rather well as it stands today but 1) Tired of paying $10 a month. 2) I am thinking I could increase the speed of my wireless across the house considerably. 3) Comcast enabled another channel on the modem they rent me and never notified me about it, basically giving anyone access to a separate channel of my network. I cannot believe this isn't illegal for them to do. I disabled that "Feature" but anytime they push a new software update they just enable it again and I am tired of it.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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I will say that I have the R8000 and it is rock solid but damn expensive. I currently live in an apartment and I have no issues with it drowning everyone else out when I pull it up on InSSIDer to look at the spectrum. Range is good as far as I know.

It is expensive though and it isn't like omfg must have amazing. I have no problems with it, meets all my needs, it was shiny, and I had the money available so I bought it and no regrets from it.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
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Ok so looking at replacing a rented comcast/wireless modem combo and upgrading to a higher end cable modem and separate router. I would like to get full coverage of the house without repeaters (Roughly 4,000 Square feet) and outside on our deck would be nice as well to stream music/swim in the pool.

I have my decision made on the modem. Arris Model: SB6183 - 16 Channels.

However, I am seeing that the routers are all over the board. And it seems reviews are all over the board too. I was looking at an Apple Airport Extreme, Netgear R7000 or R8000, or an ASUS router of the same caliber of the Netgear. Features aren't really needed that much. Adaptive QoS would be nice, if it works, but there are usually only 1-2 others on the internet at the same time as me if at all, and we have more than enough bandwidth (Comcast Blast - around 60-70 Meg)

Devices: Hard Wired: PC

Wireless Devices: PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, 3DS, Apple TV, a Mac Book Air, 4 iPhones, and an Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Most of which are hardly ever on at the same time.

Any nice recommendations? I am stuck in review land and I keep seeing negatives on Software issues and hardware/support issues with Netgear, ASUS seems to have a lot of software glitches according to some, and Apple's Extreme seems to have solid range but doesn't have adaptive QoS (Which may not even matter)

So basically, I am stuck and cannot make a decision. Looking to spend anywhere from 199-299.

Everything works rather well as it stands today but 1) Tired of paying $10 a month. 2) I am thinking I could increase the speed of my wireless across the house considerably. 3) Comcast enabled another channel on the modem they rent me and never notified me about it, basically giving anyone access to a separate channel of my network. I cannot believe this isn't illegal for them to do. I disabled that "Feature" but anytime they push a new software update they just enable it again and I am tired of it.
Having owned Netgear, Linksys, and Dlink routers in the past, I greatly prefer my current ASUS to all of them.

If I were buying a new router today, I'd buy this:

ASUS RT-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 Dual Band Gigabit Router - Newegg.com

Review:
Asus RT-AC68U Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router Review & Rating | PCMag.com


The only knock they have on it is that it isn't much better than last years model of ASUS router(which was also great). Received their highest scores in speed & range...what more could you want? The only other comparable routers from Linksys and D-Link are also $50-$100 more in price.

The 10 Best Wireless Routers of 2015 | PCMag.com
 

Joeboo

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I wouldn't recommend Mikrotik unless you're the type of person that wants to delve pretty deep into custom settings and firmware, and you have a decent level of networking experience. If you just want a router that you can plug in, set a password, and go, Mikrotik wouldn't be the best choice. That being said, they are incredibly powerful and robust routers for the money, if you want to really dive in to all of the settings and customizing possibilities.
 

Gnomedolf

<Silver Donator>
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I bought this:ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless-AC2400 Dual-band Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IPv4, IPv6 - Newegg.com

It's damn expensive, but holy hell is this thing rock solid. I'm a cord cutter and constantly stream HD wireless and wired. I have lots of wireless cameras, streaming devices, phones, tablets, computers, etc. It performs flawlessly. I had the Asus Dark Knight router previous to this one, and the AC87U wipes the floor with it.

Also, connecting at a link speed greater than 1gbps over wireless is sweet.
 

gogusrl

Molten Core Raider
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This is why you don't buy consumer routers :jduck/asus-cmd · GitHub

As for the Mikrotik, since version 5 I think, you get a Quick Set option that looks like this :

bTja0jg.png
 

gogusrl

Molten Core Raider
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That was just one of hundreds / thousands exploits that exist on shitty routers.

For a a guy living in bum fuck Arkansas that wants a router that covers his house it just means you'll most likely end up part of a botnet ddosing shit. Your choice if you care about that or not.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,051
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Or just run dd-wrt on any of the Asus series. Then again, you might as well buy the Mikrotik if you're gonna go that route.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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my mirotek router comes tomorrow or tues, the idiots actually forgot to ship it for a week!, anyway is there a really easy 30minute for dummies or something i need to look at for it? or can it be straight plug n play since you guys keep scaring me w/ too many options!
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
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From what I read on Amazon reviews, ethernet #1 and 2 are plug and play. After that, not really. Where are you, gogusrl.
tongue.png
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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I bought this:ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless-AC2400 Dual-band Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IPv4, IPv6 - Newegg.com

It's damn expensive, but holy hell is this thing rock solid. I'm a cord cutter and constantly stream HD wireless and wired. I have lots of wireless cameras, streaming devices, phones, tablets, computers, etc. It performs flawlessly. I had the Asus Dark Knight router previous to this one, and the AC87U wipes the floor with it.

Also, connecting at a link speed greater than 1gbps over wireless is sweet.
Same router and it is indeed great. Went from a cheap-o linksys to this guy after bricking the linksys and I haven't gotten any stutter or cut-out on my Netflix since changing. The coverage is great in my ~2000sq ft house and gets at least 80% signal everywhere in the house. Really happy with the purchase. Also the admin firmware is great and upgrading and updating the firmware is an easy process.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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my mirotek router comes tomorrow or tues, the idiots actually forgot to ship it for a week!, anyway is there a really easy 30minute for dummies or something i need to look at for it? or can it be straight plug n play since you guys keep scaring me w/ too many options!
Plug and play. I've been quite satisfied with mine. Though, I'll be completely fair, it's not like I tried the popular Asus alternatives. Maybe they have even better signal coverage. I'm happy I get 2-3 bars outside of my aluminum-siding house.

Oh, and the actual reason I bought it, it hasn't shit itself whenever I torrent heavily.

Maybe we should get a spec comparison. What does Asus offer for over twice the price besides AC? Which, I will argue isn't even needed yet.
 

Joeboo

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Oh, and the actual reason I bought it, it hasn't shit itself whenever I torrent heavily.
That's exactly the reason I highly recommend Asus over Linksys/Dlink/Netgear. Those routers always bogged down horribly when trying to handle torrent traffic, and multi-taskign it with regular network/internet traffic. After a few hours of heavy torrenting I'd almost always have to reset my Dlink or Linksys routers, and they'd also basically prevent all other network traffic from happening while torrents were running. The Asus has always handled it like a champ, and I haven't had to manually reboot the thing in years, it just works.

Sounds like Mikrotik is the same way, that or Asus are definitely the two that are head and shoulders above everyone else.
 

Utnayan

F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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Thanks all for the tips. Looks like I will probably go the ASUS route. That was the one I was eyeing heavily because of the user interface and ease of use. Are you all enabling QoS or just disabling that? I hear QoS on all these routers are iffy.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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The ASUS has a thing called Adaptive QoS which I assume does QoS in a smarter fashion. But I don't know much about it.
 

Utnayan

F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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The ASUS has a thing called Adaptive QoS which I assume does QoS in a smarter fashion. But I don't know much about it.
How long have you had the router? Some of the reviews on Newegg are ripping it apart for hardware issues. With everything I am reading (To be fair, on all routers) I may just go to best buy and pick it up and add a replacement plan so I do not have to deal with the manufacturer.