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Thread: Need help on getting new wifi router

  1. #1

    Need help on getting new wifi router

    I just upgraded our internet to Vivnit. It is getting speeds of 55+ up and down, but my wifi is running in the 15 - 25mps. My brother said I needed to upgrade to an AC wifi router. My current router is a linksys WPN, I think the blue / white.

    So, with that in mind, what would be the better router to get. My house is ~ 2,400 ft. floor and basement. Current router is at home run in basement about the middle of the house. Wifi signal isn't as good as get to the corners of the house. Don't do gaming, use it to surf, stream video on amazon and netfilx, and kids have ipods and ipads, kindles. Don't need anything too fancy.

    Here is what I could find at Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_...nid=8514070011

    Here is what I could find at the Lynksis refurbished store:

    http://store.linksys.com/Linksys-Cer...6VVviewcat.htm

    So, any suggestions?

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  3. #2
    Routers are one of those things that you get what you pay for. On a low cost level, I'd get this:
    http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...-no-redirect=1
    "My heart shall cry out for Moab..." Isaiah 15:5

  4. Likes gholt liked this post
  5. #3
    Info is not exactly current, but still pretty good:

    http://www.maximumpc.com/best_ac_router_2014

    I ended up with the Trendnet TEW-812DRU earlier this year. It's fairly bare bones but is a good performance value for the price. There are faster ones from Asus and Netgear and such but they cost quite a bit more. I like being able to run different wifi access portals for different purposes. I have a family wifi, a guest wifi which is locked out of my LAN, and a dedicated media wifi for streaming to the Chromecast.

    The things MaximumPC dings it for are things I can solve with my home media server.

    You're likely to still have some problems with coverage in the fringes of your home no matter what one you go with. Wifi extenders can help out and aren't too expensive. I use this one.

    http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-300Mbp...+wifi+extender. While it lives in one spot that I use it for the most, I'll haul it to other parts of the house if I know I'll be using wifi in that area, say for a party or something. Set up was easy and I can reconfigure it if I want for the guest wifi channel too. It only handles one network at a time. This is N class, not AC but I'm not streaming media across the extender generally. You can buy more than one of course to server different areas. But I'm cheap.

    About once a day, there's a slow down in speed. I'm not sure it's my router as it coincides with people coming home in the evening. I have to reboot it about every three months as it loses wifi connection. However, I usually lose power at my home more often than that so it really hasn't been a problem.

    It's not the perfect router, but very good for the price.

  6. Likes gholt liked this post
  7. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by phatch View Post
    Info is not exactly current, but still pretty good:

    http://www.maximumpc.com/best_ac_router_2014
    After doing a bit of reading last night. I'm leaning to the Buffalo WZR-1750DHP, The trendnet TEW-812DRU, and the Linksys EA6900-RM.

    I'm leaning to the Linksys as it has a ton of parental control, but some of the features on the other routers bode good as well. So, this is all the items that I need the router to control:

    OOMA phone,
    Roku box (streaming netflix, amazon, ESPN, & Fox sports)
    2 smart phones
    4 ipod touch
    ipad & Kindle.
    2 computers hooked up via ethernet.
    1 laptop.



    Would either of these be enough to handle all of these easily, or would I have to add an adapter to the laptop or computer? Also, right now the signal goes internet > OOMA phone > router > Ethernet. If I get one of these better routers, could I change the position to Internet > Router > Ethernet> .

  8. #5
    I think they could all do the job. Multiple simultaneous streaming would be the biggest challenge but that's not too probable a scenario. Unless the rest of your family wants to watch movies while you watch sports a lot. The range and speed at range of the higher end models might be worth it in your case where your home is larger than mine. It's one reason I went with Trendnet is that my home is only 1050 ft2/level. My extender is mostly for use when I'm outside on the patio or in the garage.

    Wire what you can. The Roku should take an ethernet connection and you'll probably be happier with that than wifi in the long run. If you do want to feed the Roku via wifi, give it the 5 Ghz ac connection dedicated solely to that use if your ROKU is ac compatible. Put the phones and handhelds on the n class bands. If you stream to the iPad, there should be enough bandwidth on the ac channels for that too, if it supports ac.

    I don't know enough about the ooma phone to have an opinion on where it should sit in your network config. I would think it would be fine behind the router but that's just instinct, not knowledge.

  9. #6
    Thanks. I may have not been very clear on house size, it is ~ 1,100 per level, main level & Basement. I have the Roku and the computers connected via ethernet, as they do the majority of the streaming, when I do the speed test on the computers, they show 50 - 90 up and down, on my phone, it shows ~ 25. Not sure what the speed on the ROKU is, but it seems to stream better than the computer does.

    Those refurb lynksys, on the high end are looking pretty good. $130 for the EA6900-RM, and $200 for the 1900AC-RM.

    On a side note my internet provider said they would rent an Asus RT-N66U for $3 month. This may be a better deal as after 3 years I've only shelled out $108 + tax, or would it be better to own your own. I've always bought my own before.

  10. #7
    I think I'm going to try the lynksys 6900. They give 90 days to try it out. If that doesn't work, I think I go with the buffalo, or the trendnet.

  11. #8
    I picked this guy up and have been pretty happy Ubiquiti Networks UniFi AP Enterprise WiFi System https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XXMUCQ..._q9yxub1VACDKQ

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

  12. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Sombeech View Post
    I picked this guy up and have been pretty happy Ubiquiti Networks UniFi AP Enterprise WiFi System https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XXMUCQ..._q9yxub1VACDKQ

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
    What exactly does this do?

  13. #10
    It's a wireless access point, wireless router

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

  14. #11
    Oh OK. I may add one with my new router.

  15. #12
    gholt, after a couple of months now, which router did you get and how has it performed? I am looking for a new router now in that same price range.
    Are we there yet?

  16. #13
    My Trendnet died and a D-Link switch went in the same blaze of the frustration. They were on a UPS so it wasn't likely a power surge but that's still the best explanation for them both going simultaneously. Strange.

  17. #14
    I ended up with the Lynksys 6900 refurbished. Is Ben working great. I wasn't getting my full download speed, and finally found that there is a speed limiting you can set in the router. Got it set right and evening is going smooth.

  18. #15
    I've had this router for a while now. We have Vivint Internet and the computers were having trouble playing nice with the Linksys. So, they gave us an Asus router. I would prefer to use the Lynksys as there are far more controls. I'm not a true hi tech guy, but would anyone know an easy answer why their internet wouldn't work well with a Lynksys router?

  19. #16
    As a generalization, Linksys performs less well than Netgear which performs less well than Asus. Which is not to say that Linksys is bad. Linksys is also usually cheaper for the same claimed performance. But Linksys usually doesn't match the claimed performance by the largest margin.

    Can you be more specific about what problems you're having with the Linksys?

    The Asus AC68u or the AC87U are very capable performers with well regarded controls. Did you get one of those? The Asus routers also support asuswrt-merlin, an improvement on the stock firmware with even more controls. But you best be a little nerdy.

    The Asus routers I've had have been very finicky. They have certainly had the most range and throughput but are less stable and run hot. They work best with a good surge suppressing power strip or UPS. Make sure you have no high demand items sharing the outlet like a laser printer. I've ended up moving mine off the same circuit as a second refrigerator as well.

    With the hot Asus routers, pick up an inexpensive USB powered fan and run it off one of the USB ports on the router. It dropped my router temps 30C on the core chip as reported by wrtmerlin. Very much worth it.

  20. #17
    I'll check tonight and get the model number.

    Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

  21. #18
    The problem I was having is with one Levono laptop, that is an older laptop I got from work. It has windows 7, and I'm trying to update it, it will recognize the WiFi and can connect to the WiFi but doesn't see the Internet. It may be that the laptop needs to be retired and get a new one. But when I would connect it directly via ethernet it crashes the Internet and I have to reboot, and start all over. In this bad I had to have a tech come over and look at it. To reconnect.

    Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

  22. #19
    That sounds more like a configuration problem on the laptop than with the router. I've had computers take down my wired ethernet before that had a network config problem. But this was back in win95. I'm guessing the computer has a configuration set for your work network. You probably need to set it to DHCP and change the DNS numbers. Clear out the log into a Domain setting and those sorts of things. Maybe a client tweak as well but I think that would be rare.

  23. #20
    I'll try that tonight. They also said I could piggy back my router to the Asus one would this be a good idea of would there be to many stops in the line that would allow it down?

    Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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