Looking for Wireless AC router, maybe ASUS RT-AC66U or ASUS RT-AC68U?

Timekeepsonslippin

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I did a search on Newegg.ca by customer rating, and then searched for the AC units with most reviews. These are the two models that had the most reviews and overall highest scores by far for the first few pages.

I'm looking to replace our D-Link DIR-655. The hope is that with 10+ devices connected at any given time we'll have less/no connection drops, a stronger signal and perhaps greater range (people are using internet on 3 different floors, the router is on the 2nd floor in a central area).

Would also be nice if there were no need to power cycle at all, though that could have been a problem with the modem/ISP as far as I know, and I suppose they can't test thoroughly enough for bugs that might occur over a long enough period of time given all the variables in how people might use the software.

It looks like both routers support 2.4/5GHz, and from what I read the AC standard should support a/b/g/n devices. It sounds like the Beamforming will not work for older devices, but from what I was reading we might still benefit from the newer routers as far as how good the connection quality is.

If not I might have to get some kind of signal booster at some point to extend the range. From what I've looked into repeaters might double the network latency, perhaps antennas are better?

I'm guessing out of the two models, the newer one might be better? The ASUS RT-AC68U?

Links:

66U
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320115

68U
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320174
 
Solution
So I got the router up and running today. Lowest signal strength I've seen is 96% on my computer one time, rest of the time it's been 100%. With the other router I'd seen it go as low as ~50%, highest about 92%. Nobody has reported their connection dropping yet. I'll give it at least a few more days, but so far I've had no problems with games or anything. Definitely seems like it was a good upgrade.

We bought the ASUS RT-AC68U. Speeds went from average 10-15Mbps (max about 25Mbps rarely) download on the old router, to 60-70 or so Mbps download with the new router. Upload I think went up a bit too, close to the max speed our ISP allows. Would be very nice if I'm able to play games with a stable connection using wireless, so far so good...
The main difference is that the 68u support QAM-256. This in theory allows it to pack more data into the signal. In a nice interference free environment it helps a lot in the real world your results vary greatly. You nic must also support this...it is fairly rare to find one that claims 600m on the 2.4g band even 450m is not real common.

There are other features on the 68u like faster cpu and more usb3 ports but only you can say if how much benefit it is to you.

Coverage and range are not going to be hugely different. The allowed signal strength has not changed since wireless routers came to market. All that has changed is how much data they cram into the allowed signal. It may run faster but it does not go farther.

You house is going be the primary issue and will make far more difference than small difference in routers. 802.11ac sounds really nice until until you read the fine print about it only runs on 5g band. 5g is much more easily blocked by walls and floors etc so your coverage will generally be less using 5g than using 2.4g. For some people upgrading to 802.11ac from a 2.4g single band 802.11n router runs worse.

Asus in general makes pretty good devices and has pretty good support. Most their routers you can load many third party firmware if you do not like their software. Like every router manufacture though hardware does fail and they have had firmware releases with nasty bugs, most which they have fixed quickly.

I would avoid any form of signal "boosters" or extenders. The vast majority greatly degrade the performance in exchange for expanding the range. You would be much better served by using ethernet and putting in AP or even powerline with AP on the ends.
 

Timekeepsonslippin

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I might have more questions later but for now, is there any other opinions on what has been said?

Also what are you referencing when you say, "using ethernet and putting in AP or even powerline with AP on the ends"?

The main thing we've been trying to avoid is running wires everywhere, and running them through the house walls would be expensive, plus we're renting and have to move in a few months. I guess with a bit of creativity one could carefully staple them into place along the stairs and across one stair and up a wall (I'd have to make holes in the walls of a house we're renting to attach the wire, unless there's an alternative to making holes, or I'm willing to run the wire on the ground where people are walking all the time) and around two door frames to get to my room, and then weave it through my room to get to the opposite corner, attaching the wire to the walls the whole way through to that corner. I'd have to measure the full route carefully to ensure the wire's not too long or short, but again we're moving, so for now it might not be a good idea.
 
A AP is just a router that is only using the radio portion. It in effect converts ethernet to wireless. This is the method used in every commercial building to increase wireless coverage. The downside is having to run the cable. Powerline is just another form radio transmission. It takes the signals from a ethernet cable transmits them over your electrical cable and then converts them back to ethernet. To end devices they appear to be ethernet cables so you could just plug a AP in like you would if you had run a real ethernet cable. Of course nothing is that simple and powerline devices do not work in all houses but they tend to go farther than wireless.
 

Timekeepsonslippin

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Yeah I think that's similar to what I was reading about setting up a device (such as a router) to act as a repeater, but it creating double the time needed to send the data, to and from the modem, to and from the router, to and from the repeater, and then to and from the computers/devices, leading back to the repeater, router and modem.

Does this bypass the slowdown at all, when one has set up another wireless access point, if there is a cable running between the AP and Router, instead of transmitting the data between these devices wirelessly? Is there any noticeable difference in online competitive gaming for example, if you run a cable instead? Also would I notice the difference with that AP connected with a cable, compared to just having a router with no AP in between (as far as the quality of the signal degrading with the additional device, when playing latency sensitive games)? I'm not sure where we'd place the AP exactly, given the current layout/placement of objects in the house.

If I'm less likely to have my computer dropping the wireless connection with the AP, it may be worthwhile.
 
The reason the wireless repeater causes such a issue is it transmits on the exact same radio channel. It directly interference with the main signal. Even if it would share perfectly only 1 device can use it at at time and you then only get 1/2 the bandwidth.

There technically is a delay for the router to put the signal on a ethernet cable and then the AP to take it back off into its buffer. It is not even 1/10 of a millisecond so it tends to be impossible to detect.

Placement of the AP is at the location you get acceptable signal. You run the ethernet cable as far as possible....obviously if you can run it all the way then you just plug the machine into it.
 

Timekeepsonslippin

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So you'd recommend to get an AP in place of a wireless AC router.
Any particular models I should look at, or maybe I should search for some and ask which to get?
Is it possible I'll have better performance if I get both an AP and a AC router, compared with my current model router?

Are there any opinions from others?

I'll probably select the solution for this topic after I buy and install the device and get it running.
 

Timekeepsonslippin

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I might add, at least for me, part of the issue is that the signal can vary between being stable for a while at 50-60% signal, and other times be upwards of 90% signal strength. It also will randomly drop the connection, even though there still appears to be a signal when I refresh the software.

I'm not entirely certain if it's a software/hardware bug, and if it's the Router, Modem or ISP that is causing it. Sometimes it seems like the only way to fix the connection is to leave everything unplugged, including the modem's cable wire, that brings the internet into the modem, for 30-sec to 1 min to be safe, then plugging in that wire, and the power for the modem and router. Then for some reason it often will seem to work when all else fails, rarely we've had issues that the ISP had to fix themselves on their end.

A lot of times the internet has been very stable as well.
I guess it could have something to do with my PC's wireless adapter.
It's a D-Link DWA-556.
 

Timekeepsonslippin

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So I got the router up and running today. Lowest signal strength I've seen is 96% on my computer one time, rest of the time it's been 100%. With the other router I'd seen it go as low as ~50%, highest about 92%. Nobody has reported their connection dropping yet. I'll give it at least a few more days, but so far I've had no problems with games or anything. Definitely seems like it was a good upgrade.

We bought the ASUS RT-AC68U. Speeds went from average 10-15Mbps (max about 25Mbps rarely) download on the old router, to 60-70 or so Mbps download with the new router. Upload I think went up a bit too, close to the max speed our ISP allows. Would be very nice if I'm able to play games with a stable connection using wireless, so far so good.

I'll select an answer once I give it some more time, and make sure the connection is stable over a few days at least.
 
Solution

Timekeepsonslippin

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So, the internet has been very stable with the router upgrade, I've seen ping go up in one game a little bit (only rarely, rather than commonly like before), but nothing like the 1000-20,000 ping I'd experienced at times, more like 150-200 max so far. This could also be related to the server rather than my own connection. Been a very nice experience so far.

Thanks for the help bill001g, much appreciated.