Are AC routers worth it yet?

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leftisthominid

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A few years ago I was advised by multiple sources to avoid AC routers because the specs were still influx and at that point nothing used it.

I still don't have very much that can use 802.11ac, but my current router is very unreliable for anything but wired connections. As a result, I am in the market, and I am looking to buy a new router ASAP.

Should I got for an AC router? If so, can anyone give me recommendations for specific routers?

I am currently looking at the Netgear R6250 and R6300v2
 
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people generally like most asus routers. They tend to have a lot of features compared to other routers and the company tends to provide good support for their equipment.

Not sure what sprint would have done, since I only know of sprint selling mobile broandband they may have added support for their USB modems. If you were to replace the software it may not work with that modem anymore.

That particular asus (not just the sprint version) you will see there are people having trouble flashing that has the latest hardware versions. I have not read it closely but there appears to be some issue that makes it different than older versions of that routers. It is still the same model number but there appears to be updates to the...
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Martell1977

Martell1977

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leftisthominid

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By any chance does TP-Link's router OS have a traffic meter (i.e., how much bandwidth one uses from day to day)? I know the Netgear one does, which is why I was leaning towards it.
 
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Martell1977

Martell1977

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It works with 802.11a/b/g/n and AC

I have 5 phones, 3 laptops, 2 tablets, 1 smart TV and 1 desktop (and my printer, lol) connecting via the wirless and 1 wired desktop.
 
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Martell1977

Martell1977

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I don't see that in the router itself, I didn't use the software that come with it though. I just set it up and got it working. There is a way to limit or expand bandwidth, but not overall traffic monitoring, that I can see.
 
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rongxanh

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I have a Netgear R7000. Don't spend excess money on tri-band routers unless you have enough devices to saturate more than two bands. The fastest speeds you will generally see on most of your devices (assuming they have a 2x2 array) will be around 300Mbit/s real world speeds. Going to a tri-band router won't help unless you have multiple devices trying to saturate the 5Ghz band at the same time.

Anyways, it is well worth the money. The 5Ghz band is typically interference free and I am able to max out my internet connection over Wifi. Why pay for 100-200Mbit broadband connection when your current Wifi can only push out 50ish MBits to you? Get a AC router. It is worth it, but not all are the same. The R7000 is great and actually outperforms the R7500. I have a hard drive hooked up to my router, providing a network access drive where I can routinely push data to it at speeds of over 300Mbits. Pretty nice way to backup the computer without wires.
 
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leftisthominid

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Any opinion on the R6300v2? I would like to not spend over $100.
 
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rongxanh

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I am sure that it would be an upgrade over what you currently have but I can't really comment on how it would perform with three internal antennaes. Again, I think the primary benefit you would get out of upgrading to say a R6300 is adding the 5Ghz band which would help with congestion immensely.

Stepping up to the R6400 gives you external antennae and thus better range for $20 more.

You also said your current router is unreliable. Can you say what kind of environment you live in? Its hard to recommend spending money on if it is hard to pinpoint what your current problem is.
 
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bill001g

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The optimum price/performance point especially when you deal with portable devices are 802.11ac routers that have say they run at 1600. Ie 300 on 2.4 and 1300 on 5g. This is a 2x2 mimo device which matches the 2 antenna in most end devices. If you were to buy a router that has more antenna your end device would not use the feature and it would only use 2 and run the same speed as a router that only had 2.

The main issue with bandwidth usage monitoring is a router generally has no place to keep the data. The flash memory is really only meant to store the software and the setting. They generally use a very slow flash that is not designed to have a high lifetime if you were to write to it all the time. The router would have to keep the data in its ram which you would lose on a power cycle.

I have seen discussion before that some routers have basic function like this now. I do not stay current on all the software. Asus and TPlink tend to have more features and generally they run the same software on all their routers. The Asus ones a re a little expensive.

Now you can get this feature by loading third party firmware like dd-wrt to a compatible router and using a external USB drive. Third party firmware installation and use take a commitment though to read and learn lots of things. They tend to have many features which make things confusing to new people.

In general there really is no reason not to buy 802.11ac. The price of a dual band 802.11n router is about the same as 802.11ac. You get a more top speed ability because it can put more data into the same radio waves...besides using more of the radio bandwidth. 802.11ac standard includes all the 802.11n standards so it will just slow down and use those if there are issues.

The main disadvantage to 802.11ac is that it only runs on 5g which tends to have poorer coverage in most people houses. Then again your neighbors 5g signals also have less ability to enter your house so it is a trade off.
 
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leftisthominid

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I am in a 800 sq ft condo shaped like a rectangle. The router sits in my room on one extreme end of the condo, and I need the wifi to get across to the other end.

I currently have an unreliable WNR3500L, which is hooked up to a less reliable D-Link router in my living room by means of a powerline adapter. I frequently have to reset the router, but most of my most data-intensive stuff is plugged in either to the WNR3500L or to the D-Link.

The internal antenna thing was one of the reasons why I haven't already ordered the R6300v2. The lack of the traffic monitor is why I am not into the TP-Link router.

 
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bill001g

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You can if you really want dig around in the FCC database with the FCCID of each device and read the wireless testing reports to see how much signal each device transmits.

Internal vs external antenna is not as much a issue as it once was. The internal antenna can have as much gain as a external. Part of the reason for internal antenna is they can control the spacing and angles better which at least in theory helps with the mimo interference patterns. Mostly it is for appearance though.

What you will find reading a lot of fcc reports is almost every router on the market transmits very close to the legal maximum. The small difference can be seen in lab but not in a actual house. They all use radio chips from 1 or 2 chipset manufactures and use antenna with very similar gain.

The main difference between routers with similar stats is the software. They should have more or less the same speed and coverage. The reason you see huge differences reported in the reviews posted by consumers is they are testing their house more than they are testing the end device. The difference in a house and all the neighbors around cause much more variation in performance than the tiny differences between routers.

If you really want traffic monitoring make sure you get a router you can load third party firmware like dd-wrt on. tplink and asus tends to have lots of routers that support this.
 
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bill001g

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people generally like most asus routers. They tend to have a lot of features compared to other routers and the company tends to provide good support for their equipment.

Not sure what sprint would have done, since I only know of sprint selling mobile broandband they may have added support for their USB modems. If you were to replace the software it may not work with that modem anymore.

That particular asus (not just the sprint version) you will see there are people having trouble flashing that has the latest hardware versions. I have not read it closely but there appears to be some issue that makes it different than older versions of that routers. It is still the same model number but there appears to be updates to the hardware

The main problem with third party firmware is you have to do lots of reading, even the same router can have slightly different install instructions depending on hardware revision levels.

You need to read though the instructions that talk about determining the firmware level and see if you particular router is on the lists. Sometime when new hardware comes out it can take them a bit to figure it all out.
 
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