My router sucks, I think, and I need a new one preferably under $70

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Christopher Aubert

Christopher Aubert

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Oct 7, 2013
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The router I have is extremely jumpy and unreliable. I have this one currently: (https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wireless-Router-N300-WNR2000/dp/B001AZP8EW)
I (think) I'm paying for 100mbps down and 100mbps up, and due to my situation, I can't give ethernet to my PC, so I use a TP-Link Power-over-Ethernet adapter which gives me a connection slightly better than WiFi, around 35down and 35 up, with about 7ms of ping. When I break out my laptop and connect it to the router I get around 93mbps down and 55 mbps up, but as I said, ethernet is next to impossible where my PC is located. Lately, however, that connection has varied.

Yesterday, I tried watching a twitch stream, and it simply would not load. Normally, it would always play on source with no issues, but this time it wouldn't load a single second. I did a speedtest and found my down to be 1.5mbps with my upload at around 15mbps, and near 60ms ping. I did a speedtest on my phone with the app, and it came up with the same numbers. I even took out my laptop, walked to the router, hooked it up to ethernet, made sure it was connected to ethernet, and got nearly the exact same numbers. I asked my friend who is on the same ISP and internet plan if he was having problems. He checked his speeds and said no, and also said to just hard-reset the router, that it works for him when his router is acting weird. So I did it, and it fixed the issue. Back to 35down and 35up with 7ms of ping. Twitch streams loaded fine. But the next night (the night I'm typing this), twitch streams wouldn't load again. I did a speed test and got around 15down and ~20up, with about 30ms of ping. I tested it again as I'm typing this and get this: (http://www.speedtest.net/result/5506610523.png), and Twitch streams loaded fine. I tested ethernet and got this (http://puu.sh/qfQOg/133b6822ff.jpg).

This has lead me to believe that my router is complete trash, and I think I need a new one.

So which one should I look into? I don't feel like I need to spend much money on it, just as long as it's reliable, dual-band, the range doesn't really matter. The router shown above always showed 5 bars no matter where in the house, so I can't imagine I need a beefy one. I've looked at lists online, but I figured asking here would be more reliable and to-date. I would prefer under $70, but I could potentially spend in the $80 range, but probably nothing over that.

Let me know what you think! Thanks!
 
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Hard to read this post for some reason. Your powerline units will limit you if you have the older models which I suspect you do since you only get 35m. The newest ones can get over 200m.

Your router is indeed old and may be the bottleneck. It only has 100m ports so because of overhead it is hard to actually get 100m.

The main difference in the new routers is the wireless. Most newer models with gig ports will easily run a 100m internet connection using ethernet connections. Even very low end ones have more than enough cpu power to pass 100m of traffic over ethernet connections.

In general the optimum price/performance devices are dual band devices that use the 600m number ie 300+300. This is because most end device only...
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bill001g

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Hard to read this post for some reason. Your powerline units will limit you if you have the older models which I suspect you do since you only get 35m. The newest ones can get over 200m.

Your router is indeed old and may be the bottleneck. It only has 100m ports so because of overhead it is hard to actually get 100m.

The main difference in the new routers is the wireless. Most newer models with gig ports will easily run a 100m internet connection using ethernet connections. Even very low end ones have more than enough cpu power to pass 100m of traffic over ethernet connections.

In general the optimum price/performance devices are dual band devices that use the 600m number ie 300+300. This is because most end device only have 2 antenna and can only run at the 300m speed so it does no good to buy a faster router. You may also consider 802.11ac just because he price has come down. The optimum price/performance on these is 1200...ie 300+900. Again the limitation is because of the end devices. Of course you get nowhere near those magic speeds, they likely will not get even close to your 100m internet on wireless.

So you should look for a router with gig wan and lan ports that is either dual band 600m or 802.11ac 1200m. You will not find huge difference in the performance between the major brands. Most the difference is in software features and only you can decide which have value. If you stick with a larger brand name you will have a better chance finding help on the internet if you have problems.
 
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Christopher Aubert

Christopher Aubert

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Oct 7, 2013
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Apologies if the post was hard to read, I just had a lot to say. I should of clarified which Power-over-Ethernet I used, it's this: (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWRUICG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) It claims up to 500mpbs. Hope that clears some confusion up.

Thanks for taking the time read the post! I will look into the types of routers you mentioned. I'm gravitating towards this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JZFG6QS/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=ER68JKWH3EJYPRAMN5WS&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=6aad23bd-3035-4a40-b691-0eefb1a18396&pf_rd_i=desktop
The one below it has better reviews, most of them saying it never really drops connection that much, but that router doesn't have a gigabit wan port... the router I linked to, more of the reviews say that it drops connection or the unit they had was defective, but I'm willing to take a chance, as it seems like that price can't be beat from other routers of the same specs.
 
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bill001g

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Reviews of routers by individuals is almost a joke. You can't really put much stock in any performance things because every ones house is so different. They are in effect reviewing their house and their neighbors wifi interfernece more than a particular device.

Things you would look out for would be manufacture that refuse to honor a warranty or maybe bugs that take a really long to time to get a patch for. Tplink is know for good quality product lower price than say Asus.
 
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Christopher Aubert

Christopher Aubert

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Oct 7, 2013
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Well, I went the extra mile and bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I set it up, and the speeds are fantastic! I tested with Wifi on 5ghz and got this: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5515763720 A HUGE improvement! I tested with ethernet and got the same result, which is a bit odd.

However, the Power-over-Ethernet gives me about the same speed as on the previous router. I tested it and got this: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5515780127 What's up with that? I understand it could be a multitude of different things... Again, the Power-over-Ethernet adapter is this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWRUICG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Could it be the adapter? Could it be my house's electrical wiring or something? Thanks for directing me to a good router, but it seems there's another problem. What do you think could be the issue?

EDIT: I also know it's not the motherboard's ethernet port on my PC, because the max LAN speed is 10/100/1000, and I tested it on my laptop and got the same result.

 
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bill001g

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Not sure why you would not get 100up if the ISP says you will. The 100m down though is a good sign, you really don't need high upload for much anyway.

Powerline is extremely dependent on the house wiring. There are people that can not make it work at all. AV500 units just like wireless tell lies about the speeds. The manufacture even knows its not even close when they put 10/100 ethernet ports on the units. Still it is not uncommon to get 75m download rates on av500. To go above 100m you need the newer units and those max at about 250m but again the wires in any particular house make a huge difference.
 
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Christopher Aubert

Christopher Aubert

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Oct 7, 2013
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10,690

I think at this point, I'm just going to stick to WiFi. I already spent enough money on the router + dual band adapters for all the PCs in the house. If I were to spend more money on a much better Power-over-Ethernet adapter, it still wouldn't be much better than the WiFi, and there is the chance it wouldn't do anything because of the house wiring.

Thanks for the information though! Much appreciated!
 
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