Router Suggestions

[PuppyBoss]

Hello everyone.

I have been having lousy wifi connectivity with my last 2 routers (1 to 2 bars just 1 to 2 meters away!) I have used the following routers in the past:

Netgear WNR614 N300 Wi-Fi Router

TP-LINK TL-WR940N Wireless-N450 Home Router

TP-Link TL-WR841N 300Mbps Wireless-N Router

D-Link DIR-615 Wireless-N300 Router (Black)

Some worked well for a short duration & then died, & others had very poor range right from the start.
As you can see, these are ~$15-$25 devices. I assume I'm having poor range because they are low end devices. Will I have good range with other higher end devices? Can you please suggest a router (within $100)

My router is on the top floor, in the anterior-most room of the house, in the anterior-most part of the room. Its a concrete building, and I am looking for good connectivity for atleast half the house (40ftx60ft building). The router point is in a corner, in between the north & west walls & PC cabinet on its south. Please suggest me some good devices.

Here's my layout: https://imgur.com/cWePcIi

Thank you

 

[VirtualLarry]

I assume I'm having poor range because they are low end devices.

My router is on the top floor, in the anterior-most room of the house, in the anterior-most part of the room. Its a concrete building, and I am looking for good connectivity for atleast half the house

There's your answer right there. Concrete walls block wifi signals pretty badly, in my experience, compared to wood.

Get several routers, position them in opposite sides of the structure. Run wires between them and the internet demarc, or run powerline.

My suggestion for routers is, an "Asus Router", preferable an AC66U / AC1750, or better.

 

[mv2devnull]

What Larry said. Even if you had the strongest WiFi Access Point to transmit, your devices have to transmit back to it and the same walls are there for both directions.

It is not routers that you need. It is Wireless Access Points (AP). Admittedly, the cheapest AP's are integrated into "home routers", but can be used -- disable all but the AP function from a "router box".

The one and only routing router can stay in its corner. The APs should spread out to optimize coverage.

 

[coercitiv]

While he may end up needing to add other (cheaper) routers in AP mode to fully cover the house, the first step would still be acquiring a strong & stable main router. This will increase the range of decent signal around the house, after which the OP can determine whether blind spots remain and need cover. If the current router support AP mode it would be great.

Personally I would recommend the Asus AC68U, used it as an upgrade in my home to reach a troublesome Chromecast Music in the opposite end of may flat (some concrete and/or signal reflection involved). Asus made great progress in the last few years on their software support side, and they do have a few well built routers. It's been over a year since I bought the AC68, I only have to reboot the unit with the occasional firmware update.

Do make sure to check reviews for the model you will consider buying though, not all $100+ routers are worth it. Whenever I shop around for a router I tend to check smallnetbuilder.com and maybe even wikidevi.com to check the type of SoC and amount of RAM & flash memory the unit has (a good modern SoC, decent RAM & flash for the firmware are staples of beefy routers).

 

[JackMDS]

Even the current Wireless would do better if it is Higher above the System and not block by the walls and the collection of hardware boxes.

BTW, the Netgear in the picture was a "Dud" even when in its the time of release years ago.

 

[aigomorla]

How much is your spending budget?

I would start deploying access points though out the house using a PoE Switch, and disable wifi on the router.

You could probably go with a mesh setup if its just residential for you and your family.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Personally I would recommend the Asus AC68U

I would too, but those are getting harder to find these days.

 

[coercitiv]

I would too, but those are getting harder to find these days.

2/3 stores where I usually shop have it in stock at the expected price, but I'm in Europe, so I guess we can add this to the list of discrepancies between markets.

I see they even started selling packs of 2 routers, probably after the software update which brought Mesh functionality to Asus routers. (hey call it AiMesh cuz marketing) Those being sold in the packs are named AC67U but as far as I can tell they are the same units, no resources online yet to confirm though - probably too early or a regional thing only.

 

[Fallen Kell]

The time tested AC68U is probably one of the best bets to go with if you are looking for a nice, stable router. I still see them for around $140 in the US (only time I have seen them less than that was Black Friday/Cyber Monday last year at $99). But with concrete, you are going to have a hard time with almost anything. You will really need to run a primary router, and run a wire to a second router which supports running in AP mode (typically requires open source router firmware such as DD-WRT, OpenWRT, Tomato, etc). You might be able to get away with setting up a repeater bridge, but concrete can be brutal. A Netgear R7800 will have better range than the AC68U, but it also costs another $30-40, and penetrating through concrete just might be one of those things where even the best ranges won't help.

 

[razel]

BTW, the Netgear in the picture was a "Dud" even when in its the time of release years ago.

It's also positioned corner of the room right next to a RF noisy monitor. Simply moving it closer to where most of your WiFi devices are being used and elevated could be a 'free' fix for now. However the bigger issue will be having a secure router with firmware that's patched for modern vulnerabilities. You will be better off moving to a modern AC MESH system. You don't need to buy all of them and can start with one. Google WiFi and the newer dual band Linksys Velop start at $75 a piece. Check Costco and Walmart. I also highly recommend any Asus router that works with their AiMesh. They recently are now selling packs of 2 and have added a newer (re-named) model that looks like it's $85-$100 retail.

However, don't spend too much. I suspect by end of this year, the newer generation AX routers will be out.

 

[CakeMonster]

Looking at SNP and other forums it seems people are really only recommending the Asus 68U/86U as universally good and compatible. What's with the ton of other models from Asus? I'm confused as to what they offer.

 

[aigomorla]

i would honestly get a unifi security gateway. (firewall router)
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Uni...679008&sr=1-1&keywords=unifi+security+gateway

with a dedicated 5 port POE switch:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Giga...=1531679056&sr=1-3&keywords=4+port+poe+switch

And for wifi get a Unifi AP:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Net...?srs=8938872011&ie=UTF8&qid=1531679119&sr=8-3

Before i ever go back to regular consumer grade.
I dont care how great people say it is, compared to ubiquiti, its all consumer grade. :X

Also ASUS has THE WORST support should you ever need it.
(motherboards / videocards / laptops / ect) Its a nightmare getting support from ASUS.
Dont expect any help with ASUS.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also ASUS has THE WORST support should you ever need it.
(motherboards / videocards / laptops / ect) Its a nightmare getting support from ASUS.
Dont expect any help with ASUS.

Well, YES, and NO.

RMA support, for getting your piece of consumer hardware repaired or replaced? Well, Good Luck Buddy.

On the other hand, they are STILL releasing updated firmware, for even their N300 routers, not to mention their higher-end routers, like the AC66U and AC68U/R/AC1900. This to me counts as GOOD after-sales support.

You want to see BAD support? Try to find KRACK-patched firmware, for D-Link "round" AC750 routers. Good Luck Buddy.

Edit: As a consumer, I can buy another widget, should it die or break on me. I can't easily update the firmware and patch vulns. (Well, OK, possibly *I* could, given some study and the proper toolchains to build, and whatnot, but most ordinary consumers wouldn't be able to.)

Edit: This may be a semi-moot point, too, given that most mainstream Asus routers use mainstream (Ie. Broadcom, and not Realtek) chipsets, and thus ensuring the availability of a steady stream of open-source firmwares as well.

 

[rchunter]

I don't know maybe i've been really lucky but i've never had a router die on me. I've used mainly Asus and Dlink routers. But even so I switched over to Ubiquiti mainly because I wanted a router I could rack mount plus I was already running their Unifi access point.

Next I think i'm going to buy one of their edgemax 48 port Poe+ switches. I need a new switch anyway, this 24 port procurve i'm running now I ran out of open ports and i'd like one with SFP+ on it so I can run 10gb fiber to one of my servers.

 

[Puffnstuff]

RMA support, for getting your piece of consumer hardware repaired or replaced? Well, Good Luck Buddy.

Well I'm in the process of RMAing my RT-AC88U right now so I'll let you know how it turns out. Last time I did it was with my transformer T100TAM notebook and they turned it around pretty quickly.