Wifi Router for Gigabit

[gpse]

Hey guys, I have gigabit service installed in my home, it comes with a gigabit gateway. Wired I can hit 850mb/s, on Wifi using AC1300 and being about 10 feet from the gateway I can pull 650mb/s. This is great, however the range on the gateway isn't very good, and I have a 3 story house, so I'm looking for a Wifi Router that will give me good range and keep up with gigabit. Any suggestions on what I should get? I'm looking at the Asus RT-1900P which from what I've researched is the same as the Asus RT-68u but has a 1.4Ghz dual core CPU, vs the 1.0Ghz dual core. Will this give me good range and support my current speeds?

What about the Netgear R7000? I'm in Canada and most places don't have the netgear in stock, or are running low on supply, perhaps a newer model is coming out?

 

[razel]

As soon as you lose line of sight your wireless speed will suffer greatly. Often reduced to less than half. You'll need to have a wired AP every room if you want to maintain your speed. However I wouldn't lose sleep over it. 850mpbs vs. 85 mpbs doesn't mean that your data gets there 10 times faster. That's latency. Wether wired or wireless, data travels at the speed of light. Keeping in mind that BluRay max rate is 40-50mpbs and everyday Internet usage which is generally under 10mbps, outside of downloads/video streaming you won't notice much difference.

Additionally mobile devices that can get such data (650mpbs) per second and actually process it to do useful work per second will quickly run out of battery. So you really rarely run into that situation in mobile devices, unless you have a laptop that you just cannot reach.

For a more practical answer for a 3 story home. Try to place the wireless router in the middle floor. Ideally you'll want it centered around the areas of the most you're at most. Also don't tuck the WiFi away in a corner on the ground around a bunch of AC power wires. Bring that ugly thing out in the open. Treat it like a light that can penetrate non- metallic surfaces, but reflects off metallic (ferros). Most of the time, in my experience, simply elevating the WiFi off the ground solves many range issues. If you must have it against an outer wall, then place aluminum foil between the wall and the router to reflect the signals back inside your home. Best of luck.

 

[sdifox]

Run wire to all the floors and add ap on each floor. Central vac conduit is a good place to fish wire. Not inside the actual tube, just next to it since the installer had to cut hole from basement to second floor. Hardwire all that you can, it frees up wifi capacity for the mobile devices.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Run wire to all the floors and add ap on each floor. Central vac conduit is a good place to fish wire. Not inside the actual tube, just next to it since the installer had to cut hole from basement to second floor. Hardwire all that you can, it frees up wifi capacity for the mobile devices.

Why not hardwire your mobile devices too?

https://9to5mac.com/2014/01/10/vide...ernet-via-ethernet-cable-with-this-easy-hack/

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Though a little pricey, Ubiquiti's new Amplifi mesh system sounds like a perfect fit with it's base station and 2 mesh antennas. You'll want the Amplifi HD for AC 1300 capabilities ($350).

UBIQUITI AMPLIFI HD REVIEW

 

[gpse]

Thanks for all the replies. If I use an AP on each floor, how does it work? I'm new to AP's, does every AP use a different SSID? If I'm upstairs connected to one AP when I move to the basement will I have no manually connect to that AP?

 

[sdifox]

Why not hardwire your mobile devices too?

https://9to5mac.com/2014/01/10/vide...ernet-via-ethernet-cable-with-this-easy-hack/

Cuz they wont be mobile anymore

 

[sdifox]

Thanks for all the replies. If I use an AP on each floor, how does it work? I'm new to AP's, does every AP use a different SSID? If I'm upstairs connected to one AP when I move to the basement will I have no manually connect to that AP?

If you go with ubiquiti offering you can setup a controller vm and have all APs use same ssid and do seamless handoff. You may have to lower the db of each AP to make handoff work better. Handoff is decided by the client.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Thanks for all the replies. If I use an AP on each floor, how does it work? I'm new to AP's, does every AP use a different SSID? If I'm upstairs connected to one AP when I move to the basement will I have no manually connect to that AP?

The repeaters should use the same SSID. As for connection issues, that's not an issue with the Amplifi, though it could be an issue with some repeaters/APs. Here's another review, from Ars Technica, that is more in-depth. From that review:

The Amplifi system isn't something I’d buy for myself, but it is something I’d happily buy for my parents, who have a large home thanks to Houston’s absurdly cheap housing market and struggle to get solid Wi-Fi coverage throughout. Amplifi doesn’t support several features that I depend on (especially WPA2 Enterprise for 802.1X), but setup is painless, reasonably quick, and the handoff between the various mesh components works seamlessly.

Not the most feature-rich router, but is a very capable mesh system, and setup is simple enough your parents could handle it.

Once configured, things just sort of worked—which is exactly what you want in a system like this. The Amplifi data sheet advertises a max speed of "5.25Gbps" for the Amplifi HD; in the real world, my 802.11ac test system was able to negotiate a transfer rate of 867Mbps in a relatively calm RF environment at a distance of about two meters from the base station. Though the Amplifi units don't yet support 802.11k or 802.11r managed roaming, my phone and laptop had no issues jumping between the mesh points as I wandered around the house or outside with file transfers in progress. The observed transfer rates varied pretty widely, from between 100-500Mbps, though I wasn't benchmarking and the tests weren't controlled.

No issues while roaming.

Unlike the somewhat notoriously feature-light Eero, there are several configuration knobs you can twiddle with on the Amplifi. Like Eero, the Amplifi system supports a guest network with easily configurable access limitations (number of guests and allowed connection time length). But it also supports band steering (a feature that tries to direct clients to the 5GHz network instead of the 2.4GHz network) and something called "router steering" (which tries to get clients to connect to the base station instead of the mesh points. Connecting to the base station should generally mean faster Internet connectivity since there are no wireless hops to go through).

It can work in Bridge mode with your existing router if you wanted additional features not included with the Amplifi router.

 

[ylin0811]

Thanks for all the replies. If I use an AP on each floor, how does it work? I'm new to AP's, does every AP use a different SSID? If I'm upstairs connected to one AP when I move to the basement will I have no manually connect to that AP?

it can be the same ssid across all access points. for the unifi ap, there is an option called minimum rssi which you can set to kick off the client once the ap detects the client to be below a configured snr threshold, so the client can search for another access point with a better rssi/snr.

there is also an option called band steering, which you should set to 5g preferred for best throughput. for the channeling, avoid dfs channels in 20/40/80/160mhz. do keep in mind that 80mhz and 160mhz will be on the best effort basis. if your environment is crowded, i would set to 20/40mhz for the best stability and performance.

 

[ylin0811]

Though a little pricey, Ubiquiti's new Amplifi mesh system sounds like a perfect fit with it's base station and 2 mesh antennas. You'll want the Amplifi HD for AC 1300 capabilities ($350).

UBIQUITI AMPLIFI HD REVIEW

this is interesting, but i do wonder whether the antenna goes over the powerline to communicate with the base unit. it seems like it does from the look of pictures. this will severely impact bandwidth in old houses.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

this is interesting, but i do wonder whether the antenna goes over the powerline to communicate with the base unit. it seems like it does from the look of pictures. this will severely impact bandwidth in old houses.

No, it does not. It is a completely wireless solution.

To clarify, the antennas need to be angled towards the base for best signal:

It rests on a magnetic ball that simplifies the angling, while the five blue LEDs along the stem indicate signal strength (five is full strength).

 

[kevnich2]

If you can run a few network cables to the other floor's, nothing beats a hard wired WAP. Throw in a few Ubiquiti Unifi AP's and you'll have complete coverage. May even want to try a single Unifi LR unit installed on 2nd floor and see what the coverage is from a single unit, it may just work by itself. Though I always like multiple WAP's for better coverage and roaming.

 

[ylin0811]

No, it does not. It is a completely wireless solution.

To clarify, the antennas need to be angled towards the base for best signal:

that's good to know, so those antenna kits just act as extenders then. i wonder how many tx/rx antennas the base/extender unit have. this will help out a lot of consumers before they make the purchasing decision.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

that's good to know, so those antenna kits just act as extenders then.

They are more than your typical extenders. Extenders only communicate with the base, but these antennas communicate with each other as well. You can transfer files between these antennas without passing through the base. Typical range extenders/APs always pass through the base/router.

i wonder how many tx/rx antennas the base/extender unit have. this will help out a lot of consumers before they make the purchasing decision.

From the link I posted:

There are six high-density antennas inside the base station, hidden away to maintain its form factor.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Correction: There are 3 dual-band antennas in the base, not six as Digital Trends listed.

Antennas (3) Dual-Band Antennas

 

[ylin0811]

They are more than your typical extenders. Extenders only communicate with the base, but these antennas communicate with each other as well. You can transfer files between these antennas without passing through the base. Typical range extenders/APs always pass through the base/router.



From the link I posted:

yeah i saw that while reading the article. 6 antennas is probably the wrong way to describe the radio. it should be 3x3 (the publisher probably did a 3+3 = 6)

the fact the extender can transmit data to one another without going through the base unit would probably require each extender/base to keep track of each radio's rssi/snr value to determine how to best steer the data.

it will be interesting to see how this performs once it is released out to the public.

 

[sdifox]

I am waiting for open802.11s for my next WiFi upgrade. Between that and BLE mesh, I am gonna be busy

 

[gpse]

thanks guys, I'll look into multiple AP's and Ubiquiti