Router recommendation

[Rumpy]

So, last week the wireless router died. Lasted us a long time, and it's a D-Link. Any recommendations on models to get and to avoid? Want something easy to set up.

[Chaz]

Based on recommendations from another forum, I just ordered the Asus RT-AC66U. I won't be setting it up until later this week or early next week, but it's supposed to be solid. There's also an N version that's about $30 cheaper called the RT-N66U.

[Daehawk]

If you saw my posts in here about my net speed being capped by my older router and having to replace it you know the best. It sure wasn't the POS Apple Extreme.....ARGH.

I got the ASUS Dual-Band Wireless-N 600 Router (RT-N56U) .

It set itself up really and has run without fail or reboot for months now. The perfect router in my eyes. Does 1 gig speed too. $85.00 . Gets 4 out of 5 stars with 2309 reviews.

[Rumpy]

Sounds good! Going to look locally first before committing to buying online, but thanks for pointing out Asus. I hadn't even been aware they were also making routers.

[Daehawk]

I take it for granted that all Amazon customers have Prime...that $85 may be just Prime members.

Also wanted to add that I use it wirelessly with a laptop, a tablet, a PS4, and a Xbox 360 and a multi function wireless printer.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, not a prime member. Already know it's going to cost more though given the exchange rate.

[Rumpy]

So, ended up getting the N55U at Staples. They almost had the 56U, but sold out.

[Daehawk]

Looks about the same.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, I figured. Anyway, thanks for the recommendation, guys!

[Daehawk]

Good luck with it. If its as easy and nice as Asus routers seem to be I think you'll be very happy.

[Rumpy]

And I'm now using the new Router. Was really easy to set up. Detected everything and I didn't even really need to do anything other than change the password. Sweet

[Daehawk]

Thank God they've come along as far as they have. They seemed to stay a primitive box for so long.

[Carpet_pissr]

No one is suggesting an AC router at this point?

Sister needs a new one, and I know if I was in the market today, I would strongly consider getting AC.

[Rumpy]

Thank God they've come along as far as they have. They seemed to stay a primitive box for so long.

Yeah, no kidding! I was kind of dreading it, until it detected everything and I breathed a sigh of relief.


Actually what I ended up getting was not an N55U, but an AC55U, CP. So far, so good. Honestly, I'm not even sure of the difference other than it being a new standard with the router being backwards compatible with N. The guy who sold it to us said we were basically futureproofing. He said there aren't many devices yet using AC for it to really matter. Main selling point was the price. It was $109 which was one of the more affordable ones being sold.

[Carpet_pissr]

Thank God they've come along as far as they have. They seemed to stay a primitive box for so long.

Yeah, no kidding! I was kind of dreading it, until it detected everything and I breathed a sigh of relief.


Actually what I ended up getting was not an N55U, but an AC55U, CP. So far, so good. Honestly, I'm not even sure of the difference other than it being a new standard with the router being backwards compatible with N. The guy who sold it to us said we were basically futureproofing. He said there aren't many devices yet using AC for it to really matter. Main selling point was the price. It was $109 which was one of the more affordable ones being sold.

iPhone 6 uses AC, and it's about 3x faster than "n" apparently.

Real world tests comparing an "N" wifi iPhone 5s and the "AC" wifi iPhone 6:

"As expected, the iPhone 6 Plus sees much faster connection speeds that reach 278.5 Mbps, while the iPhone 5s tops out at approximately 101.1 Mbps."

That is fast enough to replace my wired ethernet connection. Or fast enough that it will work more than sufficiently in places where I don't want to have to run an ethernet cable.

[Rumpy]

Good if you have an iPhone, I guess. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see more of devices using it.

[Rip]

My Fire Stick uses AC.

Biggest issue is with range, the AC just doesn't reach were N will. 5Ghz may be quieter but in my experience it doesn't compensate for the decreased signal range.

[stessier]

So I need a new wireless router now too. Any new suggestions 9 months later? It seems like a $200 one would be terribly awesome - but my internet connection is only 60 mbps. I'm replacing a linksys wrt54g.

[Daehawk]

Still loving mine.

[Anonymous Bosch]

So I need a new wireless router now too. Any new suggestions 9 months later? It seems like a $200 one would be terribly awesome - but my internet connection is only 60 mbps. I'm replacing a linksys wrt54g.

I'd echo the recommendation from TheWirecutter.com of the TP-Link Archer C7, as it provides a great bang for your buck:

After putting in more than 250 total hours of research and testing, we recommend the $100 TP-Link Archer C7 (v2) router for most people right now. We tested it against more than 20 other routers over the past year and a half. Though this dual-band, three-stream wireless-ac router wasn’t always the fastest on every single one of our tests, it did provide great wireless performance and is offered at a super affordable price, which makes it an unbeatable value.

The Archer C7 usually costs between $80 and $100. That’s the same price as many older, slower routers, but it’s faster and able to cover a larger area than some routers that cost two to three times as much. It supports the top speeds of the latest wireless standard—wireless-ac—which means that any devices you connect to it will run as fast as they can. There’s no other router that does that and is as inexpensive as the Archer C7.

You won’t find a faster router than the Archer C7 for less, and you’ll have to spend more than half again to get a better one. For most people, the Archer C7 is good enough for everything you’re going to use it for.

[stessier]

Thanks for that link - it's a huge article!!! I look forward to digging in.

[blackjack]

Fwiw, after my often hot-running LInksys died last year, and a newer Linksys model refused to install, I went with Netgear and it installed easy-peasy. I insisted on the same brand when my elderly mom finally added WiFi at her home.

That said, the Internet says good and bad things about every brand, including Netgear. But my experience was its install directions were better written and illustrated, and easier to follow. And the Netgear router seems to run far cooler than my old Linksys model, and has a simple on-off switch on back in case you want to switch it off easily when not at home (My Linksys had no switch so it was leave it on all the time or unplug it). So I really only recommend Netgear at this point - your mileage may vary.

[stessier]

I ended up going with the upgrade level (Netgear AC1750) from AB's post due to my house setup and how often my wife streams quite a ways from where the router sits. It arrives tomorrow - I'll let you know how it goes.

[stessier]

New router installed! It was a bit more challenging than it had to be because I didn't follow the directions to power cycle the modem before installing the router - my bad. Also, it had me download 2 apps and install them to help manage the router - that didn't appear to work at all and hung everything up for about 30 minutes. I don't think Windows 10 liked that I was trying to run them without it being able to check if they were safe to run. I cycled the power on the whole computer and when it came back on it worked - so I'm not complaining. And wow - does OO load fast!!! I can't wait to try out Netflix on the tablet.

A good omen - the default password on the router was "helpfuloctopus".



Edit: What a good way to show how fast the router is? I did speed test on a wired computer (60 down / 5 up is what I pay for) and that looks good - would doing the same thing from a tablet show anything different?

[Daehawk]

BTW I saw the router I use was onl sale for under $60. Think it was Amazon..sry I didn't need it so wasn't paying attention.