802.11AC - Router & Bridge from same company = "safe"?

[tracerbullet]

I've been looking for a new router and PCI card, to replace my early adopting N gear from many years ago. The layout is: Router on the first floor (with a tivo, NAS and PS3 attached via ethernet cable), and a PC upstairs, with a wireless adapter in it. The PC upstairs is used for general internet surfing but also sends large files back and forth to the NAS attached to the router, which is why I'm looking for some speed.

I like the 802.11AC speed, who wouldn't, but am cautious on it being very early in the game and future compatibility. On the other hand... I don't expect to really need anything other than a router / bridge combo. So I started thinking that if I got each device from the same brand, or got 2 routers that were identical and made one act as a bridge, then you would think that they'd play well with each other?

WD My Net AC1300 Router
WD My Net AC Bridge

^^^ Planning to get one of each of these, and have fast speeds and components that work well together. Sound plausible or am I crazy?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't know if I would purchase WD networking gear. They are fairly new at that market, and judging by some of their prior products (regular 802.11n routers and such), they have some teething pains to go through regarding firmware.

Then again, it's not like a lot of routers with stock factory firmware don't have issues either.

802.11ac gear is all pre-standard at this point, which means that it may not interoperate with standard 802.11ac gear in the future.

 

[tracerbullet]

The firmware nis a good point, thanks, hadn't really thought of that. I tend to think in terms of hardware and OS's but that's a good point for these.

Open to other brands as well. What do you or anyone think of the 802.11ac idea if I use a single brand for both ends?

(Wonder how long for DD-WRT or similar to be available, if needed?)

 

[Railgun]

I use Asus gear with Merlin FW and it works great.

 

[Emulex]

their routers are super ghetto firmware wise and misimplement important parts of the standards (802.11d/h) that others seem to get right.

I'd go for something little more mainstream/corporate.

 

[JackMDS]

Getting right now a None Standard 802.11ac is a mistake.

Getting a Wireless Router from a vendor that Network hardware is sort of a side kick business is a Mistake too.

The saving (if any) is probably few $$$.

The aggravation that this hardware might cost is priceless in reverse.

 

[Railgun]

their routers are super ghetto firmware wise and misimplement important parts of the standards (802.11d/h) that others seem to get right.

I'd go for something little more mainstream/corporate.

Are you talking WD or asus?

 

[tracerbullet]

Getting right now a None Standard 802.11ac is a mistake.

That's why I'm looking at both components from the same company. My assumption is that within a brand, things should work between the devices. I'd go into this with the understanding that the devices would be a matched pair, that I may not have the ability to replace just one of them some day down the road, nor be able to buy additional equipment from a different vendor and have everything work together. I'm OK with that, as long as the 2 devices I'm looking at here at least work together at a high rate of speed. Nothing more is needed.

The cases against WD make sense. My other options are Buffalo and Linksys... Thoughts?

I'm open to other solutions too, provided they are a) wireless and b) "a couple hundred" or less.

 

[JackMDS]

Good Wireless Routers that can be flashed with DD-WRT and be configured as main Wireless Router, or Access Point/Repeater, if needed.

Money is Not an issue. Asus RT-N66U

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320091

Best value for the price. Cisco E4200 refurb.

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Ro...-router_stcVVproductId133604734VVviewprod.htm

I want sub $100 and new (I am allergic to refurb.) Buffalo WZR-HP-AG300H

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162070

--------------

I want to spend less and do not care about Giga, and NAS, but need good Wireless.

This is decent Wireless Router with Dual radio.

Cisco E2500 refurb. $35.

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Ro...-Router_stcVVproductId138177695VVviewprod.htm

Rosewill USB $29

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833166046

 

[tracerbullet]

Yeah, I've seen that list in a lot of threads here. I do appreciate it, I've already spent a lot of time looking at each of those items.

So you seem to be of the opinion that 802.11ac just sucks, and there's no manner in which I could feel reasonably safe in setting up a high speed wireless in my house? Choose a slower setup on your list and just deal with the lower speed?

I'm quite certain you know a lot about this, I value your opinion. I'm just admittedly stubborn, and find it hard to believe that 802.11ac of any sort of setup shouldn't be touched w/ a 10 foot pole. Especially keeping in mind that I don't care about the ability of what I buy working nicely with anything else at any time down the road.

 

[Railgun]

AC does not suck. It's still in a draft status, just like n was for some time.

While I appreciate the cautious approach Jack takes, I think it's overly worrisome and unnecessary.

While there are no, or very few ac adapters at the moment, its use as a bridge, which is what I'm using it for now, is fine.

Should you get ac as opposed to something else? Well, in my experience with other draft products, I had no issues in the long term.

Would a firmware update address draft to final standards issues? It's possible but it depends on what, if any of these changes there are. The Asus is technically a pre-draft version. What that means in the long term is a guess, so judge accordingly. But I wouldn't give a flat out no.

 

[tracerbullet]

Makes sense. I'm thinking my original question of "safe" is answered with "no". Leading quickly to a new, related question of "Given that I'm determined to set up the fastest wireless network I can reasonably afford, what's the best way to go about it?".

I'm likely to proceed with this anyhow, guess I just need to choose a brand and give it a shot.

 

[JackMDS]

The fastest should be the Asus RT-N66U with good Dual Band Wireless cards.

That said, Depending on environmental factors, your fastest can end up being less that someone else' with a $30 Wireless Router.

 

[tracerbullet]

Well, I just bought a pair of these guys:

ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11ac

Should arrive next week. I'll try and remember to report back my initial impressions.

I do appreciate the input from everyone, even if I went against some of it.

 

[arch113]

I have the following:
BUFFALO AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router - WZR-D1800H (in AP only mode)

BUFFALO AirStation AC1300 / N450 4-Port Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Ethernet Bridge and Gaming Adapter - WLI-H4-D1300

I have had little to no problems with it so far, and it is faster than 802.11n

 

[tracerbullet]

Buffalo was high on my list, I've had good experiences w/ their stuff in the past. I also noticed that particular router went on sale at Newegg today, for less than $140. Stung a little not to go for it.

I chose the Asus mostly because the few comparison tests I've found showed it being a little faster than the others but primarily because of the antennas on it, I'm thinking I can orient them and play with the signal and (hopefully) fine tune it some between the two floors of the house.

Thanks for the firmware note, I'll check that out.

 

[Railgun]

The RT-AC66U cost $32 more than the ASUS RT-N66U

I would appreciate that one of the owners of the RT-AC66U would tell us in numerical technical terms what he/she gets for the additional $32.

Please take into consideration that a None standard 11ac, and bragging rights should not be considered as a Plus.

I get the ability to make my own decisions and not jump on the nonsense wagon. How about instead, you tell me what will change in formal ac standards that I'll miss out on.

 

[imagoon]

I get the ability to make my own decisions and not jump on the nonsense wagon. How about instead, you tell me what will change in formal ac standards that I'll miss out on.

He can't really. The main issue with draft gear was that some companies never bothered to release firmware to go draft to release. I also recall (i need to look it up) that there were some changes in draft N -> N that made some devices not able to upgrade other than simply never getting a release. Some of the draft N radios didn't have everything they needed at the hardware level.

 

[tracerbullet]

Following up, if anyone cares, or for future reference.

Recieved the 2 AC66u's, unboxed them, checked the firmware version and saw it was old, and since I was going to update it I threw the latest Merlin's release on them. Set the routers up one at a time and put them in place, with very basic settings just to be sure they worked. Took a little more time after that (logging into them each wirelessly) tweaking them (setting channels, etc.) I'd say I was totally done in 2 hours, from unboxing them to sitting back thinking "OK, cool", much of it because I was messing around and trying a few different settings. No issues on the part of the routers though.

It's only been 48 hours since I got things in place, but right now it seems great. Heads and tails over the old setup which had a decent but old N router and a very old wireless NIC. I did a couple speed tests with my laptop and the SSD drive inside of it, assuming it would not be a bottleneck. Ran CrystalDiskMark on it (Jack's idea in other threads) and copied some movies back and forth as well.

When running it this way: PC upstairs -> wired to the router upstairs (operating in bridge mode) -> wirelessly communicating w/ the router downstairs -> wired to the laptop: 1) I can move movie files between the two at something like 4GB of files transferred in almost exactly 2 minutes. CrystalDiskMark gave me #'s for sequential reads & writes at about 37 and 40 MB/s for the SSD in the laptop when benched through the network from the PC.

Things got slower when the laptop is also run wirelessly instead, it has an old N card in it, so this was expected. Something like 4GB in 4-1/4 minutes and the first two CDM bench #'s were 16 and 17 MB/s.

My old transfer times were closer to 15 minutes for similar sized movie files, so it's quite an improvement. Time will tell if the connection stays solid or if I have to reboot it a lot. At the moment I'm pretty happy

 

[tracerbullet]

I saw the AC66U in a Newegg ad for Black Friday, surprised the costs haven't come down on these.

My real point in bumping this thread is that I just realized that this set up (2 of these in the house) has been utterly perfect for nearly a year now. I haven't had to reboot them even once that I can remember (though we did have the power go out a few months ago so that would count as a reboot). I am still getting strong signals all over the house and in the detached garage. Anyone that's come over to the house has been able to connect a phone, ipad, and laptops without a hitch as well.

So, FWIW if it helps anyone else make a decision, this continues to be an awesome router.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My assumption is that within a brand, things should work between the devices.

Sadly, that's not always true, either, as some vendors choose different OEM for similar but different products. To say nothing about a new hardware rev of the same model, with a different (and potentially incompatible) OEM.