Am I the only one that can't seem to pick a reliable router?

[BW86]

I have a Linksys WRT1900AC with DD-WRT on it - never had an issue.

 

[kage69]

I moved to ASUS a long time ago, do not regret it. I forget the model of the one I'm using now but it's 802ac and has always worked flawlessly. Pretty good range for residential gear.

 

[kage69]

A cheaper option is to look at small business routers like a Sonicwall. Sonicwalls arn't that great either though, but they are probably better than consumer routers.

The Fortinets are good too, though more money I think. You don't need to run all the bells and whistles, though they are nice to have if things change. I like that they're built like tanks, sturdy gear will always have a place in my heart.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh yeah forgot about Fortinets, yeah they are pretty good from what I hear.

 

[Crono]

The Fortinets are good too, though more money I think. You don't need to run all the bells and whistles, though they are nice to have if things change. I like that they're built like tanks, sturdy gear will always have a place in my heart.

Sounds like a Motown or doo-wop group. Or maybe chocolate covered dried fruit. Mmm, fortinets...

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The least common denominator in all of your failed relationships...

Get a power filter and a UPS, and block any Torrent or Torrent-like protocols, BitCoin mining, etc.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh for sure that stuff should always be on a UPS. That is pretty much a given though, but I guess there's still lot of people out there who don't do it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Oh for sure that stuff should always be on a UPS. That is pretty much a given though, but I guess there's still lot of people out there who don't do it.

I'm one who doesn't. But I also haven't had stability problems with my router. If I had, I'd have eliminated possible power issues by doing that.

 

[who?]

The problem may be caused by your ISP, not your equipment. I have to reboot my router and cable modem every year after the "Bikes, Blues and BBQ" rally shuts down. The cable company may be reallocating the bonded channels that my modem ties up or they may be trying to dump unused channel hogging equipment. The modem claimed to have the bonded channels but I didn't have internet connection until I rebooted it. They may be forcing reboots because things sometimes work better after a reboot.

 

[who?]

I usually have the Hot Spot Shield VPN on.

 

[eng2d2]

Still usising links's wrt54g. Have to reset a lot when there are a lot of device using it

 

[bbhaag]

I was experiencing the same issues with my routers until I went Ubiquiti. Last July I pulled the trigger on a EdgeRouter X coupled with a Ubiquiti wireless access point.
Honestly it was one of the better tech purchases I've made in the past couple years. No more drops or reboots in months. We have on average 8-10 devices connected and in use at any given time and no buffering or over heating like on the last two routers/ac point/ all in one consumer grade network gear and the cost is about the same as the high end consumer stuff.

Setup on the Ubiquiti gear has come a long way as well. All I did was run the setup wizard then enter my username and password to access MTCOs fiber network and I was connected over wires. Then I just plugged in the AC point to the router and went through the house and entered my network user/pass on all the wireless gear and those were connected too. Very easy.

 

[gorcorps]

I've been running a Netgear Nighthawk RC6400 (AC1750) for almost a year now without the need to power cycle for wired or wireless. But, that doesn't really help you since you've already got a nighthawk and you're having issues. Are you sure it's not more to do with your connection than the router itself? Do you get internet outages at the same time your wired goes out? Maybe try a new ethernet cable? You could be really unlucky, I suppose. If you're still in warranty, and it's bad enough to warrant an RMA, I'd say give it a shot.

I don't have any internet issues with anything wireless when this happens, only wired. But I also can't locally connect to my server either. When it happens, I can view connected devices on the router and none of the wired devices show up. All of the wireless ones still work.

OP, I have to ask. Did you upgrade to the latest firmware and try to use the router in its factory form and not in "root" form?

I like the old Linksys routers. They were built like tanks. Not sure how good they are now.

I am using an Asus wireless right now and I usually turn off and back on once a week just to refresh/reset.

Yes, because of my issues I check for firmware updates pretty often hoping that this one is the one that fixes my problem. If it happens again I might just try a new firmware.

I haven't heard of Ubiquiti routers before. I wish I had asked this question months ago before I bought the nighthawk and I probably would have went with Ubiquiti.

 

[who?]

Every now and then a cosmic ray may flip a bit in RAM and cause a problem. You need a unit with everything except the antenna(s) inside a grounded metal box to absorb the cosmic ray energy.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...he-sun-really-flip-bits-every-once-in-a-while
https://science.slashdot.org/story/...omputer-glitches-can-be-caused-by-cosmic-rays
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-particles-outer-space-wreaking-low-grade.html

 

[local]

I have a trendnet something, haven't rebooted since I moved it a year ago. Before that it ran for about four years without any manual reboots. I have far more problems from my ISP than my router, they seem to reboot their server almost daily. I also have some noname powerline wifi extender in the kids room that has worked for the last two years as well.

 

[repoman0]

I moved to ASUS a long time ago, do not regret it. I forget the model of the one I'm using now but it's 802ac and has always worked flawlessly. Pretty good range for residential gear.

Same here ... RT-AC68 or something like that. I haven't reset it all year, though the power company shut off power for a few hours overnight once for some "service improvements."

 

[IronWing]

Been running an ActionTec for four years with no issues but we get power drops every couple months so periodic power cycling is automatic.

 

[thebestMAX]

I have a Buffalo G54 Air Station router that I bought through hot deals here in 2004 for $51 with a $30 rebate. Still going strong with about 14 atttached devices. Maybe gets rebooted once a month when I am troubleshooting something or power drops. Worried about finding something as good when it does die.

 

[nakedfrog]

My old Asus RT-G32 still runs like a champ, and I think I paid less than $20 after rebate for it. It's a backup router at the moment. My other Asus has needed a capacitor replacement a few times, but it's a known issue on that model, and I haven't had to replace it ever since I put a brand new cap in instead of whatever I had lying around that was close enough.

I'm one who doesn't. But I also haven't had stability problems with my router. If I had, I'd have eliminated possible power issues by doing that.

Same.

 

[Ferzerp]

Consumer router/firewall/switch/APs aren't really well made.

The routers have small state tables, memory leaks, etc. The switches, well, those are generally fine. The APs overheat, etc.


I use an old spare PC that used to run as a cable box when I had traditional cable that supported cablecard with pfsense installed on it as a router and firewall. I have standalone switches. My AP is a Unifi AC Pro. This set up is stable and has far faster wireless than anything else I tried. Mostly because Ubiquiti is licensed to use DFS channels so I'm the only one in range using that block of channels. I am dreading the day that consumer grade equipment gets the licensing for DFS and suddenly I will be back to dealing with overcrowded wifi. The pfsense is good because I also run some rudimentary ad blocking on it that covers more than just browsers with supported plugins. It isn't great, but it is better than nothing.

 

[tynopik]

You need a unit with everything except the antenna(s) inside a grounded metal box to absorb the cosmic ray energy.
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-particles-outer-space-wreaking-low-grade.html

from the article:

Unfortunately, it is not practical to simply shield microelectronics from these energetic particles. For example, it would take more than 10 feet of concrete to keep a circuit from being zapped by energetic neutrons.

 

[Fritzo]

I switched completely over to Google Wifi. Mesh networking is the future!

The app, the setup, and the flexibility are fantastic. At $300 for 3 "pucks", it's pricey, but well worth it. I'm getting 1GB network throughput 100 ft from my house!

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I switched completely over to Google Wifi. Mesh networking is the future!

The app, the setup, and the flexibility are fantastic. At $300 for 3 "pucks", it's pricey, but well worth it. I'm getting 1GB network throughput 100 ft from my house!

I have one too and it's been relatively good except for that one MASSIVE outage a few months ago that wipe out all of your settings. The cons of having stuff in the cloud...

 

[Fritzo]

I have one too and it's been relatively good except for that one MASSIVE outage a few months ago that wipe out all of your settings. The cons of having stuff in the cloud...

????

Settings are stored on the device. Not sure if there's a cloud backup of them, but a cloud outage doesn't affect local router use. It COULD affect initial setup I guess, as you have to use an app to set it up...

 

[Ferzerp]

I switched completely over to Google Wifi. Mesh networking is the future!

The app, the setup, and the flexibility are fantastic. At $300 for 3 "pucks", it's pricey, but well worth it. I'm getting 1GB network throughput 100 ft from my house!

No you aren't. You might have negotiated a 1Gbit transport layer link, but you aren't getting 1Gbit of throughput. Additionally mesh systems that don't use an entirely separate channel for backhaul are effectively halving your throughput when you connect to a different AP than your base. Wifi is not full duplex. Mesh is a bandaid for poor signal only, it is not good for throughput (excepting those situations where it takes throughput from atrocious due to low signal to ok-ish due to the inherent limitations of repeating a signal).

Your actual throughput is probably 1/3 or less of what you're reporting here.