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

[Viper GTS]

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.

The most important question - Why on earth are you still using that? Network gear has come so far even in the last 5 years let alone the last 13. If you have anything remotely resembling modern broadband you are severely shorting yourself by holding onto that router. This is particularly true if you live in a congested area, in many parts of the US 2.4 GHz frequencies are nearly unusable with dozens of APs stacked on top of each other.

If you're happy with what you have it's probably because you don't know how much better life could be.

????

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...

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-issue-accidentally-resets-google-wifi-and-onhub-devices/

Viper GTS

 

[AznAnarchy99]

????

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...

Their update wiped everything out.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-were-sorry-but-our-cloud-wiped-out-your-wifi-and-onhub-routers/

https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/7335595?vid=0-71918674768-1487972535727

I was unfortunate enough to be one of these people.

 

[thebestMAX]

The most important question - Why on earth are you still using that? Network gear has come so far even in the last 5 years let alone the last 13. If you have anything remotely resembling modern broadband you are severely shorting yourself by holding onto that router. This is particularly true if you live in a congested area, in many parts of the US 2.4 GHz frequencies are nearly unusable with dozens of APs stacked on top of each other.

If you're happy with what you have it's probably because you don't know how much better life could be.



Viper GTS

OK, please edjumicate me. Im open to change. What could be better? Speed? Im serious, Im not being sarcastic. Seems everything works just fine but if I can improve something Id like to know about it.

 

[Ferzerp]

Unless you have sub 15 mbit internet, that G router is a bottleneck for you.

 

[thebestMAX]

Unless you have sub 15 mbit internet, that G router is a bottleneck for you.

I agree on that.
Latest Speedtest (Comast Cable)
16ms ping, 28.3 Mbps down, 1.92 up

 

[Viper GTS]

OK, please edjumicate me. Im open to change. What could be better? Speed? Im serious, Im not being sarcastic. Seems everything works just fine but if I can improve something Id like to know about it.

Speed is the simple version (as it's what you can most directly quantify). On the wired front newer gear has far more powerful CPUs, bigger memory, can handle more sessions, etc. You're probably limited even on wired unless you have exceptionally slow home internet.

Things get far more interesting on the wireless front. Modern routers and client devices are nearly universally dual band (they can operate on both legacy 2.4 GHz frequencies as well as newer 5 GHz). The 2.4G spectrum is VERY crowded. Around here in the Northeast it's easy to find places where a 2.4 GHz only network simply won't work well enough to be used. The nice thing about 2.4G (wall penetration) is also its significant downfall as signal leaks from every building that uses it and we have 20+ years of consumer devices spewing 2.4 GHz. 5 GHz offers far more discrete channels for operation and far lower penetration so the odds of encountering entirely open spectrum to use for your needs are greatly improved.

If you have a smart phone you can grab something like this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

And see for yourself what I'm talking about.

In short unless you are exclusively running devices from 2004 your devices can be MUCH better than they are right now for very small cash outlay. A single AC Pro ($129) would give you worlds better wifi.

Viper GTS

 

[thebestMAX]

Speed is the simple version (as it's what you can most directly quantify). On the wired front newer gear has far more powerful CPUs, bigger memory, can handle more sessions, etc. You're probably limited even on wired unless you have exceptionally slow home internet.

Things get far more interesting on the wireless front. Modern routers and client devices are nearly universally dual band (they can operate on both legacy 2.4 GHz frequencies as well as newer 5 GHz). The 2.4G spectrum is VERY crowded. Around here in the Northeast it's easy to find places where a 2.4 GHz only network simply won't work well enough to be used. The nice thing about 2.4G (wall penetration) is also its significant downfall as signal leaks from every building that uses it and we have 20+ years of consumer devices spewing 2.4 GHz. 5 GHz offers far more discrete channels for operation and far lower penetration so the odds of encountering entirely open spectrum to use for your needs are greatly improved.

If you have a smart phone you can grab something like this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

And see for yourself what I'm talking about.

In short unless you are exclusively running devices from 2004 your devices can be MUCH better than they are right now for very small cash outlay. A single AC Pro ($129) would give you worlds better wifi.

Viper GTS

Thanks much, Viper.
I actually have that app but havent studied it.

Money is a slight problem for me now especially after Hurricane Irma. Was thinking of a TC-Link AC-1350 or a D-Link AC 1750. Netgear night hawk 1750 maybe. Any input appreciated.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

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.

I have all of my wifi points hardlined so that helps.

 

[Ferzerp]

I have all of my wifi points hardlined so that helps.

That is, by definition, not a mesh network (in the wireless sense anyway). That’s just a traditional wireless deployment.

 

[Loop2kil]

I think with all the added 'features' within the GUI of modern consumer grade routers is what causes most if not all the issues. Back in the early days when these same brands were 'stable' was when the GUI's were very basic without all the fluff we have today. Don't get me wrong I like features but not at the cost of stability, I wish they still made basic routers...maybe they do and I'm not looking hard enough or I simply just want my fluff to work better

I have an ASUS RTn66u that has been pretty decent for the most part even with a few 'fluff' features.

Oh, and I always run my routers on top of a laptop cooler. Heat could also play a role in some of the issues you might be having with modern routers.

 

[ch33zw1z]

My last router was a link sys e3000 running tomato, it was solid. Currently using the Ubnt ER-X and AC WAP, no problems. I keep up with firmware, Ups to power, etc...

Last I had problems with were netgear and a couple buffalos.

The buffalo's were just clunky, and the stock firmware sucked, and the buffalo version of ddwrt didn't work out that well.

 

[Fritzo]

Their update wiped everything out.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-were-sorry-but-our-cloud-wiped-out-your-wifi-and-onhub-routers/

https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/7335595?vid=0-71918674768-1487972535727

I was unfortunate enough to be one of these people.

Ah- this was before I got mine

 

[kage69]

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

Admin Stan and The Fortinets... hey you're right!

 

[Iron Woode]

Consumer routers are garbage and built down to a price (but then they still charge a lot for them). Part of the issue too is trying to cram 3 network functions into one device that does not even have active cooling. Router, switch and AP.

If you want something reliable go with a DIY router like Pfsense and just find an old 1U rackmount box or something. There are a few miniture PC type boards you can use too. Then get a managed switch (you can get 24 port Dell switches on Ebay for under $100) and then get one or more Unifi APs for wifi. Nice thing with that setup is being able to do vlans so you can do stuff like split wifi from rest of network so that if it gets compromised it won't have access to the entire network etc. I have 2 wifi SSIDs actually, one for me and then one for guests. The guest one is strictly internet access only and has an easy password while mine has a more complicated password and has a few extra accesses such as hvac control.

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.

back in the day I ran a freesco box and switch. I got tired of using another PC just for routing/firewall.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh wow I forgot about Freesco. I had played around with that a bit too. Used to use it in VM environments where I wanted to create various network setups for labs. Like I'd group a bunch of computers on a certain virtual network then link them with the freesco routers that had 2 nics. Fun stuff.

 

[Iron Woode]

I now use a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND router. so far it works like a champ and I only had to reset it when updating the firmware.

 

[who?]

I use inSSIDer to find an empty channel to use.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Prior to switching to DD-WRT x86 running in a VM, all I used to run was DD-WRT on refurbed Netgears (WNDR4500, WNDR2000, etc.) without issue.

 

[John Connor]

Never really had much of a problem with routers, and I have only used two in my life. First was a Linksys WRT54GL I flashed with DD-WRT and it was flawless for ten years. Then I bought an Asus N66U flashed with Asus Merlin on eBay. If you're not comfortable flashing you can buy a nice Asus on eBay already flashed to Merlin or DD-WRT.

If you want to go pro, check out Ubiquiti.

 

[John Connor]

Power cycling every two months sounds pretty reasonable, actually. It's hard not to have slow leaks of memory or resources, or more likely memory fragmentation over time causing the available open spots to become too small for a larger allocation.

DD-WRT has an auto reboot feature. I used to set it to reboot the router every day at the early morning hours.

 

[John Connor]

I usually have the Hot Spot Shield VPN on.

It's free for a reason.

 

[John Connor]

I use inSSIDer to find an empty channel to use.

So????

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm in the same conundrum as the OP. I've been looking to buy a new router for years, but I've never seen any evidence that a new $200 router will work ANY better than the ancient WZR-HP-G300NH running DD-WRT on it that I have. It isn't great, and the N is too inconsistant(drops) to use regularly, but in my area the 2.4 isn't that crowded. Routers need to come down in price A. and they need to really work on stability and quit worrying about 'cloud'. Their focus is way off. It's not even worth spending money on a new one unless you absolutely have to.

 

[Brainonska511]

I'm in the same conundrum as the OP. I've been looking to buy a new router for years, but I've never seen any evidence that a new $200 router will work ANY better than the ancient WZR-HP-G300NH running DD-WRT on it that I have. It isn't great, and the N is too inconsistant(drops) to use regularly, but in my area the 2.4 isn't that crowded. Routers need to come down in price A. and they need to really work on stability and quit worrying about 'cloud'. Their focus is way off. It's not even worth spending money on a new one unless you absolutely have to.

I've never had any issues with 5Ghz N or AC dropping constantly on a consumer grade router. There is a lot of crap out there, but it's not all crap.

 

[Murloc]

I have a Fritzbox by AVM and I'm problem-free.

They got extremely popular in Europe.