Need RELIABLE router - should I buy this?

[WhipperSnapper]

My current router that I bought from a friend a few years ago for $20 has started ropping connection to my Roku and my wife's tablet about every 20 minutes, which is pretty frustrating. It works just fine for wired connections. Its an older Belkin N150. Power cycling it fixes the problem, for about 20 minutes or so. It wasn't a problem a couple months back. Is it possible that this modem is simply outdated and dying? Would a new router fix the problem, or am I likely to have the same problem?

I'm thinking about buying a new router to fix this. My Internet is currently 75 MB/s coming through a cable modem and the router has a wired connection to my desktop. The wireless is used for Roku streaming and my wife's tablet. For me a router doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to work reliably, simply, and trouble free.

I'm thinking about buying this router; it seems like a good deal for $36 shipped. Would it suit my needs?

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-Reliable-Dual-band-C50/dp/B0168G0KZY/

<EDIT> Umphh.....it's only 100 MB/s wired, which is OK for right now, but leaves no headroom for a speed increase. Maybe this one for $50 ($30 refurbed at Newegg) would make more sense as it has GB ports:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-AC1200-Smart-Router/dp/B01IUDUJE0

or this refurbed Netgear for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ62WP5

 

[BogdanH]

ehm... 1Gbit port is 1Gbit/s = 100MB/s max (wired) transfer speed -which all routers have nowaday.

 

[sinisterDei]

ehm... 1Gbit port is 1Gbit/s = 100MB/s max (wired) transfer speed -which all routers have nowaday.

While I wish this was true, it just isn't.

The router he linked - the C50 - is only 100 Mbit/s (Fast Ethernet) on the wired ports. It's slightly bigger brother, the C5, both of which are AC1200 devices (yes, the names are confusing) has full gigabit (1000 Mbit/s) ports. Mb = megabit, MB = megabyte, in abbreviation parlance at least. Companies will always speak in bits/second because it makes them sound faster, and all their competitors use bits/second and they can't afford to seem slower by having smaller numbers.

As a result, I would agree with WhipperSnapper and avoid the C50; there is essentially zero excuse for *anyone* to purchase 100 Mbit/s networking equipment at this point, regardless of actual requirements. I'm almost positive the 100 Mbit/s stuff is only kept around so manufacturers can justify some kind of a price premium to 'upgrade' to gig.

The second one you linked, the C5, seems fine.

That said, I can't speak to TP-link's actual quality- never touched 'em before. I've had good luck with both Netgear and ASUS stuff over time. It's got ~1700 reviews on Amazon though with a 4-star, and it's C50 cousin has nearly 8400 reviews and is 4-star, so I bet it's not trash.

 

[BogdanH]

uh, because OP said "only 100MB/s", hence confusion.. thank you for clarifying!
Indeed: TP-Link naming sheme is confusing.

 

[grimpr]

Get a Mikrotik. https://www.amazon.com/MikroTik-Dua...pID=31y3SxGAPSL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Fallen Kell]

Look, it you want something stable that works for your 75Mbps ISP connection, I would say bit the bullet, spend a little money, go to www.smallnetbuilder.com, click on their "router ranker" and pick a name brand router (Asus, D-Link, Linksys, etc) in their top 10 by overall rank. Bonus if you spend 10 minutes to check that it supports DD-WRT and/or other third party linux firmwares.

 

[sinisterDei]

pend a little money, go to www.smallnetbuilder.com, click on their "router ranker"

Oh good god in heaven. I just looked at their rankings. A few comments:

1. They primarily highly rank routers that look like spiders. This isn't just supposed to be a funny comment, a good portion of their rating is given over to WiFi performance, and of course big 4x4 MIMO routers with 4-8 antennas on them are going to be the best performers in that category. Not everyone needs that kind of WiFi or has devices that can actually take advantage of it.
2. They don't actually have many routers on their ranker. The "revision 10" of the ranking only has 15 routers on it. You can drop back to revision 8 and it's got 51 routers on the table, but the reviews at that point are 3 years old for some of them, and many routers have had revisions or model replacements since then.
3. Of the routers included in the list recently (revision 10), they're almost exclusively high end. There are only two routers for $100 or less on the list of 15, and the others are more in the $150-250 range.

None of that invalidates the info on the site. I'm sure it's nice. But in the context of the OP, he's looking to replace a crappy, unstable N150 router. He's specified he doesn't need it to be fancy, just trouble-free, and he's provided examples on his end of $35 and $50 routers as his current choices. In that context, nothing on that website will be relevant to the OP since he doesn't seem to be swimming in that end of the router pool.

I'll provide a direct recommendation. As I mentioned, I have used ASUS branded routers for a while now with good luck. I'm currently using a pfSense router, but my previous router - an ASUS RT-AC87U - is still handling the WiFi at my house and made both a good router and now a good access point. It's likely a bit expensive for OP's tastes, so I'll recommend its baby brother the RT-ACRH13 for $61. It's dual-band, gigabit, well reviewed, and inexpensive. It's more than the TP-links cost wise, but I can't say I've ever touched one of the TP-links personally, while I've configured probably ten different ASUS model routers over the last few years, all of which have been fine, so it gets my nod.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Ideally, I'd like to keep this down to under $40, but do appreciate the recommendation of the ASUS RT-AC87U. Here are the current candidates:

$35 ARRIS SURFboard SBR-AC1750CE (new)

$27 TP-Link ARCHER C1200 (refurbished)

$30 Netgear AC1200 (R6220-100NAR) (refurbished)

$34 Belkin AC1900 (new)

The Arris Surfboard looks interesting but you can't network a wired printer to it, which would be nice, and who knows if it's any good. It's new and cheap, but is it cheap junk? The same question applies to that Belkin router (which you can network a wired printer to) but even more so and I hate their no light signals design.

I'm not sure how the TP-Link and Netgear compare to one another though you can connect a printer to their USB ports. If they were new I don't think it would be an issue; you'd take either over the Belkin or the Arris. The thing about refurbished is that there's a reason why those items are refurbished such as dropping their wireless connections.

For some reason I'm kind of smitten with the Arris Surfboard but wish it had the printer functionality. I'm just concerned that it's cheap junk.

 

[sinisterDei]

So, Arris primarily makes modems to my knowledge. They're a relatively big player in that market, so I'm sure they know how to make a network device. I've never touched one of their routers though, so I can't speak from experience.

My recommendation was for the ASUS RT-ACRH13, but it is still $61 and violates your $40 budget. It also doesn't support printing via the USB port, which is honestly something I've never done before on any router, so I can't much speak to that.

The very first review of the Belkin on Amazon mentioneod it has a "Self-Healing" option, which is a scheduled nightly reboot of the router. Even the idea that a router includes this option is... abhorrent to me. I get the idea, but your router shouldn't *need* to be rebooted nightly, so the part where it happened enough they actually built it into the firmware doesn't instill me with confidence.

The Archer router has a 2/5 star review *on TP-link's own website* over 22 reviews. It's $50 new on Amazon where it has better reviews (4-star, 1700 reviews).

Of the list you posted, I'm most inclined to go with the Netgear or the Arris. The Netgear is not without warranty or return policy, so I'd probably start with that one. If it works for the first 90 days (the refurb warranty period) then it'll likely keep working until acted upon by an external force.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Here's an interesting candidate:

$48 (after tax) TP-Link AC1350 (new). Supposedly, according to Brickseek, a Walmart within 10 miles has it for $45.with two in stock. Brickseek has not been very reliable for me, but that's a very interesting contender, especially since it could be returned easily.

Edit - ignore, this only has 100 MB LAN ports, which is ridiculous.

sinisterDei your suggestion is looking increasingly attractive.

Here's another candidate, albeit refurbished, for $48 shipped: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075GYWPCJ

 

[sinisterDei]

Well the WiFi on the $48 one there looks better for sure. Not sure about the T-Mobile part, but if the comments are to be believed you can ignore that part. It's probably a better device than the $30 Netgear refurb, but then again, it's $18 more expensive so I'd expect it to be.

 

[Fallen Kell]

*nevermind, looks like it is discontinued*

 

[WhipperSnapper]

After research and contemplation, I decided to go with the refurbished TP-Link Archer C1200 for $27 through Newegg. It seems like a newer model than the others and it has a firmware update for 2018, so I assume that the Krack threat has been addressed. It may not be as fast on paper as that Arris router, but the TP-Link has more features and the printer option, and Arris isn't really known for routers. The Arris router is also older and doesn't seem to be receiving much support in terms of firmware updates. (Any company, like Belkin, can go put out a router with "good" specs, but if it's a POS, what good is it?) It seems like a good gamble for $27. Can't say how it compares to that refurbished Netgear prospect, though.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Looks like you can run DD-WRT on it as well if you need to have an up-to-date firmware with security fixes. Just need to be aware of the 16MB flash size and 128MB RAM.