Recommend a router with great range

[mikegg]

I'm in need of a router that can extend its signal into the garage on the first floor as well as throughout a 1,300 sq ft house. It has to be able to support 50mpbs at those ranges as well.

Any suggestions? Also, are there any articles reviewing the range of modern routers?

 

[JackMDS]

Depending on the specific layout there is a very good chance that there is No one Wireless Router that would take care of your specific personal needs.

Start with one good Wireless Router (example - http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-B.../dp/B006QB1RPY )

Then put more devices as needed.

The typical means to extend coverage are.

1. Access Points (or Wireless Router working as an Access Point) connect with wire to the main Router (Using Wireless Routers as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html )

2. Wireless Extenders.

3. Power line (Ethernet over the house electrical ).

4 MOCA (Ethernet over coax cables).

Best and guaranteed success is no. 1 (additional AP).

The others depends on your specific physical and electronic environment.




😎

 

[azazel1024]

What clients? Do you have neighboring wireless networks? What kind of construction is the house? Can you centrally locate the router?

Odds are good, you won't be able to do it with one router. Though you might.

My laptop as an Intel 7260ac in it and if I could centrally locate my router, on 2.4GHz 40MHz it would certainly be able to blanket 1300sq-ft + garage with >50MBps. Probably couldn't do that with 5GHz even as an 11ac router, at least not in to the garage.

If you can't centrally locate the router, or can only do 2.4GHz 20MHz, have neighboring interference, have lower speed clients, etc. There is just no fuzzy way any router can do that.

 

[mikegg]

Thanks. Are there any routers known for their great range and penetration?

 

[Squeetard]

The ASUS dark knight quoted in the second post. You can even boost their signal in the software above FCC maximums.

 

[smitbret]

From my experience (albeit limited) 50Mbps will be a stretch for 1300 Sq/Ft unless you are a pretty open floor plan. Walls, Duct Work and other obstructions can be nasty, depending on their composition. 20-30Mbps will probably be a reasonable expectation in the corners unless you set up some Access Points.

If I had to have 50Mbps across a 1300 Sq Foot house I would look put in the router about 20-30 feet from one end of the layout and then an AP 40-50 feet towards the other end. That should cover most situations including neighboring network interference and physical problems.

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-275-_-Product

and 50 feet of Cat5e or Cat6 will do wonders.

Asus RT-N66U is the gold standard right now but you could get away with a lot less router if you used a 2nd AP.

 

[azazel1024]

From my experience (albeit limited) 50Mbps will be a stretch for 1300 Sq/Ft unless you are a pretty open floor plan. Walls, Duct Work and other obstructions can be nasty, depending on their composition. 20-30Mbps will probably be a reasonable expectation in the corners unless you set up some Access Points.

If I had to have 50Mbps across a 1300 Sq Foot house I would look put in the router about 20-30 feet from one end of the layout and then an AP 40-50 feet towards the other end. That should cover most situations including neighboring network interference and physical problems.

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-275-_-Product

and 50 feet of Cat5e or Cat6 will do wonders.

Asus RT-N66U is the gold standard right now but you could get away with a lot less router if you used a 2nd AP.

The RT-N66U is pretty awesome, but if you are looking for a low priced and possibly just as good alternative, try the TP-Link WDR3600. It is actually faster with 2:2 clients than the N66U and roughly the same range. It just can't handle 450Mbps link speeds (though few people have any) and it lacks a few of the features that the N66U has, like no integrated VPN server. It is roughly half the price though. I can vouch for it having awesome range and speed. I can get around 20Mbps at a distance of 60ft from my WDR3600 with 2.4GHz 40MHz, through a floor, 2 interior walls and a 4ft cinderblock and stone chimney. If I move to the side so the chimney is not in the way I can get around 40Mbps, same distance and everything else.

It should be able to do over 50Mbps to a 2:2 client in a 1,300sq-ft house and even in a garage, depending on the wall material between the house and garage, at least if the router is centrally located in the house (roughly) and there isn't any funky construction going on (like poured concrete or cinderblock).

If you are looking for that kind of performance for a phone, see "none need apply" as there aren't too many phones that can get >50Mbps even 5ft away from a router.

 

[PaducahPhil]

From my experience (albeit limited) 50Mbps will be a stretch for 1300 Sq/Ft unless you are a pretty open floor plan. Walls, Duct Work and other obstructions can be nasty, depending on their composition. 20-30Mbps will probably be a reasonable expectation in the corners unless you set up some Access Points.

If I had to have 50Mbps across a 1300 Sq Foot house I would look put in the router about 20-30 feet from one end of the layout and then an AP 40-50 feet towards the other end. That should cover most situations including neighboring network interference and physical problems.

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-275-_-Product

and 50 feet of Cat5e or Cat6 will do wonders.

Asus RT-N66U is the gold standard right now but you could get away with a lot less router if you used a 2nd AP.

How do you set this up as an AP?

 

[mikegg]

The RT-N66U is pretty awesome, but if you are looking for a low priced and possibly just as good alternative, try the TP-Link WDR3600. It is actually faster with 2:2 clients than the N66U and roughly the same range. It just can't handle 450Mbps link speeds (though few people have any) and it lacks a few of the features that the N66U has, like no integrated VPN server. It is roughly half the price though. I can vouch for it having awesome range and speed. I can get around 20Mbps at a distance of 60ft from my WDR3600 with 2.4GHz 40MHz, through a floor, 2 interior walls and a 4ft cinderblock and stone chimney. If I move to the side so the chimney is not in the way I can get around 40Mbps, same distance and everything else.

It should be able to do over 50Mbps to a 2:2 client in a 1,300sq-ft house and even in a garage, depending on the wall material between the house and garage, at least if the router is centrally located in the house (roughly) and there isn't any funky construction going on (like poured concrete or cinderblock).

If you are looking for that kind of performance for a phone, see "none need apply" as there aren't too many phones that can get >50Mbps even 5ft away from a router.

What is a 2:2 client? I'll be using it with a range of devices including phones, tablets, laptops.

 

[smitbret]

What is a 2:2 client? I'll be using it with a range of devices including phones, tablets, laptops.

2:2 references the # of wireless radios in the router and the receiving device.

Wireless N is based on an uplink speed of 150Mbps. A single radio router has a theoretical maximum output of 150Mbps (n150). An n300 router has 2 radios and n450 is 3. Wireless adapters are the same. If your router is n300 and your adapter is only n150, then it is 2:1 and no matter how good the router, your speed is limited to the n150 of the adapter. Anything running at an uplink speed of 150Mbps will probably not get you to 50Mbps with any consistency, especially at any kind of distance. 2:2 is an n300 router and an n300 wireless adapter and has the theoretical maximum output of 300Mbps. In reality, they top out at about 80-90Mbps under the best situations and will be creeping down to your stated threshold of 50Mbps by the time the signal has to penetrate some walls and cover some distance.

 

[smitbret]

How do you set this up as an AP?

Pick the better device to be your router and turn DHCP and NAT off in the 2nd device. Then assign an IP address to the 2nd router that is in the subnet of your network but outside of the DHCP range that has been set in the first router. Then just connect the 2 routers with a Cat5e or Cat6 cable. The device with DHCP enabled is your router and the one with it turned off is your access point and it just acts as an extension of the router (think extension cord). You'll need to set up an SSID and different channel on the AP but when you are at the opposite end of the house, you can just log into the SSID from the AP and get full wireless coverage without sacrificing speed. The biggest trick is to keep them far enough away without creating holes in coverage, although if you chose separate channels, there shouldn't be much issue with interference.

If you need any further elaboration, just Google "Convert Router to AP" and you will get a ton of guides to do it.

 

[azazel1024]

2:2 references the # of wireless radios in the router and the receiving device.

Wireless N is based on an uplink speed of 150Mbps. A single radio router has a theoretical maximum output of 150Mbps (n150). An n300 router has 2 radios and n450 is 3. Wireless adapters are the same. If your router is n300 and your adapter is only n150, then it is 2:1 and no matter how good the router, your speed is limited to the n150 of the adapter. Anything running at an uplink speed of 150Mbps will probably not get you to 50Mbps with any consistency, especially at any kind of distance. 2:2 is an n300 router and an n300 wireless adapter and has the theoretical maximum output of 300Mbps. In reality, they top out at about 80-90Mbps under the best situations and will be creeping down to your stated threshold of 50Mbps by the time the signal has to penetrate some walls and cover some distance.

Errr, no.

Average situations with crummy clients and living situations where you might have a dozen wireless networks near you interfering with yours.

Sure.

In reality under the best situtations, absolutely not. My laptop connecting to my WDR3600, an N600 router, which means 300Mbps 2.4GHz and 300Mbps 5GHz, manages an AVERAGE performance of 185Mbps same room on 2.4GHz and 200Mbps same room on 5GHz. On a 300Mbps connection.

My AC1750 router actually hits 228Mbps with a 2.4GHz 300Mbps connection. That is a 76% yield which is basicly the theoretical maximum you can get, because forward error correction takes up something around 20%. That certainly is NOT a typical connection, it is an awesome router with an awesome client in the same room.

I can get around 190-200Mbps a room over with a wall in the way on 2.4GHz with the same router and client (this is again, 2:2 300Mbps 2.4GHz, NOT 3:3 450Mbps 2.4GHz).

Most clients are crappy clients (like phones), often times with just one radio, interference going on, not close to the router, might be in 20MHz only mode too and so on.

Also, if you want to get technical, the 1:1, 2:2, etc is not the number of radios, it is the number of spatial streams, or radio chains. It is still just one radio per frequency band (unless NON-concurrent dual band, then it is one radio for both bands and it can only speak one frequency band at a time). You could conceivably have, and there ARE, 2:3 and similar routers out there. That means 2 transmitting and 3 receiving spatial streams/radio chains.

Some routers have 3 antennas and 3 receive spatial streams for signal differentiation, but only use 2 antennas and 2 transmit spatial streams for transmitting. That is rare though.

 

[PaducahPhil]

Pick the better device to be your router and turn DHCP and NAT off in the 2nd device. Then assign an IP address to the 2nd router that is in the subnet of your network but outside of the DHCP range that has been set in the first router. Then just connect the 2 routers with a Cat5e or Cat6 cable. The device with DHCP enabled is your router and the one with it turned off is your access point and it just acts as an extension of the router (think extension cord). You'll need to set up an SSID and different channel on the AP but when you are at the opposite end of the house, you can just log into the SSID from the AP and get full wireless coverage without sacrificing speed. The biggest trick is to keep them far enough away without creating holes in coverage, although if you chose separate channels, there shouldn't be much issue with interference.

If you need any further elaboration, just Google "Convert Router to AP" and you will get a ton of guides to do it.

Thanks

 

[sonitravel09]

I've bought the Asus RT-N12 and it's much better than the Cisco. It comes with two 5 dBi antennas.