Router Upgrade

[Trajan45]

Hi all,

It's about time to upgrade my Linksys WRT54G router as it's finally starting to need to be rebooted on a regular basis. It's positioned in the center of the ranch style house and I usually can get WiFi just about anywhere upstairs and basement. We have a couple desktops, laptops, an ipad, and phones that use the WiFi signal.

I've been looking at the Archer C7, C8 and ASUS RT-AC68U. I'm not too concerned about cost, though obviously if I can save money I'd like to. Some questions,

With all the mobile devices does the beam-forming really help? Does the Merlin firmware make the ASUS the most stable? I do plan on plugging in a USB 3.0 drive for backups, which has the best interference shielding?

Thanks - John

 

[pauldun170]

Hi all,

It's about time to upgrade my Linksys WRT54G router as it's finally starting to need to be rebooted on a regular basis. It's positioned in the center of the ranch style house and I usually can get WiFi just about anywhere upstairs and basement. We have a couple desktops, laptops, an ipad, and phones that use the WiFi signal.

I've been looking at the Archer C7, C8 and ASUS RT-AC68U. I'm not too concerned about cost, though obviously if I can save money I'd like to. Some questions,

With all the mobile devices does the beam-forming really help? Does the Merlin firmware make the ASUS the most stable? I do plan on plugging in a USB 3.0 drive for backups, which has the best interference shielding?

Thanks - John

Here is my router progression
Linksys WRT54G>old Actiontec Fios router (g+100mb ports)>Actiontec advanced router (N+gb ports)>RT-AC68

I recently picked up the ASUS RT-AC68W (The White version of the RT-AC68 that just so happens to be cheaper than the other versions)
I still need to get some other things done prior to it being fully set up.

Big improvements on range and throughput on all devices in the house. I'm on a 50\50 plan from FIOS and on 5ghz I max out that connection no matter where I am in the house.
For example, on the Actiontec, I'd pull a 20's up and down running speed test from bedrooms. On the Asus I'm in mid 50's up and down on my Galaxy S4.
While playing around, I connected 2 laptops, 2 itouchs, an iPhone 5s, a tablet, an old HTC droid I had a laying around and my S4 and and ran speed test on all devices while also transfering some files over to my NAS. Handled it fine with minimal impact to CPU and memory.
Also ran a test with 3.0 usb stick plugged in and saw no negative impact but I still have to get around to setting it up and also connecting my printer.

Overall, I'm happy with it. Comes with a 2 year warranty. It offered tangible improvements over my old setup and its been stable so far on stock firmware. I have no regrets.

Having said that, I'd recommend investigating the C7.
C7 seems to be a well regarded router, a good value with a 2 year warranty.
The C8 has a 1 year warranty and there seems to be a quite a few complaints on it where ever I read owner reviews.

 

[Trajan45]

Thanks! The only concern I had was the quantity of lemons that ASUS seemed to be shipping out. I was able to take the plunge today and Amazon just raised their price $30...

Do you know what the complaints about the C8 were? On Amazon it's got better reviews that the C7. And searching for complaints didn't bring much up.