Suggestions for a new Primary Router (with gigabit)

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Hello All, I am looking to add a wireless router with gigabit to the house. But I don't want to be spending a lot. Anything over $100 is out of the question. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

The main things I am looking for here are:

- Gigabit connections that a significantly faster than the 10/100 I have now (for two desktop computer with gigabit connections).
- Wireless speed that is better than what I have now, using a Netgear WNR2000v2 (more on that below).

Range is not a big deal. The Netgear mentioned above is going on the other side of the house. I can still browser the Internet and watch Netflix across the house, but watching video from the sever with the phones and tablets starts to suffer a bit when getting too far away. But since it is fine closer to the device, moving it to the other side of the house should solve this issue.

Wireless speed: I tested with two laptops, and the best wireless speeds I can get are 1.98 MB/s (15.86Mb/s) anywhere in the house (of course there are fluctuations based on location). The adapter is an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205.

I did some looking on my own, and for the specs and the remarks of others, this looks like it may be a good fit:

NETGEAR WNDR4500-100PAS N900

If you have any better suggestions, please post! Thanks.
 
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Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I always thought TP-Link's stock firmware was pretty good. I run dd-wrt though.

Good to know. Would either of you mind doing a speed test for me? I know there are a lot of factors, but I would like to know what kind of wireless speed you are getting (real-world scenario, if you will).
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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Good to know. Would either of you mind doing a speed test for me? I know there are a lot of factors, but I would like to know what kind of wireless speed you are getting (real-world scenario, if you will).

That is pointless. His house is nothing like yours nor is his computwr location. Only thing in common is the C7.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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That is pointless. His house is nothing like yours nor is his computwr location. Only thing in common is the C7.

I disagree. While a few kilobits off would be a ridiculous comparison, I think my wireless connection should be a good bit faster than what I am seeing (at least double the speeds I am seeing), and I would like to know if this router can provide substantially better numbers. I have tested on three different wireless devices in the house (ranging from Vista to Windows 10), and they all provide about the same numbers.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,677
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I disagree. While a few kilobits off would be a ridiculous comparison, I think my wireless connection should be a good bit faster than what I am seeing (at least double the speeds I am seeing), and I would like to know if this router can provide substantially better numbers. I have tested on three different wireless devices in the house (ranging from Vista to Windows 10), and they all provide about the same numbers.

With my laptop and my wap, the connection speed can swing between 75 and 200, all in the span of less than a min. This is is with the laptop sitting on the cooler and not moving around.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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With my laptop and my wap, the connection speed can swing between 75 and 200, all in the span of less than a min. This is is with the laptop sitting on the cooler and not moving around.

75 to 200 What? Mbps? Right now, my wireless adapter is sitting at 144 on my networking tab. I know I am not going to hit that speed, but 15 is less than I had hoped.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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75 to 200 What? Mbps? Right now, my wireless adapter is sitting at 144 on my networking tab. I know I am not going to hit that speed, but 15 is less than I had hoped.

Yes we are talking mbps. You definitely need a new router but locating said router in the optimal location is what is important, not someone else's transfer rate.
 

fuzzymath10

Senior member
Feb 17, 2010
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The C7 is good, but I believe some places in Canada sell it for $80 (about US$60), which is what I paid a year ago.

My devices with the intel 7260/7265 typically connect at 600-866mbps, with real world SSD to SSD speeds around 250-400mbps (it is quite volatile, but transfers usually stabilize in the 30-40MB/sec range, maybe 50 if I'm lucky).
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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The C7 is good, but I believe some places in Canada sell it for $80 (about US$60), which is what I paid a year ago.

My devices with the intel 7260/7265 typically connect at 600-866mbps, with real world SSD to SSD speeds around 250-400mbps (it is quite volatile, but transfers usually stabilize in the 30-40MB/sec range, maybe 50 if I'm lucky).

Thanks. That is a lot closer to the numbers I would expect, and much better than the numbers I am seeing now.

Even though wireless speed isn't my biggest concern (I can plug a laptop into a gigabit port when I need a big transfer), I am planning on buying a new router at some point regardless, so I might as well get something good.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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I've got an Engenius ESR1200 access point (AC1200, dual-band), with gigabit ports, wired into my gigabit LAN. I just happen to have set up a fresh new Win10 64-bit PC for a friend, and I pulled out a Rosewill AC1200 UBE AC1200 USB3.0 adapter. Plugged into a front-panel USB2.0 port on a Lenovo SB i3 PC, I was getting as high as 25MB/sec to my unRAID server over the AC1200 through the gigabit to my server. Not super-great, but acceptable to me.
That's using the Windows 10 built-in drivers for the wireless RealTek 8812AU USB.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I've got an Engenius ESR1200 access point (AC1200, dual-band), with gigabit ports, wired into my gigabit LAN. I just happen to have set up a fresh new Win10 64-bit PC for a friend, and I pulled out a Rosewill AC1200 UBE AC1200 USB3.0 adapter. Plugged into a front-panel USB2.0 port on a Lenovo SB i3 PC, I was getting as high as 25MB/sec to my unRAID server over the AC1200 through the gigabit to my server. Not super-great, but acceptable to me.
That's using the Windows 10 built-in drivers for the wireless RealTek 8812AU USB.

Thanks VirtualLarry. All my wireless adapters have N support, but all also stock. So I would need separate adapters to get super-speed, but I think I can do better than what I am getting. I did try a wireless TPLink TL-WN722N adapter from the other end of the house, and it was giving my numbers that were about the same as the built-in units.
 

fuzzymath10

Senior member
Feb 17, 2010
520
2
81
Thanks. That is a lot closer to the numbers I would expect, and much better than the numbers I am seeing now.

Even though wireless speed isn't my biggest concern (I can plug a laptop into a gigabit port when I need a big transfer), I am planning on buying a new router at some point regardless, so I might as well get something good.

Since you mention you tested with the 6205, I forgot to mention that some of my laptops have the 5300, and easily got over 100mbps for transfers at close range with the C7. I think you need to make sure you enable WMM or you might get stuck with A/G performance which your numbers resemble.
 
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Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Well, finally ended up with a new router, although it's not the model I originally planned to settling on.

Why? Well, the Archer is no doubt an excellent router, but nothing in my house currently takes full advantage of AC, so since routers don't last forever, I decided on one of these for the time being:

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/WNDR4500.aspx

Did some quick testing after setting it up and seeing the same data transfer over wireless in 1/3 the time as the old router (same location) and confirmed gigabit speed from server to desktop. For $27 out of pocket, I am pleased.
 

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,234
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Came across a brand-new sealed Linksys wireless-AC router at the flea market (vendor had multiple units of the same model). $30 seemed like a fair price and I thought it would be good for my mother's place, where it would replace a wireless-N router (her new iPhone 6s is AC-capable).

Took it home and found out the wired ports are only 10/100. Ugh!

What use is wireless AC without Gigabit ports? I probably couldn't reach the max speed of AC even if I test from an AC client to 4 wired clients and a 2.4GHz MIMO N client simultaneously.

Maybe there's some way to replace the chip(s) controlling the internal network switch and turn it into a gigabit switch. Probably not worth the effort, though...

[edit]

It does have better WiFi range than her previous-generation AirPort Time Capsule.
 
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Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I guess people don't even care about gigabit ports anymore, I don't know. Maybe it's just a couple pennies of profit to make on getting an ac product out there. Then you (they) can make even more profit when putting the gigabit on there.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,677
14,934
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Came across a brand-new sealed Linksys wireless-AC router at the flea market (vendor had multiple units of the same model). $30 seemed like a fair price and I thought it would be good for my mother's place, where it would replace a wireless-N router (her new iPhone 6s is AC-capable).

Took it home and found out the wired ports are only 10/100. Ugh!

What use is wireless AC without Gigabit ports? I probably couldn't reach the max speed of AC even if I test from an AC client to 4 wired clients and a 2.4GHz MIMO N client simultaneously.

Maybe there's some way to replace the chip(s) controlling the internal network switch and turn it into a gigabit switch. Probably not worth the effort, though...

[edit]

It does have better WiFi range than her previous-generation AirPort Time Capsule.

Now you know why it was 30 :biggrin:
 

mv2devnull

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2010
1,495
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.. wireless-AC router ..

I thought it would be good for my mother's place, where it would replace a wireless-N router (her new iPhone 6s is AC-capable).

What use is wireless AC without Gigabit ports?
The marketing name "wireless router" implies that the device primarily routes traffic between wireless devices, doesn't it? The only wired port of interest is thus the WAN port (if the device has any) and since the assumption is that the upstream connection tends to be (or at least used to be, due to pricing and availability) less than 1Gbps, even that is not very interesting. "Wireless" seems to be trendy. I do admit that it can be convenient, but personally I stick to wired.

The needs of the mothers: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Mrs._Roberts
 

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,234
136
Now you know why it was 30 :biggrin:

Well, almost immediately after, I got an Asus RT-AC66U from a thrift store for $29 :awe:

Really, it was a T-mobile "Cellspot" until I put retail firmware on it.

Boxed and looks unused. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.