Time to upgrade my wifi

[MrGrim999]

Hey guys. So I've had the Asus AC68P for awhile now and been itchin to upgrade. My gaming pc is about 50ft away from the router on the same floor and the wireless signal could def be better. Its a small one story home. I've been thinking about trying a mesh router or maybe just getting a better router if possible. Price isn't a concern. If anyone could please give some recommendations, especially anyone knowledgeable with mesh networks.

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[bigi]

Look at UniFi setups from Ubiquiti.
I recently switched to their Firewall, switch and AP. Besides great UI for all of the good stuff, the speed alone and quality of connection has improved greatly.
You would need their switch and AP at the minimum. FW is good but not necessary addition.

Plenty of youtube videos on the matter.

 

[EXCellR8]

Actually managed to get my virtual Untangle FW to play very nice with my UniFi access points; performance has been phenomenal since tweaking it a bit.

These are sub-enterprise grade UAP's though, left over from an acquisition. I don't think I've used any of their consumer products.

 

[Fallen Kell]

A mesh router will probably not fix poor connectivity issues to a computer in your house. All it will do is add to the most likely already congested WiFi signal space by connecting between 2 or more WiFi mesh routers wirelessly (as the mesh backbone competes for using the same limited number of channels that your wireless devices also need to have their connection to the wireless routers). In most countries, there are really only 3 usable channels that have proper signal separation for full bandwidth usage that they can be used at the same time without forcing all other devices to wait while something is being transmitted over the net. By placing a wireless mesh, you have just cut those 3 usable channels down to 2, limiting the bandwidth of your other devices to 2 streams. If you have any neighbors close enough that you can see their WiFi networks, those too are also competing for the channels, which means you most likely have significant overlap even if they are not using the exact channel you are on, again causing all devices that use that channel to have to share, waiting until it is clear before they can transmit, and going into collision protocol when 2 devices attempt to transmit at the same time forcing all devices on the net to stop transmitting and begin again at a pseudo random time to try and prevent the devices from again communicating at the same time.

So long story short, mesh networking is not something you should want to deploy in its current state for home use. The only purpose it is good for is an emergency based network to bring online in the case of widespread disruption of communications (think disaster recovery), or for temporary installations. Everything else about mesh networking is marketing bloat. If you simply need better range, get a new router that has better antennas, relocate the router somewhere closer to the computer, or run a hardwire to second router in access point mode that is closer to the computer, or for best results run a wire to that computer and get a huge increase in performance.

 

[Headfoot]

Agree with Fallen. Get a better WAP before you go mesh, for sure. The Ubiquiti stuff mentioned earlier is very well regarded for that

 

[razel]

The ASUS AC68P is part of AiMesh. However I would optimize it's placement before buying another ASUS AiMesh compatible router.

 

[fluffmonster]

I put some UniFi APs together with the Asus router I have, and just turned off wifi on the router. Works great, and the latency on the router dropped considerably.

 

[bigi]

I put some UniFi APs together with the Asus router I have, and just turned off wifi on the router. Works great, and the latency on the router dropped considerably.

@fluffmonster

Curious - can you manage the APs in any way with Asus router?

 

[fluffmonster]

No, not at all. You need to use one of their controller methods to set it up, but after that you can ignore it except for updates. You can get the network controller app from Unifi downloads. That one requires Java tho which I don't like to have on my machines (so I stuck it on a man-childs).

You need ethernet runs to the APs, there's really no point otherwise. I drilled holes in places that would make some cringe, but if budget isn't a big concern just call a professional.

 

[Midwayman]

The tp-link EAP series is really good as well. I have 3 EAP-245 in my house and get 550Mbs out of them with a dual link connection. The eap 245 is 3 link, the eap 225 is two link.

 

[Muadib]

Do you plan to go Wifi 6? If you are, take a look at Ubiquiti's Alien router. If you place it in the center of your home, you should be good.

AmpliFi | Faster, Whole-Home Wi-Fi

Not Just a Wi-Fi Router, It’s a Mesh Wi-Fi System.

amplifi.com

 

[Midwayman]

Do you plan to go Wifi 6? If you are, take a look at Ubiquiti's Alien router. If you place it in the center of your home, you should be good.

Signal strength > wifi 6. More AC AP's will nearly always be faster on average than a single router of any design. Unless money is no object and then buy the wifi 6 routers and wifi 6 APs.

 

[Muadib]

Signal strength > wifi 6. More AC AP's will nearly always be faster on average than a single router of any design. Unless money is no object and then buy the wifi 6 routers and wifi 6 APs.

I have waiting for Ubiquiti to come out with another wifi 6 AP. The OP said price is no object, which is why I brought it up. I got to play with the Alien over a buddy's house, and it works well. The OP didn't say how big his house is, but he said it was small. My friend only has one Alien now. He had the two pack, but after hooking one up decided he didn't need 2. He has a 1 Gbps connection, and I was getting 400mbps quite a bit down the street. It's a damn good router by itself, but if you want a mesh setup, you can do that too. He has a pretty big house, about 3000 squire feet.

 

[MrGrim999]

Thanks alot for all the great replies guys! I've never needed to go beyond 1 router before and I'm a total noob when it comes to all these suggestions. I didnt even realize my current router supports AI mesh haha.

So as I mentioned, the area which has my gaming pc that I'm trying to improve the connection is about 50ft from the router. I know bc i ran a 50ft ethernet cable to see how much different a hard wired connection would be with downloading speeds, browsing etc. , which was significant of course. One day out of left field, its wifi signal began to fluctuate and even drop occasionally and hasn't been the same since. I've tried changing the router channel between 1, 6, 11 but same thing keeps happening.

Unfortunately, I can't relocate the main router. But as per your suggestions, I would like to try a new router and use my existing one as an access point and hard wire it to my gaming pc. I will def research youtube videos regarding Ubiquiti. Im thinking of trying the Asus ROG Rapture as my main router and see if that solves my problem first. Then I'll try adding my existing as an access point.

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[Midwayman]

One day out of left field, its wifi signal began to fluctuate and even drop occasionally and hasn't been the same since. I've tried changing the router channel between 1, 6, 11 but same thing keeps happening.

interesting. Probably a new noise source near you. Do you know what band you are on? 2.4 or 5? You can get a wifi channel analyser that will show signal strength on each channel and pick the cleanest. If you're on 2.4 for some reason, there are a ton of things that put out strong 2.4 signals.

 

[MrGrim999]

interesting. Probably a new noise source near you. Do you know what band you are on? 2.4 or 5? You can get a wifi channel analyser that will show signal strength on each channel and pick the cleanest. If you're on 2.4 for some reason, there are a ton of things that put out strong 2.4 signals.

I actually tried that. Wifi analyzer will show full stars on a channel. The moment I switch to that channel , whether its 6 or 11, it goes to 1 star next time I check. This is 2.4ghz. Whether my gaming pc is on 5 or 2.4, I watch the signal fluctuate from full strength to 1 bar.

Silly question, if I add another router, should I go AX now? I realize nothing supports wifi 6 yet but is it ok to use an AX router with an AC router?

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[Midwayman]

If its an external noise issue, only finding a clean channel will probably help. It could be something failing though. Do you have something else you can use to log the signal for awhile? See if the problem is -

1. With the devices as far apart as possible- is the 2nd experiencing problems at the same times?
2. With the devices in the same room, same deal.

A) if 1 is a problem for both- dying router.
b) if 1 is a problem for just the PC- noise or dying wifi card
c) if 2 is a problem for both noise or dying router,
d) if 2 just a problem for the PC- dying wifi card
if B and C, probably a noise location in that spot.

 

[MrGrim999]

UPDATE

Hey guys! So I received my Asus RT-AX88U yesterday and I'm happy to say it solved all my problems. Either my old router was failing or this one kicks major ass. I've run speed tests at different times of the day and get the same results. The funny thing is I'm enrolled in the Optimum 200 package and the speed test results are giving me 235.

Thanks again guys for all the input!

 

[razel]

I'm enrolled in the Optimum 200 package and the speed test results are giving me 235

Yes, cable modem speeds in 4 homes have nearly always been higher than what we're paying for, for at least 5 years. Back then I was paying for 50, I got 70ish with the right modem with enough channels. When things moved to 100, we averaged 120. Now at 200 we average 230-240. I'm with Spectrum formerly Time Warner.

It's one of the few times where they OVER deliver and I genuinely give them credit.

Realistically though during high traffic times (7pm-9pm) , 230 isn't steady, but it's still plenty of speed often hovering between 90-150.