WiFi Router Upgrade Help

[Ant2369]

hello all...brand new to the forum...need some thoughts, opinions, advice and recommendations on upgrading my current Nighthawk R7000. My ISP recently launched gigabit internet and I switched over getting a new RM1000 modem to handle the speeds. Im torn between getting the RBK50 mesh router or the Nighthawk X10.


Did a Speedtest and I was only pulling 190-210 and assumed something was wrong. The cox tech that came out got 1.1gbps from the cable in and 960-992mbps Ethernet out. They’re assuming my slow WiFi is the router bottlenecking. My previous internet was Ultimate 300 and I was only pulled 150-170 wireless(when I moved in 300-360 so something happened I’m guessing it’s all the additional devices I’ve added)


Coverage isn’t a huge issue my current router covers my house (1800-2000 sqft) so I know upgrading to either ball offer the same or much better coverage.Speed is what my more concerned with. If I’m going to spend the money to upgrade the Wi-Fi router I want to get the top possible speeds I can get.


My initial plan was the RBK50 until I read that the 1.3gbps band was private for the satellites to talk to the router and it maxed out 867mbps. Which made my nervous that wireless I would pull 500 or possibly lower making the speed upgrade not really that tremendous.


What are people’s opinions on the two routers My other thought is if I won’t see a significant increase in speeds going back to the 300 and keeping my current router....

 

[Ketchup]

Plug a desktop or laptop directly into the modem and run a speed test. Plug the same computer back into the Nighthawk and run the same speed test.

When you ran the speed test in the first post, were you wired or wireless? If wireless, what speed (g/n/ac)?

 

[Ant2369]

I attempted that and my iMac says sell assigned ip and wouldn’t connect to the internet. Tired a few things and wasn’t successful. When I went Ethernet from the router to my iMac it worked but was only pulling 200. When Cox was here the tested it right from the cable into the house and Ethernet from the modem to their testing unit successfully

I was wireless using iPad Pro 10.5, 2017 27” iMac and iPhone X

 

[VirtualLarry]

What is the limitation on spatial streams of your client devices? If you get an AC1900 router like a refurb AC68U, that's a 3x3 router. If your laptop only has a 1x1 or 2x2 Intel AC wifi card, you're not going to hit max speeds.

Regardless, if your got gigabit internet, you're going to want a gigabit wired LAN to take advantage of all your speed. Wifi still doesn't cut it, if you want performance.

 

[Ketchup]

Ditto what Larry said. Gigabit is going to be great if you have wireless AC devices and/or you stream from multiple devices at the same time. You are going to hit the wall of the speed of sites and their hosts can offer data to you with gigabit, so the only real limitation you might run into right now is too many devices from your router, assuming there are more devices than you listed here.

 

[Ant2369]

3 iPhones
3 iPads
3 Apple TVs
iMac
Printer
TiVo Bolt
TiVo Mini
Cox dvr
Denon AVR
2 Apple Watches
Xbox one X
2 Ecbobee 3
HomePod
Lutron Casetta Bridge
Thats all I can think off the top my head and I’m sure there’s more

 

[Ant2369]

I get I won’t get peak wireless performance vs wired I guess my overall question is what will perform better the X10 or Orbi

 

[Ketchup]

Go around your house with an app like the Netgear Wifi Analytics. If you have a lot of dead spots, or spots where you have only one or two bards, the Orbi might be for you. The X10 is an amazing router only if 1) you don't have any dead spots with your current router and 2) at least some of your devices can take advantage of the faster wireless technology.

 

[Ant2369]

Go around your house with an app like the Netgear Wifi Analytics. If you have a lot of dead spots, or spots where you have only one or two bards, the Orbi might be for you. The X10 is an amazing router only if 1) you don't have any dead spots with your current router and 2) at least some of your devices can take advantage of the faster wireless technology.

Is there Another analytics app you can recommend the NETGEAR one does not have an iOS version it appears

 

[JackMDS]

WIFI Analysis Apps do not care about the make off the Wireless Router, they arr analyzing the signal which is Universal in nature.

The best is to take a Laptop put on it this Portable Free App.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_view.html

 

[razel]

There is a lot of marketing with WiFi speeds. The Orbis are only 866mb/s (2 stream x 433 AC) WiFi to your devices. The triple stream wireless backhaul is to Orbi to Orbi only and you'll only get that speed if they are close together AND have good line of sight.

If you want reliable gigabit to your devices in the real world home, they have to be wired which isn't a bad idea to start wiring up home anyway. It's the best way to enjoy MESH.

I wouldn't be sad though. 1000mb/s doesn't mean you'll get data 10x than 100mb/s when you need 10mb/s which is a real world average outside of downloads and 4k streaming. Even 4k data rates off 4k blu-rays tend to average 50-75mb/s. If it saves you more money, it's probably wiser to drop your speed down. Only reason to keep higher speed is if on cable Internet they use DOCSIS 3.1 and more channels for higher speeds. More channels available does mean better less slowdown for you during bz times.

At work we have gigabit speeds and at home I have 100mb/s. I can't tell a lick of difference unless I'm downloading something and even then, downloading is so fast, I really just don't care to pay for more.