.

I found a deal a few months ago (I think on NeweggFlash) for an Asus AC66U that was something like $15-20 more than the N66U and I decided to go for the AC. I don't trust Linksys enough to buy one - even a relatively high-end one, and I think the AC66U is good enough that I can use it for at least 5 years. I'm running Shibby's Tomato on mine (might switch to Victek though).

Best site I know for info on this stuff is http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/. I link it a lot but I am not affiliated with it at all.
 
It all depends on your priorities and didn't you get this answered in the other thread? If you want to go Asus then go for it?
//Danne
 
As I said, it all depends... I for one don't think that RT-N66U is "the best" 11n out there.
//Danne
 
There is more to a router than the wireless protocols it supports. People shit on that Linksys AC1200 because it simply isn't very good at doing it's intended job of reliably routing traffic:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/B00C0WZ9FW/

More 1 star reviews than 5 star reviews...

You are comparing high end N routers to low end AC routers. If you just want to be cheap, you can get decent N routers for $30.
 
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One thing to consider is that 802.11ac is 5Ghz ONLY. Most if not all AC devices are dual band and will operate on 2.4Ghz, but make no mistake, those connections on 2.4Ghz are 100% 802.11n, and nothing more.

2.4Ghz gets significantly better penetration through walls vs 5Ghz in most cases. So even using an AC device, you'll probably get better performance on 2.4Ghz (aka only using N) if you're not line-of-sight.

802.11ac is great if you have a line-of-sight connection, or maybe just a single thin wall between you, OR if you're somewhere that is VERY crowded, like a college dorm or similar. 5Ghz has many more non-overlapping channels.
 
go to small net builder they have reviews and comparisons on all of them.
long story short since almost nothing supports ac I would not spend the money on one right now.
and the 1200 is the slowest chip in the ac lineup.
go look at all of the reviews on the site before buying.
Netgear 3700's were on sale for $40 not to long ago but that was in us.

like diizzy posted check out http://www.legitreviews.com/tp-link...0-router-review-under-50-wireless-router_2149
 
WDR3500 (linked in the review) uses older radio hardware and lacks gbit-switch from what I can tell by reading the OpenWRT wiki.
//Danne
 
If you transfer large and/or many data between home machines or you have a very fast internet connection of nearly 100Mbps or more, always go for a gigabit switch in your router (in the case of 100Mbps+ internet you'd want a router with a gigabit WAN port as well but I doubt you have such fast internet). If you never do that, it doesn't matter.
 
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If you stream HD content between devices, 1000 Ethernet works much better as well. It doesn't make a big different once a video is playing, but seeking and starting new videos works wwwaaayyy better once I switched to 1000.
 
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The difference between WDR3500 and WDR3600 is the gigabit eth which is worth it by far.
//Danne
 
Have you looked at the netgear AC1450 looks like you can flash it to the 1750 check out this slickdeals post as you can get a referb for $65
 
rhansen5_99 said:
Have you looked at the netgear AC1450 looks like you can flash it to the 1750 check out this slickdeals post as you can get a referb for $65
Click to expand...

You can just throw DD-WRT (Kong builds) on that thing too... This is one of the supported routers for the new builds he is working on.
 
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What you could also do is get a wired router and an access point.

You will get a lot better setup if you do that vs a lame home router. I have sworn off all consumer based routers because they tend to have issues after about a year top and their range is abysmal as well.

Also.. ASUS has the worst support on the planet.

Maybe something like a Mikrotik router if you don't want to build your own setup... and then for a Wireless access point, you can get something like a Cisco 1252 off of Ebay... Only N300, but coming from B you will be just fine.
 
ocellaris said:
You can just throw DD-WRT (Kong builds) on that thing too... This is one of the supported routers for the new builds he is working on.
Click to expand...

DD-WRT is garbage. I tried it on my Asus AC66U and it hasn't improved since I used it for a bit on my old WRT54G v4. And no AC support - LOL. Also it couldn't use Fastpath when Tomato can.

DD-WRT are also GPL violators, or at least they were in the past.
 
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Here let me fix that for you:

dandragonrage said:
DD-WRT is garbage on most hardware with few exceptions.

DD-WRT are also GPL violators.
Click to expand...


Yeah! All fixed.


Seriously though, I like ASUS routers, anything from a RT-56 onward should be game for you. Install merlin firmware and move on.


Dizzy will beat the OpenWRT on TP-link hardware until its dead as his personal poison.

I like it [H]ard so I split my router out from my wireless, but I'm a bit crazy.

You're so far behind on the hardware curve that most anything will be a great improvement.

I personally do not believe that AC routers are worth the AC part in their name at the moment as almost no one is implementing the entire 802.11ac spec. The second gen AC routers are just arriving on the market and they are no where near bugfree, nor are there 4x4 or higher spatial stream supported client devices in the channel yet.

I see it as a high end price premium to get "the best" when for most users cases "the best is only +10% in performance for +80% in price. There are exceptions to this but that is not the norm.

This is precisely why I purchased refurb routers as my previous 2 units. For $35 I got what was top of the line 18 months ago.

NOW.....

Based entirely on your opening post, I 'm going to endorse this:

http://www.macofalltrades.com/Airport-Extreme-Base-Station-4th-generation-p/apx-4.htm

It's going to make you grin from ear to ear and it will just work.

It's loads faster than what you have now.

The build quality will be better than almost any of the suggestions above.

It does not have a pile of switches and dials in the interface, the but damn thing just works and it works well. (No degree in IT required)
 
Just wanted to add my 2 cents..

I bought a Asus RT-AC66U when they first came out a little over a year ago. At the same time I bought the cheapest 802.11AC USB3 adapter out there at the time. (Edimax EW-7822AC). I use the "Asuswrt-Merlin" firmware which is the stock Asus firmware with some modifications maintained here: http://www.lostrealm.ca/tower/node/79

My file server is connected to one of the gigabit ports on the Asus router. And my main PC is connected via wireless through the Edimax USB 3.0 adapter.

My main PC is able to copy files to/from my file server around 45MB/sec though one wall about 11 feet from the router. I also just got a MacBook Pro with 802.11AC built in and after some testing around the house the lowest I have seen is 25MB/sec and the highest 50MB/sec.

After several tests I have come to the conclusion that 802.11AC can maintain higher performance than N for the same given distance. I am even able to take my MacBook to the neighbors house (approx 100ft away) and still maintain around 15MB/sec speeds on AC through a few walls and a garage! The few N 5Ghz devices I have are barely able to load a website under the same conditions.
 
I see 18MB/s on my AP using wireless N protocol at 100' on 2.4Ghz

It is a AC access point but I do not own any AC client devices.
 
stevewm said:
Just wanted to add my 2 cents..

I bought a Asus RT-AC66U when they first came out a little over a year ago. At the same time I bought the cheapest 802.11AC USB3 adapter out there at the time. (Edimax EW-7822AC). I use the "Asuswrt-Merlin" firmware which is the stock Asus firmware with some modifications maintained here: http://www.lostrealm.ca/tower/node/79

My file server is connected to one of the gigabit ports on the Asus router. And my main PC is connected via wireless through the Edimax USB 3.0 adapter.

My main PC is able to copy files to/from my file server around 45MB/sec though one wall about 11 feet from the router. I also just got a MacBook Pro with 802.11AC built in and after some testing around the house the lowest I have seen is 25MB/sec and the highest 50MB/sec.

After several tests I have come to the conclusion that 802.11AC can maintain higher performance than N for the same given distance. I am even able to take my MacBook to the neighbors house (approx 100ft away) and still maintain around 15MB/sec speeds on AC through a few walls and a garage! The few N 5Ghz devices I have are barely able to load a website under the same conditions.
Click to expand...

What about running N at 2.4Ghz? the 5Ghz wavelength is horrible with penetration through walls, etc. It is basically for "in the same room" connections.
 
JYeager11 said:
Are you guys suggesting that even 11n speeds are improved on an 11ac router with no 11ac clients yet?
Click to expand...

It depends more on the signal strength, the specific router and specific wireless cards.

You do have N150, N300, N450, N600, and N900.
 
JYeager11 said:
Are you guys suggesting that even 11n speeds are improved on an 11ac router with no 11ac clients yet?
Click to expand...

There's an efficiency gain on the number of bits used in error correction but the measurable gains are less that 2%.

The whole N150, N300, N450, N600, and N900 thing is the number of spatial streams supported.

N only goes up to 3x3 which is 450Mbps. 450+450=900 which is where they get the number from.

If a router supports 2x2 spatial stream and 40Mhz channel mode you get 300Mbps throughput per radio/ freq or 600Mbps total


A 1x1 connection on wireless N 2.4Ghz 20Mhz channel width gets you a 72Mbps connection which you'll see on some phones and older dell wireless cards like the dell 1502.
 
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