New Router?

[Elf_Boy]

My WZR-1750DHP doesnt seem to be keeping up with my new 980 down connection.

Of course the connection itself seems to suck and I am going to need to have it repaired again.

Even right after they are here though plugged direct to the modem I can get into the 900's with the router I seem to cap around 700.

All Ethernet.

Any thoughts on a new one?

I have a 16 port gigabit switch Netgear Prosafe I think - can I set it to do the DHCP and all the basics for a wired network and plug the router in as a wireless access point for my phone/ipad?

First issue is get the incoming speed stable more then a few weeks I guess.

Thanks All!

 

[FNtastic]

I would recommend you look at a Ubiquiti edgerouter options. There's a lot of good info here already regarding 1Gbps ISP connection: https://community.ui.com/questions/...it-fiber/68d42a59-0b5a-40d4-92b2-f15cdae73dce

The short of it is that you can run ER-L or ER-X with hardware offloading turned on and expect 935 Mbps throughput.

It's certainly worth the money up front to get this hardware. You make this one time purchase and won't have to replace your hardware for a decade (if ever).

If you're looking to have wireless outside of your existing Buffalo, snag a Ubiquiti AP Lite. It will more than cover the area hat your current Wi-Fi router is covering.

A lot of us here in the forum are happy to point out any useful videos or configuration guides if you have any questions on configuration. We have steered others in the forum to this "prosumer" gear and they've been very happy with it.

The main benefit from my perspective is you won't have to replace your router in 2-5 years when it stops getting software updates, begins underperforming, etc... Let us know what you decide.

 

[x509]

I would recommend you look at a Ubiquiti edgerouter options.
[stuff snipped]

The main benefit from my perspective is you won't have to replace your router in 2-5 years when it stops getting software updates, begins underperforming, etc... Let us know what you decide.

But in 2-5 years, will there not be new and faster, possibly more secure, WiFi standards and the OP may want up upgrade anyway?

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

But in 2-5 years, will there not be new and faster, possibly more secure, WiFi standards and the OP may want up upgrade anyway?

Exactly. Prosumer networking gear is nice. But almost everyone wants what’s faster and newer when new standards materialize. These aren’t usually decade long investments. That would be for more like a business. And a business would have the money to invest in better equipment is long term use is warranted or expected.

 

[FNtastic]

But in 2-5 years, will there not be new and faster, possibly more secure, WiFi standards and the OP may want up upgrade anyway?

Sure. But, in the mean time he'll have capable gear. As opposed to a Netgear "gaming" router that won't get software updates after a year... It's still possible to upgrade prosumer gear. This doesn't disqualify him from that. My point is that it'll work much more reliably and more likely to get software updates than consumer gear.

Exactly. Prosumer networking gear is nice. But almost everyone wants what’s faster and newer when new standards materialize. These aren’t usually decade long investments. That would be for more like a business. And a business would have the money to invest in better equipment is long term use is warranted or expected.

I didn't say it was a required 10 year investment. Please see above. There's no comparison to ubiquiti vs anything consumer. Prosumer wins every time. And, it's proven over and over again.

 

[HammerSandwich]

But in 2-5 years, will there not be new and faster, possibly more secure, WiFi standards and the OP may want up upgrade anyway?

Remember that this is not all-in-one hardware. Want better wifi? Keep the router & add or replace a WAP.

Thinking longer term, I'd look at the new 10X over the ER-X models. The ER-X has only 256MB of storage, which already gets a bit tight with firmware updates. Needing to purge the backup image before an upgrade will run has been common for a while.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

Sure. But, in the mean time he'll have capable gear. As opposed to a Netgear "gaming" router that won't get software updates after a year... It's still possible to upgrade prosumer gear. This doesn't disqualify him from that. My point is that it'll work much more reliably and more likely to get software updates than consumer gear.



I didn't say it was a required 10 year investment. Please see above. There's no comparison to ubiquiti vs anything consumer. Prosumer wins every time. And, it's proven over and over again.

Let’s review your previous statement...

You make this one time purchase and won't have to replace your hardware for a decade (if ever).

I think I’ll leave this right here. It may have better support and almost certainly better software updates.

But arguably, consumer routers have poor support because of changing standards. The longer you support legacy hardware the harder it is to keep current product lines stable.

All I’m saying it, if you plan to use some hardware for 2-3 years, and you know you will upgrade when a standard comes out, don’t bother with prosumer WiFi imo.

Wired standards change much less often. I do have enterprise and prosumer grade wired equipment though.

 

[Brian_B]

In my experience, the UBNT gear is cheaper than the Netgear/Linksys "high end" crap anyway, and outperforms it significantly. It does take a bit of research to set up, but requires a lot less maintenance.

And like HammerSandwich says, it's modular so you upgrade what you need when you need.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

All I’m saying it, if you plan to use some hardware for 2-3 years, and you know you will upgrade when a standard comes out, don’t bother with prosumer WiFi imo.

Again, if you need the upgrade, you can add an AP.

The older standards don't disappear nor stop working.

With respect to WPA2 to WPA3... we're all going to be sucked into that boogaloo. Radios, firmware, drivers... it's going to be a mess. Worry about it when it gets here and gets tested.

 

[FNtastic]

Remember that this is not all-in-one hardware. Want better wifi? Keep the router & add or replace a WAP.

Thinking longer term, I'd look at the new 10X over the ER-X models. The ER-X has only 256MB of storage, which already gets a bit tight with firmware updates. Needing to purge the backup image before an upgrade will run has been common for a while.

Exactly this.

Let’s review your previous statement...



I think I’ll leave this right here. It may have better support and almost certainly better software updates.

But arguably, consumer routers have poor support because of changing standards. The longer you support legacy hardware the harder it is to keep current product lines stable.

All I’m saying it, if you plan to use some hardware for 2-3 years, and you know you will upgrade when a standard comes out, don’t bother with prosumer WiFi imo.

Wired standards change much less often. I do have enterprise and prosumer grade wired equipment though.

You seem to be missing the point and have turned this into a personal attack about semantics of the words I used. I clarified my statement. You continuing to attack it is childish. Make a recommendation to the OP, or don't reply at all.

 

[Elf_Boy]

OP appreciates any info. He is happy with the Buffalo for wireless -- I dont use wifi much and it is often off.

What would be the difficulties in setting up Ubiquiti edgeroute or other options? More so then setting up DD-WRT which I have done with a past Buffalo before it failed.

With two printers, Desktop, Laptop, Raspberry Pi (or two), 2x Samsung TV, and if I get around to it an Apple // GS, and who knows what else. all on the Ethernet I am going to be using the 16 port switch. Mostly what I am looking for in a router aside from gigabit speed is DHCP, Firewall, and if it isnt too much extra NAS though that is pretty low priority for me.

Thank you again to everyone for help and options!

-EB

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Mostly what I am looking for in a router aside from gigabit speed is DHCP, Firewall, and if it isnt too much extra NAS though that is pretty low priority for me.

NAS... needs to be another device. Even a Pi 4 would work with a pair of USB drives set up in a mirror, if you want to go as bare-bones as possible. Otherwise, DHCP, firewall, and plenty of other services are available in all Edgerouters.

What would be the difficulties in setting up Ubiquiti edgeroute or other options? More so then setting up DD-WRT which I have done with a past Buffalo before it failed.

Edgerouters host their own webpage like any other router, and they have a wizard that will get you running in minutes.

The beauty is that there are plenty of things exposed in the UI- almost everything, really- and there is even more that can be done at the console level, and then there's UNMS which is a bit nicer.

 

[Mighty Man]

To the OP:

I can attest to ubiquiti's ability to handle the 1GB speed.
Here in Phoenix, running Cox Gigablast Fiber, I'm testing at 1005.2 Mbps download and 470.5 Mbps upload right now.

MM

 

[Elf_Boy]

To the OP:

I can attest to ubiquiti's ability to handle the 1GB speed.
Here in Phoenix, running Cox Gigablast Fiber, I'm testing at 1005.2 Mbps download and 470.5 Mbps upload right now.

MM

Cool.

My cable modem does channel bonding so I can potential get up to 2 gbs - which doesn't help any 1 device but two could go fast at the same time.

Looks like the cable service itsself is crapping out as I am under 200 mb/s as of right now. Oh yeah I get to have another repair appointment.

 

[aliaskary77]

Remember that this is not all-in-one hardware. Want better wifi? Keep the router & add or replace a WAP.

Thinking longer term, I'd look at the new 10X over the ER-X models. The ER-X has only 256MB of storage, which already gets a bit tight with firmware updates. Needing to purge the backup image before an upgrade will run has been common for a while.

If one doesnt need 10 ports, what do you think of the ER-6P or ER-PoE?
Will use with the AC-Lite and replace a 10yr old Netgear WNDR3700

 

[IdiotInCharge]

what do you think of the ER-6P

Same thing as ER-4, but with more unswitched ports. Unless you have other networks that you need to route between, the ER-4 is where it's at.

Unswitched ports mean that you have to set routing and firewalling rules between the ports, and all of that is does by the CPU. A 'switched' port has dedicated switching hardware and should be able to run unrouted traffic full speed from port to port.

Note that connections that require routing may not run at full speed, which is a problem that the ER-X has.

ER-PoE?

Saved this for last to say avoid. Ubiquiti very poorly delineates between the actual performance of their products and I highly recommend reading current reviews.

 

[aliaskary77]

ok will need to read a little more. still trying to figure out the setup for unswitched ports.

my use case: cable companies modem in bridge mode...all routing and wifi handled by the netgear currently. dhcp used, but have setup IP reservations for all devices (PCs, mobile phones, smarttv and vonage) and wifi set to have allowed MAC lists.

no routing to other networks. will this be an easy drop in replacement for the netgear? of course will setup some similar items, but will I still need "routing and firewall rules" between the ports, of is that ONLY if I was setting this up with separate networks only (more than 1 subnet I assume)?

would like more ports than the ER4 for future use. 6 may be ok. 10X price is not bad so may look at that still.

----------
looking at specs and confused.
ER4 and ER6P Layer3 Perormance: 3,400,000 pps / 6 or 4 Gbps (Line Rate)
ER10X Layer3 Performance: 260,000 pps / 1 Gbps (Line Rate)

Not sure about Layer3, but 10X seems to be much less, so which is better?

Also, I am look at Edge Routers and not Edge Switches, so I am assuming the ER will do routing so I can replace the Netgear and use the ER with the cable modem still in bridge mode.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

looking at specs and confused.
ER4 and ER6P Layer3 Perormance: 3,400,000 pps / 6 or 4 Gbps (Line Rate)
ER10X Layer3 Performance: 260,000 pps / 1 Gbps (Line Rate)

What that means is that the ER-4 and ER-6P have more processing power- which would be useful if you were doing advanced small office stuff with dozens if not hundreds of internet users. What the ER-10X has is still overkill for nearly any conceivable home use. I would have bought an ER-10X over the ER-4 myself, if one had been available.

would like more ports than the ER4 for future use. 6 may be ok.

In addition to the above, and quite specifically: you do not want to use unswitched ports for anything other than routing between networks.

my use case: cable companies modem in bridge mode...all routing and wifi handled by the netgear currently. dhcp used, but have setup IP reservations for all devices (PCs, mobile phones, smarttv and vonage) and wifi set to have allowed MAC lists.

no routing to other networks. will this be an easy drop in replacement for the netgear? of course will setup some similar items, but will I still need "routing and firewall rules" between the ports, of is that ONLY if I was setting this up with separate networks only (more than 1 subnet I assume)?

Now, to answer your main question: yes. The ER-10X will allow you to hook up your bridge-mode modem and a swath of client devices (including access points and other switches as needed), and will handle DHCP reservations and so on without breaking a sweat.

Just make sure that you record those DHCP reservations, because you'll be doing all of that again .

 

[aliaskary77]

awesome, thanks for simplifying things for me.
and yeah, I have text files I maintain with all settings which I copy paste from
i finally put dd-wrt on my 11-12 year old WNDR3700 v1, and works well, but looking to update things a little.

 

[Lautreamont]

I'm getting 940 mbps up and down on a wired connection with ATT fiber and an Asus AC68 with merlin firmware. I then connect an Orbi in AP mode to the Asus for wireless.

 

[FNtastic]

I'll start by saying I'll recommend ubiquiti all day. I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you the full of it though. Since it looks like you're going down the ubiquiti road, I'll throw in that if you go the ubiquiti route, what they label as "stable" means something different than the rest of the industry. They rely on customers to preform beta testing (in a beta program), and what ends up happening is that software is pushed from beta to stable far before its been fully vetted or properly tested. You may not ever experience issues, or you might hit every issue on your specific hardware/network. I suggest reading the release notes for any version you plan to upgrade to and read the comments at the bottom from the users. It's not uncommon for the update to show up in your Unifi Network controller as available long before all the bugs are worked out. Some of the ownest is on you when you own this hardware. As long as you are aware of that, the hardware/software is great. I just see a lot of people getting into it and not realizing that "stable" software can bring down their whole network. And, they end up being disappointed. Hoping that setting this expectation beforehand will help you ease into it a bit more smoothly.

tl;dr be very careful about what ubiquiti calls "stable" and you'll have a good time