The Router Recommendations Thread (Consumer)

octoberasian said:
Hi, I'm still looking for a router, and am still interested in other options and opinions than the ones I've mentioned in my post:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1040478716&postcount=1245

Thank you.
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Mikrotik RB951G-2HnD. Don't let the aesthetics or size fool you. The range, performance, and stability is top notch. Imo, the best kept secret in routers; they have an amazing feature set equivalent to expensive Cisco or Juniper routers. That said, RouterOS (the software) is not super consumer friendly. You don't have to do anything from the command line per-say (everything can be done via UI), but you will need to know basic network concepts. They do come preconfigured as your typical home router out-of-the-box and need a little fine tuning/personalization.
 
I'm getting my 1 gbit connection hooked up next month or so.. What router should I be looking at? Ideally I'd want something with as high throughput as possible without going overly expensive (north of about $300) or having to build something on my own.
 
Wihl said:
I'm getting my 1 gbit connection hooked up next month or so.. What router should I be looking at? Ideally I'd want something with as high throughput as possible without going overly expensive (north of about $300) or having to build something on my own.
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Hopefully it is not a PPPoE connection.
 
Bought a RT-AC68R today. Tried to flash the Merlin firmware and if failed so i did the latest one from asus and it worked.
 
German Muscle said:
Bought a RT-AC68R today. Tried to flash the Merlin firmware and if failed so i did the latest one from asus and it worked.
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When I got the RT-N66U, my first attempt to flash with Merlin did not work, so I flashed with the latest ASUS firmware, then flashed with Merlin again and it worked fine.

Each time I flashed the firmware, I did a hard reset, which you need to do before and after every firmware flash. This is necessary for all dd-wrt routers.
 
i was looking at the temp graph on my ac68r and i noticed its running at 198 on the cpu. Is this normal operating temps?
 
i wanted to report back on the asus 68u. i've had this router running for about 2 weeks now with no issues. my house is 2600 square feet,and this router is located upstairs.

my wifi has doubled on the 2.4 and 5ghz side of things. i now have internet access outside my house to.i haven't tested on he ac side yet.

if anyone is looking for a good wifi adapter....take a look at this one. i use these in 2 of my pc's and they work flawlessly.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320089

i'll be looking into the asus ac adapters soon.
 
Hey i'll be buying the TP-link Archer C7 unless someone has a better router for the same price.

Anything better?
 
ktr said:
Mikrotik RB951G-2HnD. Don't let the aesthetics or size fool you. The range, performance, and stability is top notch. Imo, the best kept secret in routers; they have an amazing feature set equivalent to expensive Cisco or Juniper routers. That said, RouterOS (the software) is not super consumer friendly. You don't have to do anything from the command line per-say (everything can be done via UI), but you will need to know basic network concepts. They do come preconfigured as your typical home router out-of-the-box and need a little fine tuning/personalization.
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Mikrotik convert here... I can't recommend these enough now!

I picked up the RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN after my DIR-655 started going flaky. It's an amazing router after the initial setup.
 
really excited for the wrt1900ac it is a beast dual core 1.2ghz 128 flash mem 256 ddr3 ram esata usb 4 detachable antenna open source ready
 
Im looking for something to replace my ISA550w's since they are past EOL now. I would like something very close to this since this is what i know and have near 100 of them in the field. Whats close to this? I cant convince my Owner to try pfsense based routers so needs something commercial in the $300-400 range that is going to last.

here is a breif rundown of the isa
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...sa550w-integrated-security-appliance-reviewed
 
I got 3 x ASUS AC68U routers and I want to install 2 as access points and having one hooked up to the modem. Do you foresee any problem? Do you think the 2 access points would conflict with each other?
I got them for free so plz refrain to suggest what I'm doing is a waste of $. I'm tired of powerlines, hubs and wires all over the house and if the above works seems the best solution as long as I don't have any conflict between the 3 routers.
 
Ins0mnyteq said:
Im looking for something to replace my ISA550w's since they are past EOL now. I would like something very close to this since this is what i know and have near 100 of them in the field. Whats close to this? I cant convince my Owner to try pfsense based routers so needs something commercial in the $300-400 range that is going to last.

here is a breif rundown of the isa
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...sa550w-integrated-security-appliance-reviewed
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Zyxel USG 100, but they 're replacing the entire line with the CPUs in the new Zywalls later this year. So the replacements are 15 times faster.
 
How about a gigabit router with high throughput. Would like for it to have a firewall, was thinking ds-250, thoughts?
 
I'm looking to upgrade from the comcast supplied arris tg862 modem/router combo because of slow vpn speeds i've been getting. I seem to max out at 1.2MB/s if i'm lucky, and from what I've read, the router's cpu is the bottleneck when handling encrypted vpn connections.

I've been using airvpn as my provider and have tried multiple servers and tcp/udp ports with no difference.

I was thinking about going to a sb6141 modem connected to a netgear nighthawk router due to its 1Ghz cpu speed. Will this work, or am I wasting money?
 
xSneak said:
I'm looking to upgrade from the comcast supplied arris tg862 modem/router combo because of slow vpn speeds i've been getting. I seem to max out at 1.2MB/s if i'm lucky, and from what I've read, the router's cpu is the bottleneck when handling encrypted vpn connections.

I've been using airvpn as my provider and have tried multiple servers and tcp/udp ports with no difference.

I was thinking about going to a sb6141 modem connected to a netgear nighthawk router due to its 1Ghz cpu speed. Will this work, or am I wasting money?
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What speed service do you have? A 10 Mbps service (typical) will be 1.25 MB/sec max.

I doubt upgrading your modem/router will allow you to "unlock" additional bandwidth.
 
xSneak said:
I'm looking to upgrade from the comcast supplied arris tg862 modem/router combo because of slow vpn speeds i've been getting. I seem to max out at 1.2MB/s if i'm lucky, and from what I've read, the router's cpu is the bottleneck when handling encrypted vpn connections.

I've been using airvpn as my provider and have tried multiple servers and tcp/udp ports with no difference.

I was thinking about going to a sb6141 modem connected to a netgear nighthawk router due to its 1Ghz cpu speed. Will this work, or am I wasting money?
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I Purchased my own modem to Get my $7/month back from TWC, but Im not seeing any noticeable performance gains. I used to average from speedtest 51/5.5 now its closer to 52/6 on average, but peaks and valleys.

BUT having a modem/Router combo is a bad idea imo, so i would spend the money, for the Router at least, so you can have it handle the authentication.
 
lord_farfig said:
What speed service do you have? A 10 Mbps service (typical) will be 1.25 MB/sec max.

I doubt upgrading your modem/router will allow you to "unlock" additional bandwidth.
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I have the 50mbps service I'm guessing, even though I get around 7 MB/s downloading from steam.

it's just my vpn connection only goes up to 2 MB/s if I'm lucky; Right now my vpn seems to be stuck at 500 KB/s. I've posted on the vpn forums and they said I should experiment with changing my udp packet size to see if it improves the speed.

Was just looking though this and some other threads on the issue and wondering if my router could be involved. I know this is mainly with running vpn on the router rather than through a client on the computer.
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1715/openvpn-router-speeds/p1

I haven't bought anything yet. The thing with comcast is that my house is on a triple play plan that includes phone/tv/internet. Seems I would need to get a separate modem for the phone service If i wanted to seperate the modem and router. The other thing is the comcast rep said that the tv setop boxes would only work if I used the comcast supplied router/gateway and put it in bridge mode.
 
xSneak said:
I have the 50mbps service I'm guessing, even though I get around 7 MB/s downloading from steam.

it's just my vpn connection only goes up to 2 MB/s if I'm lucky; Right now my vpn seems to be stuck at 500 KB/s. I've posted on the vpn forums and they said I should experiment with changing my udp packet size to see if it improves the speed.

Was just looking though this and some other threads on the issue and wondering if my router could be involved. I know this is mainly with running vpn on the router rather than through a client on the computer.
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1715/openvpn-router-speeds/p1

I haven't bought anything yet. The thing with comcast is that my house is on a triple play plan that includes phone/tv/internet. Seems I would need to get a separate modem for the phone service If i wanted to seperate the modem and router. The other thing is the comcast rep said that the tv setop boxes would only work if I used the comcast supplied router/gateway and put it in bridge mode.
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7 MB/sec down is pretty crazy, since a 50 Mbps would be 6.25 MB/sec.

What is doing your VPN? VPN's can have a lot of overhead and take processing power depending on the encryption and compression used.
 
lord_farfig said:
7 MB/sec down is pretty crazy, since a 50 Mbps would be 6.25 MB/sec.

What is doing your VPN? VPN's can have a lot of overhead and take processing power depending on the encryption and compression used.
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The vpn client uses openvpn. I've tried ports, 80, 53, 443, and different server locations.

I'm going to do some more tests on it later to see if i can get faster speeds.
 
So I bought a Netgear 3700 quite a while ago and for the last year or so it's given me nothing but issues when it comes to WiFi signal, I'll be in the room right next to the router or in the room WITH the router and I get zero signal. I've done plenty of searches and tried everything suggested but still nothing, the router works fantastic for all of my wired connections without issue. I purchased a refurb Netgear router to use as an access point up in my bedroom (2 story house) to help extend the range and that one gives fantastic WiFi signal so I'm thinking the 3700 is just done for.

That being said, I was looking at the Asus RT-AC68U, worth the money? Can I still use my refurb netgear as an access point?
 
Dextar said:
So I bought a Netgear 3700 quite a while ago and for the last year or so it's given me nothing but issues when it comes to WiFi signal, I'll be in the room right next to the router or in the room WITH the router and I get zero signal. I've done plenty of searches and tried everything suggested but still nothing, the router works fantastic for all of my wired connections without issue. I purchased a refurb Netgear router to use as an access point up in my bedroom (2 story house) to help extend the range and that one gives fantastic WiFi signal so I'm thinking the 3700 is just done for.

That being said, I was looking at the Asus RT-AC68U, worth the money? Can I still use my refurb netgear as an access point?
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You can read my previous posts, but I had pretty bad issues with a DLink gaming series but just thought that was how wifi was. Purchasing the AC68 was the best infrastructure update to my house I have ever made. I love mine so far.
 
ob1 said:
You can read my previous posts, but I had pretty bad issues with a DLink gaming series but just thought that was how wifi was. Purchasing the AC68 was the best infrastructure update to my house I have ever made. I love mine so far.
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I've read through most of these threads and a lot of reviews on other sites and it seems a LOT of people have been having issues with the 68, I believe I paid 150 for my 3700 when I bought it and I'm just not interested in dropping so much on a router only to have it die. =(
 
Dextar said:
I've read through most of these threads and a lot of reviews on other sites and it seems a LOT of people have been having issues with the 68, I believe I paid 150 for my 3700 when I bought it and I'm just not interested in dropping so much on a router only to have it die. =(
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It is the state of consumer electronics today, that where you could get a bad unit from just about any manufacturer I guess. I bought my 68 from BestBuy just in case I had issue, so I would be able to easily return it. If you have that ability, why not try one out, (or the netgear nighthawk reviews pretty well too and is carried at BB).
 
Dextar said:
I've read through most of these threads and a lot of reviews on other sites and it seems a LOT of people have been having issues with the 68, I believe I paid 150 for my 3700 when I bought it and I'm just not interested in dropping so much on a router only to have it die. =(
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I bought a AC68R and its been a fantastic unit.
 
diizzy said:
Have you tried installing the newest firmware available on the WNDR3700?
http://archive.is/s6R5Q
Does this occur on both 2.4 and 5Ghz? As you can see some have issues with 2.4Ghz
//Danne
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It always had the latest firmware, it auto-updated each time and I even went to Netgear's website when I first started having issues. Back when I bought it I didn't have any 5GHz devices, when I upgraded to my Galaxy S3 I tried out the 5GHz and it gave me a lot of disconnect issues but it SEEMS to be working okay, my 5GHz signal is between -55 to -71 dBm (normally about -65) about ten feet from the router (there is a wall between them) but even in the same room it's -35dBm max. The 2.4GHz pulls in -80ish dBm in the same room as the router so I'm guessing the 2.4 radio is dying or just shot.


ob1 said:
It is the state of consumer electronics today, that where you could get a bad unit from just about any manufacturer I guess. I bought my 68 from BestBuy just in case I had issue, so I would be able to easily return it. If you have that ability, why not try one out, (or the netgear nighthawk reviews pretty well too and is carried at BB).
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I would love to try it out from BB and since they price match I wouldn't have an issue but none of my stores carry it, 7-10 day ship to store. I don't think I'd try with another Netgear, the wired works fantastic but the WiFi has always been an issue with this but not as bad as it is now. I've heard good things about the Asus and a lot of issues are resolved from Firmware updates but I've heard Asus support is AWFUL so it's a tough decision.
 
Any recommendations for a good sub $100 router. Wifi performance isn't that important as I have another router acting as just an WiFi AP. I'm more concerned about reliability, handle lots of connections without locking up, features, etc. I was using an extremely old D-Link DGL-4300 because it was reliable and never needed to be reset, but I think it is starting to die now.
 
TL-WDR3600, WD MyNet N750 or TL-WR1043NDv2 if you're fine with stock firmware or OpenWRT
I'd personally go for an EdgeRouter Lite, a USB flash drive and FreeBSD depending on comfortable you are with CLI.
//Danne
 
JohnleMVP said:
Any recommendations for a good sub $100 router. Wifi performance isn't that important as I have another router acting as just an WiFi AP. I'm more concerned about reliability, handle lots of connections without locking up, features, etc. I was using an extremely old D-Link DGL-4300 because it was reliable and never needed to be reset, but I think it is starting to die now.
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(cross posting an old post)

I highly recommend the Mikrotik RB951G-2HnD. Don't let the aesthetics or size fool you. The range, performance, and stability is top notch. Imo, the best kept secret in routers; they have an amazing feature set equivalent to expensive Cisco or Juniper routers. That said, RouterOS (the software) is not super consumer friendly. You don't have to do anything from the command line per-say (everything can be done via UI), but you will need to know basic network concepts. They do come preconfigured as your typical home router out-of-the-box and need a little fine tuning/personalization. The RB951G-2HnD cost around 80 to 85 bucks.
 
Ubituiti Edgerouter lite is $99, but its in the same class as the Mikrotik router.

each have pro's and cons. For $99 the Edgerouter is the undisputed king of pushing packets around (routing). But as I said before the devil is in the details, you need to know what you're looking for.
 
I ended up going with the EdgeRoute Lite (Recommended by Diizzy). I probably spent like an hour or so configuring it for SOHO, only to find that with the latest firmware update added a SOHO setup wizard. Anyway so far it's working well and it should be fun to learn and play with.

The Mikrotik router is probably a better SOHO device because it comes with everything most people would want: 5 ports, usb, and Wifi. I didn't need those things though so I gave the ERL a try.
 
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