What router are you currently using?

[Sparticus]

What router are you currently using?

 

I just picked up the new Netgear Nighthawk, I must say it's a beast. Range is really good which is my favorite thing about it. 

[CA3LE]

I just got one of those too. Best router I've worked with. I had the Linksys AC 1750 for about a week before (got it temporarily while I waited for my Nighthawk)... the Nighthawk is twice the router than Linksys' best offering right now. The range is amazing, I was having horrible signal on my patio with every other router I tried... Nighthawk (R7000) has been flawless. Good choice! Best router out right now in my opinion...

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/ultimate-performance/R7000.aspx#

[Dude111]

I have an SMC router and I'd prefer to have my TOSHIBA STILL! (It was much better)

It only supports up to DOCSIS 1.1 but i dont care about getting faster speeds... 1.1 can give you up to 10 megs I THINK which is fine

Heres info on my PCX5000: http://web.archive.org/web/20050930195247/http://www.toshiba.com/taisnpd/products/pcx5000.html

[Sparticus]

I just got one of those too. Best router I've worked with. I had the Linksys AC 1750 for about a week before (got it temporarily while I waited for my Nighthawk)... the Nighthawk is twice the router than Linksys' best offering right now. The range is amazing, I was having horrible signal on my patio with every other router I tried... Nighthawk (R7000) has been flawless. Good choice! Best router out right now in my opinion...

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/ultimate-performance/R7000.aspx#

I have to agree with you CA3LE I didn't want to shell out the $200 but I have to say it was well worth it.

[Pgoodwin1]

I'm using an AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation). It's a great one too. I'm not actually using it as the router, but as a wireless switch that feeds my old D-Link DI-604 which performs the actual routing function. I did it that way so that I could put the router in the basement with all the Ethernet lines running to it through a gigabit switch. The house has wired ethernet in most rooms. That way I could put the AirPort Extreme upstairs in a central location. It has good range too, thru walls into the garage and out onto the deck.

The AirPort Extreme, D-Link DI-604 router, and the D-Link DGS-1008G gigabit switch are rock solid reliable. Literally, the only time they ever get reset is when the electric power goes off. Wish I could say the same about the Time Warner equipment.

The jury is still out on the Arris gateway from Time Warner. It's new here and came with a recent upgrade to faster Internet and phone service with their Signature Home plan. The Cisco DVR they have me is erratic and I think it will need to be replaced.

[Sparticus]

I'm using an AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation). It's a great one too. I'm not actually using it as the router, but as a wireless switch that feeds my old D-Link DI-604 which performs the actual routing function. I did it that way so that I could put the router in the basement with all the Ethernet lines running to it through a gigabit switch. The house has wired ethernet in most rooms. That way I could put the AirPort Extreme upstairs in a central location. It has good range too, thru walls into the garage and out onto the deck.The AirPort Extreme, D-Link DI-604 router, and the D-Link DGS-1008G gigabit switch are rock solid reliable. Literally, the only time they ever get reset is when the electric power goes off. Wish I could say the same about the Time Warner equipment.The jury is still out on the Arris gateway from Time Warner. It's new here and came with a recent upgrade to faster Internet and phone service with their Signature Home plan. The Cisco DVR they have me is erratic and I think it will need to be replaced.

All the equipment I have ever gotten from Time Warner has been junk, even the cable boxes. I've always just purchased my own modem. Especially now that they are trying to charge you $6 / month if you rent it from them.

[mudmanc4]

Running pfsense on an HP box with 4-GB nics split by a cisco 2924-xl for local KVM acess ect, a DGS-1224G GB switch, one card to a wtr54g with ddwrt, a wap11 which acts as a repeater.

 

I pulled cat6 through this old plastered house and dropped GB nics in all the machines. The wireless is controlled through 'captive portal' ( which plays hell on the kids 3dsx hahah ) on the pfsense appliance for external access. All hardware devices are on seperate subnets from any servers and or wireless networks. Using turnkey PDC to keep things in order.

[nanobot]

I use multiple routers. The border router to my Demarc is a Cisco 1710, then from there I go to a Cisco 1711 which switches off to the different areas of my house. One of the switchports goes to my DLINK DIR-615 for Wireless support. The other three go to my computer, my dad's computer, and another switch.

I'm actually planning on switching the order of the two, since the 1711 has four switchports, so I can pipe one of them to my 1710 for my house, and keep the other three for my DMZ/Server Test Bed.

Thanks,

EBrown

[rammolo]

A new netgear R7000, has a incredible wireless range

[ziggo]

I have an Asus RT-AC68U Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router.

 

The range is good for me, I have not tested its limits yet. I do receive full bars/excellent connection through out my home. I chose it because of it is able to offer 600Mbps @ 2.4Ghz and over 1Gbps @ 5Ghz frequencies. 

[CA3LE]

I have an Asus RT-AC68U Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router.

 

The range is good for me, I have not tested its limits yet. I do receive full bars/excellent connection through out my home. I chose it because of it is able to offer 600Mbps @ 2.4Ghz and over 1Gbps @ 5Ghz frequencies. 

I was looking at the Asus RT-AC68U too. I've always loved ASUS in general but their networking gear seemed to have mixed reviews. What do you think about the software on the router? I assume the hardware is the same as my Netgear AC-1900 R7000 Nighthawk... at least the chips are the same. They were both released at the same time... and both were available on preorder a month before released (imo that shows how exciting this hardware is).

I made my choice because of software... Netgear has always been solid for me and they've been at it as far back as I can remember, so I stuck with them. No doubt ASUS has great hardware but I think they're still fairly new to networking so I didn't want to risk it. So let me know what you think of the administrative controls... screenshots would be awesome.

[ziggo]

I was looking at the Asus RT-AC68U too. I've always loved ASUS in general but their networking gear seemed to have mixed reviews. What do you think about the software on the router? I assume the hardware is the same as my Netgear AC-1900 R7000 Nighthawk... at least the chips are the same. They were both released at the same time... and both were available on preorder a month before released (imo that shows how exciting this hardware is).

I made my choice because of software... Netgear has always been solid for me and they've been at it as far back as I can remember, so I stuck with them. No doubt ASUS has great hardware but I think they're still fairly new to networking so I didn't want to risk it. So let me know what you think of the administrative controls... screenshots would be awesome.

 

I am extremely disappointed with the RT-AC68U.  I have only had it for a few days and it was rebooting for no apparent reason and would freeze often and was not accessible without power reset.  It was running extremely hot with two wireless connections streaming 40-60Mbps a piece. The menu/software isvery slow to update setting adjustments.  

 

This was my first Asus networking experience. I only chose it because it was in stock and the Nighthawk was not. The lan throughput was a positive point and I did reach 149.8 Mpbs throughput to my ISP's local test server which is higher than 148.1 with my previous router a Netgear AC1750 R6300 v2.

 

Asus support had me update to 205 firmware, which made the router even more problematic. 

 

Positives: 

Wan to Lan performance was very good.

 

Negatives:

Not reliable. Crashes often.

Runs very warm.

UI is slow and sluggish

Tech support is terrible, for Europe anyway. I could not understand the man. Very heavy accent and not friendly.

 

I join a long list of unhappy customers of this router it seems. I will return it today for a full refund and hope to find a Nighthawk locally.

[CA3LE]

I am extremely disappointed with the RT-AC68U.  I have only had it for a few days and it was rebooting for no apparent reason....

 

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm glad I didn't get the ASUS router.  Seriously though, don't let that reflect on all their products.  

ASUS monitors, motherboards, video cards... all VERY good.  I have two older ASUS monitors I'm still using, I've ordered at least 20 of their monitors for myself and others... never had even a single dead pixel.  Also never had an issue with over 30 various ASUS motherboards and video cards.  Going back as far as the early 90's... but like I said in my previous post.  ASUS is new to networking.  

 

When I ordered mine there was no reviews on either because nobody could buy them yet.  But I had read reviews on previous routers they have released and they all state the same issues you do.

 

Get the Nighthawk.  It has none of those issues.  I just transferred > 100 GB of data across my network, to the touch the router is maybe 10 degrees hotter than ambient.  It's warm, nowhere near hot.  I do some pretty hardcore stuff across my network.  It's my business to know a good router.  The R7000 is the sickest wifi router I've ever used.  Plug it in and it does it's job... I've had netgear routers in the past that have had hundreds of days of uptime.  Router rebooting on you, eff that!  lol.  For me, I need 100% uptime.  Glad I didn't risk it with ASUS.

 

Back to the Nighthawk.  I like the white lights, I put mine in my bedroom and the lights don't bother me at night.  It actually makes a nice night light.  I also love the external hi-gain antenna. One negative, I think they should have a USB 3.0 on the back as well as the front, but that's minor.  It's also BIG but when you factor in what it does and how well it does it... it makes sense.

 

Performance is over 2x better than I was getting on a brand new linksys AC 1750.  I only tested AC on my mac mini which has USB 2.0 (limiting the adapter to 480 Mbps) using Amped Wireless ACA1 I see a stable 30 MB/s+ (240 Mbps+) using the built in wireless 20-30 MB/s (160-240 Mbps+) not as steady but still very nice.  With the linksys AC1750 that I tested while I waited for the Nighthawk I was only getting 11-16 MB/s (88-128 Mbps) under the exact same conditions.  The flow of data on the nighthawk is also nearly flat... the linksys was going up and down, fluctuating second by second.

 

I am extremely disappointed with the RT-AC68U.

... 

Tech support is terrible

 

You probably won't ever meet netgear's tech support... every netgear router I've ever owned since the 90's... I still own.  And they all still work.  I can't bear to part with them.  

[coknuck]

I never have a problem with Netgear products. 

[mudmanc4]

I used to despise netgear, years ago that is. When there was a router virus going around that exploited the firmware, dns changer I believe. 

Now that I've experienced this and constantly pull falling hair off the keyboard ( ignore that last bit) - So I have a couple here, older ones none the less perform well. Of course i flash with dd-wrt, none the less the hardware is proven. 

[netmasta]

I bought an Asus rt-n66u to replace a Dlink di-624 which I thought had died. After a power outage it just stopped working so I shoved it in the closet. Curious as I am, I took it out a few weeks later, and what do you know, still works.

 

Anyway, I haven't dug deep into the settings, but there are a lot. Currenly have it set up for two wireless LANs, one N only mode and the other G. N is very fast (Just got 25mb down a few minutes ago), but the range is not better than my old router. Apparently it's because oft the 5Ghz band. G coverage is a lot better though.

[tomunc]

I have a Linksys EA6200. It enables me to wireless obtain the fastest speeds that my ISP pushes, 50Mbps/5Mbps, and much of the time to exceed it slightly. I just checked and scored 54.6 Mbps. I'm not sure that ANY more expensive router would enable me to do much better. Anywhere in my house,  including the  back  porch, I can stream uninterrupted.

 

 

tomunc

[mudmanc4]

Off topic a bit none the less - although I have wireless here, I'm always concerned about infiltration, into other area's of the internal network. As having someone USE or borrow the network is at the very bottom of the 'I wonder if' level. Instead , allowing the passerby to find the network, utilize it and move on after seeing nothing more than a gateway has been in my thoughts. 

 

Since so much has moved wireless , I had no choice but to implement, but simply locking shares down to local hosts is not nearly enough. 

 

Hence the next step in securing your local wireless networks

[xs1]

https://www.actiontec.com/41.html      with        http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-range-extenders/WN3000RP.aspx

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2013 by xs1

[FiberGuy]

Netgreat 3700

 

Calix ONT that works as a transparent Ethernet bridge. It's about the size of a 5 port desktop switch. The mounting was done by my ISP. If I had the TV package, they would just give me a set-top device that uses the network cables. They don't use COAX anymore, they do IPTV.

 

[Pgoodwin1]

This is a good site to research network hardware. Their charts are fantastic. You can plot models by performance (multiple type performance criteria), you can pick a price per performance plot which is awesome. After you pick a few, go out on the net and research the star ratings.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar

About 20 months ago I used their site and did what I talked about above. After researching the star ratings, I put a $ per star rating on each. Here's the results....obviously this hardware is more than 20 months old now, so there are surely as good or better choices. I'm just posting this to show the methodology.

Update- I just checked the charts and the Nighthawk R7000 that CA3LE mentioned is at the top of their performance chart. It's in the upper right corner of their Price/Performance chart, but hey, usually you get what you pay for. I checked on the star ratings, and depending on what stares/sites you go to, it looks like it meets my 15% criteria too.

WAN to LAN price/performance. - Ranked by dollars per star

ESR9855G EnGenius Multimedia Enhanced Wireless N Gaming Router with Gigabit $20.50/star. $82 Newegg, 4.5 stars/22reviews on Google, 3. 1-2 star reviews 14%, probably not enough reviews to be meaningful.

E3200 Cisco High Performance Dual-Band N Router gigabit $27.25/star $109 minus $30 special Amazon 4 stars/142 reviews, 15 1-2 star reviews 11%, 4.5 stars on Google/485 reviews

RT-N56U ASUS Black Diamond Dual-Band Gigabit Wireless-N Router $31/star $124, 4 stars/449 reviews, 82. 1-2 stars 18%

Airport Extreme Base Station 5th gen, A1408, MD031LL/A, $170, 4.5 stars/135 reviews, 16. 1-2star 12%, 10 1-star $37.78/star

WNDR4500 Netgear. N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router $45/star. $180 4 star/160 reviews, 42. 1-2 star. 26%

--------------------------------------------------------------------

not ranked in any particular order. Of the ones I picked to evaluate, these I chose to reject as an option

Product HD Media Router 2000 DIR-827 gigabit D-Link $142. 3.5 stars/6 reviews amazon, not enough reviews

Product N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4000 Company NETGEAR $126. 3.5 stars/168 reviews, 39 1-star Amazon

Product Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router Linksys E4200 gigabit Cisco $159 - $30 gift card special, 3.5 stars/385 reviews/100 one -two star reviews

Product 300Mbps Wireless N Router with Gigabit Switch. ESR9850 EnGenius $60 amazon. 3.5 stars/22reviews

Product N600 wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router. WNDR3700v2 Netgear. $99 Amazon, 3.5 stars/781, 155. 1-star

Product N750 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router

F9K1103 Belkin $100 Amazon 3stars/129 reviews, 50 1-2star

As a rule of thumb, if 15-20% of the reviews on anything are 1-2 stars, I reject it even though there are a lot of positive review because I don't think 15% of the reviewers are clueless. LOL. For a mature product I'll use 15%, for a new product 20% because there were likely firmware updates that fixed the problems of the early reviewers. But I like to stay down near 10% or I start to itch worrying.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Pgoodwin1

[missmoondog]

linksys e2000 with tomato firmware

 

awesome coverage in my 2 story, raised ranch house

[Aulo Aasmaa]

(Click for larger image)

 

Router: Dovado Pro

USB Stick: Huawei E3272

[mudmanc4]

Ca3le and Sparticus {or anyone else using the 'nighthawk"}

 

How is this router performing since your purchase?

 

Roughly what is the range, or the furthest away you have been able to use efficiently your network.

 

Thanks

[mudmanc4]

I am also looking for reviews on the latest Airport Extreme , in comparison this the nighthawk