Probably time to pick up a new wireless router.

My wireless router is starting to get cranky. My speed directly from my provider's wired router is 3x faster than what my wireless router (old Linksys E1200) will push. Lately I've had to reset it several times a week to even do that, it'll randomly drop me down to 1-3mps instead of the 60+ I am paying for.

So, I'm looking for something new:
1) Prefer easy to set-up.
2) Fast enough to push out everything my provider is giving me.
3) Range to reach out into the yard and go through a few walls.

I'm looking at something like these:

Amazon.com: Securifi Almond - (3 Minute Setup) Touchscreen Wireless Router / Range Extender: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band Wi-Fi Gigabit Router (R7000): Computers & Accessories

Any of the people here who are more technologically advanced than I am willing to offer up some thoughts on either of those units, or something else that would fit the bill?

 

We have the ASUS RT-N16 and it's served us well in the time that we've had it. Our network is not as complicated right now as it has been in the past, but the ASUS had no trouble running a network drive for automatic backups, and it also enabled me to use an older HP printer to print wirelessly. It had good range at our old place, and it does here too, plus it does well despite interference on all sides, unlike the default Comcast modem-router (which we were happy to be done with as soon as we bought our own upgraded modem).

The man to ask these questions to is @Martian, who has always given me good advice.

 

Hopefully you came to the right thread.

 

I don't think any of my end uses are very odd. I need to be able to hook up about a dozen various devices to it, but that seems fairly standard anymore.

 

Pretty much.

 

He prefers Food Network.

 

I'm going to buy an airport because I'm tired of the ones I buy and think they will work but don't.

 

Airport is an Apple branded wireless router. My experience with them leads me to believe that not substantially better or worse than other routers. They offer a marginally better setup experience if you use Apple devices.

Interference is a tricky devil. Asking whether the local airport could interfere with your wifi is legitimate. There's no specific reason to think they would; the wifi bands are unlicensed but there are power limits to help prevent that sort of thing. If you notice that your wifi is getting poor performance it might be worth investigating but I don't know what you'd do if that was the case. Complain to the FCC maybe.

It's widely acknowledged by those in the know that OTA broadcast gives by far the cleanest signal for television, since it's mostly uncompressed. Your local cable or satellite provider compresses the television signals so they can fit more in, which degrades the picture quality. OTA broadcasters rarely resort to such measures.

On the subject of new routers, I'm probably going to need to replace my E3000 at some point as well, since it's getting up there in terms of age. Being me, I'm a bit tempted by this monstrosity but your needs and wants are probably more modest.

I'm generally of the opinion that if you're buying a new network device you're best off to get the latest technology so as to future-proof yourself as much as possible. It's not something you're likely to replace often, so long as you buy something that can remain relevant as new standards are released. For a wireless router you're going to be looking for something that supports 802.11AC, which is the latest spec. In all likelihood few to none of your devices currently support it, but eventually you'll have some that do and then you'll be glad you did it.

ASUS is a popular brand for good reason. They build solid hardware. I've yet to meet anything ASUS branded that I didn't like; on consumer grade networking gear they're one of the better choices.

You didn't mention budget. If you want the latest and greatest then the RT-AC66U is probably your guy, but the price tag is pretty hefty in a time where basic devices can be had in the $30 range. If you want something modern but a little less spendy TP-Link and Cisco offer devices that are a bit more affordable.

Modern devices are generally capable of operating in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz range. Higher frequency is faster and can give a stronger signal on line of sight, but generally at the cost of less penetration. You may need to experiment to figure out what works best for you.

Ultimately the best solution I've found if you can't get the range you want is to add a second device. I've had good results using powerline ethernet to carry the signal between separate rooms and then using wireless APs to broadcast from there. Whether this strategy will work for you depends mainly on how big your house is and what shape the wiring's in. You could also always just pull cat 5 through the walls, which is more work but gives the best results.

 

My budget is flexible. For the future proof reasons you mention, I'd prefer to spend more now so as not to have to replace later. I'd need to be talked into anything over $250-300, but I have a feeling what I need lies below that.

Penetration is probably more important to me than range. Where I often sit in my backyard (and am now)', is probably less than 40' in a straight line from my router. But it is through a floor and two walls. My main office is a level up and two walls away from my router, though probably only about 40-50' in a straight line.

I bought my house from a friend of mine who is a an IT guy. Every room in my house is wired with CAT-5 from a switch in the basement. So having a multiple unit strategy is not a deal breaker.

I'm just mainly looking for something that will be a simple solution, with easy set up and low maintenance.

 

I put cat6 in the walls when we renovated. I too can use an additional piece of hardware.

But so far, Asus, Cisco, Liksys, and Netgear have all been hit or miss from the bedroom. Granted the biggest interference are the cinder block walls and not TV or microwaves.

So next up to try into the wifi extension money pit (about $400 now) is to try an airport.

 

Well, urban areas are harder than suburban or rural areas. More devices, more interference, mo money mo problems.

Also challenging is multiple levels. Antennas by design are good at picking up signals in some directions and bad at picking up signals in others. There are reasons behind this but the upshot of it is that wireless APs are generally stronger in the lateral than the vertical, so you may get poor signal on different floors even if you're not that far from the device. You'll have better luck installing an AP per floor.

If you've got cabling in the walls extending your wireless network is a fairly straightforward proposition, amounting to buying a second AP and plugging it into the network wherever your signal is poor. you can buy dedicated devices for this function but in a consumer network it's just as easy to buy a second wireless router and just tell it not to be a router. The exact steps required to do that will vary but it's a common setup and instructions should be easy to come by via the almighty Goog. Wireless repeaters can get a bit dodgy so if you can wire the device in that's always preferred.

It's perfectly okay to mix and match different techs on different APs so long as you understand it means that your network performance will vary depending on the base station you're connecting to. A low budget way to implement a multiple AP setup would be to buy a shiny new 802.11AC capable router to do the core stuff, and then stick your old Linksys upstairs as a secondary AP. The upstairs wifi will be slower than the downstairs wifi, but slower wifi beats the living crap out of nonexistent wifi.

Finally, if you're after backyard wifi, you may also want to consider a device that's designed to be mounted out of doors. Getting ethernet to it might be a bit more hassle but removing intervening walls will give you strongest signal. Outer walls tend to be thicker and denser than interior walls, which makes penetration more difficult and consequently drives up latency and drives down range.

 

You want to talk overkill, I happen to know a guy that uses an SRX on his home network. Whenever I feel like my home network is getting crazy all I have to do is look at the things some of my colleagues are doing.

I feel like the runs are small enough in a home network that cat 6 provides no substantial benefit over cheaper cat 5e for a project like this. But there may be variables I'm not accounting for. My typical wiring projects happen in data centres where I have nice clean trays to run my cabling through, which is not representative of a typical home environment I suppose.