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Help upgrading my router

New Donker

New Donker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,355
Hello weekend Era!

Recently, I wanted to upgrade my internet speeds from 100 up/down to 400 up/down. When the tech came out, he said it be extremely hard to add the wiring necessary for the upgrade due to the way my town house is built.

So I figured, maybe I should upgrade my router. But since I'm not super tech savvy, I'm not sure what I should even be looking for.

I currently have a Netgear R6400. I got it a few years ago and its been ok...certainly better than the junk stock thing verizon gives you. However, it's signal doesnt reach every part of my townhouse well. The floors of this place are pretty thick (for sound protection) and theres a lot of competing signals from neighbors. If I'm close to the router on the 5ghz, I can usually get 90ish Up/down. But on 2.4? I'm often only getting 30 up/down speeds.

My wife and I use the internet quite a bit. She's almost always streaming from either her phone or the Apple TV. I have a PS5, Switch and iPad I use often...

The PS5 is wired. Everything else depends on the wireless.

SO any suggestions? What should I be looking for?
 
Joshua

Joshua

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,709
It's time to upgrade to a mesh wifi solution! Note that the industry is moving towards the new WiFi 6 standard (they used to call it 802.11whatever) so you will find a good supply of solutions that support WiFi 6 and many that don't. If future proofing is important, keep that in mind.

I'd suggest the Wirecutter review on this: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

Amazon and Google both also have kits. Beware that I switched to Google Nest Wifi and it only has one port for wiring a device now (which I run to my PC).
 
SpyGuy

SpyGuy

Member
Oct 30, 2017
479
2.4 Ghz is trash when you have those internet speeds. You need 5Ghz.
I currently use a Netgear R7000P with a Motorola MB8600 Cable Modem get speeds 400-500mbps wireless on iPad, iPhone, Lenovo Carbon, HDTVetc.
There is a switch connected as well, I am wired to my NAS x2, PS4, Desktop x2
I don't think you need to spend too much on a super high-end router if money is an issue, but if you want stability, I would stay away from low-mid tier ish stuff. I had a TP-Link before that could not sustain those speeds wirelessly, and would reset all the damn time, I thought it was an ISP issue but turns out just could not process all the wireless devices I had while my NAS etc. is running full speed.

TL;DR worth the money to spend a little more on a decent router, mid-high tier ish. AND if your house is big, MESH networking is the way to go in 2020.
 
OP
OP
New Donker

New Donker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,355
Joshua said:
It's time to upgrade to a mesh wifi solution! Note that the industry is moving towards the new WiFi 6 standard (they used to call it 802.11whatever) so you will find a good supply of solutions that support WiFi 6 and many that don't. If future proofing is important, keep that in mind.

I'd suggest the Wirecutter review on this: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

Amazon and Google both also have kits. Beware that I switched to Google Nest Wifi and it only has one port for wiring a device now (which I run to my PC).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I didn't even know what mesh routers were till now. I see costco carries a few, I'm going to have to look into this
 
ShapeGSX

ShapeGSX

Member
Nov 13, 2017
5,210
I bought this Netgear rax48 WiFi 6 router when it was $150 over Black Friday. It's freaking great for that price. It has been flawless for me. I get 450Mbps to my iPhone 11 Pro Max on 5Ghz. It's back to $300 now. But maybe another store will have it on sale? It's like a slightly nerfed RAX50.


However, for $250, this Asus RTAX86U edges it out with features and speed. And you can add other routers to your network to form a mesh. I managed to snag it when it came back in stock. I'm going to test it and if it works better than the Netgear, I'm going to return the Netgear.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...sh-wifi-support-black/6443999.p?skuId=6443999

You don't buy a router often. Get the right one.

Mesh routers can halve your speed if you're not connecting all of them to Ethernet, can't they?
 
lunchtoast

lunchtoast

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,600
When I moved into a townhouse had poor wifi downstairs for my nest/blink receivers. Bought a tp link deco mesh on sale and have one on every floor. No more wifi issues. Easy to monitor everything through the app.
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,888
Recently I have heard people rave about mesh networks. That seems to be the thing you want for a new wireless router.

I am on my Nighthawk from 5 years ago and it is solid as a rock. I can stream 4K anywhere in the house and it runs 5 security cameras in and around the house.
 
exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,943
Mesh seems overkill for a townhouse. A solid router in a central location, should be just fine. Of course, if your router can only be placed in a corner of the house then that can make a case for mesh.
 
Psxphile

Psxphile

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,526
*looks solemnly at the Linksys WRT54G we've been using for almost a decade*


maybe I should get a new router

I was contemplating starting a new thread to ask for opinions on why ol' Bessie was suddenly not recognizing wired connections at random the last two weeks, and just recently realized that security mode was disabled for some reason and I'm unable to reestablish it. But seeing this thread... maybe it's just finally starting to show its age and crapping out.
 
Cort

Cort

Member
Nov 4, 2017
4,352
Yeah I'm here to shill mesh routers too. I purchases a 3 pack of Google Wifi pucks a few years ago after years and years of headache inducing networking issues. I have had no problems since. Disclaimer though, the Google Wifi software isn't as advanced as I'd like it to be but I can live with that.
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
Psxphile said:
*looks solemnly at the Linksys WRT54G we've been using for almost a decade*


maybe I should get a new router

I was contemplating starting a new thread to ask for opinions on why ol' Bessie was suddenly not recognizing wired connections at random the last two weeks, and just recently realized that security mode was disabled for some reason and I'm unable to reestablish it. But seeing this thread... maybe it's just finally starting to show its age and crapping out.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, you need to upgrade that. Even if you're not using WiFi, that router is so old that its firmware isn't secure anymore.

In fact, does it even handle gigabit wired? I remember it capping out at 100 Mbps, even wired.
 
OP
OP
New Donker

New Donker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,355
Thanks to everyone for turning me on to a mesh system. I picked up an Eero 6 last night and it's working great. No more dropped or low WiFi areas in the house and I get max speed in every room now. Only downside is how it has one Ethernet port, but I have a switch coming today from Amazon.
 
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