(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best computer routers

Hey thanks again for the quick reply.

Once my computer is built, then I will look into the extensions and smaller things to make it look better, unless you have any brands or types off the top of your head. Like you said for the few wires that will show, it really isn't worth a basic kit after looking into it. Great tip!

Looking into the case fans I see what you mean about the noise vs the actual performance. I think those fans will suit me just great! Cool to see those videos about just how little of a difference it would make for me and I would have been sacrificing noise for pretty much no more performance. Good deal!

As for the routers. I used that wifi analyzer and surprisingly it is a lot worse than I thought. My signal is still the strongest but I have about 4 or 5 other people operating on the same exact channels as me under the 2.4G tab. Looking under the 5G tab, it was blank. Absolutely nobody. So I think I'll go with the 5G router! But I do have an issue. The modem and router I have are all in one unit. It is a modem/router combo. So I would have to get a modem as well. Any suggestions? Should I get a separate modem and router or should I get a combined unit? Just for extra information, my router doesn't need to push too far or go through many walls to get to me. I still like to have it broadcast a good ways so I can use the wifi on my phone when out in the backyard, but as far as reaching where my pc will go, it will be about 15 feet away going through two walls (non insulated walls). It is set up in my living room towards the center of the apartment and I get good signal as it is. Just need it to perform better I guess because I guess the issue is that the router (or modem?) gets flooded easily when searching for servers in a game. That is when it just cuts off my internet in the game and I have to exit the game, then I am back to normal. Just plain weird but that is the only thing I've found online that fits exactly what happens to me when I try to load servers on bigger games like KF2.

Also, I have no experience what so ever when it comes to setting up a modem or router. What do I need to do? I know I want the 5G frequency and the channels don't matter because no one else is on that frequency at all. Do I just plug in the new modem and router (or modem/router combo) and just let it do its thing? Will my network name stay the same or will I have to set up an entirely new network?

I said I don't want to spend a ton of money on this but what I meant was like some super $500 wifi system that I can't even take advantage of without extreme internet speed haha.

This one is expensive in my opinion but has great reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC1900-DOCSIS-C7000-100NAS/dp/B00ZUPOF7Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1452701417&sr=1-22&keywords=modem+router+combo&linkCode=sl1&tag=nerdtechy-20&linkId=60570f3ee7b22a14bc2b80874b4f9578

But this one on the other hand is cheaper and also has great reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/SURFboard-SBG6782AC-DOCSIS-AC1750-Router/dp/B00GJ7Y7MU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=nerdtechy-20&linkId=fd7024bf66add45962bc8e4ca9c36b75

Ideally, I'd like to spend a little less than that, but I will if it means not having to mess with it again. I'm not sure what speeds are ideal for normal gaming nowadays but I know that the games I play now work alright, maybe laggy once in a while but it could also just be my computer. For now, I'd just like to swap out the modem and router so I no longer have to deal with copying ip addresses just to join servers on bigger games. Then in the future if I wish to up my internet speed for whatever reason, I know the router and modem can handle it. And with this new computer, I'll have all my bases covered! Let me know what you think!

Sorry for not replying directly. I was asleep, just woke up out of nowhere and saw your message. So quickly replying before I head back to bed. 2:38 AM here! xD

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> I noticed that those are all static pressure fans. Wouldn't I want to get AF fans for the top and rear of the case?

Correct, however I did forgot to mention "why" I picked those thermaltake fans.
I said that I "mostly" did it for the looks. The thermaltake fans are indeed SP fans, which means they work best on a radiator or cooler.
So why the heck do I still suggest to use 1 for the case?
Because airflow speed is really not extremely important anymore these days, because both the CPU & GPUs don't run extremely hot anymore.
This is why most fans can run at near silent levels (or if you have good fans & case, you won't hear them at all) because they simply don't need to run that fast or move a lot of air to keep the temperatures in check.
Only when the CPU & GPU need to work hard (when you game) the case fans need to spin a bit faster to "move" more air. The air movement is really important. Fresh or cool air needs to enter the case while the hot air that the CPU & GPU "expose" needs to be pushed out. This happens naturally by increasing fan speeds. The higher the CFM the more air they move, yes.

So why did I suggest such low CFM fans? Because even that low number, is enough to keep your card it's temperatures cool enough.
While a higher CFM would likely be able to lower the temperature of the card by about.. 2C, you're trading silence or cost or looks of the fan for it. Which I did not find worth it, which is why I suggested this fan.
Here is a good video about case fans and how many you need?

• Click - 13:53 minutes
  
  And here is an other great video that looks at my exact point as well. That case fan CFM or whatever, doesn't really make a huge difference in temperatures..
  
  
• Click - 11:54 minutes
  
  This video is hilarious.. It also shows you why case fans aren't super duper important anymore in terms of temperatures. As long as there is "some air" moving, the temperature won't change much.
  The cooling performance is highly affected by the actually coolers on the GPU & CPU themselves!
  
  > I think I'll hold off on buying the fans for the radiator since the Enermax ones seem to be good fans that also seem to push a little more air than the Thermaltake ones. I don't think color will matter there because they'll be hidden anyway.
  
  The performance will roughly be the same, but the fans will just look cooler! You could technically place the fans like this. Both directions would work, push or pull. Meaning the way the air flows through the radiator. Temperature wise it won't hugely affect it, but when you place them in push (which is the way it is, in that picture) the temperature of the CPU will be a bit higher, while the GPU will be a bit lower.
  When you set them in pull, the CPU will be slightly cooler and the GPU a bit higher.
  
  In terms of the light, it's true that they're pretty much hidden, but the LED strips will provide the color pretty well if you place them the way I said above. Which will make them light up the other parts of your system pretty nicely. I mean, it's absolutely not required to buy for sure, I mean.. in terms of performance, it makes very little difference at all.
  Which is again, why I said that I mostly did it "for the looks".
  
  > For the cables, I think I'd rather get a basic kit than an extension kit and have to worry about cable management. Let me know if you know anywhere else to buy a basic kit in that red or white color.
  
  I actually only know that you can buy them from EVGA, but those are pretty expensive and really, for the couple of cables that actually will be visible, it's probably not worth it.
  
  In terms of extensions, I personally use them and.. my case got pretty much NO room for cable management, but I still managed somehow.. yes my side panel has a bit of a bulge, but fuck it my front looks awesome!
  
  > I will also buy that wireless adapter. In the near future I will also be updating my modem/router.
  
  Good news, a router is really not that expensive anymore! You can buy them extremely cheap, but I do recommend to spend a decent amount for at least something that is "good enough".
  
  
• TP Link Archer C50 | Product page | $53
  Amazon Reviews (4093): ★★★★☆
  
• Linksys EA6100 | Product Page
  Amazon Reviews (223): ★★★★☆
  
  I am certain that both of these 2 routers would likely fix a lot of your troubles. They're also very easy to setup and you can kick your IPS in the butt for providing you with such garbage.
  
  > I don't intend to spend a bunch of money on it either, as I'm the only one using it besides maybe my phone or my girlfriend's phone. So I don't need one that has tons of features to split the internet between people.
  
  I highly recommend you to download the free app "WiFi Analyser". This app will very likely surprise you, but the network that you're using (you need to know the name of your WiFi), is very likely overlapping with other networks around the house from neighbours or other devices that send data, such as.. radios, TVs, washing machines, some fridges, microphones, etc. There are a lot more things in your home than you might expect that could potentially send out data and thus interfering with the connect of your device with the router.
  
  This is why the 5GHz network will very likely solve this issue, right away. Because the 5GHz network (compared to the standard 2.4GHz) is not used very widely.. yet. Thus the chance of other devices interfering with the connection is very slim. Which makes the connection much stronger.
  
  > I will also buy an anti-static wristband for assembly.
  
  Good idea, those are cheap anyway. If you don't know how to "connect" them. You have to connect them to a point that is earthed to the ground for the best result.
  How I generally do it, is by connecting a PSU cable into the wall socket directly, that I know is earthed. Us Europeans use an other socket, we have that pin sticking out which is our earth pin.
  Then I plug the cable into the PSU and keep the PSU turned off, by doing this.. the PSU is now connected by earth and the "housing" is also earthed. Thus I can clip the anti-static wrist band to the PSU and be earthed as well.
  
  > Anything else I may be forgetting? I believe the enermax cooler comes with thermal paste already so I think I'm all set to go!
  
  Nope, perhaps a screwdriver (preferably magnetic!).
  Don't worry about "magnets" for PC, the magnets inside screwdrivers are nowhere near strong enough to harm PC parts, not even a HDD. I've been using a magnetic screwdriver for my whole life when building PCs. Haven't had anything die yet by using it.
  Of course, the stronger the magnet, the bigger the chance, but I don't think a screwdriver can kill it. I have some extremely strong screwdrivers (for work).. I could test it! I have a few HDDs that I don't care about anymore if they die!
  
  

  Happy building and please, test the system before you build it inside your case!
  

  
  ---
  
  

  Watch and follow the build guide video carefully and you should have no problem at all!

The Netgear I linked to is just a modem. It will only have one port (no wireless) which needs to be connected to a router.

If you do a lot of online gaming on the Xbox and don't have to have wired downstairs, it would probably be best to have the modem in the same room to use a wired connection.

I doubt the two floor townhome would be big enough to have significant concerns over wireless performance. But I will point out a couple options you may not be aware of. First you can set up a wireless bridge which is essentially a wireless cable. The device acting as the bridge would normally have 4 or 5 wired ports to plug into. This of course still depends on a good wireless connection between the router and bridge device. But the advantage is that the bridge can have stronger wireless antennas and is better able to communicate with the router than the built in wifi on devices like game consoles or laptops.

The other option is powerline adapters which actually provides networking over powerlines. Simple plug one into the wall near the router and connect a cable to it, and then plug in one or more into other electrical outlets. Powerline performance can vary greatly though. In some homes they work nearly as well as running an ethernet cable, but in some homes they are completely unreliable. In most cases they will at least work well enough for streaming and anything else other than gaming. Gaming over powerline is certainly possible if they end up working well in the townhome.

In a two bedroom townhome these probably aren't necessary, but something to keep in mind if the xbox isn't wired and the connection isn't stable.

For the router/wireless..

Personally I am a big fan of Ubiquiti products, but they are a lot more advanced than routers designed for home use. Their routers do not have wireless built in, but rather they sell separate wireless access points (Unifi). I use an Edgerouter X which costs about $50 and a single Unifi AC wireless access point. I have the Unifi AC Pro which is $130, but there are also the Unifi AC Long Range ($100) and Unifi AC Lite ($80) and any of them should be fine. The Pro is capable of a bit higher speeds, but the extra speed would likely only be beneficial if you are sending files between your devices (Plex media server for example). Just make sure you don't get the older non AC models.

While they are more advanced they really aren't very difficult to set up. With the Edgerouter you basically just need to login to it and select a wizard (specifically the one named WAN+2LAN2 which will set it to act like most any home router). Then for QoS (quality of service) to prevent streaming, etc to cause a lot of spiking while gaming, you go to the QoS tab to enable Smart Queue and then simply enter the Download/Upload speeds of your Comcast plan.

Unifi wirelss access points are a little different in that you can't directly access them to manage. Instead you install Unifi controller software on your computer to configure all Unifi devices on your network. There are a lot of advanced options for Unifi but basically all you need to do is go to settings and add one or more wireless network, being sure to set the security to WPA Personal with a security key (password).

Aside from Ubiquiti I have had the best experience with ASUS Routers. Probably just about any of the ASUS dual band wireless AC routers would be fine (such as https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-AC1750-4-Port-Gigabit-RT-AC66U_B1/dp/B01N08LPPP/). Not sure how well their QoS features work since haven't used them, but I imagine. Netgear Nighthawk AC routers also have a great reputation although I never used them personally. https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC1750-Smart-Router/dp/B00R2AZLD2/

So recommend one of the following:

1. Unifi Edgerouter X ($50) plus one of their Unifi AC wireless access points ($80-130)
   
   
2. ASUS dual band AC router such as the RT-AC66U (around $100)
   
   
3. Netgear Nighthawk dual band AC router such as the R6700 (around $90-100)
   
   Along with the Netgear modem

Well - let's see.. I know that you have Verizon with a 75/75 Connection. So it sounds like you have a FiOS Connection and most likely have an ONT (Optical Network Terminal) on the outside/inside of your house. My guess is a 611/612. None the less, it's TYPICALLY better to utilize their Modem with their services. I am not sure Verizon allows a "bring your own Modem" when you have FiOS. I do not have them, however. But from my memory, I believe that is the case. If you CAN use your own - I can definitely recommend a Modem for you!

So otherwise would suggest contacting Verizon or going to a local store - to see if you can get a STANDALONE Modem. Something with 1 LAN Ethernet Port and no internal Router/Switch. As said above - a lot of people with Modem/Router combos seem to run into more issues than not - with a lot of basic configuration changes. Such as Port Forwarding, etc. But - mileage varies depending on the user.

As for a suggested Router? Oh boy.. that depends on how hardcore you want to go. A lot of people give NETGEAR some flak, but they've been killing it lately in their Quality Control and market. I'll give you a few to go by, depending on how intense you want to go.

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NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000

• Link: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Gigabit-Support-Compatible/dp/B00F0DD0I6
  
  This is the more.."Lightweight" of the Nighthawk Series. They go up in "quality", for more money of course. The feature set is different as you go up in the line, but doesn't necessarily mean things will be "better". But they are great for Gaming. Not particularly because of the reasons they market, but because of how they handle Traffic internally, and their support for any odd configurations you may need to handle. Feel free to check out the Nighthawk Series a bit.
  
  NETGEAR AC1750
  
  
• Link: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Router-AC1750-Gigabit-R6300v2/dp/B00EM5UFP4/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1494439575&sr=1-2&keywords=netgear+router
  
  It's basically the same concept as the Nighthawk R7000 - actually within the same technical family. The biggest difference for the Nighthawk is more or less it's range and a few other capabilities. But in terms of performance - they typically function the same. Another excellent Choice.
  
  TP-Link Archer C7
  
  
• Link: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-Wireless-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1494439549&sr=1-1&keywords=C7+Router
  
  This thing is moderately known - but not often talked about. TP Link has always had some great quality hardware. The software isn't anything too extreme, but the quality and performance is decent enough for me to recommend it.
  
  NETGEAR N600
  
  
• Link: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N600-Wi-Fi-Router-WNDR3400/dp/B0041LYY6K
  
  A cheaper alternative, if you don't want anything super crazy - and need something more affordable. It's a pretty decent quality, I used to have this at one point and a few of my friends use these and have never had any issues with any Port Forwarding, or extras that they've needed to take care of. Great signal quality in a 2 story home - and kills it in performance for the price.
  
  -----
  
  Those are a few of my recommendations. Of course there are plenty more - but those ones specifically I have had great experiences with. Either with friends, or my own personal preference. For myself, I have the Nighthawk R7000 and previously had the NETGEAR N600. The only reason I left that one behind - was because I wanted a little more of an extended range when I was outside of my home in the yard. Which the R7000 handled perfectly. But - that's not a scenario many people really deal with. Plus you can always make/buy an extender.
  
  I'm glad to help, when I can! :)
  
  
  

to be honest, none of those are really good for what you need, you need a better wifi.

a home network router is usually three devices in one,

• a router (small computer in the class of a raspberry pi),
  
• a switch (to get you more ethernet ports)
  
• a wifi accesspoint
  
  In some cases manufacturers will even add a modem.
  
  What you need is an accesspoint, ... (or a home router that can be configured as an accesspoint). It allows wireless clients (stations) to connect to the wired lan.
  
  It doesn't do any routing/nat/firewalling/... all it does is broadcast an SSID, allows devices to connect, and whenever it receives a packet over wireless, forwards it to the wired lan, .. whenever it receives a packet from wired lan, forwards it to the wireless client. That's it.
  
  ---
  
  What you could also probably do, is have a cascading setup, where you never connect directly to the Huawei, but have something like this:
  
  [huawei 192.168.1.1]----[192.168.1.2 new wifi router 192.168.2.0/24]---))) all other wired and wireless devices
  
  On your router, before connecting it to anything, you'd reconfigure the lan ip range to something non-conflicting with huawei, like 192.168.2.0/24 .. and you'd configure the wan ip to a static ip. Then on the huawei, you'd setup a DMZ, which in homerouters is used to mean, "forward all ports" to 192.168.1.2 (your router). Then you'd connect the two.
  
  This setup would also make sense considering the way things are now, your ISP practically has control over your firewall.
  
  ---
  
  list of hardware that's generally liked around here and considered worthy spend of money:
  
  
• https://mikrotik.com/product/cap_ac (coming out in march)
  
• https://mikrotik.com/product/hap_ac2 (coming out in march)
  
• https://mikrotik.com/product/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD (replace with cap ac in march)
  
• https://mikrotik.com/product/RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT (replace with hap ac2 in march)
  
• https://mikrotik.com/product/RB750Gr3 (use hap ac2 in march)
  
• https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-lite/ (just an ap, needs a unifi controller software)
  
• https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-pro/ (bigger antennas than lite - slightly more sensitivity)
  
• https://www.ubnt.com/unifi-routing/usg/ (just a wired router works with unifi controller)
  
• https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-x/ (poor mans version of RB750Gr3)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-AC1750-Smart-Router/dp/B00BUSDVBQ (cheap wifi router, slow cpu, older versions well supported by opensource, newer versions have similar hardware so could be supported one day)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-X4S-R7800-100NAS-Compatible/dp/B0192911RA (really good router, good opensource support)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-Anywhere-WRT1900AC/dp/B00KEK4Q5Q (good router, really good opensource support)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-Tri-Stream-WRT3200ACM/dp/B01JOXW3YE (good router, really good opensource support)
  
  Opensource support is relevant for security and longevity of the device, .. mikrotik and ubiquiti products generally are supported for at least 5 years, and are fairly popular.
  
  ---
  
  > In regards to my EEE PC, I've heard rumours that you can re-use a computer as a router, so would it be worth using it as a WiFi AP instead
  
  yes this is assuming the specs / performance are better than a modern router, in your case the 901 doesn't have a good wifi, and has only one 100mbps wired port, it's also has a 10 year old early atom as a cpu.
  
  folks using computers as routers are either buying ryzen these days, or buying 5 year old refurbished core i5 thin clients and stuffing more gigabit nics .. generally accesspoints are the way to go for wifi, usually the pc doesn't deal with wifi in those setups.

ok. I get it. if I'm going to be buying a router I should buy an AC model so I could future proof myself. everyone is suggesting the ac66u, but if I'm going to spend $150 to future proof myself, I'd rather pony up an extra $50+ to get the best available router out right now.

so from my research I noticed that the ASUS AC87U is pretty neat (sorry about the ASUS love but I am basing my research off of mainly one article and the author, at the time of writing, really loved the ASUS routers).

ASUS model: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-RT-AC87U-Wireless-AC2400-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00MPI5N7U

is this a good option or is there a better, cheaper option? would the ac66u suffice? would this linksys be a better alternative?

Linksys: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K91DB7Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427049742&sr=8-1&keywords=linksys+wrt1900ac&dpPl=1&dpID=41BI8x1i4HL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

or maybe even a nighthawk?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00F0DD0I6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427052167&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+nighthawk&pi=AC_SX200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41651m2TjVL&ref=plSrch

anyways I'm just wondering how do those compare to the router you've suggested? which is the best today? is it worth it to go for the ac87u even though it's still $250 or am I better off going for the $200 routers?

I guess I should have posted an update, but I did fix the issue. After trying a bunch of stuff on the XB6, I decided to buy a new router, and use the XB6 solely as a modem. Once I did this pretty much all my network issues were fixed. After doing a lot of research I believe it has something to do with the UpNp on the XB6 which is what opens and closes ports automatically which when playing any online game it's pretty important. The UpNp on the comcast XB6 just seems to be really crappy, since I bought the new router I haven't had a single issue, and its been about a month now. The router I ended up buying was the NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S, you probably could get something cheaper, but do a bit of research beforehand. This router is pretty good with supporting gigabit service, and the wifi range is pretty good on it as well. I was having issues from disconnects in a bunch games, and the thing that pretty much caused me to buy a new router was whenever I played PUBG, after the pre game lobby ended I would never be in the plane, I would have to restart the game to be able to play, it was super annoying. I also have a business line, through Vonage in my house that was not working at all, when I upgraded, my internet, but as soon as I got the new router that was fixed as well. So if your having similar issues I highly recommend getting a new router. If you do this let me know and I'll tell you how to convert the XB6 to a modem only, and get rid of all its router functionality. Hope this can help you out.

Link to router: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0192911RA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For a more... detailed guide of how you want to get things set up, here's what you need to know:

Cable Modem - Must support DOCSIS 3.1. From what I can tell, anything rated for DOCSIS 3.1 must support enough channels for gigabit, but if you want to be doubly sure, backwards compatibility with DOCSIS 3.0 at 32x8 (True of every DOCSIS 3.1 modem I can find on the market) will guarantee you get there. Note that DOCSIS 3.0 at 32x8 does not actually get you gigabit on Cox. It has to be DOCSIS 3.1.

Router - Not including the wireless portion, your router must have gigabit WAN and LAN ports. Just about any router with wireless AC, and even most with wireless N, is likely to have these, but not all routers need have wireless connections.

Switches, MoCA, Powerline Adaptors, etc. - Must all support Gigabit Ethernet, and for alternate methods (e.g. MoCA, Powerline) must also be rated for at least Gigabit speeds... preferably higher, because rated speeds are rarely achieved. Additionally, if you connect any devices that run at less than gigabit ethernet, on most cheap home network switches every device connected will be forced to run at fast ethernet speeds. You can fix this by having such devices connect, say, wirelessly, or only plugging them directly into an appropriate switch. Rather than playing the guessing game with cheap switches and ending up disappointed, it might be worth going for a managed switch, which should almost assuredly support different negotiated rates on different ports. Your router may also support this. Common devices that only run at fast-ethernet speeds and can therefore slow your network way down include Smart TV's, Wired Chromecast / FireTV connections, Steam Links, and other older or cheaper devices.

Wi-Fi - Current Wifi standards mean that your odds of actually getting Gigabit speeds on your individual devices is effectively nil. If your device, like most devices, has only one antenna, your theoretical maximum speed under wireless AC is 433Mbit/s, and in most cases, you'll get less than half of that. Your wireless access point, meanwhile, likely has multiple antenna and can support a lot of devices at high speeds, meaning that it can do gigabit collectively between all your devices. Wi-Fi 6, (a.k.a. Wireless AX), meanwhile, will provide a reasonable possibility of support, but you'll have to replace both your access point and all of your devices. Fun fact: the number after AC (for instance, the AC1900 Router in the OP) lists the theoretical maximum if all built in channels were at max load. Your AC1600+'s should be able to fill up your gigabit link fairly nicely if you have enough devices. The only reason to consider higher numbers is that they typically come with higher quality internals, which can lead to closer-to-theoretical speeds and longer range, but if you're going for more than AC1900, it's really time to consider dedicated access points, rather than wi-fi built into the router.

Okay, for cable internet at those speeds, you're looking at these:

Modems:

SB6190: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016PE1X5K/

or

SB8200: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6SKK1G/

The 6190 technically supports 1.4Gbps, but the ethernet port on it is only 1Gb which caps you there. The 8200 supports 1.4Gbps and can actually do it because it has 2x 1Gb ports, but it requires your provider to give you multiple IPs for that which is almost unheard of in the consumer space. So effectively both are going to be capped at 1Gb down and 343Mb up.

The 6190 is DOCSIS 3.0 and the 8200 is DOCSIS 3.1. This doesn't really matter right now as everyone supports 3.0 and 3.1 support is just starting, but the 3.1 will be supported much longer. So if you're looking for a modem to keep the next 10+ years, go with the 8200, but if you don't mind saving about 50% now and then buying a new modem in 10 years, the 6190 is great.

Both are on XFinity's supported list.

For routers:

Nighthawk AC2300 R7000P: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NA80JML/

or

Nighthawk AC1900 R6900P: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C65K9H9/

or

Asus AC66U AC1750: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N08LPPP/

The R7000P is a pretty high end pick. It's going to support the fastest wireless speeds on the 5GHz AC band. However, you'll likely be limited by the device at the other end, as most end devices don't support speeds that high.

The R6900P is the next step down. It's very similar, but it's 5GHz AC speeds are slightly slower. Even still though, it's faster than what most devices support so you'll likely be limited by the device.

The AC66U is the more budget pick. It supports the same speeds as the 6900P on the 5GHz AC band, but has slightly slower speeds for older N based devices. For most users this likely won't matter as almost everything is AC these days except for like printers and IoT devices that don't need bandwidth. With the AC66U, you also don't have MU-MIMO support, which the more expensive options do. While MU-MIMO isn't required, it can really help in homes that have lots of devices.

The problem is likely somebody else at your house doing something, say watching a YouTube video or uploading to Facebook. This is utilizing all available bandwidth, leaving none for your game. It's most common on slower ADSL or Cable connections, less so on Fibre or VDSL2.

No matter what anybody tells you, you can't do jack shit about that on your PC. You can prioritize what your PC does on your PC, but that's pointless. Close pr0n DL before you start DotA, but your PC isn't the issue that you'll be wanting to solve.

If you want to influence the rest of your network, your router 100% must do the QoS (Quality of Service) prioritization.

Get yourself something like a cheap TP-Link TL-WR1043ND and put Gargoyle Firmware on it (gargoyle-router.com). You can use the likes of this device with any normal DSL / Cable / Fibre router (Just turn off WiFi on your existing router if it has it).
Then, plug it in and run everything through this Gargoyle router, LAN and WiFi.

There's super easy settings that will allow you to do things like give everybody else lower priority than your PC, give them bandwidth caps (So they can only download X amount per day / month and then they're either slowed or stopped entirely). Most of all though, you can use that to prioritize DotA2 traffic quite easily over everything else that goes on from any other device on your network!

You can get them super cheap from Amazon (I'm not in the USA, I use another local PC Retailer, YMMV):
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR1043ND-Wireless-Detachable-Antennas/dp/B002YLAUU8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410440176&sr=8-1&keywords=TL-WR1043ND

It's super easy to set them up with Gargoyle, takes about 3-4 minutes! You won't be disappointed.

I just put in a small system with a Reolink RLC-410 camera and I really like the camera. This one is wired, but since you rent, you might want to go wireless--the ones with little wifi antennas that just link up wirelessly to your wifi.

Reolink comes with a phone app that handles up to 16 cameras on your smartphone--I check my property from anywhere over the app whenever I want. I really like it, and the picture quality is awesome, as the Amazon reviews attest. Night vision is awesome, too. The infrared leds illuminate at least 65 feet out. Price isn't bad, either. Wireless will be more. Reolink has them; sorry to sound like a shill.

For recording the footage, I got a Synology NVR 216. A little pricey, but it did what I wanted--record about 2 months worth of 24/7 video feed for liability purposes.

This NVR is "diskless", which means that it comes without hard drives, which have to be purchased separately. I got one 4 TB Western Digital Purple, which is "optimized" for surveillance applications, whatever that means. The system has been recording a single camera's feed basically 24/7 since May 14, and has so far used 586 GB of the 3,000 GB available on this single hard drive, or about 17% of available capacity. Obviously, if you have two cameras, the storage requirement doubles; with four, quadruples. And, yes, I've already purchased another camera. I'll probably have four total, like you, in the future, when my requirements shift from liability to security. This particular NVR holds up to two hard drives, and an expansion kit allows up to 8 more. I really should get at least one more hard drive.

My particular system is currently set up as wired, meaning the camera and NVR are both connected to my wifi access point/router with network patch cables--those ubiquitous ethernet, Cat 5, RG-45 terminated "computer cables" that connect work computers to the jack in the wall, etc.

If you go wireless, especially with four cameras, you'll have to upgrade your local network to gigabit speeds. I should do that, too, and when I do, I'll probably go with a Linksys WRT AC3200. I'm currently running a Linksys WRT-54GL and, frankly, my local LAN bogs down a bit when I stream a movie while the video gear is running (which is all the time).

Guess I'm a bit of a geek. There are actually a lot of people here who are knowledgeable with DIY security CCTVs. I started from zero back in April or May, asked advice here, and actually went with Synology after it was recommended by a regular, here. I'll find that link, later; need to run right now. Update: You'll probably find this link interesting; it's a /r_neworleans thread from six months ago--lot's of perspectives different from my own that may work better for you.

One more thing: I had originally used DHCP to assign IP addresses to the camera and NVR, but the camera kept renewing its lease to a different address, and the NVR stopped recording when it lost the feed. I finally got around to puzzling out how to assign static addresses. Turns out that the WRT software assigns DHCP addresses at 100 and above. So, I just set the camera to 192.168.1.50 and the NVR to 192.168.1.51. Also, the Synology requires port-forwarding to be set up in your router--this was also dead simple. I read documentation for about an hour, then just forwarded some port, I think it was port 5000, in what looked like the right place in the router's set-up software, and it just worked. This way I can access the archive video from my smartphone, as well as the live feed.

I know all this sounds complicated, but it's really not, and there are people here who know this stuff and are more than willing to help out. Also, I know I spent around $1000, which is a lot of money for me. It was hard for me to pull the trigger on all this. But it covers a liability exposure that exceeds my net worth--in other words, an exposure that could force me into bankruptcy. In that light, it was a reasonable price to mitigate a serious risk. I'm satisfied with both the gear and the price.

Is it possible - Absolutely

Will it work for what you need - Maybe

I am assuming they only provide WiFi and not a wired connection in your apartment. If you do have a wired connection just use that to connect to GW.

First how fast is the apartments WiFi? The reason I ask is just to understand where a bottleneck could happen. If the apartment WiFi is really fast, you will probably see a significant degradation in speed. If it isn't blazing fast you may not notice as much of a speed hit. It just comes down to the capacity of the link.

Second what are you trying to accomplish? It is just for streaming or general internet access or are you planning on gaming where low latency is critical? Streaming and general internet access will probably be ok, gaming most likely will see significant latency. This is due to all of the additional "hops" you will have to make. Now the apartment WiFi itself may have poor latency to begin with.

To try this out you need a Wireless Client with an ethernet jack out. There are a couple different ways you can do this.

1. To just check and try it out you can always use a Windows machine with both WiFi and an open ethernet jack to bridge the two connections. Search for "How to Share Wireless Over Ethernet on Windows 10" on Google for some examples of how to do this. Your Windows machine will act like a router and pass the connection from WiFi to Ethernet. This really isn't practical for the long term, but it might work for something quick or a particular use case.
   
   
2. You can get a WiFi router that is DD-WRT compatible and as mentioned flash it with DD-WRT and set it up as a client.
   
   
3. You can get a small travel router that supports client mode natively. Something like this would work, https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Travel-Router-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01N5RCZQH.
   
   I am assuming that the apartment WiFi is dual band, ie both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. This may go against some people's thinking but when setting this up with either option 2 or option 3 above, you may want to try only using the 2.4 GHz band to connect to the apartment WiFi. There are multiple reasons why this might work better. First 2.4GHz propagates better over longer distances and through walls. So depending where the apartment access point is located you may get a better connection on 2.4 GHz. Second since 5GHz does not propagate through walls very well, especially fireproof walls typically in apartments, this would be better for you to use for your local WiFi network as you will have less interference from your neighbors. Finally, by keeping your backhaul link to the apartment on 2.4GHz and your local WiFi mainly on 5GHz you minimize the interference and time sharing between the two. I would at least try this configuration.
   
   Good luck and please report back on your success or failure. ;-)

The ethernet status is just the connection speed between your computer and modem/router. That does mean your plugged in computer would be able to make use of a Gigabit internet connection, but unless you invest in some serious wireless hardware you won't be able to get close to that over wifi.

Internet connections and wireless speeds are measured in Mbps (Megabits per second). There are 8 bits to every byte. So a 1Gbps connection could download 125MBs per second. Your 15Mbps connection can download 1.8MBs per second. The networking protocols in use also have about a 15% overhead, so in reality it would be about 15% slower than that.

Wireless speeds are more complicated. Your modem/router has a theoretical maximum speed of 300Mbps, but since wireless devices have to share radio time over the same airwaves that number quickly shrinks in the real world. For starters that 1000Mbps ethernet connection you have is a duplex connection, meaning it can simultaneously download and upload at that speed, but with wireless you can't both talk and listen at the same time so it's in half-duplex mode. That means it's sharing that 300Mbps for uploading and downloading, effectively cutting that speed in half. On top of that, every wireless device connected has to share that max speed. If we do a little math...

300Mbps is 37.5MBs per second.
Remove 15% for networking overhead.
Cut it in half because it has to both upload and download.
Let's say you have 4 devices connected so split it in 4.
Next thing you know each device is only getting 4MBs per second and that's assuming you have maximum signal strength and you're paying for a 300+Mbps internet connection.

It's a little more complicated than that and hopefully your wireless router is doing some optimization in there but, long story short, wireless speeds suck. Try to plug in as much stuff as you can. Consider upgrading your router too. Even a cheap TP-Link AC1200 would be a noticeable upgrade from your current one. Realize that is just a wireless router and not a modem/router combo so you would still need a modem. I'm assuming the device you posted earlier is provided by Comcast and plays both rolls. Some ISPs charge extra for the wireless function so you might be able to save a few dollars on your bill by providing your own router.

Now that we've got the internal networking inside of your house (LAN) out of the way, let's talk about your internet connection (WAN). 10Mbps is pretty much the minimum required speed necessary to comfortably watch streaming HD video. Netflix recommends at least 5Mbps per stream but that is really pushing it for 1080p video and god forbid you want to do anything else online at the same time. 25Mbps should be more than adequate for a single person. After looking at the prices you posted and realizing it's only $13 more to bump from 25Mbps to 200Mbps, I personally go with the 200Mbps plan. Though to make full use of that speed over wireless you would need to upgrade your wireless router.

I rent a room and i wanted to make a separate WiFi so my chromecast and IoT stuff won't be accessible on the main house network. I knew i wanted something like VLANs but i found only enterprise grade hardware support that, which can get pretty pricey. I thought of getting a router and installing a custom firmware on a router to get to make VLANs or make myself a custom router with pfsense but because that meant getting way too involved, i don't have time for that.

So, long story long, i found this thing, it's a travel router that takes one WiFi network and makes a new WiFi network with a entirely new subnet a shit. This solved my thing but because the router is pretty small and hardware isn't that great, the speeds on the network are okay. You probably won't be able to stream high bitrate videos on the network, so plex my not work that well. But it's a cheap and a quick solution.

Buying a new router and making a network yourself may be the best solution for you because of the plex server. If you're not streaming 4k or super high bitrate rips, you should be fine with the travel router.

The AC56 seems to have some 2.4 ghz band issues:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320167


1 out of 5 eggs

DON'T BUY THIS ROUTER!!

Pros: It's small, so doesn't take up much space?

Cons: VERY POOR 2.4GHZ (N) speeds.

Do yourself a favor, and do some research on this ASUS RT-AC56U wireless router... Ton's of people are getting very poor 2.4ghz performance. Like less than 1 meg usually, with the strangest spikes here and there, but overall a truly frustrating experience. All for a rather expensive unit too. I unfortunately was not ready to install this unit until several months after purchase, so I wasted money on something I cannot use now. Bummer to be me.



Cons: 2.4ghz issues? Seriously? Dumb me i didn't do my research like half the people that reviewed this and I'm stuck with a neat looking router that has 2.4ghz drop out ALL THE TIME. Upon further research I discovered after about 25-100MB of data transfered on the 2.4ghz band the connections drops down SLOW. Like 100kbps slow.



Cons: Wifi disconnects regularly (at both 5g and 2.4g), updating firmware and hard resets do not fix it. Only support solution offered it is to RMA it back to ASUS, which means I have to pay money to ship it. Do not buy this unit.



Cons: Unacceptable 2.4 GHz performance, the latest firmware as of this writing still maxes out at 20 mbps performance. switch to the 5 GHz network and the performance is much better. I'm on comcast with a 100 mb connecting and I get full line speed with 5GHz. Basically if you don't need to xfer files within your home network or if EVERY device is 5 GHz the router is fine. But thats just not acceptable to me.


http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW#customerReviews

***
Cons:

• 2.4GHz frequency, more specifically the 802.11N implementation is seriously FLAWED and not usable until ASUS fixes the issue.
  
  
• Clients drop connection on 2.4GHz 802.11N connection after about ~50MB of data is transferred. Router seems to go into low power mode, causing either drastic speed reduction (to say 1mb) or link loss/fade.
  
  
  
  1.0 out of 5 stars
  
  $100 of sleek black dissapointment, October 30, 2014
  
  By David Orsi (Savannah, Ga) - See all my reviews
  
  Verified Purchase(What's this?)
  
  This review is from: ASUS Dual-Band Wireless Router (RT-AC56U) (Personal Computers)
  
  I had high hopes for this and all it did was let me down. Someone I know has an ASUS router and he loves it. Based on the number of 5-star reviews opted to disregard all of the 1-star reviews... that was a mistake. This router did exactly what the majority of the 1-star reviews claimed.
  
  Day 1: Set up was a breeze... super easy, and very fast. Router worked perfectly for the first week or so.
  
  Week 2: Started have serious bandwidth issues on the 2.4g band. Would either drop out completely to the point that all 2.4g devises in my home "cannot connect to the internet" or it goes down to less than 1mbps which is slower that a 3G cellular signal. I then reset the router and all is well for a day or so and the problem repeats.
  
  The other serious issue with this router is its range... it claims to have 150% better range... my question is 150% more than what? I live in a town home... aka a glorified apartment and it cannot give me good coverage within my own home. I have my router mounted up high and not behind any objects and when I am in a back bedroom which is 15 feet down a hallway from where the router is located I get 1-2 bars of signal where 5 bars would be full.
  
  Overall this router has some serious issues that appear to be common amongst a large user base... I would say that this is something that needs to be address but it also appears that the Tech support and customer care is lacking as well.
  ***
  
  These reviews are consistent enough that I would stay away from this one, and I recommend Asus routers above all other (except for this model.)

I'm not sure what your budget for this equipment is as DOCSIS 3.1 equipment seems a bit pricey at the moment.

But I've used the older Docsis 3.0 version of this modem since 2014 with COX. I've had to reboot it all of maybe 4 times over the years. Mine was Motorola Branded but it looks like the exact same modem with a new label and updated hardware.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6SKK1G/

I recently installed one of the higher Netgear nighthawk routers in a small business that wanted to expand their wi-fi in the building. I can't find the exact model I installed but I'm fairly certain it was this router. This thing was nuts, the 2.4 GHz band punched through 3 floors and went way out to their parking lot. 5GHz band didn't go quite as far (as expected) but was crazy fast when I was in a reasonable distance to it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192911RA

Self installation of this equipment is super easy.

1. Unplug the Coax from your existing modem.
   
2. Plug in the Coax to your new modem and connect a laptop or desktop pc to the ethernet port with a short cable.
   
3. Call Cox support and tell them you want to activate your own modem. Read them the MAC address and any other information off of the new modem, it is located on a sticker on the modem itself as well as may be on some paperwork that comes in the box.
   
4. They'll activate it and then ask you to confirm internet works on your attached computer.
   
5. Once that is all set you can hang up with them, unplug your laptop and plug that ethernet cable into the yellow port on the router.
   
6. Then it looks like Netgear has some handy app to set these things up, I usually do it myself in the web config but the app will work fine even if you've never set up a router before.
   
7. Once you are done, confirm your new wifi works and test the range. Remember that 2.4 reaches farther but is slower. 5 is faster but does not reach as far.
   
8. If everything works as expected for a few days or so, find the closest COX store and return your equipment in person, making sure to get a receipt claiming you returned your equipment so you have proof to contest if they keep charging you a rental fee.

You don't have to do top tier everything for a homelab.

Most people will never need managed switches, much less Cisco branded stuff. TP-Link makes competent and reasonably priced dumb switches.

For the router, I used to run pfSense on a custom PC build (~$300 about 6 years ago) but I'm already familiar with enterprise router settings and found all the features I could want in a consumer grade Asus router. At the end of the day, port forwarding, WiFi and OpenVPN are everything I'd ever want it to do. I can offload any heavy lifting or advanced features to my server.

If you're not looking to be super fancy, here's a simple homelab setup:

• Asus AC86U Router: $170.14
  
• 24 port TP-Link Switch: $89.99
  
• 8 port TP-Link Switch: $19.99
  
• 2 Bay Synology Diskstation: $166.87
  
• Dell PowerEdge R710 Server: $209.95
  
  You can swap up or down based on needs but the router does all the basic stuff most people will need it to do. The 24 port switch should be more than enough as the primary switch for most people. The 8 port switch is great for secondary locations. The diskstation can handle your backups and cloud storage and is a nice balance of convenience and price. The R710 server can handle Plex, NAS duties and probably some light duty VMs.
  
  The big add-on expense will be the hard drives, of course. You could probably get by shucking the 10TB easystore drives to save a bit.
  
  I use a custom built server (Xeon E3-1231 v3 @ 3.4GHz, 16 GB RAM, built around 2012 and upgraded the CPU a few years ago) and have never owned a R710 myself, so I can't say much on the actual limits of what you can do with it. That said, I'm suddenly really tempted to grab a R710 to use as network storage because I've reached the limit of my current server. The biggest weakness I see in the R710 is the CPU isn't too beefy but its still decent given the sheer number of (8)cores/(16)threads. Plex and less demanding game servers are probably the limit of what it can handle but it should easily handle a number of less demanding VMs.
  
  Anyways, as a starter setup, this should more than satisfy most people.

I personally don't use cable internet anymore but Arris has been a great brand for me during my time on cable. Any problems I did have wasn't by the modem but was from the ISP, as recommended by other users on this subreddit. SB8200 is a great choice.

https://smile.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-Approved-SB8200-Frustration/dp/B07DY16W2Z/

As far as that router, I've heard good things about it. Another good alternative is the RT-AC86U https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/

When I was making a decision buying a router, I came down to AC86U and the X4S (R7800), ultimately I chose the AC86U because ASUS firmware is better since I can use Merlin with it which lets my router gets the most up to date security fixes / enhancements / etc.

You mentioned gigabit, are you planning to get gigabit with Xfinity? If you aren't then buying all this equipment is a bit overkill.

I use ddwrt interchangeable with openwrt. https://openwrt.org You are correct though that none of those look like they will work with that. What I've actually looked into though is one of these https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-Performance-Compatible/dp/B073TSK26W

$20, and powered by 5v (USB if needed) and I can take it with me. Reviews look good. For a single device or on the go, it would be great. I have a lot of wired devices though, so if this came after my router, I'd have to have another network switch after it, and I might as well just use a different router. If you want to switch in for one hard wired device, plus a phone or a couple of wireless it would be fine. Not the high end hardware, but to lock in OpenVPN at the router, it seems perfect.

So then that circles me back to something like an Asus router. https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-N300-Technology-streaming-performing-RT-N12/dp/B00DWFPDNO

N12 has my 4 ports I'd need for hardwired devices, WLAN stuff is a little on the low end though. But probably better than that $20 mobile box while still being under $30.

Asus next bump up takes it all the way to $50 https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-Super-Fast-Gigabit-MU-MIMO-RT-ACRH13/dp/B01LXYT7XB

But, now hard wired is gigabit ports and dual band ac wireless. It's not a high end router, but it has openwrt support and would meet my needs. If you're doing tons of home media streaming, downloads, and gaming, you would just have to invest in something a lot more expensive. For most of us though, that would work great and is probably what I'll get once I replace my router.

While I'm not an authoritative source on good DD-WRT hardware, I've had good luck with the following:

• Netgear WNR3500L
  
• D-Link DIR-825
  
  I've used the Netgear at home, it's been super reliable, I've had it running for the past year or so. Very easy to setup with DD-WRT.
  
  I got the D-Link for a customer who wanted a cheap router. I'd much rather use something like a Cisco ASA at a business, but he wanted cheap. So I made the decision that I wanted something running DD-WRT there. The D-link has been solid so far, and was easy to get DD-WRT running on it.
  
  Also, FWIW, I used a D-Link DIR-655 for a long time, before DD-WRT was supported on any gigabit routers that were N capable. It was super reliable and solid, up until the day it died. Just mentioning it, as it was some more hardware I have had good experience with, just not DD-WRT capable. Even though it died on me, I still regard my experience as good. All services/features worked as advertised, great stability, good interface. I can't fault cheap hardware for failing in questionable environments under 24-7 operation.
  

Anything with 802.11ac. With 3x3 802.11ac assuming both your client (computer or device) supports 3x3 MIMO, you may get around 450Mbps~500Mbps max over 5Ghz 802.11ac WiFi. If you have 4x4 you can go a bit faster maybe in the 800's
I suggest the Asus RT-86U which is a fairly new router (replaces the older RT-68U) with 3 external antennas and one internal antenna for the 4'th of the 4x MIMO so you'll get good range, but that 4th MIMO at closer range if you even have something that use 4x4 (most things don't.) It's a fine product and one of the best performing without going overkill (which you're welcome to do.)

https://www.amazon.com/RT-AC86U-Wireless-Dual-Core-Processor-AiProtection/dp/B0752FD3XJ/
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC86U/


If you want gigabit networking, you'll have to use ethernet. It's the only way. You can get a wireless adapter with 4x4 MIMO that you can add to your PC if you need wireless. https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/Wireless-Adapters-Products/


I know these things talk about greater than 1Gbps networking, but there's just no way. With 4x4 802.11ac 5Ghz you can come close, but you'll find you're getting sub 500Mbps most of the time even at close range. I've tried lots of wireless APs and never done much better. I think I got a 600Mbps with a Ubiquity Wireless AP doing 3x3 MIMO and 6ft.


If $200 is too expensive, then I there are less expensive models that will work nearly as well but at this price you'll do about as well as you can without going to tri-band which is sort of a waste unless you're really using a second channel for high bandwidth streaming. A dual-band really does all you should need.


Stay away from mesh networking systems as they give you coverage at the expense of speed performance and what you need is short-range high performance if I'm not mistaken. Also, you can get 12dbi replacement external antennas for the ASUS on Amazon that will greatly extend your (at least 2.4Ghz) wifi range if you need it. I have them and it knocked out my dead spots.


Check out https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews for reviews and more info on routers.


I hope this helps. Shopping for a router is a can of worms. I've worked with a lot of routers in my line of work and I just really like the ASUS for price, performance, and feature set. I keep getting new routers and going back to the Asus. Netgear is the only other brand I'd recommend, personally. A good deal on a high end Netger is worth considering. Check out the reviews on Smallnetbuilder before you buy.

Asus Routers can do this. I don't know if they can on stock firmware, but I know with Merlin firmware, they do. Here's a screenshot of mine.

The link for the one I own is here. (Ignore the AiMesh stuff. That's another firmware that Asus releases and you don't have to install. The option just means that this router is compatible with it.)

Merlin firmware is super easy to install, is super stable, and is based on the stock firmware. It's easy to go back and forth between stock and Merlin as well.

Good stuff. Yes, the list functionality is pretty good as it automates your downloading then. I rarely touch my instance of Radarr now. I've linked Radarr to my TheMovieDatabase account, and then I just add the movies I want to download to my TMDb account. You can also link up your Trakt too and add movies via the Trakt website. If you want greater control over which specific torrents you want to download, then you can connect to your Radarr instance and manually download movies through that though.

Another alternative to Radarr is CouchPotato, which I've also got set up. Some people don't like it, but I quite like the user interface myself, and ease of use. It works very similar to Radarr.

I don't know how powerful Pis are these days, and their ability to run a VPN service. It's worth trying, but it may bottleneck and give you slow speeds (perhaps others can chime in here though as I've not tried the latest Pi). If you're getting slow speeds when connected to the VPN on the Pi, then you could consider getting a mini smart router to use as a dedicated VPN router, and then connect your Pi to that.

For example, I have one of these, configured for my Torguard VPN account:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Pre-installed-Performance-Compatible/dp/B073TSK26W

Came here to suggest something similar. Assuming OP has decent enough bandwidth at home, you could set up a little RaspberryPi as a Wireguard (or OpenVPN/PiVPN Server) and work around network restrictions that way.

As others have mentioned, you'll need a way to route traffic within your dorm room. This could be anything from your PC with multiple NICs and network sharing enabled, to an old/unused PC running OPNsense/pfSense, or an unused router flashed with DDWRT.

I don't know what your budget is for this project, but I'm a really big fan of these little Edgerouters, which could do everything you want, and more. They have a built in switch chip, so the ER-X can be used in multiple configurations. Some combination of the aforementioned should work wonders. If nothing else, it'll give you tons of stuff to research and learn, and the ER-X would still be valuable after college, either as a router upgrade, or even a (managed) switch.

Good luck this semester, study hard. Holler if you get stuck with anything. You got this. This sounds like the Great Firewall you find yourself behind.

I recently built a four-board Orange PI DIY Skyminer in order to share a way to create a miner without the need to do any of the electrical wiring or flashing OpenWRT to a router. Hopefully this provides the community with some ideas on ways to easily setup a miner!

Here are the supplies used:

Orange PI Prime Boards

Using the Orange PI Prime boards makes sense for beginners since most of the community is using these boards and thus there are a lot of community members who can assist with issues when installing the software on Linux. Additionally, the Skycoin team will be releasing an image with the software preinstalled that can be easily flashed onto Orange PI boards.

Power Adapter (US Version)

Power Adapter (EU Version)

Micro SD Cards

You will want to use fast Class 10 Micro SD cards. 16 GB is what the official miners come with.

LAN Cables

You can use any short Cat 6 Ethernet cables. I used these from the parts list that has floated around and got some in both 15cm and 25cm lengths.

Case

Any Orange PI cases would work but these are the ones I used.

Switch

This cheap switch can handle up to 7 devices, not including the incoming connection from the router. If you might expand to 8 boards in your Skyminer, use a 8+1 port switch like the one referenced in other parts lists.

Power-Adapter-Compatible Surge Protector

This surge protector can support up to 6 bulky power adapters at a time plus additional standard plugs.

GL-MT300N-V2 Mini Router (300 Mbps) with OpenWRT Preinstalled

This mini-router is limited to 300 Mbps but comes with OpenWRT preinstalled and is likely sufficient for home users in many parts of the world where bandwidth is capped at low speeds. In the long term, this bandwidth would not be sufficient for running a Skyminer attached to an antenna, but it gives you time to flash OpenWRT on a gigabit router while still participating in the Testnet via an OpenWRT router.

Power Adapter for Router

The MT300N requires a 5V/1A power supply, so most USB adapters should work.

Summary

Another reason to consider getting individual cases and power adapters is that FPGA miners and official miners with more than 8 boards are being worked on, and when they are released, a lot of the first-gen equipment will not be as useful for running Skywire. When that happens, I will probably use this initial equipment for other purposes or give some boards to friends/family for them to use for various purposes, and everything is in place from the start to make that transition very easy.

One downside to using the Orange PI boards is that they are in high demand due to the Skywire rollout, so backorders are common and it might be a month or more before you receive the boards. Personally, I feel there are several benefits to using the Orange PIs which I mentioned above, but you would probably receive other boards such as Raspberry PIs quicker. Other users have put together guides for those boards as well, such as this thread on Skywug, so you do have several options.

I hope this simple DIY setup helps the community!

Amazing how many people still have that general model of router...I do some "IT-related-work", and frequently encourage customers to upgrade from these.

The biggest thing with these is that Wireless G has been out of use since around...2009, 2010? And while it says speeds are 54Mbps, that's a max theoretical, and is literally never reached by these devices. Practical speeds are 19-22Mbps.

It seems like your external antenna is helping with range, which would be another one of the pitfalls of wireless G.

Since you've asked for suggestions in some of the other posts on here, I would say if you wanted to upgrade, my recommendation would be a Dual-Band Wireless N (or if you wanted to spend more money, Tri-Band Wireless AC), where you use the 2.4GHz band and your antenna for the POGO players, and the 5GHz band for your personal devices (assuming that your devices have 5GHz capability). And, as others have said, you can use DD-WRT or something similar, and limit the available domains/ports.

Examples - Dual Band Wireless N or Tri Band Wireless AC. I used the Dual Band one for 4 years before I ended upgrading, and it worked great for me.

Awesome on you for wanting to try such an ambitious project!

Cable modem\routers are easy to get by nowadays, you can grab one off from amazon, best-buy or even your local wallmart, just make sure that the modem model number is Docsis 3.0
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Ethernet-Archer-C50/dp/B0168G0KZY/
this is a pretty good router, you can connect multiple devices plus this also has 4 reliable wire ports for wired connection

in the end I would also say that you should check out spectrum their Modem\Router is pretty amazing
plus they also have some amazing deals for triple play and double play bundles

OP if I understand you correctly. The following is how your network is currently set up?

Room A has

Modem/WiFi Router Combo and plugged into it...

• NAS via ethernet
  
  
• Powerline via ethernet
  
  Room B
  
  Powerline Out #1 and plugged into it...
  
  
• Desktop PC via ethernet
  
  Room C
  
  Powerline Out #2 and plugged into it...
  
  
• WiFi Accesspoint via ethernet
  
  Wifi Access Point in Room C and connected to it...
  
  
• Roku stick connected to it via Wifi
  
  That current setup is actually ideal for the hardware you have (assuming all the hardware/software is configured correctly)
  
  My thoughts and things to consider.
  
  
• First of all a strong GPU is irrelevant for Plex Media Server right now. The transcoding power of Plex is purely CPU dependant at the moment, although this could change in the future.
  
  
• Haven't heard to much about the Roku Stick. Roku's regular settop boxes are great but maybe the stick isn't up to the task of the other devices? It's possible the WiFi on products like the Chromecast can be iffy sometimes because they're usually wedged between the back of a TV and a wall. You may just want to try a different client before you upend your entire network/server setup. Grab a Chromecast for $35 and see if it does any better.
  
  
• What kind of WiFi AP is in Room C? I assume you have it in bridge mode. It's possible it's just not a great access point for streaming media. Like an older 802.11g AP etc.
  
  
• It's entirely possible the powerline is the cause of the instability. Have you considering looking into MOCA? MOCA is similar to powerline but instead of going through your power system it uses the coax cables that the vast majority of homes have spread throughout their house. This is considered to be more consistently more reliable, stable and faster than powerline. This Motorola MOCA Router/modem combo is one of the most popular.
  
  
• You could also try reducing traffic over the powerline so as little traffic goes over the powerline as possible. Right now your media is taking this path. NAS>Router>Powerline>Desktop PC>Powerline>WiFi AP)))Roku Stick. If you could grab a cheap switch, connect to the Powerline Out #1 in Room B and move the NAS to room B. This would reduce the traffic over the powerline. It be NAS>cheap switch>Desktop PC>cheap switch>Powerline>WiFi AP)))Roku Stick. Setting it up that way could reduce the powerline traffic by half or more when using Plex.

First, here's [the list of compatible modems](https://teksavvy.com/services/internet/hardware/?code=sCable25&itemId=3710
) for their cable plans. Anything in that list will work. I got this Hitron CDA-RES but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. This Hitron CDA3-20 seems to be the newer model. If you have time that's also the kind of thing you can find on kijiji - nearly any somewhat recent Shaw cable modem should work, since in Alberta TekSavvy uses Shaw's network.

Note that that's just the modem - a box that receives the ISP signal through a coaxial cable and gives internet access through a network cable. It's not a router - the router's job is to manage the various devices on your network. Technically a router isn't a wifi access point either although in most consumer devices the 2 products are combined to make a wireless router.

For the router and wireless portion, you can use anything you want. Personally I now use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X as a router and a Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC Lite as a wireless access point. edit to add: if you want help deciding on what network equipment to get (router, wireless AP, wireless router, mesh setup, etc), check out /r/HomeNetworking - they're really good at helping not so tech savvy (lol) people setup a solid network.

Hope that helps!

Ok so first I recommend downloading Verizon's speed optimization tool Download

Second is more or less bad news. I don't believe that model of Verizon's gateway is 5ghz supported or Dualband. not only that but I believe they limit the ability of what you can accomplish with the gateway.

Do you know what wireless card you have in your laptop?

I would probably recommend this https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-600Mbps-USBNOVEL-Wireless-10-4-10-12-2/dp/B06XRG9QDV/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1503454338&sr=1-5&keywords=wireless+card if you don't have a dualband card in your laptop.

Then turn off the wifi on your modem and get this

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N600-Wi-Fi-Router-WNDR3400/dp/B0041LYY6K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503454414&sr=1-1&keywords=netgear+dual+band

Two most affordable solutions.

Also hopefully someone can enlighten if this will work in place of the dongel

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-7260-HMWG-R-Wireless-AC-Bluetooth-Mounting/dp/B00MV3N7UO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1503454504&sr=8-3&keywords=intel+dual+band+wireless-ac+7260

Thank you. :) Since my Ethernet card is 100mbps (About 12 MB/s ? ) and I have 100 mbps internet connection as well, I guess 10-12 MB/s is maximum speed I will read/write at, and even running two simultaneous connection, disk would't be a bottleneck. Plus, getting 10MB/s download from internet is extremely rare.

 
In regards to home networking, I am getting iperf3 result about 94 mbps in both LAN, and around 30-50 mbps with server in LAN, client in wifi. I am using Netgear N600 WNDR3400v2 , and while it have good review (4 start over 1500+ reviews), I feel like it is not doing justice to my internet speed. I pay for 100mbps, but get only 20-25 mbps in speedtest while on wifi and its not GBit LAN as will. Do you have any suggestion on good GBit (and possibly wireless ac router) that doesn't break the bank?

 
And I will look into VNC, I have heard good things about it. I have to have gnome desktop installed for me to use VNC, right? I am guessing only option to control with GUI disabled is ssh?

 
I appreciate all the suggestions.Thanks :)

I don't know if best and under $100 go together but with your pricepoint, get an Asus; They pretty much make the best wireless routers out there.

Despite what others have said, do not waste your money on an Airport Express or an 802.11N router. The Apple router debuted almost 3 years ago so you are paying for the Apple name (which is garbage in networking) and the N standard is quickly going to be like owning an 802.11G AP

Get the Asus RT-AC56U. If you can afford it I would go more expensive, but this is going to be the best bang for your buck if not: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1422400624&sr=1-5

The way you have it set up is as separate as they can get. The access point mode I mentioned is not a default so if you are unsure what it is then it's not likely you have gone through the steps to change it over to that. I would suggest a better router to be honest. The ones you have were great in their day, but that was ages ago.

This is a very nice one that won't set you back all that much either. It supports most of the major 3rd party firmwares as well. You may also want to look into an offshoot of OpenWRT called Gargoyle. Their page can be found here. I mention this one because it has a lot more bandwidth controls than others I've seen. It even allows you to set quotas for specific devices or a shared quota between a few devices as a group.

The ASUS RT N66U is pretty spectacular.

If you can't budge that $2, the N56U is good too.

I've never tried the RT AC56U but if it's like the others then it'll be great and supports 802.11AC.

The N66U is much better than the N56U, so if you can go with that one over the cheaper version.

45 Mbps is $30 for 1 year. God knows how much it is after that or how long of a contract I have to buy into - not accounting for upfront costs.

Yeah, I actually ended up buying this with some Amazon gift cards I got for Xmas: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWHMR6G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I'm hoping I can set that up as my access point and disable it on the router.

You actually brought up an interesting point. I have NEVER been able to open ports on the AT&T modem to access my devices over the Internet. I'm hoping I'll have better luck if I just open everything on the modem and use the router as the firewall.

I know it's over your budget, but this is the one i'd recommend to everybody. I've got one at home and it's stable, hasn't crashed on me once. It also has excellent signal strength and is easy to set-up: Linksys WRT54GL.

As for one within your budget, I think this one should do the trick:
TP-Link WR740N.

I have found the ASUS line to be very OpenVPN friendly, and great to work with all around. I thought they would max out at 15-20mbps through OpenVPN, which was true when I got mine a couple years ago, but I was recently enlightened that the AC86U can do about 200mbps through OpenVPN. That looks like a great option.

By gig blast I assume you mean fiber maybe? Here is the fiber version of the router. Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP - Router - Desktop - Black (ER-X-SFP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012X45WH6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-C7sDbRNTZ9DC

Access points: Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRO512/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eE7sDbCT7FFQT

The access points will act purely as a bridge from wireless to wired (aka not a router, just wifi) with your home's size I'd recommend probably 3 or possibly 4 of them depending on how well you want the wifi to reach. This type of wifi will be mesh meaning you'll only have one ssid and your phone will connect to whichever AP is closer automatically. (Youd need to download a controller software to a PC)

Again, this is just the most optimal setup and required a little bit knowledge of the devices and general networking to setup.

If you're strictly looking for good but plug and play this would be the best route: AmpliFi HD WiFi System by Ubiquiti Labs, Seamless Whole Home Wireless Internet Coverage, HD WiFi Router, 2 Mesh Points, 4 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 WAN Port, Ethernet Cable, Replaces Router & WiFi Extenders https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L9O08PW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oH7sDbKR37G0G

Hope this helps clear things up!

I had this issue as soon as I got my Xbox One X Scorpio edition. We were both using an Arris Surfboard gateway router thing. Pretty sure it was this one. The issue would happen via wireless or wired. Either way, booting up the machine would almost always result in no internet connection to the Xbox.

This router was fine, worked great when we each had Day 1 Xbox Ones, but when we got the Xbox One X it started having issues for both of us. I went through all the support stuff I could, nothing fixed it.

Bought a new router, the ASUS AC3200 and it solved my problems. My friend still is using the old Arris Surfboard and he's still having this problem.

I switched my Arris Surfboard gateway into modem only mode and use this new router alongside that same old modem and it's running great.

Don't buy the ERX from that seller?
Try the UBNT one below:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-ER-X-Router/dp/B0144R449W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511550910&sr=8-1&keywords=Edgerouter+x

1. Yes - Follow the wizards/guides in the ERX configs.
   
2. Yes - I have three VLAN's set up on my Edgerouter.
   2a. I have tested the ERX as a VLAN switch and it works perfectly!
   
3. The UAP-AC-Lite is an excellent combo for small home networks.
   
   Fun fact, you can use one passive PoE brick (or switchport) to power the ERX and AC-Lite [daisy-chained together].
   

It could just be your streaming method, but I have to say that I upgraded my desktop's wireless card and my router and I am never going back to anything besides the "best". I have zero issues gaming at all now.

I have that exact same ASUS PCE88 and this router and I'm getting great speeds from the comination of them. I feel that range plays a huge factor in whether your wireless experience will be good or not, and the ASUS card and router combo completely eliminate any issues related to that.

From my phone, I can pick up my 5GHz band pretty far outdoors from my router. My desktop with the ASUS PCE88 ends up picking up networks that my laptop(with an Intel 7260) can't even see.

I used to have so many wireless issues, but now I have absolutely none. I'd say upgrade if you have the money to spend and want the "fastest".

On another note, let me load up a live boot of Antergos on my desktop and I'll let you know if the ASUS card is recognized at all.

EDIT: No wireless was recognized. But Google is saying there are drivers out there. https://blog.cooperteam.net/post/2017-11-10-asus-ac88-wifi-on-linux/

[“Junk”] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6P.SCbDZ5ZDNV)

I was doing nice things but obviously I’m done with that. I prefer not to burn bridges but if someone else wants to take that route I’m not going to try to put out the flames. I’m not trying to do anything out of malice, I’m just now willing to do anything to legally get my money back consequences to them be damned. They made their bed and they can lie in it. I’m neutral to them now. The emotional part of me that doesn’t listen to reason still cared a bit when I wrote the original post but seeing how she’s treated my friend (OP of this post) has changed that real fast.

If it wasn’t explicitly said that I would get the deposit back at the end of July when the lease ran out it was heavily implied and understood.

The mention of nice things was irrelevant to the legal aspect of the situation, it was just to try to say that this situation isn’t one that I created through my own actions. Not trying to give myself good boy points because they’re meaningless.

Most of them use Verizon FiOS. Under FiOS, you get the same upload and download speed, so if you get 100Mbps download, you'll get 100Mbps upload; very good for streaming at a price that's better than competitors' like TWC and Comcast.

For routers I suggest the Netgear AC3200 Nighthawk X6 Triband Router (http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-AC3200-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-R8000/dp/B00KWHMR6G). It's costly but this thing will give you WiFi speeds that are equivalent to wired ethernet speeds, and the LOWEST band (which is a 2.4GHz band) is capable of 600 Mbps, with the other two 5GHz bands packing up to 1.3Gbps capabilities each (which you won't get even with Google Fiber).

If you don't want to spend $270, get the Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band router for $185 (http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-AC1900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00F0DD0I6/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1412720595&sr=1-2&keywords=netgear+nighthawk).

If there are a lot of people in your house that use WiFi, and you guys do any kind of video streaming or need constant, stable WiFi connections nearly the entire day, the extra money you spend on the TriBand AC3200 is WELL worth it. You will not need to upgrade routers for a long while. Furthermore, AC is the newest WiFi technology, and it just started to be included in several new technological devices like the iPhone 6 or newer laptops. 802.11ad is just around the corner, but it will still be backwards compatible with a/b/g/n/ac

You'll get extremely quick and stable WiFi connection with the AC3200 TriBand router. No need for a wireless adapter to boost signal capture unless your PC doesn't have a built-in WiFi card. Reason being is the router has range that will cover your entire house while still being extremely stable, especially if you're able to get it somewhere near the middle of your house in an open space with no surrounding furniture or objects to 'deter' any signal.

Well, I don't know wtf is going on at Amazon right now but these $200-$300 routers I've had my eye on are on massive discounts today.
129.99
NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S - AC2600 4x4 MU-MIMO Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Gaming Router (R7800-100NAS) Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192911RA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_XxGgAb7T6H509


This thing is 159.99 for God knows what reason. Pretty sure it's a spaceship.
NETGEAR Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router (R8000) Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KWHMR6G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fAGgAb06RB6N6

>I can't buy a unifi setup due to low budget.

No, you do not need to buy a switch or a cloud key. All you need is the modem, a quality router, and a Unifi AP. Your router acts as a switch since it generally has 5 Ethernet ports, so the AP will just plug into the router. The cloud key is only for the Ubiquiti controller software. It's basically a dedicated mini-computer that runs the controller software for those who want to manage their devices remotely and get better statistical information. The cloud key is completely optional even though they say it's necessary. The controller software can be installed on your computer at home for the purpose of setup and that's it. Once you set it up, it's really powerful and extends your range quite drastically - I highly recommend. Just be sure to change the SSID and password to the same as your router, so that it handles wifi handoff on your devices.

This is the Unifi AP that I got. I would recommend at least a dual-band AC router with MIMO technology. There's plenty out there where you don't have to break bank, just pick a company that you want to support. I personally like Asus and I've heard great things about Netgear Nighthawk models. Either Asus A3200 or Netgear Nighthawk R6900P. Pair that with a good modem, such asMotorola Surfboard SB8200 (modem will depend completely on what your ISP supports, so don't buy that one unless you know). With this entire setup, you're looking at roughly $400. Even if you don't want to go the AP route, just going with a good router and modem to start will give you an idea of your wireless in your home/office. Unfortunately, working with a wireless signal isn't a one shot type of project. It requires several steps, but first start with the equipment that's feeding your internet.

You also didn't really explain anything in regards to your home/office setup: square footage, brick/drywall, metal obstacles, etc. All of these things play a factor in RF attenuation. You also didn't talk about your setup. Are we talking about being mobile with a phone and laptop, or is there a desktop involved? Are there streaming devices involved?

I haven't heard good things about either a range extender or a mesh system, but it works for some people. If you have a desktop computer, a USB network interface card would do you good.

Here's the options I'd suggest:

Replace airport with something like the TP-Link C7/C9.

• Depending on how far your backyard is from the router and things in between, may still have issues with WiFi
  
• Could always put the C7/C9 in a more central location in your house or closer to where you need good signal and just run a cable from your modem to the C7/C9.
  
• Easiest to configure, mostly plug-and-play with some config needed to setup password, SSID, IP scheme if you want to change it, etc.
  
  Buy a wireless access point and keep the airport for now.
  
  
• Try the access point where your airport is now and see if you get good signal in the backyard. If not, run a cable from the airport (or switch) to a more central location in your house, or closer to where you need good signal and setup the access point there.
  
• These are unbeatable wireless access points for the money.
  
• The AC lite will require some configuration.
  
  Replace the airport with something like an edge router X and also get the Ubiquiti AC Lite access point.
  
  
• Setup the edge router X where the airport is now and try the access point where the edge router is. If you don't get good enough signal where you need it, run a cable from the edge router to a more central location in your house or closer to where you need good signal and setup the AC lite there.
  
• Most configuration needed as both the edge router and AC lite require some configuration.

I recommend this modem http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825188005 to replace theirs, it's the same or even better. If they had been providing you with a wifi router, I recommend this one http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WRT54GL-Wireless-G-Broadband-Router/dp/B000BTL0OA/ . This router rules right out of the box, but if you're a techie or have a buddy who is, you can flash tomato speedmod firmware onto this router to hotrod it even more, and in any case you can add $10 HGA7T add-on antennas to it (search amazon or ebay) to increase its range if you need more range. Good luck!

Hey there, sorry for the slow response. The good thing is that you can likely pick up any dual antenna router without worrying about range.

That said, I would recommend looking at the DIR-655 from D-Link. I feel bad about it because it's been out for years, but at the same time that means the hardware and firmware are mature. You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-655-Extreme-N-Gigabit-Wireless/dp/B000LIFB7S/

The DIR-655 should be good for up to about 2000 to 2500 square feet, which in your case means that you'll have a strong signal throughout the apartment.

The only thing the DIR-655 doesn't have is dual band- meaning it can't transmit on 5Ghz wireless N. Dual band is nice because it's a "wifi only" signal, but not everything supports it yet. Looking forward, if you do a lot of media streaming and want to do that streaming wirelessly, you may want to look at the DIR-825, found here: http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-825-Extreme-N-Dual-Band-Gigabit/dp/B001F7HLRC/

The only drawback is that the 825 is a dual antenna model, which will put its signal at about 1500-2000 square feet.

While I agree it's crap, I got it for free, so no bilkin lol. I have thought it might be case. Is there a router under 100 bucks that might be suggested? I have 3 pc's, two xbox's, a few phones/tablets and maybe 10 pieces of HA equipment running. We don't have them all running at the same time. I looked at TP-Link Gigabit VPN Router (TL-R600VPN) and Ubiquiti-Networks-ER-X-Router Will either one of these fit the bill and is there something with better performance with plex media server and my server?

Thanks again for any insight.

I just setup my parent's on an ATT hotspot for their home Internet, replacing Frontier DSL 3Mbps service. I am using the TP-Link Travel router. https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR902AC-Wireless-Travel-Router/dp/B01N5RCZQH

There's a few different options with this device as it includes a USB port and Ethernet port. You can both power and tether the USB hotspot to the router through the USB port and share the Internet connection over wifi 2.4 & 5Ghz wirless networks. You'd think they'd allow connection to the LAN port for an external switch or Ethernet device, but they do not. They allow the port for a secondary WAN connection in this mode.

The other mode, in which I operate my parents, is using the hotspot wifi signal to share the hotspot internet (Hotspot sharing mode). So the Travel Router takes the hotspot wifi, and bridges it as the WAN connection. You then use the router as any regular wireless router, setting up the wifi networks (both 2.4 & 5Ghz) and then you can also connect a switch to the LAN port. The Travel Router has it's own DHCP services, so there is a double NAT involved, which really shouldn't affect anything unless you're hosting anything with port forwarding.

What's nice about this router is it is fully features, including Firewall and port forwarding options, DHCP reservation & MAC address blocking, DNS override, and my favorite: WAN port bandwidth throttling per device IP. Comes in handy when streaming video and have a data cap and want to save some gigs.

I think you've already gotten the answers you're looking for but wanted to throw in my two cents to further clarify and make myself available if you have further questions. I too upgraded from an XR18 to X32 (and own an M32 as well now)...

The X32 is basically the same stuff as the XR18 - the X32-Edit app will look the same, the 'Q' app for musicians to control their mix basically looks the same. There's just a lot more channels to scroll right for.

The questions I think you were asking about is related to routing - you have 6 Aux (1/4" jacks) and 8 XLR outs (plus a headphone jack if you need one more stereo out). My church X32-Rack uses every single plug to run 8 stereo IEM mixes including the headphone jack.

On the XR18, your XLR plugs are basically pre-defined as your Aux 1-6 and LR output. There are two plugs on the X32 labels Left and Right but that is more of a suggestion. The other connections aren't labeled besides a number. You'll go into routing and decide which plug does what. So you'll need to assign (or keep on default) your left/right output, and probably add one more for a subwoofer output. That will leave you five XLR plugs left - unless you wanted to run your main outputs off of the Aux plugs which you can totally do. The default for the plugs are that they are assigned to your busses so XLR 1-6 will correspond to bux mix 1-6. You can put them in to stereo pairs and run 3 stereo mixes....though I recommend assigning output 6 to a dedicated subwoofer output which will leave bus 5 stuck in mono.

Then you can assign bus 7-12 to the Aux Out and have 3 more stereo mixes.

As mentioned, you can buy AES50 snakes for additional input output as well. I bought two SD8's so that I have the combo jacks like the good ol' days with the XR18 and can place one at each speaker tower so that my speakers and subs connect directly through the snake while my IEM's are connected to the back of the X32-Rack.

​

Also someone mentioned an important aspect - there's no built in wireless on the X32-Rack. You will need to have some form of wireless router on hand. I personally use a travel router so that I have my own isolated wireless network to control the audio and give musicians access, but I'm also simultaneously connected to the venue's WiFi for Internet access - https://smile.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-AR750S-Ext-pre-Installed-Cloudflare-Included/dp/B07GBXMBQF

This is an AC2600 router, and is the update to the previous Nighthawk X4 model. Comes with a dual-core 1.7 GHz processor and supports MU-MIMO.

So far the reviews are good (currently ranked #1 in its category on SmallNetBuilder) and range as well as connectivity has been much improved over its predecessor. Overall, a pretty solid router and a great option for people looking to upgrade.

Be warned though: the router doesn't currently support custom firmware like Tomato or Merlin, and the version of DD-WRT it runs now is said to be unstable. If that doesn't matter to you, I think this is a great router.

EDIT: Sorry to everyone who missed out but the deal appears to be "dead" for now -- Newegg raised the base price to $235, making the final price $205. Newegg does change its prices pretty frequently based on stock or demand, so check back later if they drop the price again. The code EMCENFK32 should be good until September 22, 11:59 PM.

If not, the router is currently available for $200 via Amazon and Best Buy. $200 is still a very good price, see price history here.

Those are the same thing. The UniFi AC-Lite is the AP to get if you don't have any 3-stream devices, the UniFi AC-Pro is the AP to get if you do. The EdgeRouter X is the router to get.

Looking at your plan, what would be easier in your case is just to keep the FiOS router and add a single AP in the living room. Keep the FiOS router's Wi-Fi on, and give it the same SSID and password as the AP but different channels. And since you'd be running an Ethernet line anyway for the AP, an even better solution would be to run it to a wall jack behind your entertainment center and get a gigabit switch. This way, you can hardwire the TV, PS3, Roku, and Xbox. Generally, any device that stays put should use Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi if at all possible. You could also add the AP as well, it doesn't have to be ceiling mounted. Just make sure you get a switch with enough ports.

www.smallnetbuilder.net

My opinion, even though people say you won't exceed it's speed, it to get in to 802.11ac as soon as you can. It's a huge improvement over 11n, not just in speed. Asus makes a decent AC1200 router (http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW). Netgear makes some decent AC1600 units (http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-AC1600-Wi-Fi-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00BR3ZYIW).

Don't get so hung up on the 1200 v 1600 v 1750 v 1900. Most of it is marketing and fud on inflating the practical use of the higher speeds on the 2.4Ghz band. It's most important to focus on the 5Ghz and making sure it's a 3stream 11ac 5Ghz radio (99% of the time you will want 20Mhz 2.4Ghz because the spectrum is so crowded).

IMHO main thing to focus on is 3-stream 11ac 5Ghz radio and the best CPU you can afford. smallnetbuilder is a reliable source. For consumer-grade devices, I've had good luck with Asus and Netgear. Your mileage may vary and there will be TONS of opinions on this. Up to you if you want to pay more for the faster AC units. The AC1450 and AC1200 Netgear units are within your price range.

Asus makes awesome routers that are really easy to use and super powerful. I have this one:

ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless-AC2400 Dual Band Gigabit Router

and I love it, although there are like two lower models that have AC with the lowest being the

ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router

There are quite a few options out there, and it really depends on what your focus is. Do you have multiple 802.11 AC devices, or are most still on the N band? Do you game, and if so, do you plan on doing so hardwired or wireless (obviously I recommend wired if you can, but not everyone has this option)? How large is your living space, and are you in a house with few wireless points around or in an apartment with tons of wireless congestion around?

For everyday use that will serve you well all around with solid 802.11AC performance, I'd recommend the Asus RT-AC68U. FYI on this one, Amazon currently has it listed for WAY above what most retail shops are at. I've seen them recently as low as $115-130. Probably worth surfing around for a better price (FYI - if you have a Micro Center near you, they have it on sale right now for $140).

If you game heavily, and it is a big part of your daily life, the Netgear R7000p Nighthawk router is well worth the additional cost. I've seen this go as low as $140 in the past, but its far more often closer to the current price of $180.

Finally, if these are too far out of your price range, that's totally understandable. For a budget pick, the TPLink Archer C7 is an excellent all around router especially for the low cost. The major downsides of going with a budget router is the lack of good QOS (quality of service) tools to manage bufferbloat and latency for gaming, and slower processors that can harm large file transfers over a network or multiple devices at the same time. It all depends on your usage.

One final note - Comcast's device is often a modem AND router in one. Do you have a Docsis 3.0/3.1 modem already that you will be using with this, or do you need to purchase one of those as well? You can not use one or the other, you must have both (unless only hardwiring to one PC, with no wifi).

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-AC1750-4-Port-Gigabit-RT-AC66U-B1/dp/B01N08LPPP/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1483758930&sr=1-1&keywords=RT-AC66U+B1

This is a great mid-level one they offer. You get 5Ghz 3x3 plus it also has great features like TrendMicro Antivrius, Good QOS system, and open source firmware support should you ever decide try those out.

Consider something like this: http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-655-Extreme-Gigabit-Wireless/dp/B000LIFB7S

It still has the router/wireless functionality, but you can swap the included antennas (probably only a 2dBi gain) and replace them with 5's or even 9's if you're feeling frisky. Putting a parabolic dish on the back of your existing access point turns it into a directional antenna, with the beam width based on the parabola of the dish you're using. Not to mention that you need to tune the focal length of the dish-to-antenna (how far away you should place the radio from the dish), it's going to be more hassle than it's worth. If you really wanted a directional signal, you can always buy a directional antenna for the D-Link (or whatever), and you would know exactly how many degrees the beam is and where you need to place the antennas. No sense reinventing the wheel.

If you had a little cash to spend, you might consider something like this: http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-MCAB1001-Coax-Ethernet-Adapter-Black/dp/B001N85NMI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320344857&sr=8-3

I've got these running in my house and they are AWESOME. I was able to move all the network infrastructure (cable modem, firewall, access point) to an upstairs room while providing a hard network line to my PC in the downstairs living room with no speed issues at all. And since I'm not burying my antenna someplace where I can't see it, wireless signal has improved.

Gah, I wrote my comment after seeing the "N300" and thought you were referring to Netgear, but now I see that wasn't the case. Ah well, it's not totally out of your budget, so here's what I've got on it.


I have had the Netgear N300 for about a year and a half and it's worked great. I live with 2 roommates and we can all be on our smartphones, laptops, and have netflix playing on the TV without an issue. Quite often we have 5 or 6 people in our apartment and there is no noticable slowdown with the router. Very occasionally we'll have to reset the router, but that's only once every 3+ months.

Next year we're looking at dropping cable for a roku, so we may have to bump up to the Netgear N600 to stream HD video all the time, which sounds like what you're interested in doing. It's on sale for $70 in the link I provided, and I'm really tempted to snatch it up right now!

Addendum to my earlier post:

If you decide to give the travel router a try, make sure you get the AC model like this one below. Other models only support 2.4GHz and while it might work, it's not worth dealing with signal issues on top of Internet connectivity as well. The good news is that the Enchantment's wireless has great coverage, about the only place we had any less than four bars of signal were in the elevators.
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Travel-Router-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01N5RCZQH

Great advice: don't spend $400+ on a home router.

The range is limited by FCC regulation. A $30 router can go as far as a $5000 router. What you need is to get a good router and a few wireless access points. This way, each access point adds to your coverage. It also allows your client devices to reach the closest access point.

Wifi is like having a conversation. If I put you at the other end of a football field with a gigantic megaphone, I'll hear you just fine, but there's no way I will be able to reply to you.

Get a decent router, with or without wifi, and then a couple of APs. A good combo : Edgerouter-X ($50) + 3x Unifi AP AC Lite ($75). For $275, you will end up with enough coverage to cover about 12,000 square feet. Add a switch for additional ports (maybe $25) and for $100 less than these "super duper router" you'll get much better coverage. Upgrade the Edgerouter X for an Edgerouter Lite for $25 more and you'll get full gigabit capabilities.

It costs around 6k

​

https://www.amazon.in/Ubiquiti-Edgerouter-Router-Desktop-Black/dp/B0144R449W/ref=pd_sbs_147_3/261-2180694-9768312?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0144R449W&pd_rd_r=b472e1a4-8290-11e9-83ee-f7b9de9ca136&pd_rd_w=2hKSm&pd_rd_wg=9unfP&pf_rd_p=87667aae-831c-4952-ab47-0ae2a4d747da&pf_rd_r=BSVBF642CH04YMJ0XKH9&psc=1&refRID=BSVBF642CH04YMJ0XKH9

​

You can do everything from the GUI if you desire but there is a small bit of learning curve. Luckily there are hundreds of videos on youtube explaining how to set things up.

​

Yes you can do that. I have a bunch of static routes via WAN2. You can also set it up in such a way that certain protocols or ports always go via WAN2.

​

If you get it, make sure to upgrade your firmware first before setting up anything.

​

Just to let you know - I do not have the exact above model. I have the SFP model which costs a bit more. However the CPU and internal memory etc is all the same in both.

You need these;

https://www.amazon.com/Sumaote-Controller-Compatible-Assistant-Dimmable/dp/B07JC3L4Z6/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=magic+home+led+wifi+controller&qid=1564066781&s=gateway&sr=8-14

Install them parallel with your current light switch in the RV, this will bypass the switch when it is off, and yet the switch can bypass the WiFi controller while IT is off. :) I live in my RV full time, I use these everywhere.

​

Do use LED lights though. Filament light wattage adds up fast and might burn these up. These will run small fans as well, but the dimming feature will cause a lot of motor whine if used to slow the fans.

As for the 110v, any smart plug (including Amazons which I have on my AC) will have a physical button on the side to toggle them on and off when you don't have Alexa working. That said, pair her to your phones hotspot and enjoy.

​

I have all the carriers with unlimited everything since internet is 100% required for me. I use a GL.iNet AR300M micro router to create a permanent access point regardless which phone I use to tether to it.

​

Here's a cheap version that will do all you need;

https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-Performance-Compatible/dp/B073TSK26W?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_13180420011

​

Hope this helps!

Drat, okay.

Are they tech savvy? Maybe they'd like a travel router.

I think simple stemless wine glasses could be an elegant gift. And monogrammed mugs, especially these gold ones, are always well-received :).

A set of wireless headphones is great for traveling!

Thank you for such a detailed reply. After your reply and checking out those links the other comments make much more sense to me.

i checked out the equipment you recommended, read more about them online to get a better understanding but its very expensive for me.

I thought I'd buy a cheaper router for example
archer c50. or archer C7. and get one of the UAP you mentioned but apparently getting equipment from different companies causes problems in switching connections automatically when you move around the house, so it'd be better to get ones from the same company.

Cause of that what do you think about one of those archer C50 or C7 with a TP link access point like AC1350.??

Yes regarding your last paragraph i got that sorted out yesterday. Asked Verizon to convert COAX to ethernet. Yes its through the MoCA adapter in case I decide to get TV services from verizon in the future.

I am not trying to sell you on something that wouldn't be fitting for you situation so here's the deal. If you need a very high performance router with configuration options galore and have the need to manage network settings for whatever reason, get the Nighthawk. We have had a few glaring issues with it however. One being that the router had randomly entered a bootloop and was not fixed with a hard reset. I managed to reflash the firmware with some trickery.


The Google WiFi also has great performance but is much more simplistic in it's operations. It automatically stays up to date and manages settings such as channel, frequency ect to allow for easy maintenance. It does leave a bit to be desired at moments but for most everybody, the self sufficient management is excellent.

Edit: This is the specific Nighthawk that I have by the way - https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-Gigabit-Compatible/dp/B00KWHMR6G/

When you are using fibre, you actually don't need a modem at all. It's a digital signal and a modem (modulator/demodulator) converts an analog signal into a computer readable digital signal.

You can get a coupler and a cable from amazon for pretty cheap, and I would imagine infinitecables.com would also have one.

What I did is I took the SPF out of the HH3000 and plugged it into an Intel X520 ethernet card. I plugged it into a computer running PFSense, and I have a PC running as a router. It's awesome.

You can also get something like this https://www.amazon.ca/UBIQUITI-ER-X-SFP-Edgerouter-X-Sfp/dp/B012X45WH6/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=edgerouter+sfp&qid=1556291312&s=gateway&sr=8-2 altho I haven't tried this device.

There is an awesome thread at DSL Reports
https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31118482-Yes-you-CAN-bypass-the-HomeHub-3000

Keep in mind, I purchased the modem two years ago. It has never failed me once, but I'm sure they have improved on it since then:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AJHDZSI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought the router from Best Buy:

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-X4S-R7800-100NAS-Compatible/dp/B0192911RA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497650111&sr=1-1&keywords=netgear+r7800

The R7000 nighthawk was just on sale for $145 from TigerDirect and I picked it up b/c I'm moving to 11ac.

I'd suggest watching www.slickdeals.net if you want to get the best price possible. There should be a good deal very soon as the R7000 has been replaced with the actual best.

The best modem is usually regarded as the SB6141 and most cable companies support it.

To be honest, a router is a router when it comes to what you're trying to do.

that said, this is the one i have :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WR1043ND-Wireless-Gigabit-Printers/dp/B002YLAUU8

I've flashed it with DD-WRT and it's now a much more capable router with QOS, VPN, Bandwidth Monitoring etc.

It's cheap and cheerful, and once flashed, very capable.

Gigabit ports and a USB port for your USB drive or printer are nice features.

You’ll likely just want to get a consumer router which is actually a router, switch, and AP. The router takes the single public IP that your ISP provides you and allows all of your devices to communicate with the internet with just the single public address through NAT. A typical router will have one Ethernet jack for connection to the internet and 4 for connecting devices via a cable. If you can swing it, wire as many devices as possible for the best experience.

I like Asus routers for their ease of use, but having advanced features built in if you need them.

Here’s one I’ve installed at friends and family’s homes:

ASUS RT-AC66U B1 AC1750 Dual-Band WiFi Router, AiProtection Lifetime Security by Trend Micro, AiMesh Compatible for Mesh WiFi System https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N08LPPP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7mKkDbG1AAT7P

That's great to hear, so generally what I need specifically is a cable router? from what I gather with Hyperoptic being FTTP the actual wall socket is essentially the modem and that feeds via ethernet cable into the stock cable router?

I was looking at something like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC87U-Dual-Band-Dual-Processor-Dual-Core/dp/B00MPI5N7U/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=asus+rt-ac87u&qid=1556199220&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Really appreciated for the test etc, thanks for all the advice!

There are always better alternatives to a D-Link (or Belkin), both in hardware and software, and even in the same price bracket.

With your higher than rock-bottom budget - meaning you don't have to settle for the old TP-Link Archer C7 staple - I would recommend the Asus RT-AC66U_B1. It is based on the Asus RT-AC68U hardware and can also run the custom firmware from Merlin. Like its more expensive brother, it has very few complaints compared to most other consumer routers and good stock firmware.

Since you seem comfortable running DD-WRT or open source software in general, then an excellent alternative pick would be the Netgear R7000P with Kong's build. This is a MU-MIMO router, which could be handy in future.

Tomato router firmware has the best QoS I've experienced. Had a heavily torrenting peer on my network and gaming ping would go from 50 to 400ms. Tomato QoS fixed it. I would get a router with a powerful processor and capable of running tomato. The asus ac56u is the best one in your price range. http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449627317&sr=8-1&keywords=ac56u

I'm not exactly sure whether you're asking about which internet service to get or which hardware to buy so here's my opinion on both:

Unless your apartment complex is wired for some sort of fiber then TWC might be your only option anyway but if they have Uverse available there will probably be cheaper (but much slower) packages available through them. I think here in San Diego they have a $30/mo for 6mbps option but TWC is $40 for 50-100mbps (depending on neighborhood) so I'd say that's worth the money.

Given that you're in an apartment I would recommend that you don't go with the cheapest option because odds are you'd get a 2.4GHz-only router and that's going to be awful due to interference. When everyone is home in the evening streaming Netflix you will have serious issues.

I recommend spending a little more money and getting a dual band router like this one. You'll also want to make sure that you name the 2.4GHz and 5GHz with different SSIDs and try to only connect to the 5GHz SSID on your devices. You may have some devices that can only see the 2.4GHz SSID but hopefully anything you'll use to stream video or skype/FaceTime with will be on 5GHz.

The downside to 5GHz is range but as long as your apartment isn't gigantic you should be ok. In my experience in apartments a weak 5GHz signal is better than any 2.4GHz signal.

Ditch that ISP provided gear, if at all possible. I know additional costs aren't always in the budget, but if you have the ability to, you should consider getting a router that you control.

Once upon a time I invested $49 into a little Edgerouter-X and it was just an incredibly powerful little device for the money. Blows away any of the usual consumer grade (Linksys, Netgear, etc.) stuff that most of us have been accustomed to. It essentially has Enterprise grade features at a consumer price point. It also has a built in switch chip, so you can plug multiple machines into it, perhaps even power a wireless access point using the eth4 for its (24V Passive) PoE out abilities. Physical placement of your WiFi device(s) matters a LOT. Lots of homes have them tucked away in a little corner, which isn't great unless you want 50% of your signal to be broadcast towards your neighbors. YMMV.

Be advised this is a router only, so you'd also need to consider what you'll do for WiFi, but it's simple enough to convert whatever you are using presently to behave as merely an access point to provide WiFi (unless it's a combo router/switch/wireless access point, all-in-one unit from Comcast). In that case, /r/Ubiquiti also makes fantastic wireless APs, for example: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/

I would go for Linksys WRT54GL. I haven't got one, but I did get recommendations from a few friends who do. If you're into Linux, you might like it for it's support for Linux-based (3rd party) firmware.
> Fully supported by Tomato, OpenWrt, and DD-WRT.

As I see now, it doesn't seem to support wireless-n, so if you need this feature for your wlan, keep that in mind.

Here's a wiki link for WRT54G series, you might check that out.

Here is the (camelcamelcamel)[https://camelcamelcamel.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-Gigabit-Compatible/product/B00KWHMR6G] link.

This is also on sale at Best Buy, but the free shipping st Best Buy said that delivery would be on December 4th so I went with Amazon. I do not think that this deal is available in store because there was no "ship to store" option.

Thank you for the response. Are you suggesting that I can get the following:

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-ER-X-SFP-US-Advanced-Gigabit/dp/B012X45WH6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1467112450&sr=8-5&keywords=Ubiquiti+EdgeRouter

and https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Enterprise-System-UAP-AC-LITE-US/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467112342&sr=8-1&keywords=Ubiquiti+UniFi+AP+AC+Lite

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but you're suggesting that the EdgeRouter and the UniFi is an access point that will help "boost" signal? The only "hardwired" devices connected directly to my router is the TiVo box. Might there be any resources on this type of configuration you're describing? Perhaps more complicated than the suggested TP router below, but this might be a more "powerful" solution. Again, thanks for your suggestion.

I have had Comcast in bellingham for the last 3 years and have only had an outage or slowdowns twice. The first outage was out for about 5 hours when there was a windstorm and then just last week I believe when there was another. The downside reason for these is that we up here in bham do not have under the ground fiber in a lot of areas as they are on the power lines in most cases.

Now, I am not defending comcast, but I also used to do networking for companies and 90% of the time people were having slowdown issues (not service issues) was because they were using an old/really bad router/modem. What I would recommend is not using the modem and router that they give you (they give you a combo now), they are complete shit.

1. They have xfinity wifi which if a bunch of people connect to will slow your connection down a lot.
   
2. a router is just like a computer. I could turn the computer you are reading this on into a router if I wanted to.
   
   Now with this in mind slow downs are all about connections. Connections are the bane of shitty hardware routers. Let's say that every time you go to a website you make 1 connection. well if you have 200 people on your router that is 200 connections per website. But that isn't really the case. Every time you go to a website you are going to be making at least 5-8 different connections, because of all the ads and other things that have been coded into the website. so lets say you have 4 people on your router and that is now 32 connections. Well now lets say you have 8 different tabs open per 4 people with 8 connections per tab now you have 256 connections. For a bad router that is getting up there and add to the fact that it is probably the modem router combo. It is going to be even worse in its ability to handle connections. This is even worse if you have xfinity wifi as while it may not affect your "speed" like they say it will overwhelm the router. My friend had one in the UW area in seattle. It was incredibly slow and we upgraded the router/modem to ones that I had them buy and now they have no issues what so ever.
   
   If you want to have less issues with slow downs you really need your own router and modem. here is what I would recommend.
   
   Motorola SB6121
   
   http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415128088&sr=8-1&keywords=motorola+modem
   
   D-link DIR-655
   
   http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Wireless-Extreme-N-Gigabit-DIR-655/dp/B000LIFB7S/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&srs=2529294011&ie=UTF8&qid=1415128174&sr=1-1&keywords=d-link
   
   These are the best for the price and they get the job done better than everything else I have tried without getting into really expensive business hardware. That modem is rock solid. Also the benefit of owning your own is that it pays for itself. You don't have the 8$ equipment rental fee anymore.
   
   TL;DR buy that stuff I linked above and 90% of your issues will go away. I can handle over 800 different connections at once on that router. AND IT WILL SAVE YOU MONEY IN THE LONG RUN.

People here are happy to "halp".

>Can you make or link some suggestions?

What is your budget?

What speeds, up and down, do you get from your ISP? 100 mbps? 1 gbps?

>The main concern and goal here is hard wired console gaming performance. The second priority is hard wired TV streaming service performance as I don't have a cable subscription.

Anything from a TP Link C7 on up should be able to handle this.

This is a good article to get a handle on the current market:

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-router/

This router is often recommended here for gaming because of QOS:

https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-R7800-100NAS-Nighthawk-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B0192911RA/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=netgear+x4&qid=1558466110&s=electronics&sr=1-2

NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S AC2600 4x4 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router

Got to say No to Linksys (quality of hardware, software, and support after Belkin buy out.)

Also, consider Ubiquiti gear. Look through the subreddit here for the recommended configuration (the recommended hardware depends on your ISP speeds.)

Yes the range is surprising given the internal antenna (and I put it in a steel cabinet usually...). But, they do offer external antenna version, which I’m guessing would have a better range: Also says “4 GPIO” which could be helpful maybe..

GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext Gigabit Travel AC Router (Slate), 300Mbps(2.4G)+433Mbps(5G) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Support, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Cloudflare DNS, Power Adapter and Cables Included https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBXMBQF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5RYRCbKF9K9XX

And they offer a 4G cellular one that you can create a VPN with to always access the machine (disclaimer... vpn is hard).

1. Your link is not a proof that Huawei sends your data to China. Actually, there are no proofs for that, only accusations from US without any real evidence (that looks like an instrument in trade war).
   
2. But that's a good thing not to trust hardware that you don't have admin access to and that is probably not well maintained - I doubt that anyone installs firmware updates for your router, so there could be some security vulnerabilities unpatched.
   
3. So, you can treat your WiFi as a public network. And the cheapest solution for safe communications on a public network will be VPN connection. Buy WiFi access point with VPN support (I can recommend GL.iNet, one of the cheapest is 30 dollars, and it's 2-minute setup to setup WiFi access point that will use your unsecure WiFi as an uplink and enable VPN. Or if you are a geek you can take RPi and set it up).
   
4. Your provider always has the access to all your unencrypted traffic (and store metadata of that traffic for some years), nothing suspicious about that. As long as you use VPN (or at least transferring sensitive data only over HTTPS and your phone/laptop does not have any malware) - provider cannot snoop into your data.

I have an older model E3000 dual band router that takes dd-wrt... And it's working great. What I would do is look at different routers, then check the dd-wrt router database. Find one that is good to go, and buy that.






http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YLAUU8/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=thelinactsho-20






Is a pretty darn good one.

Thanks again for all the help. Would any gigabit router work, like these:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1200-Wireless-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00JZFG6QS

Or

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002YLAUU8/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1484172720&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=gigabit+router&dpPl=1&dpID=41CDHg%2BLqdL&ref=plSrch

Would I need to get the AC router in order to maximize performance or would the N router work just as well, as long as they're both gigabit?

Also, would wireless speeds go up at all with a gigabit router? Can wifi speeds get close to max (like 100-120) with a better router?

This thread is a little old so maybe you've figured it out already.

You're thinking along the right lines but perhaps a little cheaper and easier than a raspberry pi is an open VPN router like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNET-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-300Mbps-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W

You can attach this to your current router; it broadcasts it's own SSID so you can connect your Chromecast to this, along with the casting device. Then any other device you don't want VPN'd just stays connected to your original SSID.

It's a bit of a pain to switch Chromecast WiFi networks so just disable/ enable open VPN in the router. You can also change the VPN region as required.

Setup can be a bit finicky - here's a guide from one VPN provider. Good luck!

https://torguard.net/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=256

Just got us one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0192911RA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Awesome router, amazing speed. Great coverage.

In my experience, I've found the router/modem combos to be pretty weak. I'd recommend getting a regular modem (whether it's yours or your ISPs) and a separate router.

For a ~1,500 square foot house, this is pretty good. It's what I use at home, with ~6 mobile devices and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N600-Wi-Fi-Router-WNDR3400/dp/B0041LYY6K

$47 each, can be put into access point mode and just as good an a lower-end Unifi but without the fancy controller. Buy a couple for the 3rd and 4th floor, plug them into your lan, and run them as access points with the same SSID/Password. Leave them on auto-pick channel.

There's no cheaper solution and these little N600 boxes are workhorses and an amazing value. You can dual-band, lots of bandwidth, and decent coverage for a song.

If you have a CDW or Tech Soup rep you might be able to get non-profit pricing on these things, but honestly, I doubt anyone can beat Amazon at $47.

>Even a booster might be out of the question

Do not ever implemented a range extender. Just add an access point. They cost the same.

Thanks for the tip. Much appreciated!

So would the Router and Switch combination below work together fine? There are a couple of different EdgeRouters and I just want to make sure I buy the correct equipment. Also, and this may be a stupid question, but do you have to buy the POE Edgerouter or would a regular non-POE EdgeRouter work as well?



Equipment

EdgeSwitch:

http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-ER-X-SFP-US-Advanced-Gigabit/dp/B012X45WH6/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1464060336&sr=1-7&keywords=ubiquiti+edgerouter+gigabit

If you think a different Edgerouter would be more appropriate, your feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm kind of new to all of this.

EdgeRouter:

http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-EdgeSwitch-ES-24-250W-24-Ports-Managed/dp/B00LV8Z2V2/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1464059733&sr=1-1&keywords=ubiquiti+edgeswitch#Ask

> I was hoping just to get a router for no more than $125.

That's a REALLY tight budget to adequately cover a 2500sq ft house. You are likely to be disappointed with a single device.

If you can stretch that a bit, this would be a FAR more ideal setup:

2x of https://smile.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/

1x of https://smile.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-ER-X-Router/dp/B0144R449W/

That's just a bit over $200. You aren't going to have beamforming but I'm not convinced you need it anyway. Those APs do support MIMO.

You will also get far, FAR better QOS on that router. QOS on most consumer grade stuff is absolute garbage.

If you truly cannot go over that budget, go with the Archer C9. It's a solid choice and will serve you well. Avoid Netgear and Linksys.

EDIT: Fixed the links

"What are some of the first things I should do?"

At the very least get a Pi-Hole.

1 shield alone has requested over 3,000 DNS requests in less than 24 hrs. Most of them completely worthless to the end user.

You are a product to be sold at the highest bidding. Its nothing but data collection.

​

Your privacy should be important to you.

1. Get a router capable of running hardware encryption for OpenVPN https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0752FD3XJ/ with alternate MFG firmware https://sourceforge.net/projects/asuswrt-merlin/files/RT-AC86U/
   
2. GET a VPN service that can run on said router https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ $3 per month
   
3. Some sort of small SBC type of computer to run Pi-Hole
   
4. Enjoy ad free private internet browsing for all devices connected to your network.

I have an ASUS RT-AC87U and love it. Range and strength of signal are among the best I've ever seen and I have been using wireless for nearly 17 years. It's available from Amazon.co.uk.

This is great! I'm glad they added this. I personally use my own router while traveling, that I can agree to the TOS on, and then connect my devices to that. Makes for a bit more security and allows all my devices to connect just as if they were doing so at home.

If you are looking for a very good router, look no further than the Netgear R7000p (AC2300) . It is the newer version of the proven R7000 (AC1900). I have had an R7000 for 5 years, and it is phenomenal. I have 4 YouTube, Netflix and Xbox One streaming almost every day with no issues ever. I did Port Triggering (not Port Forwarding) because I have 2 Xbox One's on Xbox Live at the same time. I did all of the ports and time them out after 20 minutes of non activity. Port Forwarding only works if you have one. The R7000 is a little cheaper, but the new MU-MIMO is worth the difference if you are going to be streaming on a mobile phone.

Link on Amazon: NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Router – MU-MIMO Dual Band Gigabit (R7000P) Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa and Circle Smart Parental Controls https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NA80JML/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_NbEVzb4SZZZ95

Edit: Mobile phone fat fingered some spelling.

Check out ARRIS SURFboard SBG6782AC DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem/ Wi-Fi AC1800 Router

combo


Note: I have the older version(non-wifi) with a router but it is great. This one is a modem and router in one but as I do not own it I can not comment on it directly. I am always a little iffy on the combo 2 in 1 but reviews look good though. If you do go this route, don't cut corners by getting the black model.

My current setup which is a little bit more:

ARRIS SURFboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem - Retail Packaging - White

modem

TP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750 Dual Band Wireless AC Gigabit Router, 2.4GHz 450Mbps+5Ghz 1300Mbps, 2 USB Ports, IPv6, Guest Network

router

Take a look at the TP Link Archer c7

or

TP Link Archer AC1200

The C7 is better but the ac1200 is within your $50 budget, and probably adequate for light use.

In 90% of circumstances for home use, I would recommend flashing the AP to the latest DD-WRT version and using it in "AP Mode" (secured with WPA2 AES or 802.1x) behind your pfSense firewall to avoid things like double-NAT and other unnecessarily doubled-up services that pfSense already takes care of.

Get this for a couple bucks more. There is an Amazon Warehouse one for cheaper that I'm sure is fine. I bought mine as a refurb works great. 1.7ghz processor vs 1 ghz, both dual core.

NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S AC2600 4x4 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet, MU-MIMO, Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa (R7800) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192911RA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dIjdBb0VBPVB5

Wow, you want to do all that with a Celeron Quad-core? If that's all I had I would throw CentOS 7 Minimal Server on it...
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/centos-7-minimal-server/

For easy GUI administration use
Webmin: https://lintut.com/how-to-install-webmin-on-centos-7/

For TM Backups use NFS or SMB: https://www.unixmen.com/setting-nfs-server-client-centos-7/ https://lintut.com/easy-samba-installation-on-rhel-centos-7/

To enable NFS on Mac: http://www.serverlab.ca/tutorials/osx/administration-osx/how-to-connect-mac-os-x-to-nfs-shares/

For DLNA use Plex Media Server (enable DLNA in settings): http://brettspence.com/2014/11/17/installing-plex-media-server-on-centos-7/

For Web app hosting etc. use Apache or Nginx with MYSQL & PHP: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/centos-lamp-server-apache-mysql-php/
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-nginx-mysql-php-lemp-stack-on-centos-7

Use Webmin to administer your virtualhosts using the Apache module or use this Nginx module: https://github.com/vixh/nginx-webmin

For NextCloud use this script https://github.com/PietsHost/Nextcloud-Installation-Script

For DIY IoT edge device/gateway, there's no better for the money than EdgeRouter X + UniFi AC AP (Lite/LR): https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-ER-X-Networks-Router/dp/B0144R449W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494305813&sr=8-2&keywords=edgerouter+x

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494305859&sr=8-1&keywords=ubiquiti+ap+ac+lite

https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UAP-AC-LR-Networks-Enterprise-System/dp/B015PRCBBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494305879&sr=8-1&keywords=ubiquiti+ap+ac+lr

For VPN use OpenVPN (use this script): https://github.com/Angristan/OpenVPN-install
NOTE: With this script it remove passwords by default, just open the script up in a text editor and remove the "nopass" text (4 times) and your good to go! It's very easy to install and add/remove users.

Again, this is a lot for a small little machine to do, but this is how I would do it with the limited hardware you have.

Cheers!

There are a few options out there, Motorola's are consistently rated very highly. I've linked to one here that supports up to a 172 mbps downstream, but doesn't have a built in wireless router (you would have to plug in a wireless router to access the internet wirelessly). There are also a few options to pick from that include wireless routers, and/or support faster speeds if you need it (it won't make your existing connection faster though, it just supports a higher level of bandwidth).

https://smile.amazon.com/SURFboard-SB6121-DOCSIS-Retail-Packaging/dp/B004XC6GJ0

This would be a good option if you want a built-in wifi router:

https://smile.amazon.com/SURFboard-SBG6782AC-DOCSIS-AC1800-Router/dp/B00GJ7Y7MU

You will have to call Comcast to provision the modem (basically just read them the MAC Address on the bottom of the modem and wait a few minutes). I've done this twice, and it's been straightforward. You can always just tell them that you don't like the idea of hosting a public hotspot (which you do if you have a Comcast modem with built in wifi-- it broadcasts on SSID "xfinitywifi" and is accessible by anyone that has a Comcast subscription).

I'd start by looking up a list like this,

https://www.techradar.com/news/networking/routers-storage/best-router-9-top-wireless-routers-on-test-1090523

Found a gaming router list also,

https://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-gaming-routers

​

I'd personally suggest going with one that has antennas for the best possible wifi. I picked up a Netgear r7500v2 back in 2015 that I've been really happy with. Thing covers my entire single story brick house including the garage and yard. I'd go with a newer model by this point of course.

*Similar to what I have,

https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-R7800-100NAS-Nighthawk-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B0192911RA/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=netgear+r7500v2&qid=1563548660&s=gateway&sr=8-1

I think the GL.iNet GL-AR750S would be a good fit for this.

It will use the Top Floor WiFi as the upstream internet connection and create your own personal WiFi network to attach your devices to. Just put it in the area of your condo that has the strongest signal from the Top Floor WiFi.

https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar750s/

https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-AR750S-Ext-pre-Installed-Cloudflare-Included/dp/B07GBXMBQF

I use this one. But it may be overkill unless you need all the features. It's the best modem/router combo I've ever used and waaay better than Comcast's gateway (despite them both being made by the same company).

That said, any basic docsis 3 modem should do fine. The Moto seem to be most popular.

Bonus points if you buy a ~$20 travel router have it configured for pi-hole and all of your devices to it. Then join their network with the travel router and have it put out your own already configured wifi hotness.

You could power the Zero W and travel router w/a battery pack for portability even.

Works a treat for hotels, planes, and all public wifi even with captive portals.

Even though OP said he's not interested in VPN... the travel router is neat because it has a hardware switch on it you can map to connecting OpenVPN to connect back home with a flip of a switch. Kinda cool.

Thanks u/minnesnowta and u/ihatecupcakes. You are right, I didn't specified WiFi requirements. I need 5ghz, support for at least 15 devices and the fastest possible connection (basically a decent quality router, but with a builtin battery). I also saw this one, but it does not mention anything about a battery. Also, I said I didn't needed the SIM card but having the option for a possible future use would be nice, so I am really interested to know if this 4G routers can operate as a normal WiFi hotspot without the SIM card.

there are plenty of good routers on the market right now that would be fine for 2 people

• ASUS RT-AC56U
  
  
• Linksys WRT AC1200
  
  
• NetGear N900
  
  
• TP-Link Archer C7
  
  I chose these in particular because they are all compatible with DD-WRT, a custom firmware for routers that is 9 times out of 10 better than whatever the router comes with.
  
  however, if signal strength for your PC's is the biggest issue, I'd say look into Powerline Adapters to run wired ethernet over your outlets rather than rely on a wifi signal

You just need a USB-enabled router that is supported by openwrt. I have this guy. Installing everything takes some effort (depending on how much you already know about Linux it's pretty easy). Google should help you with the process, though. I have a 2TB hard drive on the USB that is accessible like a normal windows shared folder from the home network and via ssh from the internet.

I have a travel setup that I take with me, but it consists of a small router that will connect to my VPN at home and will bridge the local WIFI or allow me to plug in and a Synology DS416 slim. This all goes into a case with my DSLR gear.

It covers all the bases, allows me to sync all my cloud accounts, and secure connection to the home network where I can check on the servers there and security cameras, etc.

I've tried going the home build before, but was never able to get something as robust and "slick".
This is the latest router that I'm using - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07GBXMBQF/ (not an affiliate link)

I agree with swiftpanda16, plex probably isn't the right tool in this case. YouTube might be better?

Or skycoach.

If you're set on using plex, you could get a portable router like the Hootoo Titan and use that to connect your phone and laptop without internet.

Edit: It just occurred to me that the Hootoo can act like a NAS, just connect a flash drive and have everyone download the app. That may also work well.

To solve the hotel WiFi issue, it might be worth checking out the HooToo Tripmate Titan travel router. I've had great success with mine.

For comcast gigabit you'll be needing a DOCSIS 3.1 capable modem such as the Arris SB8200.

For a router, for all in ones you can look at the typical Netgear R7000 or the Asus AC1900 if you want to keep it simple.

If you want something super reliable then...

Edgerouter X

or

Edgerouter Lite

or

Unifi Security Gateway

• 
  
  Ubiquiti AC Lite
  
  or
  
  Ubiquiti AC Pro
  
  (also wire in as many things as possible with quality Cat5e/6/6a cables)

That's typical enough that almost anything will do - it's actually pretty hard to buy a really BAD router these days :)

I've used and like Asus and Linksys routers before, so one of those ought to do pretty well. Unless your house is large enough that you can't cover it all with one AP, something like one of these should work fine:

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-Dual-Band-AC1750-Gigabit-RT-AC66U-B1/dp/B01N08LPPP/

https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-EA6350-Wireless-Dual-Band-Anywhere/dp/B00JZWQW4C/

Yes. You're going to need a little hotspot router that creates your own network.

I've used a bunch of these and co-workers now use them too: GL AR-750S

You can take any captive portal hotspot, authenticate once, and setup your own WiFi network for Chromecasting, or in this case, a Wyze camera.

There are cheaper models, but this is really a great version with gigabit ethernet on-board and solid: https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-AR750S-Ext-pre-Installed-Cloudflare-Included/dp/B07GBXMBQF

Literally just went through this! I had the cm700 modem and it would drop connections to Comcast frequently. I went through a couple modem/ router configurations starting with the R7800 and at one point had the Netgear AC3200 router. Having gone through $500+ in networking gear I can recommend the R7800. I’ve got the Netgear R7800 sitting behind the Arris SB8200 and it seems to be a great combo. Handles my roommates and I across the apartment streaming and gaming at the same time. Each of us has a few devices over WiFi and then I’ve got some devices over eth. Dynamic QoS seems good and the UI is decent.

TL;DR: Get the Netgear R7800 and the Arris SB8200

EDIT: Formatting and links

Ideally for 170? Thats kinda a strech, considering 5+ years is really aging the router too, but heres a hugeee 70 dollar discount that should do you really well for a pretty long time.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192911RA/ref=twister_B07VCGC77R?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

Hi all,

Thank you for the input. Your answers led me to more research and I ended up getting the following:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N08LPPP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1WW638/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Replaced the current router, set it up for vlan 201 and used the extender upstairs and now getting 100 mbps wifi on devices plus extended coverage upstairs without problem.

Thanks all for the great support and responses.

I went with a separate router and access point as they're in different locations, but at the prices you're considering it'd be an option even if both devices are right next to each other.

• Ubiquiti ER-X router for $55. 4 port gigabit, and they have models with more ports if needed.
  
  
• Ubiquiti AC-PRO access point for $130. Awesome coverage, robust config, cloud management, and runs on POE (above router won't power it alone, though).

I’ve got family on the same configuration as you, except 1121 (POE version).

You might want to find a router that you can install openWRT on. Then create a multi-wan load balance and failover link. That way if the LTE goes down for a bit it’ll use the DSL.

I’m also doing trunking (creating 1 big pipe out of two smaller ones), but right now it’s more hassle than it’s worth.


GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext Gigabit Travel AC Router (Slate), 300Mbps(2.4G)+433Mbps(5G) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Support, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Cloudflare DNS, Power Adapter and Cables Included https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBXMBQF/

This guy might work or this guy:


GL.iNet GL-AR750 Travel AC Router, 300Mbps(2.4G)+433Mbps(5G) Wi-Fi, 128MB RAM, MicroSD Storage Support, OpenWrt/LEDE pre-Installed, Power Adapter and Cables Included https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07712LKJM/

This is NOT torrrenting and is entirely unrelated.

The posted is, effectively asking, if they have a DSL and two cable connections can they merge them in a way to make a super Internet speed.

I just purchased a router that does this (but with only two connections):

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MPI5N7U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

the questions specifically seems to talk about bits of data -- which is not, currently, possible or practical with commercial software or hardware.

Having ServerA to 1/2 of the data to client A, and 1/4 to client A and 1/8 to client A and 1/8 to client 1 to get optimum results is not something you can do easily and not with the current INTERNET infrastructure.

With a hacked LAN infra? Sure... with work. You'd just load some load balancing.

edit: I should note, the reason is serverA (e.g. google.com) doesn't know the limits of each connection.

UNRELATED: There is something called multi-casting... which basically means one packets goes to a lot of places with a single broadcast. Can save on money. Often used in AV stuff though.

I use this one . It may be excessive but I like it compared to the cheaper Belkin I had before.

I got at Best Buy for about 70 bucks. I wouldn't buy one used from Craigslist though.

I have my router set up at home as a VPN, that way times like now (I am in Germany for several weeks) I can do pretty much anything from my laptop or tablet as I would from home, but both are windows-based and natively have the ability for me to connect to a VPN by ip address.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MPI5N7U/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you travel for long durations regularly, it's really nice to not get geolocked, especially when going places where you dont speak the local language.

Your best bet is to get a travel router like this https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Travel-Router-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01N5RCZQH/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=travel+router+wifi&qid=1569147249&sprefix=Travel+rourer&sr=8-3

USB powered and it has quite a good chipset for the price.

I have this one and it has been amazing for the several weeks i have had it so far. It has a pretty good interface that is stupidly easy to set up if you don't fully know what you are doing.

I'd go with Ubiquiti products. Something like a Edgeroute X SFP and a Unifi AC lite.

I've got the slightly older Unifi AP and it's bulletproof. And with the X SFP you won't need the power injector for the AC lite. I setup the AC lite for a friend and it's also very solid, easy to use product.

Check out /r/Ubiquiti

I just wanted something that I could customize (Mediacom's default Modem/Router required me to call them to change something as simple as the SSID) so I just grabbed this Netgear R7000 and it's worked fine for me.

I can make settings, it's got 2.4 and 5ghz networks, as well as a 2.4 and 5 Guest Network option.

It's been great for what I need, which is just something reliable that I can manage and not have to mess with constantly. That and the new modem have been huge for me not having to constantly deal with slow internet, or dropped wifi.

If your Cable Modem is not DOCSIS 3.0, look at the following two choices:
http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748033&sr=1-2&keywords=sb6141

http://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Motorola-SurfBoard-SB6141-DOCSIS/dp/B00AJHDZSI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748033&sr=1-1&keywords=sb6141

For Wireless Routers, honestly 2.4GHz N150 or N300 is all you need at this time. If you want to have use for Wireless-AC at some point, get the lowest AC wireless router. Something like this would be ok for a need of AC routing: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1404748171&sr=1-4

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com has excellent resources on wireless routers. The first thing to learn is nearly all devices are 1 steam (i.e., you'll never see 1.9 GB/s speeds). They will explain a lot about N150, N300, AC(1200,1900,etc...). I personally am using a 5+ year old Cisco N150 wireless router and am probably still not hitting max speeds it can produce due to how cellphones/roku's/etc utilize so little of the available bandwidth.

I have the GL-AR750 and use it when traveling in Vegas. It's OpenWRT based, so it's pretty robust and you can get WAN access thru the WAN port, WiFi, a USB modem, or a tethered phone. You can even have concurrent WiFi clients and hosts on the same band (i.e. connecting to "UnsafeHotelWiFi" as a client for internet access on 2.4Ghz while also running "PlzDon'tHackMe" for your personal network on 2.4Ghz AND 5Ghz)

​

It has OpenVPN and other common protocols built in, IIRC. And I think it even has zerotier if you want to give that a shot. I've used that in the past as it can route over 443, though setup can be qwirky. It also has a tor package, though I have no experience with it.

​

Lately, I use an OpenVPN tunnel from the router to PriTunl on a $5/mo VPS and it works pretty solid. The most annoying part is you have to drop the VPN to log into the hotel networks sometimes, though I have built bypass rules for some hotel chains. Not a huge deal and it's nice to be able to have my computer, phone, and Chromecast on on a private-ish, protected-ish network (nothing's perfect!). I have also setup PiHole as the VPN's DNS to take the load off the router. It also lets me have adblock on all of my devices as I VPN direct to the server when not on the AR750.

​

I would definitely buy it again or it's big brother, the GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext, that has gigabit ports and adjustable antennae.

​

Not affiliated in anyway, just happen to use one regularly!

​

Cheers!

​

EDIT: added the tor package link.

I use one similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-Performance-Compatible/dp/B073TSK26W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1511642589&sr=8-3&keywords=gl.inet

They have several models, some have more features, but this one should do what you want. Setting it up is pretty easy, but does require some experience working with routers.

No worries! And I am sorry, you say that ($50/60) in your OP.

E2500, 2700, or 32oo refurb:

http://store.linksys.com/products/linksys-outlet-refurbished_stcVVcatId543906VVviewcat.htm

This:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085WN7YQ

This gets good reviews at amazon. I have not used one:

http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wireless-Broadband-802-11n-Internal/dp/B0044YU60M/ref=zg_bs_300189_2

If you are going to try this brand, I'd get the upgrade for ten bucks more:

http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wireless-Broadband-802-11n-Internal/dp/B00A3YN0Z0/ref=zg_bs_300189_13

This has great range, but out of price range, and single band only:

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N16-Wireless-N-Maximum-Performance-single/dp/B00387G6R8/ref=zg_bs_300189_28

$73 with rebate though.

I have not used one:

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Wireless-App-Enabled-Dual-Band-DIR-826L/dp/B0081TXJ28/ref=zg_bs_300189_33

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Whole-Home-Router-Wireless-N-DIR-645/product-reviews/B005DIPWFC/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

One of those will do it.

No Belkin please, sorry. (And yes I know belkin owns linksys now.)


Here we are back at the real WRT54GL again:

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT54GL-Wireless-G-Broadband-Router/dp/B000BTL0OA/ref=zg_bs_300189_6

Fifty dollah. Still a good router, for light loads, single band only. I think I'd go with a dual band refurb myself.

For the best modem, get this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016PE1X5K

And in combination with this router, you will get every bit of speed you pay for:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S9SGNNS

I regularlly get ~180Mbps down. Good luck! (I only pay for the 150 down plan)

1. Probably. Try a hard reset first.
   
   
2. Asus RT-N56U, If you can go a bit above: Asus RT-AC56U
   
   
3. Yep 5Ghz channel is your best bet. On N routers the range isn't as good as the 2.4Ghz channel because higher frequencies don't travel as far but typically on AC routers they boost the power high enough to overcome this.
   
   FYI: When you get the 2nd router, either put the first one in bridge mode so it just acts as a modem or make sure you look up how to put the 2nd one in access point mode and turn off WiFi on the main one. I would suggest the 1st method so your (hopefully) more reliable 2nd router does the heavy lifting.

That's a lot of info! Thank you :) Even the Netgear AC1750 seems kind of overkill for me though.

Based on your suggestion, the combo I found on amazon seems to be good enough but I'd like your opinion if you wouldn't mind? For instance, may I ask why I shouldn't buy the below router and go with the one you suggested?

ASUS Dual-Band Wireless Router (RT-AC56U)

ARRIS SURFboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem

> unifi ap lite

$115 right now.

> edge router

I assume you mean the ER-X which is 82.66 and isn't in the Unifi product line.

So yes you're in for about $200 assuming you can get by with 3 Ethernet ports, or are you adding a switch to this setup as well? A full Unifi setup (Unifi router, switch and AP) starts at about $400 for the no PoE versions.

In any case unless the space you're servicing is absolutely huge and/or you have Gigabit upload (and need to use it) there's no practical benefit to it over a good consumer router.

If both are connected to wifi and getting on different subnets then I don't think connecting the roku to ethernet will help.

And yes, using your own router and have it create its own subnet will ensure that the devices connected to it will be on the same subnet.

You can buy routers that bridge wifi but give you your own nat'ed subnet. Or you can use that ethernet port to connect the router to.

Here's a travel router that does what you want. You may want to use something more robust if you're using it daily and a lot.

I have a previous model of this guy:

https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNET-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-300Mbps-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W

Work fine, pretty basic but it'll do the job.

There are quite a few more options nowadays and if you look at 'best travel routers' lists this one is always on there:

https://www.amazon.com/HooToo-Wireless-10400mAh-External-Performance/dp/B074LHG47K

I'll start by saying I have Comcast...unfortunately. In March, I purchased this to replace the rental modem from Comcast so that I could stop paying the monthly rental fee. Not paying attention, I didn't realize that this model didn't have the eMTA feature, and therefore I couldn't connect the phone to it (I also can't return this as it is past the return period). Comcast is "threatening" to change my plan from the Triple Play to a Double Play, which will cost way more money.

I'm thinking about buying a used modem with eMTA capabilities, but want to know what the best way is to go about this. Should I buy just a telephony modem for the phone and continue using my current modem for internet?

What is your budget. I have this one and it works like a charm. It has gigabit ports which is an advantage over the one you linked.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002YLAUU8?cache=e1ab007c0f5e3151d3d31956824eacda&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1412634863&sr=8-10#ref=mp_s_a_1_10

If you are in an area with a.lot of wireless networks, then the 5ghz version would help with interference.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0098QV038?cache=e1ab007c0f5e3151d3d31956824eacda&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1412634863&sr=8-7#ref=mp_s_a_1_7

I have this Asus one. It works great - it's stable and I haven't had any disconnects. The interface is good too, unlike many other.

This one is good if you're trying to stay around $50, it's $59.99, and with your internet speeds it would allow you to achieve a what your paying for. That being said I'd always recommend upgrading your speed for a true difference across the board, but I don't know what your looking at over budget wise.
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Wireless-Dual-Band-Archer-C50/dp/B0168G0KZY/ref=sr_1_12_m?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1464004570&sr=1-12&keywords=router&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_three_browse-bin%3A8514071011

If you want a cheap option that gives you some other flexibility you could look at an inexpensive router with multiple LAN ports that supports AP Mode. That one device would act like a switch and an access point in one. Something like this should do it, as long as you don't mind updating the firmware and have only one device that needs to be wired. Or this one to get 3x gigabit wired ports rather than 2x 10/100 on the cheaper device.

Well do you have fibre, adsl, or docsis?

Because you only need "channels" for docsis. Ther are WiFi chanals for diffrent frequecies and you want a router that does 2.4ghz and 5ghz.

With the amount of devices you have you want a router with high bandwidth, maybe 1.2gbs+ since you would want features like QoS on which would lower the theoretical max bandwidth.


EDIT:
Ah okay, i looked at your images.

Both look great, I personaly cant vouch for high end netgear devices but I can for ASUS routers.

This one has alot of feature that you may want to consider.

I mostly recommend this higher end router for the AiProtection with Trend Micro firewall, it can greatly protect your network from attacks.

I wonder how they will be financing their VPN servers. Assuming that this router (like their previous one, https://passel.io/flter) includes a "lifetime VPN" licence, how can they pay their bills with potentially thousands of people using their service for many years.

A RT-AC86U for 180 - 200$ can already achieve up to 250mbit/s for OpenVPN (https://www.skadligkod.se/vpn/vpn-speedtest-asus-rt-ac86u-merlin-firmware/, https://www.snbforums.com/threads/openvpn-performance-of-the-rt-ac86u.41217/).

If the Beam is in the same price range (maybe up to 250$, including VPN and support etc), then it might definitely be a great option.

I love the D-Link DIR-655. I cannot speak to your "steel beam and concrete" concerns, but have been using it happily in a duplex here for several months. One caveat: the blue front-panel lights on this thing are !bright! so you will also have a new night-light.

Hey all, I wanted to share a "fix" I discovered for the constant 0x20010006 error code disconnects. It's not a great solution, but it 100% worked and I no longer disconnect. I tried everything from Port Forwarding, UPnP, DNS Settings, MTU Settings, DMZ host, static IP, clear cache, restart this/restart that, etc etc. None of that ever worked and I would constantly be disconnected.

I was using this modem/router combo: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJ7Y7MU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I decided to upgrade to this one: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-C7000-Compatible-Providers-including/dp/B0781Z5PCL/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=netgear+c7000&qid=1569522929&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Ever since plugging that unit in and connecting my PS4 via wifi, I haven't experienced any disconnects. It's not a great solution as it comes with an $180 price tag, but it 100% solved the issues I was experiencing. My only guess as to why this new Netgear unit works better is due to the amount of downstream/upstream channels. The old Arris unit was 8x4 and this Netgear one is 24x8. I'm not an expert, but that appears to be the biggest difference between the two units. Maybe someone else here has more insight as to why this new modem/router would fix the issue, but I hope this is helpful.

Great, thanks!

What is the point of the 5 dangling coax cables in the panel?

​

So, I'm thinking of.. having one of the coax cables run into a modem.

And the ethernet from the modem goes to this router:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0144R449W/

And from that router, I have wires that connect to each of those black ethernet plugs (refer to panel in original post) corresponding to the outlets in each of the different rooms I have.

Then, from the living room media center room, I can have a switch from that port:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A121WN6

Which will then connect to all my devices and a wireless access point.

​

Would that work? The router and switch part is a bit confusing to me, so I might be thinking of this totally wrong.

I don't think Android TV has a wifi tethering mode like standard Android does. Your best bet would probably be to get a travel router and attach it to your Ethernet connection, then connect your Shield and other devices to that device instead of the EDUroam wifi.

Something like this would do the trick.

There is probably a far easier alternative depending on what you are trying to achieve.

If you want to share a wifi connection what is stopping the other devices connecting directly to the original wifi point?

If you are going to buy a USB-LAN dongle to share a wired connection over wifi you will probably find it far less bother to purchase a mini travel router instead.

​

Something like this

Maybe I scared you off a little bit too much with the security risk. It really depends very much on the computer you are using. If you take an old PC with a freshly installed Windows XP and connect it directly to the internet, chances are pretty high that after about an hour someone else controls that machine and uses it to send SPAM e-mails and do other shady stuff. If you connect a PC with Windows 7/8/10 and all the latest updates, it may never get infected (provided you keep it updated).

Talking about possible replacements that are cheap and effective, I would suggest this TP-Link router or the Archer C7. It mostly comes down to how future-proof your WLAN should be.

I'm using the 1043ND v2 and it can definitely manage 100Mbps. There are certainly also good or better alternatives from better known companies, but you will pay more or less for the name.

The WRT54GL isn't really an option, because
>The WRT54GL is technically a reissue of the version 4 WRT54G
[Wikipedia]

Selling


Motorola/Arris SB6121 Surfboard Modem - Amazon

Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router - Amazon

This combo is a perfect internet setup for someone who wants to stop leasing equipment from Time Warner. Both items were purchased less than a year ago, and are in 100% like new condition with all boxes and cables. You'll see speeds of up to 45-50Mbps over WiFi, which is good enough for 2 people to stream Netflix and browse the internet at the same time.

I'm in IT and upgraded to a faster model to take advantage of the new 300Mbps TWC MAXX plan.

Paid $160, asking $80 for both. OBO

You have several options.

You can add a second router to the barn and have it join a current WiFi. A lot of routers offer this feature, asus being one of the brands.

Find a router with external antennas and multiple bands. Asus has gaming routers that create up to three wireless networks. You can mount a WiFi antenna outside your barn and outside you home.

So what I would do is purchase two routers example

And a modem example

And two external antennas example

You’ll need to find the right adapter for the antenna and router combination you go with.


And return your rental.

Mount one antenna outside you house, plug it into your new home router. Plug the new modem to this router. During the configuration you’ll be able to create 2 5ghz wireless networks and 1 2ghz. Plug the antenna into the 2ghz. The manual will tell you which antenna is which.

Now mount another outside your barn and plug it into the 2ghz antenna port of the barn router. Then configure this second router to connect to the home WiFi.

You now have a wireless bridge with Ethernet ports in the barn.

If you just want WiFi access in the barn you will probably get away with just having an external antenna mounted on your house but this depends on the materials of the barn. Having the a 2nd router inside the barn creates a stronger connection inside.

I bought this and it works wonderfully to get devices on captive portal websites https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Travel-Router-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01N5RCZQH/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=travel+router&qid=1554473648&s=gateway&sr=8-5 and can be set up with your phone browser if need be. I use it mostly for my Chromecast in hotels.

There's also a cheaper version N version which is good enough as well.

I rolled the dice and bought a NETGEAR Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router (R8000) as my house was run with the router that came with my internet provider. I've never had an expensive router before.

IT WAS A NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE.

My ping reduced in games like Overwatch. My house is filled with users who are all on at the same time whether playing games, watching Hulu/Netflix/Youtube, browsing, etc. Everyone had a very noticeable fast and stable connection when before, especially for youtube, we'd frequently get buffering delays.

fast.com reported almost a doubling in up/down speeds on the farthest computer in the house.

It has useful features such as stupid simple setting up of attached storage via USB that people can access over wifi at good speeds and a Printer Server. It also let me set up a guest network with a separate password so when people come over they have fast net while not having to share my "real" password for my main internet.

I've actually had people ask about my router during a party as the guest wifi was so fucking good.

So for me, worth every damn penny. YMMV.

well considering that is not a wireless access point and is a small business product it is more expensive than what a home owner would need then on top of that they would need to then go and get a wi-fi router at about 150-200$ for something that had good speed when they could just spend about 210$ on a real good ac3200 net gear nighhawk

According to thewirecutter.com, this router at $150 is "the best for most people"

If you want something a little cheaper, the Archer C7 is universally praised: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Gigabit-Archer-C7/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/

Yes, he can just "plug-n-play", more or less (meaning installing software from a CD most times). I have to have a higher end router than has more local area throughput because I have quite a bit running at any given time; 3 laptops, a desktop, 2 Roku devices, 3 smartphones, and a tablet. Also, I have my media server constantly on so that I can use my Roku devices to watch movies and such since I don't watch cable TV.


For all of this I use the Netgear N600. Before owning this one, I went through a Cisco Valet, a Linksys E4200, a few Belkin N series routers (ranging from the 450 to the 750) and none of them even compare to the absolute work-horse style power of the Netgear N600, from what I've experienced. The only thing I wish was different is that it had gigabit LAN ports, but it's not crucial.

To OP: If it's not too much trouble, what are you going to be running on this network? If you're going to be running a lot of different devices as I do, then a higher end router will give you better stability under heavy load.

Just out of curiosity, what havoc has the Circle created? I know it uses ARP spoofing to do its thing, but I haven't heard of it causing any problems as long as it's connected via hardwire. (Connecting it via wifi only can get dicey for bandwidth reasons, obviously.)

I do know that Circle has partnered with Asus to integrate their functionality into a few of the Nighthawk routers, e.g. this one. I don't know if it has a "transparent filter" type of mode, but it's at least worth researching.

As an added bonus it would increase the security of the Circle's filtering, since with the normal Circle anybody with the real router's MAC address can just set a static ARP entry and bypass the filter entirely.

Since I've had their service, my internet has crapped out at least 5 times and I just got their service maybe two months ago, so I went out and bought a new modem (from a list of supported modems on their site):

ARRIS SURFboard SB6190

This has excellent reviews; it's a shame though that they don't support DOCSIS 3.1 yet (heard they are working on it).

The router of choice I went with is: Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X x ER-X-SFP

and then I purchased this Wireless Access Point from Ubiquiti. High reviews, large coverage, and easy to setup/maintain.

All in all, for under $300 I feel good about my purchases and getting rid of this leased modem. I've always used ISP provided equipment, whether it be AT&T or Time Warner/Spectrum and it's been quite the headaches over the years and finally wanted to do something about it.

Not sure if any of this will help you out, but hopefully it does!

Routers are hard to just... suggest as I'm not super knowledgeable on them, generally ASUS, Netgear, and TP-Link are all good for most people, specially if you just need some reliable internet... Your old router is only 2.4 Ghz, and nowadays most router have 2.4 ghz and 5.0 ghz, 5.0 is generally better in every way except not being able to go through walls as much as 2.4 at longer ranges, though older devices might not be able to work on 5.0 ghz. Is your current router provided by your internet company or did you buy it? Some ISP companys don't let you buy your own Modem/router, so look into that before buying.

https://www.amazon.com/RT-AC56U-802-11ac-Dual-Band-wireless-AC1200-AiProtection/dp/B00DES2FQW

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-AC1750-4-Port-Gigabit-RT-AC66U_B1/dp/B01N08LPPP/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

both of those I think would be fine based on reviews/personal experience, though do your own research and maybe google around a bit on good routers in 2016 for updated lists.

I've had good success with the TP-Link N300. It isn't the fastest one out there, but it's pretty inexpensive. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YLAUU8/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What's your Zip? I have a Nighthawk X6 Premium AC Router that has two antennas that broke off the hinges but not off the router themselves. The wires that pass-through the hollow antennas are still intact. Doesn't effect functionality at all as it works flawlessly with excellent speeds/range. In OG box, shipped for $120. Delivered locally for an even 100 cash: Link

• Cheap and decent (~65 USD): Dlink DIR655
  
  Has all the basics for modern laptops/computers. 802.1n wireless, gigabit ethernet ports. I've had one for around 7 years, and only ever rebooted it to install firmware updates. Good range (~25Mbps signal from basement to 2nd story). Recently replaced it just because I have some AC capable wireless NICs now. Unless you're doing home file sharing, it will be plenty fast for streaming, gaming, downloading (unless you have google fiber).
  
  
• Expensive and really good (~220 USD): ASUS RT-AC68 with Asuswrt-Merlin firmware
  
  Super fast, tons of features, tons of customizations, rock solid. Only reboots on firmware updates. The merlin firmware is based on the OEM firmware - but has additional customization options (professional wireless settings and tuning, etc.) and squeezes a bit more speed out of the thing.