Reddit mentions of ASUS AC1200 5th Gen Dual-Band Wireless RT-AC56U Gigabit Router

I agree. I never used the modems routing capabilities.When my D-Link router died, I switched to the Asus AC56U and it's been rock solid since I got it.

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.

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.

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.

Are you more worried about the modem or wireless router? Most modern modems/routers are just fine. It's the wireless radio that's terrible.

I just looked at a huge number of wireless router options, and the Archer C8 is my current pick for the money. While it's a tad slower than some of the fastest routers, it's affordable and has almost no bad reviews on either newegg or amazon. (<10% 1-2 star reviews). Every other router was more in the 20-50% 1-2 star review range. (Yes, 50%!).

Here's a list of the top performing routers from smallnetbuilder, sorted by 5ghz downlink. (I decided to use that instead of overall throughput, but it should be fairly similar).

| Model | 5ghz downlink Mbps | Newegg 1-2 | Amazon 1-2 | Amazon price | Newegg price |
|------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|-------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|
| TP-Link AC1750 / Archer C7 | 209.5 | 33% | 21% | $100 | $100 |
| Linksys EA6900 | 195.6 | n/a | 34% | $170 | $180 |
| Netgear R6250 | 184.8 | 23% | 21% | $130 | $133 |
| D-Link DIR-880L | 182.4 | 20% | 12% | $167 | $167 |
| Asus RT-AC66U | 166.7 | 31% | 20% | $151 | $151 |
| D-Link DIR-868L | 162.6 | 29% | 18% | $130 | $130 |
| Linksys EA6500 | 160.7 | 55% | 27% | $130 | $120 |
| Netgear R6300v2 | 159.4 | 48% | 21% | $140 | $140 |
| TRENDnet TEW-818DRU | 156.9 | 25% | 22% | $150 | $150 |
| TP-Link AC1750 Archer C8 | 155.6 | 13% | 13% | $115 | $115 |
| TP-Link AC1900 Archer C9 | 154.5 | 5% | 3% | $151 | $151 |
| Linksys AC1600 EA6500 | 151.4 | 55% | 27% | $130 | $120 |
| Linksys AC1200 EA6400 | 151.4 | 21% | 27% | $110 | $144 |
| Asus AC1200 RT-AC56U | 150 | 53% | 25% | $100 | $100 |
| Asus RT-N66U | 136.7 | 20% | 14% | $120 | $120 |

cat5e, yes, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DES2FQW/

You might like the AC56u it uses a dual core ARM chip and is vertical with plenty of wifi signal for your space. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DES2FQW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1449077129&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&keywords=ac56u

The router's going for $50 on amazon, Surfboard for $40.

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.

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

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 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 also looking to buy a new router, and there have been so many recommendations for the C7. I ran into this while researching and it had me wondering how reliable the C7 is. Between the C7 and this router which one would you recommend?

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Certified-Comcast-XFINITY-CM400-1AZNAS/dp/B0111MRLES
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW

I just got this one for my apartment and it works fantastically for 70 dollars.

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

It does have AC but beam forming I'm unfamiliar with. It's the ASUS RT-AC56U. http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW

ASUS RT-AC56U

Your speeds won't have anything to do with the ports if you're getting a successful connection. What is your internet package/ISP? My router is above and beyond what any device needs right now, but it will last a long time. How many devices do you have connected at any given time? Most routers will only really handle 5-8 wireless devices before it gets bogged down on the processing side. This router is a dual-core router with a significant amount of RAM (as far as routers are concerned) so it's equipped to handle a lot more throughput.

Probably an Asus router, I love mine and they are known to be great. I also have a netgear, but I prefer asus routers.
I would recommend this https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router-RT-AC56U/dp/B00DES2FQW/ref=sr_1_33?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1469031217&sr=1-33&refinements=p_89%3AAsus%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A5928098011

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.

> It pings that often even if the request is not blocked. Pings all day constantly except sometimes it stops completely for about 12 hours. Then it continues for days.

That behaviour is downright bizarre! The ASUS RT-AC56U is a good entry level custom-firmware router, assuming you don't have a connection speed over 100Mbps. Personally, I run an RT-AC68U on Toastman Tomato firmware myself, which is good for <300Mbps connections.