Cable Forum - Best mid range router

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Re: Best mid range router

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcclanuk (Post 35996137)

Hi guys,

After doing some reading and speaking to others, it seems the mesh system may be the way to go indeed. Reading about the throughput etc, I guess real world it would be good to have at least 300mb+ actual throughput.

Also, I think I might need 3 nodes. (is it possible to buy 2 and then add a third one if needed?)

Yes
Based on this, what is the best mesh system to get which is around £200 (or less of course) - for all 3 nodes that is.

Thanks!

You could start with the twin pack and then go this route for the third later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianch99 (Post 35992782)

Great advice. I too have the AC68U: 3 of them in a Mesh config with ethernet backhaul. I bought them all on eBay second hand. They go for around £70 to £80:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...ion=3000&rt=nc

So the twin pack is great value.

Re: Best mid range router

Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456 (Post 35996141)

You could start with the twin pack and then go this route for the third later.

Thank you! some final questions:

1) if I bought the twin pack, what area of the house would it cover?
2) how far can the nodes be away from each other to be connected wirelessly?

It's a 5 bed 5 bath house. If I had to guess it would be about 180 SQM for each floor (x2). The 2 nodes would be about 15m away from each other (straight line distance).

If I did need 3 nodes I'm thinking cost would be £180 (twin) + possibly £140ish for another single node which would be £320 ... A little steep! (Although if I had to get a third node I would just get 2 twin packs!)

Re: Best mid range router

So apart from the 2 questions above (assuming that I will be be ok), I've narrowed it down to the ac68u (2 devices) and Netgear Orbi RBK23 (3 devices).

Any preference as to which will be better for me? Reading online I see that the Orbi has a dedicated channel to transmit between the nodes.

Re: Best mid range router

Well i have the Asus RT AC 86 U and its great.

Re: Best mid range router

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 35996208)

https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTAC68U/

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...-asus-rt-ac68u

GM if you had a straight choice between a 68U or the 86U which would you choose (assuming no cost difference). ?

Re: Best mid range router

Definitely the 86u. Just had a look on Amazon and they are the same price so if I had to make the decision now I would definitely get the 86u. Apart from the improved wifi, the wan to lan throughout is markedly better at 940mbits vs 740mbits on the 68u and I don't think those speeds are as far off as some people may think. We have got 500mbits now and I sure we'll see 1gbit by the end of next year when they start the docsis 3.1 rollout. Other than that feature wise they are pretty much the same. Tbh even if the 86u was £40 more I would still go for it for the reason I stated above plus the way things are going with more and more devices becoming wifi compatible, wanting internet access (need a router that can intelligently handle the traffic and requests) and can process traffic at greater speed. With 5g on the way I think wireless devices/clients are very quickly going to catch up with the speed routers can offer.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...outer-reviewed

Re: Best mid range router

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 36001418)

Thanks GM, you've confirmed what my research told me. Yesterday the 86U was £3 cheaper as well ! :)