Best mid range router
 

Hi all,

After now getting really fed up of the crappy wireless on the SH3, I think I am going to have to use it in modem mode and get a dedicated router.

For a mid range router - £50-80 (?), what are the best ones?

Thanks,

Nirav

Re: Best mid range router
 

An SH2ac,. Cost, free.

Re: Best mid range router
 

But we cannot get that now can we?

Re: Best mid range router
 

I don't know, you can always ask. Tbh I was in Modem mode for years, a hangover from the original crap SH. However my router played up , so I went into router mode for a bit and haven't had any issues with the SH2ac, faster speeds if anything.

Re: Best mid range router
 

Whatever you do KEEP with the Hub3, it supports 24 downstreams and just get a proper router if you need one, the wireless was no different on a SH2ac in my experience.

Re: Best mid range router
 

Thanks guys. I asked about the SH2AC yesterday and as expected you can only have the SH3.

On another forum people have suggested using a mesh router (?) - which ones are good? They mentioned it was around the £200 mark. I have about 3-4 things connected by ethernet which will continue to need ethernet connections and the rest on a good WiFi.

Thanks!

Re: Best mid range router
 

Give General Maximus a shout on these forums he seems to know good routers.

Re: Best mid range router
 

I'm getting these - each node has 2 x Gigabit ports.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-Nova-...ateway&sr=8-10

Re: Best mid range router
 

Will do - thanks!

Thanks, I'll take a look.

Re: Best mid range router
 

It's a tricky one dude, unfortunately if you want a good router that price range is more entry level than mid-range. If that is your limit I would go for the Asus AC57u for £55, it is going to be better than what you have got now in every regard and will be a solid average router. If you want a "mid-range" router then I can highly recommend the AC68u, I have got it myself and is the bees knees. It is £140 but the excellent news for you is that you can buy a twin pack for £180 which is an absolute bargain. If you are thinking about future proofing with regards to wan to lan throughput and mesh wifi going forwards the twin pack would be the way to go. The AC68u supports mesh wifi and the 57u doesn't. Both routers are rated around 750mbits for wan to lan throughput.

Getting the twin pack is the way to go full stop because in terms of price they work out at £90 each which is a bargain. Mesh wifi isn't a necessity at the moment but it is definitely the way forward and if you can get such a great router now with mesh wifi as well you are laughing. I bought my routers separately so I have the ac68u serving as my main proper router and then I have an ac53u downstairs which is in access point mode (yup, a great feature from Asus) purely for wifi. There are lots of cables running around the house to each room so the router downstairs has a gigabit link to the ac68u and even though I am not using mesh wifi (the ac53u doesn't support it), every single one of my devices can get full speed over wifi anywhere in the house or outside in the garden. Normally this might be a cheaper option, especially if you were looking at multiple routers and wifi coverage, but even if you looked at two average non-mesh wifi routers like I suggested first you are still looking at £140 and depending on how big your house is I would rather just have one ac68u. The way I see it is that you have got 3 options:

1) Buy an entry level ac57u for £55
2) Buy a very very good ac68u for £140 which is excellent and will last yonks
3) Do a perfect job from the outset and what is also more cost effective and buy an ac68u twin pack and get mesh wifi up and running.

I'll warn you now, whatever you do don't go into a shop like Currys or Asda and buy whatever cheap ass crap they buy in bulk and say it is on offer. Routers are deceiving, you don't think you use them because you don't play with them like your pc or tv but they are in constant use 24/7 and arguably one of the most important items in your house. I know if my router died I would be lost until Amazon delivered the new one. My pearl of wisdom for the day is that a good router is worth its weight in gold and you pay for what you get.

Re: Best mid range router
 

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
 

If I was to get the twin pack, do I need to connect both via ethernet?

P.S. thank you very much for such a detailed response!

Re: Best mid range router
 

Not in this case. For any other routers you would, like i have had to with mine, but with ai mesh they connect to each other via wifi and they have their own dedicated link so as to not affect the throughout of other connected devices.

Re: Best mid range router
 

Those only have a transmission speed of 867mb which in real world should only give 220mb.

The similar prices BT ones have a 1733mb transmission speed on the tech spec sheets

Re: Best mid range router
 

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?)

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!

Re: Best mid range router
 

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

Re: Best mid range router
 

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
 

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

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

Re: Best mid range router
 

Ty! Time to decide!

Re: Best mid range router
 

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

Re: Best mid range router
 

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
 

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