Router Best Router / Hub combo for 2015

Neo-Tech · 05-04-2015, 16:27

Hello all!

Some of you might have seen my previous thread about my wonderful call with VM support regarding a SuperHub replacement. For those that didn't, the rep wouldn't listen to me and I had to end the call due to getting nowhere. It was suggested I get a proper router, so I'd like your suggestions please.

I was looking at the Asus RT-N66U which seems pretty good, though I'm not sure how recent it is. Budget is around £100 max, I'd also like it to be energy efficient to compensate for the SuperHub's crap power consumption.

Thanks!

Hom3r · 05-04-2015, 16:32

A very good router, which I have.

There are newer models, but for home use it should more than meet your needs.

General Maximus · 05-04-2015, 22:49

you can't go wrong with the rt-n66u it hits the nails on the head for being bang on the £100 mark as well. That being said, there are better routers out there such as the AC variant and for the sake of £20 you might want to consider it given the level of future proofing it will provide.

mmm · 06-04-2015, 20:48

n66u can only handle 200Mbps with its hardware acceleration ctf mode enabled - turning on QOS turns off this mode then the router will be a limiting factor in your speedtests.

General Maximus · 06-04-2015, 21:07

that is what I was just going to say, I wasn't sure if he was talking about wireless or wan to lan. Just to keep things fair and balanced, the wan to lan throughput is 730mbits which will be more than enough for the next 3 or 4 years I imagine.

Hom3r · 06-04-2015, 21:14

http://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTN66U/

mmm · 07-04-2015, 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

... the wan to lan throughput is 730mbits ...

I know this appears in reviews, but report from experience with this router (I have 2!) with VM SHUB1. I can confirm it is great with VM 100Mb/s service, but limitations seen with next speed double.

With my normal config with Tomato plus superhub in modem mode the maximum wired wan to lan was 160Mb/s, 50Mb/s less than direct to modem. WAN to wireless was less, but similar to wired speeds if wireless to second router wired to first - suggesting CPU limit hit. With Asuswrt-merlin can speedtest to limits of modem wired when ctf enabled, which seems fine wouldn't have to even thibnk about QOS if VM upped the upstream!

I never understand this class of router marketed as N900. Max wireless connect speed is 450Mb/s (3 streams 3 antennae), which seems to be capable of 150Mb/s data transfer! Perhaps full duplex wired Ethernet should be marketed as 2000Mb/s since it is so much better!

Never measured power consumption - this router does run hot, has a big internal heat sink no fans, mine is wall mounted which I think is ideal for heat dissipation, the PSU is 18V and there are a number of internal switch-mode 3.3V convertors, so should be energy efficient?

qasdfdsaq · 07-04-2015, 14:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmm

I never understand this class of router marketed as N900. Max wireless connect speed is 450Mb/s (3 streams 3 antennae), which seems to be capable of 150Mb/s data transfer! Perhaps full duplex wired Ethernet should be marketed as 2000Mb/s since it is so much better!

Router manufacturers these days like to add up the cumulative speeds of all the separate wireless interfaces (and sometimes inflate them further) to quote a number for marketing. Thus "N900" can mean any combination of wireless networks that add up to a link rate of 900Mbps total, such as 450Mbps on 2.4Ghz plus 450Mbps on 5Ghz in this case, or 300+300+300 or 600+300, etc.

Course you'll never hit anything close to that total speed - many router CPUs are too slow to even max out a single 450Mbps network let alone two simultaneously. Which make more recent claims of ludicrous speeds like AC3200 even more hilarious.

If you used the same logic on ethernet chances are your router would be marketed with a rating something like AB8000.

Ignitionnet · 07-04-2015, 15:11

It is pretty tiresome.

I kinda get the thing about 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios and adding them up, but running 2 5GHz radios and adding that on?

If they're going to do this they really should advertise the maximum throughput per interface, so xxxMb at 2.4GHz and xxxMb per 5GHz radio.

Kushan · 07-04-2015, 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmm

I know this appears in reviews, but report from experience with this router (I have 2!) with VM SHUB1. I can confirm it is great with VM 100Mb/s service, but limitations seen with next speed double.

With my normal config with Tomato

Stop right there. There's your problem. Tomato on this router does not support hardware acceleration. That's why you have performance issues - it's Tomato's fault, not the router.

If you need more features than the (Already decent) stock Asus Firmware, try the Merlin builds.

mmm · 07-04-2015, 19:38

Yes, but you can only use the hardware acceleration with QOS (and various other features) turned off even in the Asus/merlin software - fortunately don't seem to need QOS - which enables the fast speedtests for bragging purposes.

Kushan · 07-04-2015, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmm

Yes, but you can only use the hardware acceleration with QOS (and various other features) turned off even in the Asus/merlin software - fortunately don't seem to need QOS - which enables the fast speedtests for bragging purposes.

This is correct, but the point remains that the poor performance you're seeing on that router is because you're using a non-standard firmware that isn't completely compatible with it. Not a fault of the router.

qasdfdsaq · 08-04-2015, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

This is correct, but the point remains that the poor performance you're seeing on that router is because you're using a non-standard firmware that isn't completely compatible with it. Not a fault of the router.

Well, that's arguable. If firmware specifically designed for a router can't use all it's features because the manufacturer has locked it down and refuses to allow/license access to those features then that's entirely the fault of the router. Also if it cannot use HWNAT while other features are on even with stock firmware that's either shoddy programming or a hardware limitation, again both being the fault of the router.

Kushan · 08-04-2015, 07:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Well, that's arguable. If firmware specifically designed for a router can't use all it's features because the manufacturer has locked it down and refuses to allow/license access to those features then that's entirely the fault of the router. Also if it cannot use HWNAT while other features are on even with stock firmware that's either shoddy programming or a hardware limitation, again both being the fault of the router.

I don't know why Tomato can't use the hardware acceleration, so I can't comment on it.

However, while I agree that the router can be limited in performance if you use certain features of it, I wouldn't say that's particularly out of the norm for most electronics out there. From my experience, the QoS on the device isn't worth the performance penalty anyway (I've never found it to be particularly good).

Care to recommend another router that will do 700Mbit+ WAN-to-LAN with QoS and in the same rough price range as the Asus?

mmm · 08-04-2015, 08:27

There are some flavours of Tomato that can use Broadcom ctf. Just need the right kernel patches to go with the switch and wifi drivers and load the kernel module. BUT little interest since it is compatible with features such IP accounting, web monitoring, custom port-forwards as well as QOS. It is also possible that the module is designed to improve speedtest benchmarks - but has little effect in real use with multiple clients/multiple connections.

IMHO QOS essential when sharing a limited internet service between many users, but does need careful tuning and Tomato has many tables/ pie charts to assist by classifying traffic - you want to prioritize human requested web pages/ game commands and limit background p2p like traffic. If a restricted upstream is not managed, it is not possible to make full use of the downstream. If only a few considerate users not maxing out the connection QOS not needed.

The multi-core ARM routers should be many times faster than the MIPS N66U, and I have no doubt will be the standard in future. I still favour Asus since they are so active with firmware upgrades and release of GPL source-codes (the 5-year old RT-N16 has just had a new beta firmware released!).