500M : Which router to go with oomph package

[mikep]

Hi I currently have an asus n66 router and thinking of a new router to go with the new package. Wifi signal is not that strong on the n66 router, but I fancy a change which ever new asus router or other router, that you can recommend I end up going with I would be installing the merlin firmware.



I am thinking of getting either:


ASUS RT-AC88U WiFi Cable & Fibre Router - AC 3100, Dual-band
ASUS RT WiFi Cable & Fibre Router - AC 5300, Tri-band



Is there any other router you would recommend for gaming (Lan wired) or wifi for use of laptops / ipads etc. The budget is a cheap as possible but I want one that will last in the future.

[General Maximus]

I spent a long time looking at this a couple of years ago because Asus do a "gaming" router but once I looked into it it turned out it wasn't that great.

I would have a look here as your first point of call and then you can click on the routers to see the specs, performance and reviews. Given your examples above, the AC888u has a wan to lan throughput of 801mbits and the AC5300 750mbits. You can look at the reviews for wireless performance if that is important to you but the IMPORTANT thing I am going to point out is that having an "AC5300" and "triband" router sounds fantastic but you are not going to benefit from it whatsoever unless the wireless adapters in the clients (i.e. your tablet, phone and laptop) are AC capable and support triband. As a balancing act when you look at cost you will find it will be far more advantageous for you to go with something like the AC88u. Unless you need an 8 port switch on the back and you know you are definitely going to benefit from the increased wireless speed, if wifi coverage is important to you when balancing the cost versus benefit I would also consider buying a twin pack AC68u for the same price as one AC88u and setting up AIMesh instead.

Originally Posted by mikep

Is there any other router you would recommend for gaming (Lan wired) or wifi for use of laptops / ipads etc. The budget is a cheap as possible but I want one that will last in the future.

I went with the AC68u and there are plenty of laptops, tablets and phones in my house which all get full speed and I am on vivid350 so max out around 378mbits. From a gaming point of view I only play first person shooters and do so with friends several times a week and I have never had any problems.

[InsaneNutter]

To be honest i'd spend a bit more and get a setup that's much more future proofed.

I'd get a UniFi Security Gateway (£105) for your router / firewall. People are running gigabit connections on this perfectly fine.

Add a Ubiquiti UniFi PoE Switch (£108) for your wired devices, this will also power your access points over Ethernet.

You can then add a couple of Ubiquiti UniFi AC Access Points (£60+) where required, maybe one at each side of the house? (depending on size) for great coverage.

You can run the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller (Free to £75 depending on what you use) on your own hardware to manage the above hardware, however buying their cloud key would keep it all very simple.

Sure this would cost a bit more than a new high end router, but when you think you can pay £300+ for a good Asus router these days, you might as well buy some kit which is both future proofed and expandable as your requirements change.

Like you I've had various Linksys / Asus routers over the last 10+ years with custom firmware and always outgrown them as internet speeds have increased.

I'm actually using pfSense for my router / firewall in a Virtual Machine on my home server, however both that and the UniFi Security Gateway are great solutions.

You'll never go back to consumer grade routers once having something better.

[Topgun]

I'm with The General on this one. I recently splashed out on two ASUS RT-AC86U routers and set them up in Aimesh mode, absolutely brilliant, fastest and most stable wifi I've ever had! If you do decide to do that, be aware that you won't be able to use the Merlin firmware though, as it doesn't support Aimesh.

P.S. That router is now on Amazon for £133, a proper bargain IMHO.

[Martin_D]

+1 for ASUS I have the RT-AX88U not one problem.

[Kushan]

Another vote for the RT-AX88U, though I'd say in terms of Value for money it's not worth the 2x cost of something like the RT-AC86U. However it's a little more future proof and the guy who writes the merlin firmware is using the RT-AX88U himself as his daily driver.

Originally Posted by InsaneNutter

To be honest i'd spend a bit more and get a setup that's much more future proofed.

I'd get a UniFi Security Gateway (£105) for your router / firewall. People are running gigabit connections on this perfectly fine.

Add a Ubiquiti UniFi PoE Switch (£108) for your wired devices, this will also power your access points over Ethernet.

You can then add a couple of Ubiquiti UniFi AC Access Points (£60+) where required, maybe one at each side of the house? (depending on size) for great coverage.

You can run the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller (Free to £75 depending on what you use) on your own hardware to manage the above hardware, however buying their cloud key would keep it all very simple.

Sure this would cost a bit more than a new high end router, but when you think you can pay £300+ for a good Asus router these days, you might as well buy some kit which is both future proofed and expandable as your requirements change.

Like you I've had various Linksys / Asus routers over the last 10+ years with custom firmware and always outgrown them as internet speeds have increased.

I'm actually using pfSense for my router / firewall in a Virtual Machine on my home server, however both that and the UniFi Security Gateway are great solutions.

You'll never go back to consumer grade routers once having something better.

Unifi stuff is great if you're particularly techy and are happy managing it yourself. I can definitely vouch for and recommend it, but I wouldn't suggest consumers go anywhere near it. It's business grade stuff so it works a treat and if you can run ethernet cables around your house then there's no better way to ensure perfect coverage, but it's significantly more work than something like an Asus router.

[Broken Hope]

AC86U is rock solid, I'm holding off an AX router until the spec is final, it's still draft and could change before it's finalised.