new router needed - fml

[Picasso]

for just a router....anything that can run pfsense. http://pfsense.org/ for a wireless interface I just use ubiquity gear pick what ever flavor you want to support, http://ubnt.com. The titanium option on a few models offers some killer rx lvl's. It has served me well over many years of use and on some super high packet count links that choke other access points.

[White-Light]

I've heard good things about the new(ish) Asus routers.
Dual band and n compatible with strong enough signal to deal with our ancient British stone houses... a friend in London has one that gives good wi-fi in his house from its location in the hallway on the ground floor through 3 internal Victorian brick walls to his office in the attic on the 4th floor... while dealing with the neighbouring wi-fi networks and his massive Sonos mesh Wi-Fi...
So far no problems in 5 months or so...

Just can't remember the model number at moment...

I'm on an ASUS Dual Band Router DSL-AC68U - I treated myself as a Christmas present from monies I received.

Be careful with model numbers here as many models are only 1 or 2 letters different but massive different in spec. This is the one with the built in modem. There's a very similar model the RT-AC86U that's very good that's an older and faster model and a router only (ie you need a separate bridgeable modem). So get the wrong one, and if you're on ADSL rather than VDSL, you could find it unusable until you've spent a shed load money on a quality modem.

Although it's very stable on wired, I notice live event streaming video from some sites, (watching water sports (of the non dirty variety)), that you do seem to get short drop outs. Whether that's the site or the router to blame I don't know as I haven't really noticed this a lot with other sites although watching the buffer bar on Youtube it can be a bit jumpy at times.

2.4GHZ goes through walls quite well. 5GHZ is attenuated more. Through 1 wall I get the full 867mbs of bandwidth. Through 2 walls the signal strength drops as does the speed to around 550mbs. (Bearing in mind UK houses have brick inner walls not stud walls in the majority).

Also, despite being dual band you don't get 2.4 and 5ghz simultaneously. It connects on 5GHZ and drops to 2.4GHZ if 5GHZ becomes lost. 2.4GHZ is by comparison slow and the same as most single band routers, around 80mbs from memory.

It does switch channel to avoid interference. I'm on the latest firmware upgrade and have a dual band .ac USB transceiver in the laptop to match.

Never used it with laser.

Hope this helps.

[DrEvil]

I'm curious about some of the ones by Buffalo. I've dealt with Asus for computer hardware and wouldn't mind trying a router. The ones I've seen that give you the option to stand up or lay flat won't work without looking dumb. As it is, I already have 2 cables coming out of the one I have with the possibility of adding at least 1 more sometime soon. The Asus ones I seen would have the cables protruding out the top. If it stood on the side instead of the front, that wouldn't be a problem.

[Pockels]

Another tip. Download a Wifi scanner to check if your immediate neighbours are on the same channel. I think the default is 1, so change it to 4 to try an avoid signal overlap

[norty303]

Although dirt cheap, Zyxel and TP-Link are my 2 goto companies for networking products these days. Amazing value, and peiople i know who do more serious installs also rave about them.

[Pockels]

Although dirt cheap, Zyxel and TP-Link are my 2 goto companies for networking products these days. Amazing value, and peiople i know who do more serious installs also rave about them.

Completely agree with you. TP Link are at the top of their game

[Pockels]

D-Link's latest offering looks interesting

[DrEvil]

I'm thinking about the Asus AC-RT68. I need to sell off some stuff before I have the money to buy it though. I'm not having any luck selling the stuff I really want to get rid of though.

Another tip. Download a Wifi scanner to check if your immediate neighbours are on the same channel. I think the default is 1, so change it to 4 to try an avoid signal overlap

It was fine up until that one day. Only one of my close neighbors has wireless. The signal comes and goes. I can see plenty of others. All of them have a very weak signal at my house. Even then, they only show up if I hold whatever device in a certain way. My router is definitely done for though. The wireless gets stuck on initializing. It doesn't even broadcast anymore. It won't save any changes I make either. A little window pops up saying I didn't make any changes when I click save. It won't change firmware either.

[White-Light]

Another tip. Download a Wifi scanner to check if your immediate neighbours are on the same channel. I think the default is 1, so change it to 4 to try an avoid signal overlap

Defaults are 1 and 36 (2.6ghz / 5ghz).

A good dual band router will have automated channel switching and switch channels if it detects a conflict.

Alternatively, if your neighbours is on a fixed channel, you can fix yours away from theirs (from memory I think the router uses extension channels for 3 channels above the channel its set at). So on that basis you need at least a 4 channel margin.