Siwtching to Fibre: AC vs N router

Hello all. Long time lurker!

I'm switching to Plusnet fibre from O2. I am going to buy my own router for the best wireless experience. Inevitably, the Asus RT-N66U seems highly recommended and I am pretty close to buying it. However, would I not be bet better off buying an AC router such as the D Link AC1750, especially considering the similar price? http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-Wireless-AC1750-Dual-...

Isn't it better to 'future proof' now. Afterall, I wont be changing the router for probably 5 years if history is anything to go by!

The DLink seems to have very favourable reviews and most of the features of the Asus. Are there any prominent features missing that are done well on the Asus. Will the higher power not mean I'd get better wireless performance on G/N?

I'll be attaching a USB drive quite often to the router, video viewing across various devices, Netflix/iPlayer most of the day (we dont use TV so much), gaming and of course torrents. 2 computers, 2 tablets, playstation, WDTV, 4+ smartphones. These are all used regularly by 4-8 people. The router will need to serve 2 terrace houses (that are actually converted to one) and it will be placed upstairs, because that's where the master socket comes in and it's handily out the way.

Any input would be appreciated! I need to buy it within the next 2 weeks.

Edited by deleted (Mon 03-Feb-14 20:35:20)

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/76-as... In the same room 802.11n can go faster than VDSL2.

AC still has the problems of walls etc, so the faster routers are probably still going to have not-spots and 5GHz is blocked even easier by walls.

So real answer is that if its home wide coverage, then a decent router and a subsequent wireless access point located in a second location to get rid of not-spot would be best.

Not looked for the performance of that DLINK, but double check the WAN/LAN throughputs, some routers are fast in this respect but do not handle PPPoE very well while doing NAT.

Yes, definitely go for a 802.11ac router you'll find that even your existing 802.11n devices will have higher throughput due to the higher power transmitters on ac routers. I've got a Linksys EA6900 (+ draytek 120) on my ADSL2+ line, very happy with it. If you must go for a Asus router then go for the highly rated Asus RT-AC66U, only 140 euros from amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/RT-AC66U-AC1750-Diamond-Dual-Ba...
(forget about the newer AC68U - too many bugs)

Edited by deleted (Mon 03-Feb-14 23:28:11)

Thanks guys. £116 + delivery for the Asus AC66U seems very good! That's practically the same price as the N66U. I presume everything else will be the same. I'm keen to use AI Cloud to access USB storage away from home.

Checked some reviews of the AC66U. The firmare seems a little buggier than the N66U?

Just look at the homeplug suggestion. It's a minefield. I want to be able to transfer files (videos) within the home, as well as improve wifi coverage. Suggestions?

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Feb-14 14:16:04)

AC is most defenitly better, if I was buying a router now I would get AC over N. Indeed I got an AC router last month.

If you got desktop pc's using powerline ethernet I would also buy AC dongles for them and switch to AC. Although gigabit ethernet still is top for performance.

shame common devices such as consoles are lagging behind massively on tech, really next gen consoles should have 5ghz AC included.
I own the AC66u and currently using the Firmware:3.0.0.4.374.35_4 (Merlin build)
Its very stable, more stable than my rt-n16 was (that occasionally self rebooted).

I used that as it has the latest pppoe driver which supports 1500 PPPOE mtu (was downgraded in newer builds), merlin has recently reupgraded the pppoe driver again in the latest build and added ipv6 fixes as well as gui support for RFC 4638 so I plan to switch soon to 3.0.0.4.374.39

http://www.lostrealm.ca/asuswrt-merlin/changelog.txt
http://www.lostrealm.ca/tower/node/79
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/bkfq2a6aebq68//Asus...

Edited by Chrysalis (Tue 04-Feb-14 16:59:41)

If anywhere near 80Mbps on FTTC you need 500MBps homeplugs. It seems 200Mbps ones can't cope.

I wouldn't even bother with homeplugs. I find they are all over the place. 200Mbps provide me around 30Mbps throughput and 500 ones give me a good 70 Mbps throughput. Problem is sometimes they just drop down to 1 or 2 Mbps and there's very little to identify what causes it.

I would personally setup 1 access point in the house. I'd either go for N or AC. I would then run an ethernet from here to another router. Set this up as a repeater. Having the two routers will serve you well in terms of range and throughput.

As an example having 1 AC router. In poor signal areas you will get very slow speeds but amazing speeds close up...
Having 2 routers, as most of the house will have a good signal, you will get decent speeds everywhere, If you choose wireless N, although nothing to scream home about it's plenty for 1080P video, downloading on multiple devices etc.

To keep costs down for now you could have 1 AC point and a budget N router for any not-spot areas (with a view to upgrade it later)

On 5Ghz I get 110Mbps transfer rates with wireless N and I get around 30Mbps on wireless 2.4Ghz due to tonnes of these in the area.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 04-Feb-14 19:49:37)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If anywhere near 80Mbps on FTTC you need 500MBps homeplugs. It seems 200Mbps ones can't cope.

Good job that I got four netgear homeplug with 500Mbps with gigabit lan port http://postimg.org/image/4c4cmzx9f/

please dont advise this homeplugs are an abnomination.

gigabet ethernet -> AC

both those can handle full speed FTTC easily.

That's a little strong!

Like you, I wouldn't go near them, but for a huge number they are a godsend.

Quite true. My landlord refused to let me cable up the house before I moved in so homeplugs were the only solution.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

On 5Ghz I get 110Mbps transfer rates with wireless N and I get around 30Mbps on wireless 2.4Ghz due to tonnes of these in the area.

I suspect the fact that 5Ghz doesn't pass well through walls also makes such networks a little safer from prying eyes.

Where I liive, the walls are very substantial. Using iStumbler I can currently see sixteen other wireless networks in the 2.4GHz band (mostly channels 1, 6 and 11) but absolutely nothing in 5GHz. Even a spectrum analysis, which shows channels used by hidden SSID stations, shows nothing anywhere in the 5GHz band.

I'll be looking at getting a 5GHz wireless N access point when I moved to FTTC, probably a Cisco WAP321.

This is 5GHz WiFi (ac1300 in my case) with the router and PC as far apart as they can be in my house on the same floor and though a wall.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/13916...

Brick wall or stud wall? That speed is impressive.

you wasnt allowed to put ethernet on your floor or against wall?

my ethernet goes behind my settee, into the hallway, across the hallway into my bedroom, if someone doesnt like it tough luck I say, I did put a mat on top of where it goes across the floor, but not for cosmetics just for safety to prevent people tripping over it somehow.

Still looking at the Asus RT-AC66U. Is the firmware dodgy? I keep hearing about reboots and dropping signals. The N66U seems much more stable, or is the AC66U better on the latest firmware?

This review and the comments are concerning:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RTKTCD0EE10BG/ref=cm_cd...


I'm thinking of just going with my original choice, the N66U.

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Feb-14 19:27:56)

your question has already been answered in this thread.

the ac66u is what you want to go with, I havent had any dropping signals on my ac66u.

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

Brick wall or stud wall? That speed is impressive.

Brick, for comparison this is the HH5 on its default 20Mhz 2.4GHz settings with the router and PC in the same place.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/13917...

Its always g speeds or there abouts for me.

Typical BT Openreach. They failed to show for an appointment. I wish I didn't have to deal with these imbeciles.

Now I'm waiting for another date from Plusnet.