Looking for a new wireless router.

[Kitten]

Hi Guys,
So, its time to replace this 8 year old Linksys Pancake Wireless router.. My dad just got an upgrade for internet speed. -> 20Mbps, and like 5mbps for upload. But its not near that.. the internet is quite slow on Devices, and Computers. My Desktop is hard wired to the router and the speed is quite slow.. Sometimes pages wont even load, same with laptops, and phones.. And its quite hard doing homework online, when it forever loads. Of course my dad doesn't want to spend money on a new router, so... I guess ill buy it, because this really isn't working anymore...

Any suggestions?

I'm currently looking at the -> TL-WDR3600

 

[Robin]

I have a very similar router except mine is the 3 aerial version. Been pretty reliable with good speeds but the range is not as great as I expected. TP-Link is a very good brand compared to some of the more established brands and I would also recommend Asus, they make some really good routers.

 

[Kitten]

I have a very similar router except mine is the 3 aerial version. Been pretty reliable with good speeds but the range is not as great as I expected. TP-Link is a very good brand compared to some of the more established brands and I would also recommend Asus, they make some really good routers.

Thanks for the input 👍

 

[ECGadget]

I have a NetGear N900, but looking at what you have I would say a NetGear N600 (WDR3700) if you can get it at a similar price. Otherwise, TP-Link are solid, reliable routers so I would highly recommend them as a possibly cheaper alternative. I would avoid Belkin though, I used to have Belkin routers and that really was a bad time! Whichever router you are looking at though, check to make sure it is 10/100/1000M on the throughputs. Most should be now, but some may not.

 

[Kitten]

I have a NetGear N900, but looking at what you have I would say a NetGear N600 (WDR3700) if you can get it at a similar price. Otherwise, TP-Link are solid, reliable routers so I would highly recommend them as a possibly cheaper alternative. I would avoid Belkin though, I used to have Belkin routers and that really was a bad time! Whichever router you are looking at though, check to make sure it is 10/100/1000M on the throughputs. Most should be now, but some may not.

Do you like your N900? And thanks for the input!

 

[ECGadget]

Do you like your N900? And thanks for the input!

The N900 is pretty slick yup, but I would say for what you want it is not worth it. For example, in my house we have a good 18 devices attached to it, from laptops to phones to printers. Usually out of those, a good 75% are always connected on any of four systems that are set up on it. My cousin has mainly phones and a few laptops and a PS4 connected to his, and he has an N600 which works for him just brilliantly. One thing to complement about them is the range that you get out of them, which was one of the critical points when he was looking for a router. The N900 seems to not have as good range.

All in all, if you want to attach a LOT of devices and still get really good performance, the N900 is the way to go but it is around 20% more than the N600 at times. If you want range and do not have that many devices, the N600 is perfect. However, that being said there is not much difference between the N600 and the TP-Link one you were looking at. The N600 edges it just by a little but may not justify the addition $20 or so that it may be

 

[Kitten]

The N900 is pretty slick yup, but I would say for what you want it is not worth it. For example, in my house we have a good 18 devices attached to it, from laptops to phones to printers. Usually out of those, a good 75% are always connected on any of four systems that are set up on it. My cousin has mainly phones and a few laptops and a PS4 connected to his, and he has an N600 which works for him just brilliantly. One thing to complement about them is the range that you get out of them, which was one of the critical points when he was looking for a router. The N900 seems to not have as good range.

All in all, if you want to attach a LOT of devices and still get really good performance, the N900 is the way to go but it is around 20% more than the N600 at times. If you want range and do not have that many devices, the N600 is perfect. However, that being said there is not much difference between the N600 and the TP-Link one you were looking at. The N600 edges it just by a little but may not justify the addition $20 or so that it may be

My family has atleast... Uhm... 1 Desktop, 5-6Laptops, 5-6 Phones/Tablets combined. Seemed like according to review the N600 is unreliable too.

 

[ECGadget]

My family has atleast... Uhm... 1 Desktop, 5-6Laptops, 5-6 Phones/Tablets combined. Seemed like according to review the N600 is unreliable too.

Interesting, my cousin and I have both had our routers a while, and I'll be honest the N900 has had some issues, notably dropouts due to what we can only put down to overheating internally. But the N600 has had no such issues before. In fact if it wasn't for the fact that I already had an N900 I would probably have got an N600 myself. Up to 15 devices should not really cause too many issues on a router like that.

 

[Otaliema]

I use a TP-Link AC1750 it's a dual band router, on the 5 gig wireless it supports speeds of 58+Mbps. (My connection caps at 60) On the 2.4 gig it's a solid and consistent 25 Mbps. In high power mode the 2.4 gig has a 300 foot range and 5 gig has a 100 foot range.
Currently for device support we are running at max 2 phones 2 lap tops 2 PS3's and 5 Directv set top boxes and have zero impact to speed.
Just make sure you update the firmware on it or it will be flaky on you.
I've had it over a year with no issues. I got when I was living in a town home with 30 active 2.4 gig connections so I had a 10 foot range with my old router. -_-

 

[Kitten]

I use a TP-Link AC1750 it's a dual band router, on the 5 gig wireless it supports speeds of 58+Mbps. (My connection caps at 60) On the 2.4 gig it's a solid and consistent 25 Mbps. In high power mode the 2.4 gig has a 300 foot range and 5 gig has a 100 foot range.
Currently for device support we are running at max 2 phones 2 lap tops 2 PS3's and 5 Directv set top boxes and have zero impact to speed.
Just make sure you update the firmware on it or it will be flaky on you.
I've had it over a year with no issues. I got when I was living in a town home with 30 active 2.4 gig connections so I had a 10 foot range with my old router. -_-

Thanks!

 

[NLxAROSA]

I would also recommend Asus, they make some really good routers.

I have the RT-AC68U and it's expensive, but awesome. Because it uses multiple lines for each band there's never shortage of bandwidth (I measured ~700Mbit when transferring files from my MacBook Pro to my NAS) and latency/lag is always <1ms. Great range too. Use it in a setup where signal has to serve 20+ devices over three floors.