Looking at getting a new wireless router for the house, Netgear R7000
 

The one I have now is an old, Linksys unit. Good range, okay speed, but I want to upgrade the router, as I am going to be upgrading the internet connection soon at home. Consolidated Communication(formerly Surewest) kind of sucks, and has steadily been trying to get me to kick them to the curb. They are not giving me the speed or bandwidth I am paying for, so I am getting the wheels in motion to switch. I have been looking at routers, and I am sort of liking the looks of the Netgear Nighthawk Dual band, model R7000. I know there are a number of knowledgeable cats that frequent this place, and was wondering if y'all had any input. A few hundred bucks, but should do well for me for a while, barring any EM pulses, but if that happens, I will have bigger fish to fry. Anyone have one of these babies?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-nighthawk-dual-band-wireless-ac-router-with-4-port-ethernet-switch/1754208.p?id=1219062800202&skuId=1754208&st=router s wireless&cp=1&lp=1

The Netgear router that you mentioned did not perform as I needed so it went back to Amazon and was replaced with the following unit; it has has been outstanding:

ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

I have the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router

It's a kick ass router.

Same price point as the Nighthawk.

There is also the newer Asus AC68, a bit better performance than the AC66 but IMHO not worth the additional ~$30.00.

I get a consistent 300 Mbps on 5 GHZ N 50 feet from the router with 2 rooms in between.

hard wired router only that can be used w/ aftermarket firmwares. Or build one out of a low spec PC. Separate wireless access point(s)

The ASUS is fully dd-wrt compliant.

It's actually listed as a feature by ASUS.

I love this place

When I was getting ready to move, my research indicated that the Asus was the one to have, but I ended up having to use the part supplied by ATT. Now I'm looking for a good wifi print server to make my HP laser printer wireless.

Providing the ATT device has ethernet ports you can hang the ASUS off the back of the ATT device and set it as an access point.

Keeps DNS provisioning via the ATT device and you disable its radio.

The ASUS has a print server built in as well as supports NAS. Even streams media from the attached HD to iTunes or other udnp receiver such as a Playstation / ROKU etc...

Yeah, but the ATT device has wireless that works. Buying the ASUS wouldn't give me anything. I've currently got the printer on the network wired, but we are hoping to move it to somewhere more out of the way. I won't be able to neatly cable the printer. We'd love to put it in a spare closet, but there's no power in the closet. That's the other problem, where we are going to put it at all. Downsizing from 2000 sqft with garage and attic to 1300sqft without means some juggling required.

Speaking of routers. What would be the best bet to extend my range? Currently our router is upstairs in the center of the house. I could move it downstairs but that would kill the service upstairs I suspect. Is there a good repeater I could put downstairs and increase signal in the living room and out on the patio?

I just got one of these routers...Almond+ Routers for $99. I'm not sure what the retail price will be, I was able to lock in on that price by being a "kickstarter" for the router...

I admit I am sort of a beta tester for the product... but check out the specs.. I'm using it as a network extender and a controller for a z-wave and zigbee sensors that control lights, my new thermostat, and other thing automating my house etc.. through an app on my droid...

I used to have a nice paper route when I was in 6th grade.

For the printer, you need one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007CO5DZ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've got one of those.

They work fine.

Just make sure you follow the set up instructions to the letter or it'll render the rest of your WIFI network invisible.

Ask me how I know.

You can get them at Best Buy.

Don't order from that Amazon link unless you don't mind paying 2 x's what they go for.

Netgear, Inc WNCE2001100NAS - Best Buy

Forget the repeater. Run a CAT6 line to the downstairs and put a WAP on the end of it, problem solved.

What the FFFF? I paid $20 each for 3 of them!

A bit better

NETGEAR Universal N300 Wi-Fi to Ethernet Adapter (WNCE2001) at Amazon.com

This. As someone who works from home and must have a reliable internet connection, count me as another ASUS fan. I had one of about every brand out there until I picked up an ASUS N600 a couple of years ago. Before I was constantly resetting the routers. The ASUS was rock solid, day in day out. Bonus points for easy to navigate software and the ability to power a printer and shared hard drive for storage. Oh yeah and QoS so my work computer takes priority over my daughter watching Netflix.

A few weeks ago I picked up an AC1750 as an upgrade. We spent three weeks living in and me working from a fifth wheel parked in the yard during home renovations. The signal from the N600 wouldn't reach. AC1750 gave me consistent reception at 180 feet and full reception anywhere inside my home.

No doubt the other brands are quality pieces but I'm sticking with ASUS. -J

I used to run a Netgear router but found their wireless reach a bit sketchy. I replaced my home unit with an ASUS RT-AC66U with great results. I downloaded the Merlin firmware and had to narrow the bandwidth to avoid interference to make it reliable. Finding a clear channel also helped - you can download free software to check what signals/channels are in the 'air'.

We constantly stream 1080P movies to up to 3 devices simultaneously without an issue. Couldn't have done that on the Netgear.

As for extending we have a 2 storey double brick home so I ran an Ethernet cable upstairs and have another wireless router looking after that area. Pulling the cable to that router is a great way to flush the kids out of their rooms up there!

Stupid question-for those running two routers, do you have the same network id and passord for both?

What service do you use?

For FIOS customers or anyone else that runs ethernet over coax to the primary router you can use multiple MOCA routers and use your homes coax in place of running Cat 5/6.

I've got a dedicated router upstairs for the kids gaming area and one out on the patio to stream TV from my Ceton box.

Running multiple routers like that is also a good way to separate your b/g devices from your n devices.

Yes. I use the same SSID and password. Channels are different.

One thing to do, though, is to disable the DHCP sever in one of the wireless routers, making it into an access point only. Remember to connect the hardwire cable to a regular port, not the WAN port on the access point. I also fix the IP address(es) of the access point(s). I mark the IP address on the AP and then can login to it easily.

BTW, I don't use the DHCP server of any of my WiFi routers. I have a dedicated wired firewall.

I use the same base SSID and append a letter to indicate what it's used for, like N for N only devices, P for the patio, G for gaming.

Passwords are all the same.

Routers have sequential static IP addresses .1,.2,.3

I have way too many devices in the house and on my to do list is to break all devices out into ranges based on function and assign static addresses to all.

Just been to lazy till now.

In a commercial environment, you would use WDS - which implies the same channel(s), SSID and password - and then roam seamlessly between any/all WAPs depending on which one is presenting you with the best signal right now.

WDS provides bridging of the wireless network, so all the access points are on the same network using the same keys/SSIDs, and all the APs participate in it equally. Many open source firmware projects (Wiki lists more than 30 it describes as "major" projects) support WDS, DD-WRT included. WDS often can be problematic between different chipsets and perhaps even firmware versions; best idea would be to use multiple WAPs of the same brand/model and run the same firmware/version.

Other schemes described here (different channels, SSIDs/passwords, subnets etc) can also work for a small environment (and even provide superior performance in a small setup), but they're not the way you'd do it in a commercial environment - where transparent operation/roaming for the users would trump point-to-point throughput for casual access.

There's an implied assumption is that if sheer speed were that important, you'd either sit next to the AP or use a wired high-speed connection :)

You going to come run the cable? ;) I'd rather not if I can avoid it!

Thinking about this though.... i could put the router downstairs, but then will my coverage just suck upstairs? I'm just thinking about the way the signal comes out, is more going up than down?

WIFI routers typically do better at penetrating walls and suffer when penetrating floors/ceilings so your concern is valid.

However, the IEEE tightened up the standards for beamforming so the current crop of dual band ac routers that implement it, ASUS, D-Link, Apples Airport, are capable of "self tuning" based on a connected devices location.

All about beamforming, the faster Wi-Fi you didn't know you needed | PCWorld

Hmmm... Good to know... Our current router(a cheapo from amazon) is starting to act flaky. Time to get the Asus it looks like.

Just picked up this post... We are running on Cox internet right now, so yes its on the coax. Need to investigate this more

netgear is pretty much garbage.. Cysco / Linksys are arguably the best ones out there.

I wholly disagree. I had nothing but problems since Linksys was bought out. And my VOIP service would not work with a Linksys VPN Router.

I've been back to Netgear for the past 3 years (VPN Router at Work and House) and they have been great.

Extra routers are not too difficult to find.

Someone always has one that was not returned.

I picked up 2 extra FIOS routers for free simply by posting an in search of on our community Facebook trading post.

While any MOCA router should work I like to stick with the same provider/brand as it can make initial setup easier.

Cisco 1921 router, Cisco 5508 Wireless LAN controller and 3 3702i wireless access points. Various 2960 compact switches throughout the house for wired connectivity as well and a Cisco Catalyst 3650 as my core switch which once I rewire and get rid of the compact switches I'll be able to have it control the access points and power down the 5508 as well. I was using an ASA5512-x with Sourcefire for content filtering but I've moved to an Ironport VM to do the content filtering instead recently.

Most of the time you don't need to get an extra router, an AP will do just fine for less money.

Sid, they shape is more torus but in our distribution at work, they penetrate better up than they do down and that is through pre-stressed concrete floors. You can also get external antennae to help with reception.