Question 7Yr Old Netgear R7800 Nedd an Upgrade
- Thread starter w211
- Start date
- May 29, 2013
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What is your budget? How many of those 35 devices are WIFI? What wired infrastructure do you have available for additional WIFI access points ?
Thank you for the response. Budget under $500. My ISP is 1gbps. Out of 35 just 2-3 are ethernet mainly my main computer and my bedroom TV and living room TV which never used.I have been experiencing connection problems recently. Download the OpenWrt firmware and flashed the router now my main computer speed dropped from around 900 to about 300mbps. I know this old R7800 has decent specs but it is out dated. The location is pretty much on one side of the square wall of the house.
thestryker
Splendid
- Apr 19, 2016
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Depending on what type of devices are connected you may very well be best off keeping your existing as well as adding a new device. If you have anything that requires a real time connection (such as online gaming or cloud gaming) the fewer devices they have to fight with for connection the better.
I was recently looking at new devices and my criteria was basically 2.5gb port + WIFI 6E and the least expensive I found that I'd have been willing to take a chance on was this: https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-axe95/v1/
I opted to not buy anything at this time because I so infrequently use WIFI and I'd like to get WIFI 7 for longevity sake, but those are all basically $600+ right now. TP-Link also seems to have less overall open router OS support so that's a potential downside to their products.
I was recently looking at new devices and my criteria was basically 2.5gb port + WIFI 6E and the least expensive I found that I'd have been willing to take a chance on was this: https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-axe95/v1/
I opted to not buy anything at this time because I so infrequently use WIFI and I'd like to get WIFI 7 for longevity sake, but those are all basically $600+ right now. TP-Link also seems to have less overall open router OS support so that's a potential downside to their products.
BFG-9000
Splendid
- Sep 17, 2016
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At 1Gbit the standard OpenWRT build, which does everything in software, just isn't fast enough. You need to use a hardware accelerated build which uses the NSS cores to perform routing and wifi like stock, plus even fq_coDel QoS in hardware.
If you don't have any Wifi 6 AX devices anyway, then the AC R7800 is as good as Wifi 5 gets. But read that thread as there are some stability issues with some builds.
If you don't have any Wifi 6 AX devices anyway, then the AC R7800 is as good as Wifi 5 gets. But read that thread as there are some stability issues with some builds.
Thank you all. As an amateur in computer world I kinda think that. When I buy this router back then, I kinda make sure that it was decent. My all in one modem/router didn't have enough range when I bought this house.
Thank you again. I am still trying to overcome this disconnection and slow speed from point. I will continue researching and reading this fourms.
Wow you guys are very quick in this forums.
I am 52 years old and been on many forums and by far this is the fastest and most effective. Thank you again guys.
Thank you again. I am still trying to overcome this disconnection and slow speed from point. I will continue researching and reading this fourms.
Wow you guys are very quick in this forums.
I am 52 years old and been on many forums and by far this is the fastest and most effective. Thank you again guys.
I would first go back to the factory firmware. Unless there is some feature you actually need in the openwrt it is not worth the downside. The largest problem with most third party firmware is they do not use the hardware nat assist. This causes the cpu to be the bottleneck in the router and your speeds cap out at less than 300mbps. Even a $50 router using this hardware assiste nat can run 1gbit wan/lan.
All the really interesting wifi features are locked in the wifi chipset firmware, this was done intentionally to prevent third party router software from making any changes. The only thing that is different is related to router features like how the menus look or maybe extra features related to firewall or vpn etc. The wifi function is the same as the factory images.
The disconnect problem is hard to say. In general it is because your signal level are not strong enough to overcome the interfering signals from your neighbors or other devices using the same radio frequencies. A "new" router in general will not fix this. Almost all routers transmit at the maximum legal power level so they will not go farther.
The other issue you have is just replacing the router with newer tech does not do much in many cases. You could for example buy wifi6e router but the feature will not be used unless you also upgrade your end devices. Your current router matches what most common end devices use so buying even a router slightly newer will not change what the end device supports.
Your best option to get better coverage is to used the ethernet cable you currently have and add AP to those rooms. You do not need a actual AP, you can use a cheap router that has AP function. Be careful too much wifi is almost as bad as to little. You will causes interference between the AP and your devices will not always pick the most optimum radio connection. It takes some planning to get the optimum amount of signal overlap.
All the really interesting wifi features are locked in the wifi chipset firmware, this was done intentionally to prevent third party router software from making any changes. The only thing that is different is related to router features like how the menus look or maybe extra features related to firewall or vpn etc. The wifi function is the same as the factory images.
The disconnect problem is hard to say. In general it is because your signal level are not strong enough to overcome the interfering signals from your neighbors or other devices using the same radio frequencies. A "new" router in general will not fix this. Almost all routers transmit at the maximum legal power level so they will not go farther.
The other issue you have is just replacing the router with newer tech does not do much in many cases. You could for example buy wifi6e router but the feature will not be used unless you also upgrade your end devices. Your current router matches what most common end devices use so buying even a router slightly newer will not change what the end device supports.
Your best option to get better coverage is to used the ethernet cable you currently have and add AP to those rooms. You do not need a actual AP, you can use a cheap router that has AP function. Be careful too much wifi is almost as bad as to little. You will causes interference between the AP and your devices will not always pick the most optimum radio connection. It takes some planning to get the optimum amount of signal overlap.
BFG-9000
Splendid
- Sep 17, 2016
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It depends on how interested you are in security. The stock firmware is based on 10 year old Linux kernel 3.4 (which is already way newer than the 20yo kernel 2.6 that most AC routers use), while DD-WRT for the R7800 is now based on kernel 4.9 and OpenWRT on the still-currently-supported kernel 5.15. If you think Windows XP on the internet is fine "if it's locked down enough," then an old EOL kernel in your gateway may well be good enough for you.
Given that the wifi radio drivers are recompiled for newer kernels using automated tools, it's not surprising that often 3rd party firmware can have worse wifi performance than stock. That can be a fair tradeoff for better security and modern features such as WPA3 which Netgear can't be bothered to backport to firmware of older models. After all, WPA3 is only required for Wifi 6 certification.
Heck, plenty of people will use OpenWRT on Broadcom devices which have no available wifi drivers at all, or else limited to only G speeds (now rebranded Wifi 3), just for the added security on a gateway. They use separate APs.
The R7800 is kind of an odd duck in that it has two dedicated 800MHz NSS cores to do hardware acceleration, and OpenWRT support for them has always been experimental so it has never been folded into the mainline.
Given that the wifi radio drivers are recompiled for newer kernels using automated tools, it's not surprising that often 3rd party firmware can have worse wifi performance than stock. That can be a fair tradeoff for better security and modern features such as WPA3 which Netgear can't be bothered to backport to firmware of older models. After all, WPA3 is only required for Wifi 6 certification.
Heck, plenty of people will use OpenWRT on Broadcom devices which have no available wifi drivers at all, or else limited to only G speeds (now rebranded Wifi 3), just for the added security on a gateway. They use separate APs.
The R7800 is kind of an odd duck in that it has two dedicated 800MHz NSS cores to do hardware acceleration, and OpenWRT support for them has always been experimental so it has never been folded into the mainline.
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