Question Best router (budget) to use as an access point ? Please READ :)

[flasteve57]

Hi ! Hopefully I will get the answer(s) that will help me accomplish a networking need I have.

I have a Calix Gigaspire Blast GS4227 gateway, provided by my new fiber company. Service is great, pay for 100mbps, getting consistent 100-106.

The dilemma is this (I am retired with an IT background, not especially strong in routers though):

The unit employs Band Steering, which in itself is great, however my 3 smart TV’s will NOT stay static on the 5Ghz band, as the steering is designed to do what it does by default, and switches when it feels it needs to between 2.4 and 5.

I have done every conceivable thing as a workaround. Creating second ssid’s etc. to isolate the bands.

The default channel that the 5Ghz is using is 100.

You cannot shut off the band steering, period. You cannot change the band channels, PERIOD.

I do not have the need for distance being a problem. 5ghz all around is fine.

There is no provision to change the channel on the 5ghz band on the smart tv’s. Hence the problem.

Ok, I can set up another router as an access point, by connecting an Ethernet cable from the existing Calix to another router, then I can have normality using that device (as an access point) to serve my household devices. I can then adjust the 5ghz channel manually to suit my tv’s requirements.

I just want to have some suggestions on brand and model that is easiest and least expensive to connect to my Calix unit. It will be important to able to set the band channel manually, as the tv’s only operate on 36 to 48 or 149 to 165.

The prospective router doesn’t even have to be “new”, I see routers all the time at thrift shops (I recently got a PACE 5268ac WORKING gateway for 25 cents..), or ebay. So hopefully this query will be everything or more than you need to advise me. BTW, Neither the aforementioned PACE, nor another spare Xfinity Arris TG1682 router I have, will work. You cant disable DHCP in either of them. Neither has an AP mode,

And yes, the throughput mbps is about 5% slower on the 2.4 vs the 5, which is why I want the full power of the bandwidth I am paying for, on my TV’s.



Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[kanewolf]

Hi ! Hopefully I will get the answer(s) that will help me accomplish a networking need I have.

I have a Calix Gigaspire Blast GS4227 gateway, provided by my new fiber company. Service is great, pay for 100mbps, getting consistent 100-106.

The dilemma is this (I am retired with an IT background, not especially strong in routers though):

The unit employs Band Steering, which in itself is great, however my 3 smart TV’s will NOT stay static on the 5Ghz band, as the steering is designed to do what it does by default, and switches when it feels it needs to between 2.4 and 5.

I have done every conceivable thing as a workaround. Creating second ssid’s etc. to isolate the bands.

The default channel that the 5Ghz is using is 100.

You cannot shut off the band steering, period. You cannot change the band channels, PERIOD.

I do not have the need for distance being a problem. 5ghz all around is fine.

There is no provision to change the channel on the 5ghz band on the smart tv’s. Hence the problem.

Ok, I can set up another router as an access point, by connecting an Ethernet cable from the existing Calix to another router, then I can have normality using that device (as an access point) to serve my household devices. I can then adjust the 5ghz channel manually to suit my tv’s requirements.

I just want to have some suggestions on brand and model that is easiest and least expensive to connect to my Calix unit. It will be important to able to set the band channel manually, as the tv’s only operate on 36 to 48 or 149 to 165.

The prospective router doesn’t even have to be “new”, I see routers all the time at thrift shops (I recently got a PACE 5268ac WORKING gateway for 25 cents..), or ebay. So hopefully this query will be everything or more than you need to advise me. BTW, Neither the aforementioned PACE, nor another spare Xfinity Arris TG1682 router I have, will work. You cant disable DHCP in either of them. Neither has an AP mode,

And yes, the throughput mbps is about 5% slower on the 2.4 vs the 5, which is why I want the full power of the bandwidth I am paying for, on my TV’s.



Thanks in advance,

Steve

To answer your question, I would get a used Asus AC68U (I have one as my backup router). You can find them in white plastic if that improves the wife acceptance factor (WAF). Then I recommend running Merlin firmware -- https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/ There is a button in the GUI to toggle the mode from router to AP. Set the static IP on router BEFORE switching to AP mode for simpler management.
It it were me, I would spend $200 and get a Ubiquiti U6 Mesh -- https://store.ui.com/us/en/pro/category/all-wifi/products/u6-mesh DON'T be fooled by the name. The U6 Mesh is a full featured AP. It does NOT have to have wireless uplink. It is just POORLY NAMED. It is the size and shape of an Amazon Alexa so it "looks better" than a router with antennas sticking up all-over.
I have a complete UniFI network at my house that I upgraded from AC68U routers as access points.

 

[bill001g]

In some ways 2.4g is actually better to use for something like a tv. In general the signal goes farther and is slightly less affected by interfering signals. It will all depend on how fast a rate you can actually get. For something like a tv it should not need 100mbps. Maybe if it streams 4k netflix you might need 30mbps. A tv is a pretty simple device it is not downloading huge games off the internet and downloads are really the only thing you need a higher bandwidth rate for.

 

[flasteve57]

In some ways 2.4g is actually better to use for something like a tv. In general the signal goes farther and is slightly less affected by interfering signals. It will all depend on how fast a rate you can actually get. For something like a tv it should not need 100mbps. Maybe if it streams 4k netflix you might need 30mbps. A tv is a pretty simple device it is not downloading huge games off the internet and downloads are really the only thing you need a higher bandwidth rate for.

Thanks I appreciate all the info. Yeah I guess I should be satisfied the way the Band Steering works. I just was used to "complete" control over my previous router experiences with the units I had in the past for internet service. Just something to get used to. I don't agree with the lack of end user access to some things. But then again, this Gigaspire unit, although with no lease fee at all, belongs to the provider. So that is the trade-off. No need for me to obsess about a meager amount of bandwidth loss at the 2.4ghz band, like you already said, the tv doesn't even use a fraction of that in 4k mode much less what we view which is pretty much HD. I only use my pc when I do some a/v downloads. Thanks for saving me the unnecessary waste of money on a router (to use as an AP), that I do not need !

 

[failboat]

Thanks I appreciate all the info. Yeah I guess I should be satisfied the way the Band Steering works. I just was used to "complete" control over my previous router experiences with the units I had in the past for internet service. Just something to get used to. I don't agree with the lack of end user access to some things. But then again, this Gigaspire unit, although with no lease fee at all, belongs to the provider. So that is the trade-off. No need for me to obsess about a meager amount of bandwidth loss at the 2.4ghz band, like you already said, the tv doesn't even use a fraction of that in 4k mode much less what we view which is pretty much HD. I only use my pc when I do some a/v downloads. Thanks for saving me the unnecessary waste of money on a router (to use as an AP), that I do not need !

Just make sure anything old has the latest encryption and it's not pulling so much power it's worth replacing.

If you have some different usb wifi adapters you can test wifi in different rooms on different bands with iperf3 and the server running on a wired connection. I'm using 20hz on 2.4G and 40hz on 5G.

Newer stuff has a lot of nice features and the single panes to configure everything. i use unifi with band-steer, BSS, channel optimizers, different mimo combos, etc. the new LR AP is great.

 

[flasteve57]

Thank you all, much appreciated !!