Best router for multiple devices.

[Eric_P]

Hey folks!

Kinda new here and there's probably a MILLION threads on this, but I need advice on this subject. Currently I have the Netgear R6300 and it's paired to A LOT of things, and I mean A LOT.

I have my PS3 in the living room along with 2 laptops, and a Macintosh all connected via wifi.

On top of that, my father hooked up an ethernet cable to the router and connected it to a cheap Linksys router about 60 feet away from the house, into his garage, where he has it connected to 3 other PS3s.

They seem to be fine when playing Battlefield 3 since they are linked via ethernet, but me using wifi, I always disconnect when playing battlefield 3.

This is the second Netgear R6300 that we've had do this.

Any advice? I'm willing to spend any amount of money on a router that won't boot me in the middle of gameplay.

 

[bill001g]

Wireless disconnections are caused by many things almost all of which are some form of interference. It is unlikely the router itself is overload. Even when you run too many wireless devices to a router it is the interference between the devices all trying to use the radio bandwidth at the same time not because the router is too busy.

I suspect your problems are you are running a mix of G and N devices. The router will pretty much slow everything down to G anyway when you run this way.

With the router you have it is best to lock the 5g band to run N only unless you have all AC adapters then you can lock it to AC only.

On the 2.4 band it would be nice to lock it to N only but if you have even a single G device you are stuck. The best way to run is to lock it to G only. The problem with running mixed mode is if you only have N devices active it will run N mode but if a G device comes along it will attempt to switch to g and the back to N for the N devices. This tends to cause drops. Many people run a 2.4 router on G for the G devices and a second 2.4 router on a different channel for the N devices. I suspect when AC gets finalized end of next year people will be doing the same thing on the 5G band for N and AC.

It may not make any difference though. If the reason you are dropping is because you get random interference form the microwave oven or something you can't fix that. Most network things tolerate this but not games which is why it is always recommended to run cabled because you sometimes cannot fix the wireless.

 

[Eric_P]

Oh, that makes sense! Alright, so how would I lock the N mode? I know my MacBook pro runs on the 5 ghz band, I'm not so sure about my PS3 and other HP laptop.

I'm sorry if I'm asking too much!

And thanks man! I don't know the exact terms you were saying (lol) but it made sense.

 

[inzone]

If your Ps3 is near the router then why not run ethernet cable to it from the router ? Your Father connected an ethernet cable and ran it to the garage so it seems that he is pretty handy with running wires why not connect the Ps3 that way.

 

[Eric_P]

I did that and now it's stable. It's not as fast as I want it to be, but eh. The point of having the router was so I can have a solid wireless connection; I didn't want to connect via Ethernet.

I did some small research and noticed other people like me who have the same router experience the same problems. I updated firmware on the router, contacted customer support and they walked me through everything. Still, nothing worked. When I am connected, my connection is crazy fast, but then out of no where it disconnects and I have to reset the wifi.

Maybe I just need a better router, hm?