Best router under 200$

[daveeede]

My old N150 Linksys is dying out and I need to upgrade to something fresh and reliable. I have AC-compatible devices and will be adding more. Thousands of dollars have been spent on devices in my house so a 200$ router to power them is no longer out of the question. Soon my fridge will probably rely on the router as well. Who knows.

I'm looking at the Netgear R7000 and the Linksys WRT1900AC (I can get it for 200$). The Netgear has better reviews online but the Linksys has all the hype and is a brand I have always trusted. My knowledge in networking is decent enough, but with all the stories of unreliable routers and bad firmwares I have no clue what to buy anymore.

I want something reliable first and foremost. What would you buy if you were in my shoes and why?

Thanks in advance

David

 

[bill001g]

My primary selection criteria is that it can run as many third party firmware as possible but that may not be your concern. Generally broadcom chipset have wider support that marvel but marvel is providing much better support than it has in the past of third party firmware.

I have a huge bias against anything that says linksys on it. When it used to be cisco they decided to jump on the "cloud" bandwagon and built product that REQUIRED you to configure it via their web site. I never was a fan of letting other people see my configuration much less be dependent on a web site that may go away....or be sold. They quickly changed this but I have never even looked at the descriptions of a linksys product since. Now that cisco sold them to belkin I don't know if that increases the quality of belkin or decreases the quality of linksys.

If you are chasing the best of the best you may want to wait bit to get 802.11ac. There is a new standard that is suppose to be finalized in a few months that is suppose to increase some features...mainly the ability to use 8 channels...ie all of them that are not radar dependent. Still how much increase in usable speed you can get is up to debate. Seems the amount of difference you get in a lab than a house also goes up more each release.

In general unless you are transferring large amounts of data inside your house or you are one of the lucky ones who can get the 1g google fiber links it likely does not matter a lot. Even very inexpensive 802.11ac routers like the archer c7 are getting good reviews.

Most the new features routers are yelling about are things like being able to use your router as a bit torrent client. Since when is that a network feature. I guess when routers have very little difference in performance they have to find something to be different. Whats next it heat my coffee.

 

[digitaldoc]

I would vote for the Netgear R7000.

 

[daveeede]

My primary selection criteria is that it can run as many third party firmware as possible but that may not be your concern. Generally broadcom chipset have wider support that marvel but marvel is providing much better support than it has in the past of third party firmware.

I have a huge bias against anything that says linksys on it. When it used to be cisco they decided to jump on the "cloud" bandwagon and built product that REQUIRED you to configure it via their web site. I never was a fan of letting other people see my configuration much less be dependent on a web site that may go away....or be sold. They quickly changed this but I have never even looked at the descriptions of a linksys product since. Now that cisco sold them to belkin I don't know if that increases the quality of belkin or decreases the quality of linksys.

If you are chasing the best of the best you may want to wait bit to get 802.11ac. There is a new standard that is suppose to be finalized in a few months that is suppose to increase some features...mainly the ability to use 8 channels...ie all of them that are not radar dependent. Still how much increase in usable speed you can get is up to debate. Seems the amount of difference you get in a lab than a house also goes up more each release.

In general unless you are transferring large amounts of data inside your house or you are one of the lucky ones who can get the 1g google fiber links it likely does not matter a lot. Even very inexpensive 802.11ac routers like the archer c7 are getting good reviews.

Most the new features routers are yelling about are things like being able to use your router as a bit torrent client. Since when is that a network feature. I guess when routers have very little difference in performance they have to find something to be different. Whats next it heat my coffee.

Thanks for the response. My internet connection is 30/10. Nothing over the top here. I do tend to transfer large files over wifi and I do a ton of streaming. I find reviews online are all over the place. I can probably get away with buying an inexpensive ac router but I like to be a step ahead on most things. After all I don't expect to change the router again very soon. My N150 lasted 5+ years but my patience with it has run thin.

I have made my decision based on the value offered by the two routers. Either of them is probably already overkill so waiting for a couple more Mbps probably won't make much of a difference. I ordered the Linksys this afternoon (I felt 200$ was a good price).

I will post back once I have set it up. From what I have read it gets quite toasty. It will hopefully keep my coffee warm.

 

[daveeede]

I would vote for the Netgear R7000.

I have gone for the Linksys but if ever it doesn't work out the Netgear is certainly my next choice.

 

[digitaldoc]

Good luck with the Linksys. I have had a few of their routers through the years and been satisfied. My most recent was the EA4500.