College Home Router

[tcdillman]

I'm looking for a router/networking system that will function well under a heavy load. There will be 5-6 of us in a house while in college with an array of Xbox consoles (3-4 One S consoles that support 5 gHz, 2 normal One consoles that support 2.4 gHz, maybe a few Xbox 360 consoles), Playstation consoles (2 normal consoles that support 2.4 gHz, I plan on purchasing a PS4 Pro soon which supports 5 gHz), 5-6 laptops, a desktop PC (wired), at least one chromecast, 5-6 smart phones, 1-2 tablets, a printer, and 2-3 smart TVs. We will be playing a lot of video games together along with streaming Netflix and other content, and doing schoolwork. Obviously we won't be using all of the devices at once, but we will all be playing Xbox together at times and there will be times when multiple people will be streaming and others gaming. If we need to, some of our devices can be connected via ethernet. Our budget is around $250 since we are splitting the cost. I have been looking into tri-band routers that will provide additional channels for our 5 gHz devices but each router I have looked at has its drawbacks. I just want to find the best way of handling this large load. Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[hang-the-9]

Best setup would be to have as many devices as you can wired on network cable vs wireless. A lot less interference.

Take a look at this router https://www.amazon.com/Dual-band-AiProtection-Accelerator-Compatible-RT-AC88U/dp/B00S9SGNNS/ref=pd_sbs_147_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B016EWKQAQ&pd_rd_r=D2FE3GWH1449RGDT6AZ5&pd_rd_w=kqZoc&pd_rd_wg=5dNTV&refRID=D2FE3GWH1449RGDT6AZ5&th=1

Every router I have seen has a bunch of low reviews due to issues, I would not go totally by those, but do keep an eye out for reviews of router that is in use for a week vs a month+.

I have had maybe 4 routers of various brands, last two were ASUS. Only one of my first routers I had to replace due to failure and it was about 5 years old when that happened. My current router is an ASUS with N speeds and is working fine, maybe needed a reboot 4 times in the couple of years I had it.

 

[failboat]

unifi access point paired with nearly any router (not a wifi one with save you $).

People will still have to watch their downloads. If any one device pulls all your bandwidth you will lag.

QoS can help, but it's not a sure thing to get setup. An edgerouter X can run fq_codel. it's a good one either way even if QoS doesn't work out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quAaZKBHvs8

From their patchnotes
ERLite-3 and ERPoe-5: below 60 Mbps most likely will work, above 200 Mbps most likely will not work.
ER-8: below 160 Mbps most likely will work, above 450 Mbps most likely will not work.
ERPro-8: below 200 Mbps most likely will work, above 550 Mbps most likely will not work.
ER-X and ER-X-SFP: below 100 Mbps most likely will work, above 250 Mbps most likely will not work.