[SOLVED] Looking for Router with QoS and how to deal with Roommates.

[Old Grumbler]

Its an old 1900 house with heavy duty construction and I'm trying to find a Xfinity friendly router with QoS or the equivalent. The internet is so unreliable here that its time to give some of the old man TV Watchers here a cap on data so they stop bottoming out the network speeds. What Rounter should I get?

I am about to lose my mind with the constant random internet stoppages while quarantined.

I am putting together a new wifi network in my local house. We have a couple roommates, many use netflix and phones.

Our network is garbage. When playing games the whole thing can be brought down by someone watching too much youtube, and its time to try to fix it.

I think the first step is a better router then the cheap 30$ netgear one. I bought a TRENDnet but it turns out to not have QoS or be Xfinity compatible and I will be returning it for something new. Right now I'm thinking I should get a QOS setup to just manually give everyone using it to stream a set amount but correct me if I'm wrong in that thought.

My Budget is around `100 dollars but I can be talked up higher. Some of the network stuff could be solved by ethernet cables, which I will look further into. The upstairs rooms, however, don't have an easy access to cabling.

Our current service is Xfinity

 

[USAFRet]

How many users?
How many devices?
How many wired vs WiFi?
What is the actual bandwidth coming into the house?

 

[Old Grumbler]

How many users?
How many devices?
How many wired vs WiFi?
What is the actual bandwidth coming into the house?

About 8 to 12 users. Mix of phones, computers, and netflix streaming sticks.
3 Wired TVs / Netflix Stixs.
Bandwidth seems to be about 50-100 mpbs, I live in a major city so thats about as fast as I'm getting.

I'm frustrated why the MPS keeps bottoming out, but just from testing running youtube on my computer can shut down discord on my phone using the network. It definitely seems to be based on use of streaming. could either be the really old router or interference or just a slow connection.

 

[USAFRet]

"Bandwidth seems to be about 50-100 mpbs "

What 'speed' do you pay the ISP for?
Are you checking this wired directly to the router?
What type of connection is this? Cable, fiber, wireless, something else...

 

[RamBoy_69]

Highly recommend this for over 8 users... https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Surfbo...&s=hi&sprefix=Arris+,tools,202&sr=1-3-catcorr

 

[Old Grumbler]

"Bandwidth seems to be about 50-100 mpbs "

What 'speed' do you pay the ISP for?
Are you checking this wired directly to the router?
What type of connection is this? Cable, fiber, wireless, something else...

Its wireless. That was me testing using wireles when my computer was the only device connected using my wireless router.

For physical connections, I assume I'd be using Ethernet cable.

Thanks Ram! I'll check it out. So set it up Wireless, with as many ethernet cables as possible as the rule of thumb?

Do you guys have any strong feelings about using hub boosters?

 

[USAFRet]

Testing your overall connection via WiFi does not count. Especially in an old house.
You need to start from a known good baseline...testing from a PC wired directly to the router.

How large is this house?
How many floors?
Where is the main router/WiFI source?

 

[Old Grumbler]

Testing your overall connection via WiFi does not count. Especially in an old house.
You need to start from a known good baseline...testing from a PC wired directly to the router.

How large is this house?
How many floors?
Where is the main router/WiFI source?

Just tested and it says 78 mbps.
Its a two story townhouse. Imagine a big thin square. Router is downstairs in the front of the house near stairs. Average sized rooms arranged in a 3x2 grid on both stories.

 

[bill001g]

I am somewhat confused with your Xfinity compatible statement.

I will assume you have a modem and a router. A modem is kinda expensive and it drives up the cost if you buy a modem/router combo box. That makes me think the netgear router you paid $30 for does not have a modem.

BUT if that is true you should have been able to use the tenda router in place of the netgear. Tenda are "value" routers that have few features but they should work with any modem that you have connected to the xfinity cable.

Mostly the problem is if you need a modem/router box rather than just a router you choices are going to be very limited and the price will likely be much higher than than you $100 limit.