Question Netgear R7800

[velocci]

Hi all, I noticed on the router ranker on smallnetbuilder.com that the Netgear R7800 beats a lot of other routers. But this router was released in 2016. Why is it better than most of routers if its 3 years old? Is that good or are the new routers these days not built as well?

 

[bill001g]

It is partially subjective since in the ranker they put value on certain software features.

Part of the reason it get high rates in the speedtesting results is that it uses a very high clock rate cpu. There are other routers that use this same processor but since they do not test every router you do not see those others. When they do test routers that have the same cpu/radio and run the same clock speeds the routers have very similar performance.

It all depends what features you value. Can you actually use 4x4 mimo or can you use the non standard 160mhz support some routers have. This makes comparing routers very hard.

For example I was looking for a router that could do fast VPN. They do not rate routers based on that. Even the fastest router will be lucky to get 40mbps using openvpn. There is one cpu that has a special vpn accelerator that lets you get over 200mbps. The most common router people buy is the asus86u. You will notice this router is not rated high in their ranks because they do not put a value on vpn performance.

You also have to be aware no site is completely unbias they are dependent on advertising from some of those companies. Smallnetbuilder is mostly fair but they still buy into the hype that you need the biggest number. Why hook a $300 router to a 5mbps dsl connection.

 

[velocci]

I'm looking for a router that can handle alot of wired and wireless devices and is fast with my wife's ipad Pro (uses 802.11ac) and her older ipad gen 4 (probably doesn't use 802.11ac). both can use either 2.4ghz or 5ghz band. I already started a thread on a recomendation for a router though. I was just wondering why this old netgear router is so good. Is there another similar site that compares new routers and ranks them based on certain criteria like this site does?

 

[bill001g]

That is the site I normally tell people to look at. It is the most "fair" site on network equipment you can find. They make a effort to have consistence between test environments unlike many site where the author is testing it in his house.

Any mid to high end router will have few issues support a large number of users. Problem is there is a massive difference between 100 people using web browsing on wifi and few users doing large download.

Mostly it is the wifi bandwidth that limits you before the router itself.

 

[velocci]

does the site update the ranking with new routers as they test them?

 

[kanewolf]

does the site update the ranking with new routers as they test them?

Unfortunately, smallnetbuilder.com has not done many active tests in about 6 months. The latest routers may never show up on that site unfortunately.

 

[velocci]

that's not a good sign.

 

[kanewolf]

that's not a good sign.

You gotta do what pays the bills. Unfortunately the revenue from that site was not enough.