[SOLVED] Recommended N dual-band router for 300Mbps connection

[kahnos]

Hello everyone,

I've been researching a bit and looking to buy a router that replaces the one the ISP provided, which is currently limiting the wi-fi connection speed. We're two persons, and our current plan is 120Mbps, limited to 50Mbps by the current router, although hopefully upgrading soon to 300Mbps. Our budget limit would be around 70$, but looking for best value/price relation.

We're only gonna be using wi-fi, and our devices mostly support standards a/b/g/n. We're also looking for dual-band support. Another nice feature would be the ability to setup a VPN inside it, but that seems like it would raise the price quite a bit.

From what I've read, AC is the way to go to future proof, but I don't see the point if the ISP can't offer more than 300Mbps, correct?

Do you have any recommendations on this? Any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[kanewolf]

Hello everyone,

I've been researching a bit and looking to buy a router that replaces the one the ISP provided, which is currently limiting the wi-fi connection speed. We're two persons, and our current plan is 120Mbps, limited to 50Mbps by the current router, although hopefully upgrading soon to 300Mbps. Our budget limit would be around 70$, but looking for best value/price relation.

We're only gonna be using wi-fi, and our devices mostly support standards a/b/g/n. We're also looking for dual-band support. Another nice feature would be the ability to setup a VPN inside it, but that seems like it would raise the price quite a bit.

From what I've read, AC is the way to go to future proof, but I don't see the point if the ISP can't offer more than 300Mbps, correct?

Do you have any recommendations on this? Any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

An AC router IS the way to go. To get 300Mbit throughput, you need an 800Mbit link rate. An AC1900 router is the sweetspot for price/performance.
An AC router will be fully compatible with all b/g/n devices also.
I would get a used Asus AC 1900 like an AC68U.

 

[kahnos]

An AC router IS the way to go. To get 300Mbit throughput, you need an 800Mbit link rate. An AC1900 router is the sweetspot for price/performance.
An AC router will be fully compatible with all b/g/n devices also.
I would get a used Asus AC 1900 like an AC68U.

Thank you! That actually sets me on the right path. Quick question though: Why go for an AC1900 if you mention we'd need 800Mbit link rate. Wouldn't that be overkill?

I've found some used TpLink AC 1350 and AC1750 on the local market for a fair price, would these cause some sort of bottleneck?

 

[bill001g]

You are going to be very lucky to get 300 even with the best router and wifi nic in your equipment unless you sit right on top of the router.

You have to learn the marketing lies being told with those numbers. 1350 is 450+900. They are adding the 2.4g radio speed to the 5g radio speed but the massive lie is a single device can only use one radio. They are pretending it is valid because 2 different devices could each use a radio. Next 900 is some magic number you can't possibly get in the real world. There is a lot of overhead in the transmission that prevents your end data from using it all. And on top of all that they are adding transmit speed to receive speed. This is like calling a 1gbit ethernet cable 2gbit.

So in real world installs using the 900 "speed" on the 5g band you might get 300mbps if you are lucky. There are many other factors...like your neighbors wifi...that can reduce this even farther.

If you need high speed connectivity use a ethernet connected device.

Note VPN is going to cap your router to about 20-30mbps because of the heavy cpu load it puts on the router.

 

[kahnos]

Understood. Thank you both very much.