Router Reccomendations (and what features do I need?)

[subterminal303]

Howdy folks,

I've been having issues with the router that came with my internet service, so I'm looking to upgrade. The prices seem to range from affordable to expensive as hell, so I'm looking for some suggestions on what functionality I really need, and some overall recommendations.

My primary use is going to be gaming on a desktop via ethernet connection. We have a lot of wifi devices in the house, so I would like to prioritize my connection over everything else - especially a NAS we have (I'll get into that in a second).

Aside from that, we do internet browsing and Netflix streaming over wifi. My wife also has the NAS device which will sync with another remote one and upload gigs of photos at a time. And I know that lil' bastard times it to happen when I sit down and start a game. So being able to mitgate the lag this causes would be fantastic.

Anywho, tl;dr - mainly just hardwired gaming and your average browsing/streaming. No real home networking or need for flawless wifi. If anyone has suggestions on good routers to fit my need without the $300 pricetag of 'gaming' routers, I would appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

[das_stig]

Can't go wrong with one of the Asus AC brands, especially if using latest Merlin firmware that fixes a lot of glitches.

Netgear Nighthawk models are also very good.

Some of the routers come with 2 x 5ghz radios so you can balance out connections.

For a full on gaming router, the Nighthawk Pro has the NetDuma OS that is optimised for gaming.

 

[evongugg]

Old PC + Pfsense or Opnsense+ Network card.
Use old router for Wifi.
There is a learning curve.
You won't miss any options. Capable of powering an office.
You won't ever want to go back to a commercial router.

 

[subterminal303]

Can't go wrong with one of the Asus AC brands, especially if using latest Merlin firmware that fixes a lot of glitches.

Netgear Nighthawk models are also very good.

Some of the routers come with 2 x 5ghz radios so you can balance out connections.

For a full on gaming router, the Nighthawk Pro has the NetDuma OS that is optimised for gaming.

If I don't need fancy wifi (just gaming over hardwire), are there any cheaper routers with comparable ethernet features?

 

[subterminal303]

Old PC + Pfsense or Opnsense+ Network card.
Use old router for Wifi.
There is a learning curve.
You won't miss any options. Capable of powering an office.
You won't ever want to go back to a commercial router.

While that actually sounds pretty rad, I'm not sure I can justify the electricity and upkeep costs of running an old computer for such a task. Pretty sweet idea though

 

[failboat]

edge router x $50. If you have a lot of wired devices. a cheap 1Gbs switch will be needed. QoS only works for up to 100ish Mbs using hardware routers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-g2P3R84dw

unfi ap for wifi if you can't convert your current one to WAP. $80

 

[Solandri]

1. Watch your language.

2. Most routers have a QoS setting to prioritize traffic by MAC address. So you can give your gaming PC priority over anything else. Your gaming PC being wired makes this easier.

3. You should be able to deprioritize traffic from the NAS MAC address, so the upload of gigs of photos doesn't kill everything else. Some routers will even have a setting to cap the max bandwidth (to the Internet) a device uses. So that would be another option to deal with it. You can also prioritize based on destination IP, port, and to a limited extent the type of packet.

4. QoS requires you to set total upload and download bandwidth about 10%-15% lower than the bandwidth your ISP is giving you. So you will lose a little bit of your max speed. This extra overhead is needed to assure your bandwidth is never saturated. If it becomes saturated, a packet might be delayed by your ISP or your modem, thus rendering QoS ineffective because your router can no longer guarantee that high priority packets will be dealt with first. i.e. the router's QoS gave the packet highest priority, but it ends up being delayed by your modem or ISP - outside the router's control.

 

[kanewolf]

Good QOS isn't cheap. It requires CPU and RAM. Those are the things that make $300 router $300. If you have IOT devices or cameras consider setting up a dedicated SSID and WIFI source for them. That gets them onto their own WIFI bandwidth. If you still have any "G" devices they should be on a separate WIFI source. Move your handheld devices to 5Ghz. Don't stream to TVs or other stationary devices via WIFI get WIRED to them. Either an ethernet cable or MOCA or powerline. Don't use the NAS via WIFI.

 

[failboat]

$50 isn't expensive. the edgerouter X is blowing away the "gaming" routers on latency. only a small handful support fq_codel. You only have to reduce your bandwidth around 3-5%. Anymore and it's a pipe quality issue on the ISP side.

If you don't believe it fire up in ipfire or dd-wrt and try it. I didn't have luck with anything else until I tried it.
Cake, the faster version, is going to be the only QoS very soon.

https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/codel/wiki/

 

[subterminal303]

Thank you all. A lot of good info here for me. As tempting as PnP all-in-one routers are, I think I'll go with the ERX and AP setup.