[SOLVED] Suggestions on new router

[Powelldb1]

Afternoon, so looks like my sons router is dying. 5 g band keeps going in and out. It’s in his apartment at college and having someone check some things for me as we speak. And if need be I will drive there this weekend to change out.
It’s a Netgear Nighthawk R6700 that’s not even 2 years old yet. Dont need to break the bank on router but doing a lot of reading and it gets MIND BOGGLING
Any help suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gggplaya]

Does he have roomates? How fast is his internet plan?

I would get the Asus AX-56u and install merlin firmware on it. https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

Then enable QOS and use the CAKE algorithm.

 

[Powelldb1]

Has one roommate but they use separate routers. Best speed is 100mbs cable.
Had the company check everything on there side and it’s fine. He can’t hook start to modem due to no cat 5 on his laptop. But from everything so far looks like router.

 

[gggplaya]

100mb should be fine for the router I suggested.

 

[dwd999]

It might help to check what channel his router wifi is set to. Perhaps the router is fine but he and his roommate are trying to use the same wifi channel and they're conflicting. There's a free wifi analyzer in the windows store so he can check what channels are used by people other than him and move his router to the channel with the least traffic.

 

[dwd999]

Or perhaps this rj45 to usb adaptor would be less expensive:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Fold...633993154&sprefix=usb+to+rj45+,aps,208&sr=8-3

 

[Powelldb1]

It might help to check what channel his router wifi is set to. Perhaps the router is fine but he and his roommate are trying to use the same wifi channel and they're conflicting. There's a free wifi analyzer in the windows store so he can check what channels are used by people other than him and move his router to the channel with the least traffic.

Had someone check it for me and that’s the 1st thing that he did. No channel issues.

Im looking at Asus AX56U and TP Link 1800.
trying to decide.

 

[Powelldb1]

100mb should be fine for the router I suggested.

Just a quick question. Difference between Ax55 and Ax56u. Is it that much of a difference other than the price point. Really only about 10 bucks. Pulling the trigger on something in the morning. Thanks for the input.

 

[gggplaya]

Just a quick question. Difference between Ax55 and Ax56u. Is it that much of a difference other than the price point. Really only about 10 bucks. Pulling the trigger on something in the morning. Thanks for the input.

They have different processor chipsets in them. The AX56u uses a processor that's compatible with Merlin firmware. Merlin takes the published firmware from Asus which is based on OpenWRT, and he adds some additional openwrt libraries and customizations to it. His firmware is really good and it installs and updates just like the factory firmware updates from asus. Worth the $10 for the capability to install Merlin if you ever want to in the future.

I prefer Asus over TPlink. My oldest router I have deployed at my parent's house is an Asus AC68U which came out in 2013 and Asus still updates the firmware regularly with the latest security patches.

 

[Powelldb1]

They have different processor chipsets in them. The AX56u uses a processor that's compatible with Merlin firmware. Merlin takes the published firmware from Asus which is based on OpenWRT, and he adds some additional openwrt libraries and customizations to it. His firmware is really good and it installs and updates just like the factory firmware updates from asus. Worth the $10 for the capability to install Merlin if you ever want to in the future.

I prefer Asus over TPlink. My oldest router I have deployed at my parent's house is an Asus AC68U which came out in 2013 and Asus still updates the firmware regularly with the latest security patches.

Thanks for all the help and guidance. Just ordered the AX56U. Thanks again for the assist.

 

[Powelldb1]

Does he have roomates? How fast is his internet plan?

I would get the Asus AX-56u and install merlin firmware on it. https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

Then enable QOS and use the CAKE algorithm.

Would there be anything else to look at besides thsee.

 

[bill001g]

You could just replace it with a similar router to your current one.
The wifi6 routers you list are bottom line models. They only have 2x2 mimo and only run 80mhz. The key feature of wifi6 is 160mhz channels but routers that can do that cost much more.

Routers that have a 1800 number will only be marginally faster than wifi5(802.11ac). In some cases they will be slower. In your case if you have end devices that are wifi5 with 3x3 mimo your current router will be faster because the wifi6 router will drop to wifi5 using 2x2 mimo.

I guess it mostly depend on how many wifi6 device you have today. Wifi6 is already a obsolete technology but wifi6e devices are still quite expensive. This is hard to say what the best choice is all depends on what device you currently have and how long you feel it will be until you get newer devices that can use the newer technology.