[SOLVED] Which router should I get

[Haezer]

Hello,

I'm not much of a network guy, but recently I've been having issues with wi-fi stability about which my ISP is not bothered by. Also some packet loss problems, but apparently they're doing some upgrading or maintenance...

So basically I've been wanting to get a third party router to my ISP's modem. I'm living in a 30m2 apartment with rather thick concrete walls with rebar reinforcement. PC's on an Ethernet cable. Other stuff like iPad's, speakers etc. all on wifi. Internet speed is about 950 Mbps down and 50Mbps up.

I'm not sure what other info would you need so ask away, but I was looking at Netgear, cause I'm under an impression that their products are pretty top notch, but I might be wrong though.

Also I live in Europe.

 

[kanewolf]

Hello,

I'm not much of a network guy, but recently I've been having issues with wi-fi stability about which my ISP is not bothered by. Also some packet loss problems, but apparently they're doing some upgrading or maintenance...

So basically I've been wanting to get a third party router to my ISP's modem. I'm living in a 30m2 apartment with rather thick concrete walls with rebar reinforcement. PC's on an Ethernet cable. Other stuff like iPad's, speakers etc. all on wifi. Internet speed is about 950 Mbps down and 50Mbps up.

I'm not sure what other info would you need so ask away, but I was looking at Netgear, cause I'm under an impression that their products are pretty top notch, but I might be wrong though.

Also I live in Europe.

No router will provide WIFI reliably through concrete walls. Your PC has ethernet connectivity. Do you have other ethernet cabling?

 

[Haezer]

No router will provide WIFI reliably through concrete walls. Your PC has ethernet connectivity. Do you have other ethernet cabling?

Thing is that even in direct vicinity of the router the wifi seems to be malfunctioning. Not sure, but it might have something to do with switching between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? There's something called Smart Wifi too; it's an Arris router, not sure what model, cause my ISP hasbtheir own way of calling it.

Smart TV is connected via Ethernet and so is my Panasonic VOIP phone. Also unused ethernet socket.

 

[bill001g]

Netgear is likely as good as any other major brand for wifi performance I doubt any brand is significantly better.

Netgear like almost every router vendor does not actually make the wifi chips. They pretty much all buy them from the same 2 or 3 large wifi chipset vendor. Devices that use the same wifi chips generally perform almost identical as far as wifi goes. Arris buys the same chips as the other vendors. There might be some difference
between all many different sub-models of wifi chipset but this tends to be very hard to figure out. In general most devices from major manufactues that have the same "number" on the box are about the same. Most difference are related to software features and user support more than wifi performance.

Now the particular arris unit you have may have some kind of defect, it is uncommon but you do see the radio chips fail sometimes. It would be highly unlikely both the 5g and 2.4g radio chips fail at the same time. I would try forcing your equipment to run on each and see if both have the same issues. The 5g channel will have much more issues getting through the concrete wall but should work well near the router in the same room.

If you do feel you need a new router just be careful to not get fooled by the marketing guys. Your end equipment is 1/2 the connection. Does no good to buy some fancy router that can do 4x4 mimo etc etc when your end device does not have the feature. Most end devices only have 2 antenna and only support the standard data encoding methods. Some routers use non standard ones to get bigger numbers on the box even though few device can actually use it. Your most common user device is the same as a router that has a 1200 number on it. You need to verify that your end device can use a better router or you are just wasting your money. This is even more true about wifi6 stuff. Most end devices do not support wifi6 and a huge number only support 80mhz radio channels which is why most wifi6 stuff is not that much better than 802.11ac (ie wifi5)

 

[Haezer]

I'm finally home. My router is an Arris TG3492LG-LC.

I feel like getting a separate router of my own might help with my issues - What router would you suggest? Which Netgear would be okay? Or are Netgear overkill?

 

[bill001g]

So what exactly do you think would be better if you were to buy a netgear.

That arris box is fairly new and supports many of the highest end wifi encoding rates. It likely already supports feature most of your end device do not, like 4x4 mimo.

Just looking at wifi performance you will not find much difference if you were to buy a netgear device, and you would have to buy a fairly high end one to match the abilities of your current arris box.

The fcc site is being stubborn today but I am fairly sure that the arris box uses the same wifi chips as many popular routers and transmits at the same maximum allowed power.

The only real reason you buy seperate router and modem is if you need advanced software features in the router. The combo boxes tend to be rather simple so if you would need say VPN or maybe some fancy parental filter controls you would need a different router. Also many times the modem part is fine but you want to upgrade the wifi in the future but don't want to pay the cost of a unit with a modem it it again. In your case unless you buy wifi6e there is not going to be a different wifi technology to upgrade to since the arris box is already using pretty much the most advanced one you can get.

 

[Haezer]

Okay, you convinced me.
I will try disabling this whole Smart WIFI thing it has and separate 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks so there's no automatic switching between them. Hopefully that helps.

 

[bill001g]

You can also try the standard things you try on wifi. Try other radio channels but be aware the router is not actually using just 1 it is using groups of them. This is related to the channel width setting of 20,40,80 mhz. Using more channels increases the speed but also increases the chance for interference.
You can try forcing it to lower channel width which will reduce the speed but may improve the stability. This is all trial and error. You never really know which radio frequiencies pass though the walls the best and you also don't really know how many neighbors signals can also get through the walls and interfere.

 

[gggplaya]

The Virgin Media branded version of your ISP modem/router is listed as having the infamous Intel Puma Chipset. Likely your LC version does too.

Read this: https://approvedmodemlist.com/intel-puma-6-modem-list-chipset-defects/

This chipset is infamously known for latency spikes. The defect is believed to be on the silicon design level. The only fix is to replace the modem with something else that doesn't have the Intel Puma chipset.

 

[Haezer]

Would this mean that poor performance will carry over to my new reouter connected via bridge?

 

[gggplaya]

Would this mean that poor performance will carry over to my new reouter connected via bridge?

Yes the problem will carry over, I would ask the ISP if they have a different modem or modem/router without the Intel Puma Chipset. Or if you can buy and use your own modem.

This is a well known problem to avoid the Intel Puma Chipset at all costs.