What are the best routers

[NonoZomb1e]

So I am curious what the best routers for overall gaming, security, and fast speeds. My dad told me to do research about finding a router, he said that he has heard good things about the nighthawk series. So I wonder what your guys opinions are so I can figure this out. Also one that has really good wireless speeds. 

[Radium_Angel]

7 minutes ago, NonoZomb1e said:

So I am curious what the best routers for overall gaming, security, and fast speeds. My dad told me to do research about finding a router, he said that he has heard good things about the nighthawk series. So I wonder what your guys opinions are so I can figure this out. Also one that has really good wireless speeds. 

In my professional experience, home routers blow goats. The firmwares are primitive, lacking features and security.

What you want (if you are brave enough) is to buy a DD-WRT or Tomato compatible router, and flash either one of those two onto the router, and use that instead.

[Ja Krispie]

6 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

In my professional experience, home routers blow goats. The firmwares are primitive, lacking features and security.

What you want (if you are brave enough) is to buy a DD-WRT or Tomato compatible router, and flash either one of those two onto the router, and use that instead.

You can find routers on ebay that have already been flashed with DDWRT or Tomato. I personally prefer DDWRT but I also have no experience with Tomato

[Oshino Shinobu]

Depends what you actually want. 

 

When you say router, you're probably taking about a consumer one that is actually a mix of multiple devices, such as a modem, switch and access point. Generally, none of these are better for performance or security when compared to dedicated devices. 

 

I personally use a Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway for the router/firewall and use UniFi AC AP Lite for access points (wireless). I can personally vouch for them, they're been very good so far. I've used the AC AP Pro version of the access points for some business installations as well. 

[moriel5]

Depending on how heavy your use case may be, you could get a Xiaomi Mi 3G (it's better than the Mi 4 series) router, or another option, that I really like, is to get a generic MT7621AT router from AliExpress (slightly more expensive) with M.2 slots instead of built-in WiFi, and populate both with 2 x Intel WiFi 6 AX200.

In either case, you need to flash OpenWrt for proper utilization.

 

Specs:

 Xiaomi Mi 3G

  Mediatek MT7621AT CPU

   Dual-core, quad-thread; 880Mhz; MIPS32

 256MB DDR3

 128MB NAND

 Mediatek MT7603EN

  2.4Ghz B/G/N; 2x2 MIMO; Up to 300Mbt/s

 Mediatek MT7612EN

  5Ghz A/N/AC; 2x2 MIMO; Up to 866Mbt/s

  4xnonremovable 6dBi antennaes

 1xWAN, 2xLANs

  MT7621A; 1Gbt/s

 1xUSB3

 

Generic MT7621AT Router

 Mediatek MT7621AT CPU

  (Same as above)

 Up to 512MB DDR3

 Up to 512MB(?) NAND +(?) Up to 16MB(?) SPI

 2xIntel WiFi AX200 (in M.2 slots)

  2.4Ghz B/G/N/AX; 2x2x2 MultiMIMO; Up to 300Mbt/s (N)/600Mbt/s (AX)

  5Ghz A/N/AC/AX; 2x2x2 MultiMIMO; Up to 1.73Gbt/s (AC)/2.4Gbt/s (AX)

  2xBT5.0

 1x mPCIe/M.2(?) for cellular modem card (up to 4G), with accompanying miniSIM slot (maybe microSIM?)

 4-6 removable 5dBi antennaes (can be replaced with TP-Link 6dBi antennaes, at least for WiFi, cellular will need different antennaes)

 1xWAN, 4xLAN

  (Same as above)

 1xUSB3, 1xUSB2

 1xmicroSD slot

 

If you need something better, I recommend you to take a look at Asus's RT-AC58U (similar to the Xiaomi Mi3G, but with a Qualcomm IPQ4018, which has better performance due to quad-core and better drivers (plus no need for proprietary drivers), as well as 4 LANs, and flash OpenWrt on it (though Asus's stock offering is already pretty good), or their RT-AX58U (for WiFi 6/Wireless-AX), and wait for OpenWrt (Asus's stock offering is worth using in the meantime).

[BuckGup]

I have been using a Ubiquiti AP for the past year or two and it has performed pretty well. Even in a college dorm with cement walls and 35+ other networks congesting the waves. Other than that trusty WRT-54G with DDWRT, but that's too old for todays world

[jake9000]

The newer consumer routers are actually pretty decent. I would absolutely accept derogatory comments about them if it were 2008 again but here we are. 

Netgear NIghthawk, tplink archer, and the ASUS ac3200 are all solid. 

 

I actually ran Tomato on my Asus n66u for a few years until gigabit fiber came to my area... needed the factory firmware to get full speeds. I had that router for 6 years and only replaced it because I wanted ac. It never needed reboots and speeds were excellent. I have the AC66u now and like it quite a bit. 

[moriel5]

2 hours ago, jake9000 said:

The newer consumer routers are actually pretty decent. I would absolutely accept derogatory comments about them if it were 2008 again but here we are. 

Netgear NIghthawk, tplink archer, and the ASUS ac3200 are all solid. 

 

I actually ran Tomato on my Asus n66u for a few years until gigabit fiber came to my area... needed the factory firmware to get full speeds. I had that router for 6 years and only replaced it because I wanted ac. It never needed reboots and speeds were excellent. I have the AC66u now and like it quite a bit. 

The RT-N66U/N66W/N66R (They are all the same model) actually seems nice. It's just too bad that it uses Broadcom hardware, and thus development is limited by the closed-source drivers (there are open-source drivers, and it is officially supported by OpenWrt, however there are limitations that the closed-source drivers get around by breaking things such as QoS).

 

By the way, the N66U manages to get slightly above 700Mbt/s from either WAN to LAN or vice versa, and ~800Mbt/s in total on the kernel 3.x (if Broadcom/Avago worked with the community, instead of against, this would have been at least 4.4.x) DD-Wrt builds, and you could solder to it 256MB of RAM instead of 32/64/128MB (whatever you currently have.

However, I still think that the AC-58U will outperform it, since Qualcomm actually contributes to the community, and thus OpenWrt on the AC58U will work more reliably than DD-Wrt or Tomato (or stock) on the N66U, merely by virtue of newer drivers on newer kernel versions (the AC58U is currently on kernel 4.19 on OpenWrt).

 

The AC3200 is more interesting right now, due to it's FreshTomato support (and to my surprise, the Broadcom-based Xiaomi Mi Pro is also supported by FreshTomato, so that is also a viable option for many now), but yikes, it uses kernel 2.6, that's ancient, so I really hope that the guys behind FreshTomato have managed to keep performance competitive.

 

And it appears that the AX-58U is only dual-core, so it is not competitive here.

 

The Netgear RAX120 (Nighthawk RX12) is looking extremely good, however that is extremely high end (plus no support yet by OpenWrt, however I'm confident that stock should be just fine in this case).

 

[minibois]

I have personally had good experiences with AVM (Fritz) routers. Their WiFi is not impressive, but their other features are pretty plentiful.

[moriel5]

3 minutes ago, Minibois said:

I have personally had good experiences with AVM (Fritz) routers. Their WiFi is not impressive, but their other features are pretty plentiful.

The reason for the WiFi not being impressive is due to Lantiq's WiFi performance not being stellar, which is surprising considering Intel's great WiFi performance under Linux (Lantiq was bought by Intel some years back).

 

However things may be different with WiFi 6/Wireless-AX, due to how Intel is pushing so hard towards it.

[PowerBaller]

Firmware wise and overall reliability.

Asus: Ac2900, even better than their own AC3100 and AC5300. Investing in a AX router is not cost efficient unless you have more than 20 devices active at most of the times. If your place has a media panel (where in wall Ethernet cables hub together there and connect to various room), most asus AC routers can build the AImesh network despite the model difference, with a stable wire backhaul

 

Linksys: WRT3200, linux support

 

ubiquiti wirerouter (with POE) and AP: ideal for multi stories structures that may need surveillance cams.  The POE connection eliminate the need for addition power line wiring.  

[moriel5]

On 7/28/2019 at 9:40 AM, PowerBaller said:

Firmware wise and overall reliability.

Asus: Ac2900, even better than their own AC3100 and AC5300. Investing in a AX router is not cost efficient unless you have more than 20 devices active at most of the times. If your place has a media panel (where in wall Ethernet cables hub together there and connect to various room), most asus AC routers can build the AImesh network despite the model difference, with a stable wire backhaul

 

Linksys: WRT3200, linux support

 

ubiquiti wirerouter (with POE) and AP: ideal for multi stories structures that may need surveillance cams.  The POE connection eliminate the need for addition power line wiring.  

You are correct about AX, which is why, despite me leaning towards it (it unfortunately helps that most high end AC routers are Broadcom-based), it is not my first choice (the RT-AX58U is only a dual-core, however a quad-core is preferable).

Currently, I am mainly focused on finding for the OP a router with either a Broadcom or Qualcomm chipset (preferably not Broadcom), or, in the case of AX, also Lantiq, with a quad-core processor, at least 128MB (preferably at least 256MB) of DDR3 RAM (if someone more knowledgeable can enlighten me on whether DDR2 is also alright, I'll be very grateful), and at least 64MB of NAND (preferably at least 128MB), while also providing at least 1.73Gbt/s (if 2x2) or 1.3Gbt/s (if 3x3) MultiMIMO, and at least Gigabit ethernet ports.

 

Afterwards we need to see whether the OPs computer is up to scratch for this (if via WiFi, at least 1.73Gbt/s 2x2 or 1.3Gbt/s 3x3 MultiMIMO (and it must not be Realtek), if via LAN, at least 1Gbt/s by any manufacturer other than Realtek).

[RejZoR]

If it's listed here, it's already among the best:

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

 

I've had few routers and ASUS has by far the best ones for me at least. And Merlin keeping them updated round the clock for years as well as adding new cool features not found in official ones. I personally wouldn't bother with DD-WRT supported ones coz that firmware is very much outdated, slow developing and if you'll use more recent daily builds they are notorious in bricking things. Ain' touching that thing anytime soon. Besides, ASUS's QoS works really well and I need that in multi-computer network.

[moriel5]

3 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

If it's listed here, it's already among the best:

https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

 

I've had few routers and ASUS has by far the best ones for me at least. And Merlin keeping them updated round the clock for years as well as adding new cool features not found in official ones. I personally wouldn't bother with DD-WRT supported ones coz that firmware is very much outdated, slow developing and if you'll use more recent daily builds they are notorious in bricking things. Ain' touching that thing anytime soon. Besides, ASUS's QoS works really well and I need that in multi-computer network.

If they manage to get performance in lieu with competitors on open-source drivers on properly updated kernels, I am impressed.

As it is, DD-Wrt appears to be more up to date in that regard (though still woefully outdated) than AsusWrt-Merlin (kernel 2.6).

The only reason why OpenWrt uses kernel 4.19 instead of 5.2, is because they use LTS kernels.

[moriel5]

1 hour ago, PowerBaller said:

Firmware wise and overall reliability.

Asus: Ac2900, even better than their own AC3100 and AC5300. Investing in a AX router is not cost efficient unless you have more than 20 devices active at most of the times. If your place has a media panel (where in wall Ethernet cables hub together there and connect to various room), most asus AC routers can build the AImesh network despite the model difference, with a stable wire backhaul

 

Linksys: WRT3200, linux support

 

ubiquiti wirerouter (with POE) and AP: ideal for multi stories structures that may need surveillance cams.  The POE connection eliminate the need for addition power line wiring.  

I had just checked, and the GT-AC2900/RT-86U/RT-68U Extreme (yes, these are all the same exact device) has a dual core 1.8Ghz Broadcom SoC (BCM4906), so I understand from that that dual-core is enough?

If so, the Linksys WRT3200ACM you had mentioned is much more compelling, since it has an Marvell SoC (also 1.8Ghz dual-core) and is officially supported by OpenWrt (plus has more storage, more RAM, more ethernet ports, 4x4 MultiMIMO with 160Mhz bandwidth support, an additional antennae for managing the networking (and supporting Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC), etc.).

 

Craziest part, from what I am reading, the Linksys WRT32x shares the same SoC, but is inferior as to most of the specs, while being more expensive than the WRT3200ACM.

 

@NonoZomb1e I am convinced that the Linksys WRT3200ACM is the best router you can get, especially since you can get it at 200$ from Linksys themselves, and perhaps cheaper from Amazon (I don't live in the US, so I'll have to check). You should thank @PowerBaller for the recommendation.

 

Now the question is, is it in your budget? And does your budget also cover the networking equipment you will use from your PC (will you use wired or wireless? What networking options do you already have on your PC? etc.)?

 

Neat, the Linksys routers have a dual firmware function. No need to worry about bricking the router.

The antennaes are detachable, awesome.

 

Funnily, on Amazon it's more expensive, however I found some (open box) on eBay selling for around 150$, or used for ~100-120$.

 

And here is a new, unopened one for 170$: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Linksys-WRT3200ACM-Dual-Band-Wi-fi-Router-Brand-New-In-Box/233297727910?epid=6026728230&hash=item3651a0d1a6:g:JBoAAOSwMsZdO4Y3

 

Now this is interesting, it turns out that Marvell had bought Aquantia about two months ago, so I am hoping that Linksys's next WRT router will incorporate some of Aquantia's tech. 5 or 10 Gbt/s ethernet anyone?

[PowerBaller]

AC68U is AC1900 standard. Its 2.4 Ghz band's is up to 600Mbps and 1300Mbps on the 5.0 Ghz band. 

 

While both AC86U and GT-AC2900 is AC2900 standard. The 2.4 Ghz band is however up to 750 Mbps and 5.0 Ghz band at 2167 Mbps, thanks to the additional internal antenna 

 

AC86U has a better processor, and the capacity of both the ram and the flash are double as ac68U. And most importantly, MU-Mimo (while AC68U only has Mimo ). These spec advantage greatly differentiate the performance while you have a lot of device connects at the same time. (i.e, you have a lot of files to sync at onedrive or google drive, while your wife / sisters / daughters are facetiming, and your brother is playing minecraft / netfilxing) .

 

GT-2900 is the ROG variant of GT-AC2900.

 

As for pricing. camelcamelcamle.com is a site you can track the price history of a specific item on amazon.com(or .ca). In Canada, the AC86U is CA$ 144 at blackfriday.   

[moriel5]

1 hour ago, PowerBaller said:

AC68U is AC1900 standard. Its 2.4 Ghz band's is up to 600Mbps and 1300Mbps on the 5.0 Ghz band. 

 

While both AC86U and GT-AC2900 is AC2900 standard. The 2.4 Ghz band is however up to 750 Mbps and 5.0 Ghz band at 2167 Mbps, thanks to the additional internal antenna 

 

AC86U has a better processor, and the capacity of both the ram and the flash are double as ac68U. And most importantly, MU-Mimo (while AC68U only has Mimo ). These spec advantage greatly differentiate the performance while you have a lot of device connects at the same time. (i.e, you have a lot of files to sync at onedrive or google drive, while your wife / sisters / daughters are facetiming, and your brother is playing minecraft / netfilxing) .

 

GT-2900 is the ROG variant of GT-AC2900.

 

As for pricing. camelcamelcamle.com is a site you can track the price history of a specific item on amazon.com(or .ca). In Canada, the AC86U is CA$ 144 at blackfriday.   

Interesting, WikiDevi lists them as being internally the same.

Wait, that's not what I had posted earlier.

 

I said that the RT-AC68 Extreme is the same as the RT-AC86U and the GT-AC2900.

My only mistake is with the GT-AC2900, it is the RT-AC2900.

 

 

From WikiDevi:

 

 

"According to the Model Names Confirmation Letter at the FCC:

Model No:

• ASUS RT-AC86U (RT-AC86A/RT-AC86P/RT-AC86R/RT-AC86X)
• ASUS RT-AC68U Extreme, ASUS RT-AC2900 (ASUS AC2900)

are identical in electrical, mechanical and physical design

The difference between these models is only for marketing purpose"

[mynameisjuan]

Nothing in this thread can beat a Mikrotik hAP Ac2.

 

$60, can route 2gigs, run almost any l2/3 protocol you want, monthly updates....One of the most versitile and powerful routers in it's class.

 

If you want to shell out more, get the RB4011 with 10gig.

 

All routers mentioned above all perform about the same wirelessly but suffer with security updates and performances issues.

 

Mikrotik is a Prosumer/Enterprise brand

[moriel5]

15 hours ago, mynameisjuan said:

Nothing in this thread can beat a Mikrotik hAP Ac2.

 

$60, can route 2gigs, run almost any l2/3 protocol you want, monthly updates....One of the most versitile and powerful routers in it's class.

 

If you want to shell out more, get the RB4011 with 10gig.

 

All routers mentioned above all perform about the same wirelessly but suffer with security updates and performances issues.

 

Mikrotik is a Prosumer/Enterprise brand

It looks pretty good, however for the price, I think a generic (yes, those exist) MT7621AT with 2xIntel AX200 from AliExpress will outperform the hAP AC² (no PoE, though), despite the AC² having the same SoC as Google's OnHubs (by the way, I just found out that NetDuma's upcoming R2 (checked the FCC docs and WikiDevi) is also going to be based upon the MT7621AT, and have the same specs, bar the amount of ethernet ports, and perhaps also storage) as the Xiaomi Mi 3G (which so far is their best lowcost router).

Edit: The NetDuma R2 will have a 4R4T WiFi chip, the same as the Mediatek-based Mi Router Pro (there are three at this point, Broadcom-based, Qualcomm-based, and now Mediatek-based).

[steelo]

On 7/27/2019 at 9:37 PM, NonoZomb1e said:

So I am curious what the best routers for overall gaming, security, and fast speeds. My dad told me to do research about finding a router, he said that he has heard good things about the nighthawk series. So I wonder what your guys opinions are so I can figure this out. Also one that has really good wireless speeds. 

I have a Nighthawk R7000 and it's been a fairly decent home router. It seems to work great with powerline adapters, but wish the GUI was friendlier and had more options.

[moriel5]

39 minutes ago, steelo said:

I have a Nighthawk R7000 and it's been a fairly decent home router. It seems to work great with powerline adapters, but wish the GUI was friendlier and had more options.

Then try OpenWrt, the Material theme for LuCi is very friendly, and OpenWrt in general has way more options than stock.

By the way, I saw on the NetDuma forums that the R9000 on OpenWrt completely defeats the XR700 on it's stock DumaOS firmware, despite them sharing the same internals,

[RMerlin]

On 7/28/2019 at 3:05 AM, moriel5 said:

As it is, DD-Wrt appears to be more up to date in that regard (though still woefully outdated) than AsusWrt-Merlin (kernel 2.6).

The kernel is SDK-specific.  So, newer models like the RT-AX88U which are based on Broadcom's newer HND SDK are running kernel 4.1.27 (4.1.51 for the RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U).  The 2.6.36 models are old SDK 6.37 and 7.14 devices, like the RT-AC68U or RT-AC88U.

 

Only Broadcom can upgrade the kernel used by their SDKs (and in turn ODMs then have to switch to the newer SDK).

 

[LogicalDrm]

12 hours ago, RMerlin said:

The kernel is SDK-specific.  So, newer models like the RT-AX88U which are based on Broadcom's newer HND SDK are running kernel 4.1.27 (4.1.51 for the RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U).  The 2.6.36 models are old SDK 6.37 and 7.14 devices, like the RT-AC68U or RT-AC88U.

 

Only Broadcom can upgrade the kernel used by their SDKs (and in turn ODMs then have to switch to the newer SDK).

 

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