Choosing The Right Home Network Router

[DynamicDumbA55]

Hello all! 

 

My family has recently shown interest in removing the leased router we currently have with standard consumer router. We currently have a standard baseline router maintaining 2 desktops, 2 laptops, 4 phones, and a few smart devices; leading to a clear bottleneck of speed when particular devices are present in the household. The budget is around $150 and I would prefer something with gigabit, multi-band, has around 4 LAN ports, and can handle a decent chunk of traffic. So far, I've considered the ASUS AC2900 WiFi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router but due to lack of expertise in this field; I would greatly appreciate criticism and guidance! Thank you!

[BakugoHero]

What do you feel your bottleneck is? depending on where it's located upgrading your router won't assist you. 

 

What is your speed supposed to be?

are you connecting just to the internet or are you using the network for other purposes?

[DynamicDumbA55]

2 minutes ago, BakugoHero said:

What do you feel your bottleneck is? depending on where it's located upgrading your router won't assist you. 

 

What is your speed supposed to be?

are you connecting just to the internet or are you using the network for other purposes?

Bottleneck is definitely the network speed, especially over wireless. I'm pretty sure the basic leased router simply can't handle the amount of devices being used. For example, when my desktop (currently the newest and most demanding device on the network) goes on, the network seems to slow down on the other desktop and on the Wi-Fi. Occasionally I will go around turning off the Wi-Fi on phones/tablets/laptops and the issue is resolved (this is a very strange solution in my opinion, but it does work).

 

We only use the router for internet. Which is why we would prefer an all in one router.

[BakugoHero]

3 minutes ago, DynamicDumbA55 said:

Bottleneck is definitely the network speed, especially over wireless. I'm pretty sure the basic leased router simply can't handle the amount of devices being used. For example, when my desktop (currently the newest and most demanding device on the network) goes on, the network seems to slow down on the other desktop and on the Wi-Fi. Occasionally I will go around turning off the Wi-Fi on phones/tablets/laptops and the issue is resolved (this is a very strange solution in my opinion, but it does work).

 

We only use the router for internet. Which is why we would prefer an all in one router.

Alright, well the wifi on leased devices does tend to be a problem and owning your own equipment has always gone well for me in the past in this regard. The device you has selected, ASUS AC2900 WiFi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router, does look like a good device for getting wifi that operates better and will handle more devices.

 

in the end my recommendation would be to try that router, but make sure you keep the receipt, just in case.

 

To test if it will help you I would suggest wiring as many things as you can first as a test and see how the current router handles your load. most of the time if it is an wifi client overload the device can still handle the rest through wires. 

 

What router are you leasing if you don't mind me asking?

[DynamicDumbA55]

31 minutes ago, BakugoHero said:

Alright, well the wifi on leased devices does tend to be a problem and owning your own equipment has always gone well for me in the past in this regard. The device you has selected, ASUS AC2900 WiFi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router, does look like a good device for getting wifi that operates better and will handle more devices.

 

in the end my recommendation would be to try that router, but make sure you keep the receipt, just in case.

 

To test if it will help you I would suggest wiring as many things as you can first as a test and see how the current router handles your load. most of the time if it is an wifi client overload the device can still handle the rest through wires. 

 

What router are you leasing if you don't mind me asking?

I believe that it is an Arris TG1682G

[BakugoHero]

7 minutes ago, DynamicDumbA55 said:

I believe that it is an Arris TG1682G

Wow, that shouldn't be giving you too many problems yet, but definitively not impossible. It shows that it is a cable modem/gateway, are you going be buying a separate modem with the router?

[GraphicGORE]

You could trying using 5ghz if your router support it. If there is a lot of 2.4ghz wifi in area that can cause issue with speed. also getting a dedicated Access point could help with network speed.  

[Alex Atkin UK]

Having devices connected to WiFi but not actually doing anything really shouldn't be reducing the speed by anything measurable.  Of course that is assuming they haven't done something really odd in the firmware of the router.

[Donut417]

On 1/18/2019 at 9:26 AM, DynamicDumbA55 said:

Hello all! 

 

My family has recently shown interest in removing the leased router we currently have with standard consumer router. We currently have a standard baseline router maintaining 2 desktops, 2 laptops, 4 phones, and a few smart devices; leading to a clear bottleneck of speed when particular devices are present in the household. The budget is around $150 and I would prefer something with gigabit, multi-band, has around 4 LAN ports, and can handle a decent chunk of traffic. So far, I've considered the ASUS AC2900 WiFi Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router but due to lack of expertise in this field; I would greatly appreciate criticism and guidance! Thank you!

Are you sure its a router your leasing and not a gateway (Modem/router)? Because thats what most ISP's are leasing out.  

 

From what I have read Netgear and ASUS have good routers. TP Link is good if your on a budget. I personally have the Synology RT2600 AC and its been a champ, While its out of your budget, its little brother might not be.