Which Router in 2019? ("gaming" router?)

[Chris V]

Hey guys,

 

I was just wondering which Router you'd advise me to get in 2019. Every time family or friends visit, my Wifi is just horribly slow and even without visitors I do experience the occasional hiccup. So Ive read into this topic a little. Since im getting new internet (changed ISP, also from 4G to fiber optic) in about a week, I am also planning on a router upgrade. I've checked reviews of course and encountered various routers from Asus, Netgear (eg. Nighthawk) and so forth...

 

What Routers do you guys have? I do game from time to time, however I'm fine with a 30-50ms ping, so I could easily ditch QoS.

MU-MIMO however, seems to be the solution to my visitation speed issue - how useful is it really?

What about upsides of Triband, distributing max data any given decive can "use" (so: evenly distributing apart from MIMO = simultaneously distributing function, right?)

Many high end routers still come with dual cores. Should I opt for quad core and maybe "next gen wifi" - eg. Netgear Nighthawk RAX80 AX6000? Or save 200 and buy this for cheap in 4 yrs or sth.

 

If going for dual core and current wifi gen I feel like I could easily save a hundred bucks, going for something that isnt "gamer branded".

But then the product segment is so insanely enormous, everything named complex/similarly. I couldnt really find proper reviews, covering more than 2-3 aspects. Most of them felt more like an ad, texts filled with meaningless sentences like "solid for most people" "very good" "bringing lots of features to the table".

 

Should I go for something that has a fiber optic modem included? As in, it could perform better than my future ISPs standard modem hooked up "inbetween".

 

And a final question that I couldnt find more on online: Im using PIA VPN, since I cant run the app on lets say a smart TV or Hue/Camera/Alexa, securing my time online via configuring the VPN on a router level seems to be the solution. However, many people report extremely slow data rates or just simple incompatibility.

 

So if any of you guys could recommend a router to me, thatd be nice, Ive been surfing for days already. (MU-MIMO, quad core?, vpn?, modem?, triband? anything I forgot?)

 

Thanks so much for your time and greetings from Vienna,

Chris

[myselfolli]

A router doesn't really need a lot of processing power, I've seen (insanely fast) pfsense routers running on Raspberry PIs...

 

I agree, you can usually save a couple of bucks by going with something not 'gamer' branded. I've had good experiences with ubiquiti gear, but I'd always recommend going with wired connections wherever possible.

 

It sounds like you either have a horribly old/outdated router or a faulty configuration, which might cause the hiccups..?

[WereCatf]

8 minutes ago, Chris V said:

and maybe "next gen wifi"

No point, it'd only help with devices that support the new WiFi-standard, but wouldn't do literally jack shit for any of your existing WiFi-devices.

12 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Every time family or friends visit, my Wifi is just horribly slow and even without visitors I do experience the occasional hiccup

Does your router have 5GHz-band enabled?

[Settlerteo]

13 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Hey guys,

 

 

Do they provide you with a new router now that you turn to fiber optic? If yes then don't buy a router. If no then wait and use your old one. If it works just fine don't buy a router. If you old router doesn't work, check out the cheap units from Linksys, tplink or dlink.

[Chris V]

2 minutes ago, myselfolli said:

A router doesn't really need a lot of processing power, I've seen (insanely fast) pfsense routers running on Raspberry PIs...

 

I agree, you can usually save a couple of bucks by going with something not 'gamer' branded. I've had good experiences with ubiquiti gear, but I'd always recommend going with wired connections wherever possible.

 

It sounds like you either have a horribly old/outdated router or a faulty configuration, which might cause the hiccups..?

Ah alright, I just figured since these newer routers have so many features, it might be useful to have more processing power when lets say you surpass 10 devices or sth. I already suspected dual core would probably be enough.

 

Ill check out ubiquity gear thanks!. My desktop is hooked up via ethernet.

My router isnt that outdated, its a TP Link Archer MR200. So either its just shitty or sth else is wrong, I played around with DNS and stuff like that (PIA recommends one If i recall correctly), that didnt change much. Maybe its the 4G thing not working well. (I live in an apartment in an old house in Vienna so its walls walls walls haha).

 

However, when my brother and I (he lives in London, I live in Vienna) visit our parents, we have a similar issue in that house, which is about 20 yrs old. Apart from a massive steel "thing" (lacking the english word right now haha) basically blocking wifi in the kitchen area, everything should work there just fine. They have updated their ISP plan and gotten a new standard router from that ISP. Its a bit better now, but still, sometimes the bose radio just stops, Netflix gets unbearably slow, or just 1 device basically has Internet speed frozen in a browser. Im sure its not dependent or coming from any given "end" device. Powerline (then wired to Apple TV and another Access Point for downstairs) hasnt helped, and Im just kinda out of ideas. I am the "techy one" in the family, but I just really lack knowledge about all this and my days are basically full of law, no time there haha.

 

Thanks for your response! Gotta love LTT forum, and also: no nazi jokes so far, cuz Im from Austria lol

[Chris V]

5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

No point, it'd only help with devices that support the new WiFi-standard, but wouldn't do literally jack shit for any of your existing WiFi-devices.

Does your router have 5GHz-band enabled?

Yeah I know that, it was just an idea for future proofing, but I guess Im better off, buying next gen when I can actually use it.

 

Yes 5GhZ and 2.4 are both enabled. I mostly have Hue and an Arlo camera in the 2.4, the rest in the 5ghz. That doesnt seem to change alot for me though. My apartment is pretty small (like 50 ish square meters).

Router = TP Link Archer MR200

[Chris V]

4 minutes ago, Settlerteo said:

Do they provide you with a new router now that you turn to fiber optic? If yes then don't buy a router. If no then wait and use your old one. If it works just fine don't buy a router. If you old router doesn't work, check out the cheap units from Linksys, tplink or dlink.

Yeah I'll get a new one from them, plus my old one is probably worth a try, If that should prove to be bad.

I just expected that only MU MIMO and stuff like that would really fundamentally change my experience.

[Androkiller]

17 minutes ago, myselfolli said:

A router doesn't really need a lot of processing power, I've seen (insanely fast) pfsense routers running on Raspberry PIs...

 

You got a thread on this i plan to use a pFsense but running on a VM on my server but if i can get it on a PI then would prefer to lower power consumption?

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Router = TP Link Archer MR200

That's not a particularly impressive router, I'll give you that. That said, I'd like for you to clarify how do you determine your " Wifi is just horribly slow"? Do you mean between your devices themselves, or to/from the Internet? I mean, you're not mentioning your Internet-connection speeds, so it could just simply be that your connection ain't good enough. Also, 4G does often have hickups, there's no getting around that. Also, what speed will that fiber-connection be? Your router only has 100Mbps ethernet-ports, including WAN, so if your fiber-connection will be faster than 100Mbps, you'll need to remember to specifically buy a router with a gigabit WAN-port.

[myselfolli]

1 minute ago, Androkiller said:

You got a thread on this i plan to use a pFsense but running on a VM on my server but if i can get it on a PI then would prefer to lower power consumption?

It was not a thread on this forum, a mate of mine actually set it up just for fun and we were kinda blown away by the throughput he was getting...

 

Raspberrys typically only have one ethernet port though, so do keep that in mind!

[Settlerteo]

6 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Yeah I'll get a new one from them, plus my old one is probably worth a try, If that should prove to be bad.

I just expected that only MU MIMO and stuff like that would really fundamentally change my experience.

Stick to the one they will give you. It will be more than fine.

[Chris V]

5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

That's not a particularly impressive router, I'll give you that. That said, I'd like for you to clarify how do you determine your " Wifi is just horribly slow"? Do you mean between your devices themselves, or to/from the Internet? I mean, you're not mentioning your Internet-connection speeds, so it could just simply be that your connection ain't good enough. Also, 4G does often have hickups, there's no getting around that. Also, what speed will that fiber-connection be? Your router only has 100Mbps ethernet-ports, including WAN, so if your fiber-connection will be faster than 100Mbps, you'll need to remember to specifically buy a router with a gigabit WAN-port.

Oh yeah sure, I forgot about that. The 4G plan is like 80 down 30 up. A test I did just now showed me 19ms Ping, 32 down, 21 Up (mbps) on the 2.4ghz network, being like 7 meters away from the router.

Wired: 19ms, 39 down, 21 up. (same test)

 

With horribly slow I mean communication from consumer device -> router -> internet (different servers, so different sites, not just lets stay specifically Youtube or sth) and back. The thing is that when my family visits, everybody unpacks lets say a phone, tablet and laptop. We are not streaming any show or whatever, but then the internet (with that I mean consumers trying to access any given site on a browser) is just generally slow and sometimes particular devices have immense pauses and get prompted that theres no internet connection, without being disconnected from the network or anything. I cant seem to find a pattern, therefor no solution. And this happens in our familys house as well. Also, sometimes Hue takes quite a while to react, thats seldom though, most often happens when theres many devices around.

Note: it doesnt seem to be an issue with other peoples networks next to my flat. Ive changed to less often used channels, however I never had issues with that. The problems I described above also occur on my PC which is connected via ethernet cable. Also, of course, Ive ruled out PIA being the problem here.

 

The new connection will be 300 down and 30 up. Fiber right into my flat as theyve confirmed, so there shouldnt be any copper connections as far as I know. Hence I asked whether or not it might be useful to buy a powerful modem-router.

However, with the info about the connection - thats the customer support. This guy seemed to be competent, Ill ask the people who install everything next week as well tho. I purposely ordered via the internet so I can return everything if its a "fkup".

 

Since I bought that router so long ago, I completely forgot about its limitations, so yeah, I guess the one Ill get "for free" next week will be the only try, once I check its specs.

 

None of you seem to be particularly impressed with MU MIMO or any other features like that, is it just a marketing thing? You know, features like mesh compatibility and wide wifi range might come in handy, should I move. Or lets say I buy a new router and put the old one (the one Im about to buy) in a house or sth.

[Chris V]

28 minutes ago, Settlerteo said:

Stick to the one they will give you. It will be more than fine.

you guys really convinced that the one they ship / a cheap one will do?

what about the issues I got now / we have in our familys house. The only pattern I can see is using routers that came with the ISPs plan / low end routers.

 

What about using a VPN on the router level? MU-MIMO, QoS etc not really useful? I mean I play an occasional round of lol, thats it so dont get me wrong, I dont care about 10ms more or less ping. But do you really see no benefit in features that - if correct:

- stabilize Wifi and establish wider more "direct" connections via locating devices

- distribute data usage and priority

- grant you monitoring features

- let you use your vpn at a browser level for lets say your Smart TV ? (however, Im not sure whether netflix would let you stream anyway, since it doesnt when I use PIA on PC/handhelds; just in theory though)

[Settlerteo]

1 minute ago, Chris V said:

what about the issues I got now / we have in our familys house

The issues you re running into now are not due to the rooter but due to your adsl connection. Once you change to fiber optic, you will probably experience a "whole new internet"

[Chris V]

my isp offers a deal for this

https://at.avm.de/produkte/fritzbox/fritzbox-7582/technische-daten/

 

id "save" 70 "activation cost" (=bullshit claim asking for money in monopolized middle european Telecommunication branch) plus get that router for 120 instead of 280. Id have to rule out that they lock it to their network though. However, they grant you a new one if it breaks down even after 2 years.

[WereCatf]

13 minutes ago, Chris V said:

None of you seem to be particularly impressed with MU MIMO or any other features like that, is it just a marketing thing?

MU-MIMO only works for 802.11ac-devices and only when using 5GHz-band, so it doesn't work if e.g. a device only connects via 2.4GHz. This limits its usefulness somewhat. It's not a marketing-trick, but it's also not as great as they paint it as.

[Chris V]

1 minute ago, Settlerteo said:

The issues you re running into now are not due to the rooter but due to your adsl connection. Once you change to fiber optic, you will probably experience a "whole new internet"

alright, I guess that makes sense. Ill wait and see

thanks for your reply btw!! much appreciated

[Chris V]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

MU-MIMO only works for 802.11ac-devices and only when using 5GHz-band, so it doesn't work if e.g. a device only connects via 2.4GHz. This limits its usefulness somewhat. It's not a marketing-trick, but it's also not as great as they paint it as.

oh well, see none of the reviews mentioned this and Ive gotten used to there being more to the story. gotta be hella aware as a consumer lol

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Chris V said:

oh well, see none of the reviews mentioned this and Ive gotten used to there being more to the story. gotta be hella aware as a consumer lol

Well, you get thumbs up from me for researching, instead of just blindly accepting everything marketing tells you

[Chris V]

3 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

Well, you get thumbs up from me for researching, instead of just blindly accepting everything marketing tells you

Thanks haha

If youre not an expert you can either go through this process when you buy stuff, or just find your peace with being ripped off everywhere. Im too young to not care about tech at all haha

Also LTT Forum: very nice people

 

Thanks to everyone for their time and effort!

[mtz_federico]

I recomend pfsense for the router and a unifi ap for wifi

[Chris V]

15 hours ago, mtz_federico said:

I recomend pfsense for the router and a unifi ap for wifi

Hi mtz_federico,

 

first of all, thanks for your input. I have done a little research, so now Im basically more unsure. I mean of course the flexibility, upgradeability and all that option sounds cool and amazing. Id actually want to get into networking abit. But what I see coming here is that I'd try to set it all up, troubleshoot a little so then at first everything works, and then the issues will just keep coming, and I have no time to sort them out.

Dont you think getting into an enterprise solution might be too big a step for me? I have found no affiliates in Austria, however there is one in south Germany offering The Netgate SG-1100. If I go with anything else, Id have to install the software myself right? I'm not sure I can get myself into that.

This seems to be the cheapest product too, going for 165 EUR, which = 250 Canadian Dollars / 186 USD. Seems like if I include the Wifi AP, I might as well just go for a 300 Eur router and just shove any problem I have down that companys support line, instead of being frustrated for hours.

What do you think? Maybe peoples reviews have been a little exaggerating and its not that hard to use at all?

[alex75871]

I built my own and use pfsense OS.

[Chris V]

6 hours ago, alex75871 said:

I built my own and use pfsense OS.

Hi alex,

 

that seems amazing, since Ive read good things about pfsense online. But I dont think I got the skill for that. What Ive settled with is this combination:

- Ubiquiti Edgerouter X for 48€

- Ubiquiti Networks UAP AC Lite for 79€

 

Maybe not the very newest products, but they seem to be doing well. Only downside with this router is that you cant really get more than 100 Mbit when using QoS. Im mostly alone though, I dont play when I got visitors so who cares, if "the network just handles" everything well.

Ill have to learn a little here and there and take my time, but if reviews are right this will be amazing when its up and running. Considering I paid the same for my garbage MR200, I'm quite excited. The products are shipping today

 

Anyway, sry for the long FYI part. How did you go about that? Building your own router and getting pfSense on it?

[Phyxia]

Personally have the Ubiquiti Unifi Lite AP with and edgerouter X. Both are supplied through a single PoE injector which is nice. Works wonders for me. That said I only have a 100/100 line, but I've never experienced any throttling of any kind even with multiple people over. Ubiquiti is damn stable, that's for sure. If anyone tries to scare you off that Ubiquiti equipment can be hard to setup/ use, don't listen to them. Sure it can be difficult if you want to make it so, unifi gear is usually great to work with if you need/want specific things, but setting them up is a breeze in my opinion