Router recommendation.

[Vixa.G]

Hi, i just got gigabit internet, but my router only supports 300mbps, so i need to buy a new one. Any recommendations? Its for home use, 1 PC and 2 phones.

The routers i liked are TP-link C6U / C80. They are at the same price but i dont know anything about routers so i cant decide, the main difference is that one of them is dual core, but the other has 1.3ghz core. Dont know how this affects them tho. 

[mariushm]

Don't forget that the wireless network card inside your pc  (and your phones) must also be capable of the higher speeds. 

For example, if the network card inside your pc is 2.4 ghz only and maximum 300 mbps 802.11n , then buying a 433+ mbps 2.4 ghz router would not improve the speed on your PC.

 

C6U should be fine.

In theory, the C80 is better because it has 3 antennas, it supports MIMO 3x3 , uses all 3 antennas to reach 1300 mbps on 5ghz or 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz. 

The C6U is mimo 2x2 , and capable of maximum 867 mbps on 5ghz and 300 mbps on 2.4 ghz (so pay attention, if your pc's wireless card is 2.4 ghz only or if your phone is 2.4 ghz only, you'll be capped at 300 mbps)

 

However, most phones and cheaper network cards will work in mimo 2x2, will only use 2 antennas, so you may not be able to reach the maximum speeds even though the router is capable of them.

 

Something else you may want to check out is D-Link DIR-2150 which seems similar in specs to C6U  or D-Link DIR-878 which is a bit more expensive, but supports mimo4x4  and 1300 mbps on 5ghz  / 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz.

 

[Vixa.G]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

Don't forget that the wireless network card inside your pc  (and your phones) must also be capable of the higher speeds. 

For example, if the network card inside your pc is 2.4 ghz only and maximum 300 mbps 802.11n , then buying a 433+ mbps 2.4 ghz router would not improve the speed on your PC.

 

C6U should be fine.

In theory, the C80 is better because it has 3 antennas, it supports MIMO 3x3 , uses all 3 antennas to reach 1300 mbps on 5ghz or 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz. 

The C6U is mimo 2x2 , and capable of maximum 867 mbps on 5ghz and 300 mbps on 2.4 ghz (so pay attention, if your pc's wireless card is 2.4 ghz only or if your phone is 2.4 ghz only, you'll be capped at 300 mbps)

 

However, most phones and cheaper network cards will work in mimo 2x2, will only use 2 antennas, so you may not be able to reach the maximum speeds even though the router is capable of them.

 

Something else you may want to check out is D-Link DIR-2150 which seems similar in specs to C6U  or D-Link DIR-878 which is a bit more expensive, but supports mimo4x4  and 1300 mbps on 5ghz  / 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz.

 

The PC will be used with a LAN cable from the router, and the card is gigabit, so its alright. I will check if my phone supports these speeds. Would you choose the d link over these two? Its a little bit pricier but still reasonable.

[Vixa.G]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

Don't forget that the wireless network card inside your pc  (and your phones) must also be capable of the higher speeds. 

For example, if the network card inside your pc is 2.4 ghz only and maximum 300 mbps 802.11n , then buying a 433+ mbps 2.4 ghz router would not improve the speed on your PC.

 

C6U should be fine.

In theory, the C80 is better because it has 3 antennas, it supports MIMO 3x3 , uses all 3 antennas to reach 1300 mbps on 5ghz or 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz. 

The C6U is mimo 2x2 , and capable of maximum 867 mbps on 5ghz and 300 mbps on 2.4 ghz (so pay attention, if your pc's wireless card is 2.4 ghz only or if your phone is 2.4 ghz only, you'll be capped at 300 mbps)

 

However, most phones and cheaper network cards will work in mimo 2x2, will only use 2 antennas, so you may not be able to reach the maximum speeds even though the router is capable of them.

 

Something else you may want to check out is D-Link DIR-2150 which seems similar in specs to C6U  or D-Link DIR-878 which is a bit more expensive, but supports mimo4x4  and 1300 mbps on 5ghz  / 600 mbps on 2.4 ghz.

 

Sorry for the spam, but do you know to what speed does the iphone xs max support? This is what i found but it hardly speaks anything to me.

ac@5 GHz	866 Mbps	80 MHz	9 (VHT)	2/MIMO
a/n@5 GHz	300 Mbps	40 MHz	7 (HT)	2/MIMO

[mariushm]

The Apple page says it supports MIMO 2x2 and 802.11ac so I'd say max. 866 mbps on 5ghz and maybe 300-433 mbps on 2.4ghz

 

I mentioned D-Link DIR-2150 as a router which seems to have similar features to C6U ... but where I saw it in the local stores, it has no reviews. No idea if it's a new model or what the deal is with the lack of reviews, so I can't say I recommend it. 

 

The other is tempting for its 4x4 MIMO hardware support, may be a better purchase for long term and here it's not that much more expesive.

 

I don't care about brands, both TP-Link and D-Link are well known, I can only encourage you to go on several online stores and check the reviews and see the overall feedback for them ... filter out the stupid people who post bad reviews and get the overall picture.

 

 

 

 

[Vixa.G]

2 minutes ago, mariushm said:

The Apple page says it supports MIMO 2x2 and 802.11ac so I'd say max. 866 mbps on 5ghz and maybe 300-433 mbps on 2.4ghz

 

I mentioned D-Link DIR-2150 as a router which seems to have similar features to C6U ... but where I saw it in the local stores, it has no reviews. No idea if it's a new model or what the deal is with the lack of reviews, so I can't say I recommend it. 

 

The other is tempting for its 4x4 MIMO hardware support, may be a better purchase for long term and here it's not that much more expesive.

 

I don't care about brands, both TP-Link and D-Link are well known, I can only encourage you to go on several online stores and check the reviews and see the overall feedback for them ... filter out the stupid people who post bad reviews and get the overall picture.

 

 

 

 

Alright, thanks a lot. I saw reviews that said most TP link are plastic so it makes them overheat and you need to restart them more often. So people recommend asus, but do i really need expensive asus routed for 1 lan device and 2 wifi? So C6U and C80 are at the same price, should i go for C80 for better specs?

[mariushm]

No, you don't need Asus...  and Asus routers are also made out of plastic. It's not the material, because a metal case would not help unless the hot chips would be heatsinks to the case.  It's how big the heatsinks are inside and if the case has ventilation holes or not (and if it does, how many and how big they are)

 

Some designs have no ventilation holes because they're "optimized" / aimed at markets like India or other countries with higher humidity or bigger amount of insects, so having more ventilation holes could mean a higher risk of the router dying due to humidity and bugs and ants getting inside it. 

 

There's also Netgear, Ubiquiti, Mikrotik, and even Xiaomi makes wireless routers nowadays... plenty of brands to choose from 

 

[Vixa.G]

7 minutes ago, mariushm said:

No, you don't need Asus...  and Asus routers are also made out of plastic. It's not the material, because a metal case would not help unless the hot chips would be heatsinks to the case.  It's how big the heatsinks are inside and if the case has ventilation holes or not (and if it does, how many and how big they are)

 

Some designs have no ventilation holes because they're "optimized" / aimed at markets like India or other countries with higher humidity or bigger amount of insects, so having more ventilation holes could mean a higher risk of the router dying due to humidity and bugs and ants getting inside it. 

 

There's also Netgear, Ubiquiti, Mikrotik, and even Xiaomi makes wireless routers nowadays... plenty of brands to choose from 

 

Alright, thanks. So should i order C6U or the C80? What do you think? Same price, i guess C80 ?

[Falcon1986]

The C80 is the better of the two, but keep in mind that neither will be able to fully provide 1Gbps WAN-to-LAN to any client, whether wired or wireless.

 

Something to note: if a router has a GbE WAN port, it doesn’t mean it can provide 1Gbps speeds to the entire network if connected to a gigabit internet connection. Prior to +1Gbps internet packages, no one cared because routers would never need to reach that speed, but it matters now.

 

A few reviews (they’re scarce) will show you that the C80 gets just over 800Mbps download on ethernet and 500-600Mbps on 5GHz WiFi in the best of conditions when hooked up to a 1Gbps WAN uplink. If you’re willing to live with that, then that’s fine. You just won’t be able to take full advantage of your gigabit internet connection.

 

Although I couldn’t find any proper reviews of the C6U, on paper, it is inferior to the C80 and costs much less. So I wouldn’t expect it to perform as well.

[Vixa.G]

18 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

The C80 is the better of the two, but keep in mind that neither will be able to fully provide 1Gbps WAN-to-LAN to any client, whether wired or wireless.

 

Something to note: if a router has a GbE WAN port, it doesn’t mean it can provide 1Gbps speeds to the entire network if connected to a gigabit internet connection. Prior to +1Gbps internet packages, no one cared because routers would never need to reach that speed, but it matters now.

 

A few reviews (they’re scarce) will show you that the C80 gets just over 800Mbps download on ethernet and 500-600Mbps on 5GHz WiFi in the best of conditions when hooked up to a 1Gbps WAN uplink. If you’re willing to live with that, then that’s fine. You just won’t be able to take full advantage of your gigabit internet connection.

 

Although I couldn’t find any proper reviews of the C6U, on paper, it is inferior to the C80 and costs much less. So I wouldn’t expect it to perform as well.

Is there a way to get true Gbps to the LAN? 800mbps is what i get right now, directly from the multimedia that is provided by the ISP. Also can you recommend me router that is better than C80 in the similiar price range? At this price range i think this is the best i can find. Also its the same price as C6U here. Thanks

[Falcon1986]

1 minute ago, Vixa.G said:

Is there a way to get true Gbps to the LAN? 800mbps is what i get right now, directly from the multimedia that is provided by the ISP. Also can you recommend me router that is better than C80 in the similiar price range? At this price range i think this is the best i can find. Also its the same price as C6U here. Thanks

Please specify your budget.

 

I’m looking at US prices for the C80 at $50 on Amazon, but it doesn’t seem to be a common North American model. Is your budget US$50/equivalent? And which part of the world are you located? Because what is recommended here is not going to be available in all locations.

[Vixa.G]

1 minute ago, Falcon1986 said:

Please specify your budget.

 

I’m looking at US prices for the C80 at $50 on Amazon, but it doesn’t seem to be a common North American model. Is your budget US$50/equivalent? And which part of the world are you located? Because what is recommended here is not going to be available in all locations.

My budget is exactly around 50$, i live in Bulgaria, so prices are a little strange here....

[Vixa.G]

6 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

Please specify your budget.

 

I’m looking at US prices for the C80 at $50 on Amazon, but it doesn’t seem to be a common North American model. Is your budget US$50/equivalent? And which part of the world are you located? Because what is recommended here is not going to be available in all locations.

The top 1 router in bulgarian sites is TP-LINK C6, also it is on their bulgarian site, but the older version. Comparing it to the C80 from what i can tell it is much worse, also it is just 10$ less. Another ones are C7 and AX20, but its the same story. Maybe i should just order the C80? Would be happy if you can suggest something better around this price range.

[Falcon1986]

10 minutes ago, Vixa.G said:

Is there a way to get true Gbps to the LAN? 800mbps is what i get right now, directly from the multimedia that is provided by the ISP.

You’re going to be hard-pressed to find something decent at a $50 budget that can provide these speeds.

 

My concern, though, is why is your ISP selling you 1Gbps internet and only able to deliver 800Mbps? Is that 800Mbps measured while you’re directly wired into the ISP device with ethernet? If so, you need to call them out for not delivering expected speeds. Check your contract with them to see if they mention the minimum they should be able to provide.

 

Even if you happen to find something that can negotiate at full 1Gbps, the fact that the ISP device is limited will only limit the device you put behind it.

 

Call the ISP to find out. They might need to upgrade your unit to something that can achieve those speeds. If they do, then you might just need a wireless access point so that the ISP device can negotiate routing at full gigabit speeds and leave the wireless to the separate AP.

[Vixa.G]

1 minute ago, Falcon1986 said:

You’re going to be hard-pressed to find something decent at a $50 budget that can provide these speeds.

 

My concern, though, is why is your ISP selling you 1Gbps internet and only able to deliver 800Mbps? Is that 800Mbps measured while you’re directly wired into the ISP device with ethernet? If so, you need to call them out for not delivering expected speeds. Check your contract with them to see if they mention the minimum they should be able to provide.

 

Even if you happen to find something that can negotiate at full 1Gbps, the fact that the ISP device is limited will only limit the device you put behind it.

 

Call the ISP to find out. They might need to upgrade your unit to something that can achieve those speeds. If they do, then you might just need a wireless access point so that the ISP device can negotiate routing at full gigabit speeds and leave the wireless to the separate AP.

In the contract it is written max speeds 950mbps, but usual would be around 750mbps, which is the case. My speeds at speedtest.com are 700-800 download and 950 upload.

Also if there is something truly better at the little higher price range i can go for it.

[Falcon1986]

3 minutes ago, Vixa.G said:

In the contract it is written max speeds 950mbps, but usual would be around 750mbps, which is the case. My speeds at speedtest.com are 700-800 download and 950 upload.

Also if there is something truly better at the little higher price range i can go for it.

That’s not bad. You’d still be within speed range with the C80.

 

What is the make/model of the ISP unit that you have now? And what is your existing router?

[Vixa.G]

1 minute ago, Falcon1986 said:

That’s not bad. You’d still be within speed range with the C80.

 

What is the make/model of the ISP unit that you have now? And what is your existing router?

It says Fiber Optical Media Converter on it, nothing else, it is provided by them. My current router is cheap 20$ which is not connected to the gigabit internet, until now i had really bad internet deal, so i didnt need much more. It says it is 300mbps, but I get only 30-40 on my phone from it. The lan is 100 tho. Thanks for your help and, I will order the C80 then, if there isnt anything better at this price range. The AX20 seems good, its quad core, but will it really help me with my speeds?

[Falcon1986]

1 minute ago, Vixa.G said:

It says it is 300mbps, but I get only 30-40 on my phone from it.

Is that 300Mbps on WiFi? Sounds like a older WiFi-4 generation type of device.

 

2 minutes ago, Vixa.G said:

The lan is 100 tho.

I’m assuming that’s for the old router, which would be expected for a WiFi-4 generation device. If you don’t want to be limited on the ethernet side of things, ensure they’re at least Cat5e or better.

 

4 minutes ago, Vixa.G said:

It says Fiber Optical Media Converter on it, nothing else, it is provided by them.

As in it only has a single RJ45/ethernet port? If so, then yes, you’ll need your won router. If it has multiple ports, it’s a fiber gateway (ONT/router/switch/etc combo) and you can probably wire in the desktop directly to an unused port and get full gigabit speeds.

[Vixa.G]

2 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

Is that 300Mbps on WiFi? Sounds like a older WiFi-4 generation type of device.

 

I’m assuming that’s for the old router, which would be expected for a WiFi-4 generation device. If you don’t want to be limited on the ethernet side of things, ensure they’re at least Cat5e or better.

 

As in it only has a single RJ45/ethernet port? If so, then yes, you’ll need your won router. If it has multiple ports, it’s a fiber gateway (ONT/router/switch/etc combo) and you can probably wire in the desktop directly to an unused port and get full gigabit speeds.

It is much older router. The Media converter is only single port, that is supposed to go into the router, but as my current router is really bad I am using this port to my PC directly, and im using the old 100mbps internet as wifi, until the new router, that i will order now arrives. What is your opinion about the TP LINK AX20?

[Falcon1986]

40 minutes ago, Vixa.G said:

What is your opinion about the TP LINK AX20?

It should be slightly faster on ethernet (about 950Mbps at best), but not significantly so on WiFi (even with AX-to-AX links).

 

I encourage you to read this article on the difficulties of delivering >1Gbps over WiFi.

[Vixa.G]

49 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

It should be slightly faster on ethernet (about 950Mbps at best), but not significantly so on WiFi (even with AX-to-AX links).

 

I encourage you to read this article on the difficulties of delivering >1Gbps over WiFi.

I will go with the C80, i doubt that i can use all that speed as a home user, so no point of more expensive router. Thanks and have a good one!