Which router is the best for my case?

[EndofEra]

I am planning to upgrade our router but I don't really know which one to choose, I am under a budget but I really need to upgrade to help my work from home setup

I have a 100sqm home with a bunch of walls.

Issues:

• Slow and unstable wifi connection 
• Whenever I use my bluetooth headset either I get disconnected from the wifi entirely or I will have a very slow connection all the time

 

P.S. The problem is in the wifi connection only, lan connections are fine, I have adjusted my wifi channel manually already but it didn't help

P.P.S. The wifi of the router that I have now covers the whole home however even if I am already sitting next to the router I still experience instability in the connection

[EndofEra]

15 minutes ago, Eviljuche said:

Well first of all it is better to investigate the reasons why your router works that way. Maybe if you'll change the channels in its settings, things will get better. As for bluetooth - both bluetooth and Wi-Fi work on the same frequency and create some interference to one another. Which is also might be fixed by changing the channels on router.

 

With all that said, Archer A6 v3 seems fine. I am using TP-link professional routers for a long time and they seem to fork fine, so I guess consumer ones might be nice too - other people in the replies, please, correct me if I am wrong in that conclusion.

I have tried to change the channel of the routers wifi already (it only has a 2.4ghz signal) but it didn't help at all in terms of the wifi connection instability and disconnection when using a bluetooth headset, the router I am using right now is just provided by the ISP so the settings are also very limited

 

[EndofEra]

1 minute ago, Eviljuche said:

Yeah, I see. Getting routers from ISP is never a good solution worldwide, I would recommend to use something widely customizable like for example, Mikrotik routers, or flashing some random router with OpenWRT, but that is not easy for a regular user to do, so choosing any 5 GHz router from any respectable consumer brand (Tp-Link, D-Link, ASUS, Ubiquiti) will be fine. Never used any Tenda routers, but they seem too cheap to be good, but who knows

thanks for this info

as for the tenda routers I think it is a chinese brand and it is quite popular here in the Philippines but I am also skeptical about there quality since they are really cheap compared to other brands

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, EndofEra said:

Whenever I use my bluetooth headset either I get disconnected from the wifi entirely or I will have a very slow connection all the time

Sounds like you need to get a router that supports dual band and move devices to 5 GHz. The issue is 5Ghz doesn’t do well with many walls especially if they are concrete. But the fact is Bluetooth uses the same 2.4 GHz band as WiFi. So that’s why your having issues probably. I have seen interference with WiFi and Bluetooth before, mainly reduced audio quality. 
 

7 hours ago, EndofEra said:

using right now is just provided by the ISP so the settings are also very limited

Are you sure it’s just a router? Many ISPs use internet gateways (modem/router). 

[EndofEra]

36 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Sounds like you need to get a router that supports dual band and move devices to 5 GHz. The issue is 5Ghz doesn’t do well with many walls especially if they are concrete. But the fact is Bluetooth uses the same 2.4 GHz band as WiFi. So that’s why your having issues probably. I have seen interference with WiFi and Bluetooth before, mainly reduced audio quality. 
 

Are you sure it’s just a router? Many ISPs use internet gateways (modem/router). 

the box says its a router, and I am not really that knowledgeable about network devices

a lot of the people who I asked also suggested a dual band router but most of them are using wifi 6 capable routers already and my budget is only 40usd

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, EndofEra said:

the box says its a router, and I am not really that knowledgeable about network devices

a lot of the people who I asked also suggested a dual band router but most of them are using wifi 6 capable routers already and my budget is only 40usd

Dual band started with WiFi 4, not all WiIf 4 have it but some do. All WiFi 5 and up are required to be dual band due to the spec requiring it. 

[EndofEra]

37 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Dual band started with WiFi 4, not all WiIf 4 have it but some do. All WiFi 5 and up are required to be dual band due to the spec requiring it. 

Which one on the list do you think is the best of them all?

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, EndofEra said:

Which one on the list do you think is the best of them all?

I have no experience dealing with Tenda. So I cant speak for them. Its not just about the hardware there is software (Firmware) that the router reiles on to function. Some companies can have badass hardware but screw up on the software side and make the product shit. 

 

My only experience with TP Link was with the Archer C7. The software was OK, the range for the router was pretty damn good. BUT the issue is we built house out of wood here in the US and I know from other threads that in your corner of the world concrete might be used. Concrete and WiFI dont mix well. 

 

Between the two TPLink's Id choose the A6. Mainly because it has Gigabit Ethernet ports and the other one didnt. Keep in mind that if your Ethernet ports are only 10/100 thats as fast as the router will support for internet. So if you have anything above 100 Mbps you might not want a router with a 100 Mbps cap. Plus if you do anything on your home network Gigabit is kinda nice to have. 

[EndofEra]

22 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I have no experience dealing with Tenda. So I cant speak for them. Its not just about the hardware there is software (Firmware) that the router reiles on to function. Some companies can have badass hardware but screw up on the software side and make the product shit. 

 

My only experience with TP Link was with the Archer C7. The software was OK, the range for the router was pretty damn good. BUT the issue is we built house out of wood here in the US and I know from other threads that in your corner of the world concrete might be used. Concrete and WiFI dont mix well. 

 

Between the two TPLink's Id choose the A6. Mainly because it has Gigabit Ethernet ports and the other one didnt. Keep in mind that if your Ethernet ports are only 10/100 thats as fast as the router will support for internet. So if you have anything above 100 Mbps you might not want a router with a 100 Mbps cap. Plus if you do anything on your home network Gigabit is kinda nice to have. 

Thank you for the info will take note of this