Is a router upgrade from G to N or AC necessary?

[CLP]

So I'm still using an old Linksys G router that says its capable of 54mb/s and I'm on Shaw's 30mb/s plan.

The young'uns in the house have recently been complaining about dropped connections and lag, and the only thing I've done recently is upgrade my modem at Shaw's request and recommendation since it was supposed to 'improve' the connection service compared to the old modem.

So my question is, has anyone else done this modem upgrade had any issues afterwards?

And, will upgrading from a G router with 54mb/s to an N or AC with anywhere from 300/1600MB/s really make any difference when the bandwidth coming from Shaw is only 30mb/s? I can't logically see why it would unless there's something in those figures that I'm not fully understanding.

To give an idea, we have 5 phones, 1 TV and laptop that use Netflix occasionally, and 2 more computers using the home network on a daily basis.

[79wjd]

To N, yes. AC doesn't matter as much (and won't matter at all if the devices don't support AC -- other than that newer AC routers tend to be the higher end models).

 

In addition to supporting higher speeds (keep in mind those including the G spec are all theoretical caps, not actual speeds), newer specs are just all around better (less packets lost, more stable connections, larger range)

[thekeemo]

If your on shaws 30mb plan your eligible for a free rental upgrade to a AC router (assuming your G router is rented from them)

[Naeaes]

If they're gaming or video/voice-chatting on-line, it's not about the bandwidth, it's about the latency. If you want to test it out before purchasing, hook a computer up with an good Ethernet cable. It'll all but eliminate the latency within your system. If that won't solve the issues, they're more than likely at the ISP's side and upgrading your local network in't going to solve that. But if it does, definitely upgrade.

[CLP]

It is not. I bought the Linksys years ago.

One thing though, apparently the modem I got from Shaw includes WIFI. I have not tried to utilize it as of yet because I'm too used to my current router's settings to bother having to redo it again.

The model of Shaw's new modem is Cisco DPC3825 if that helps. Specs say it gets 100 on G and 1000 on N, but I've already searched and found a few people getting drops and limited range with this model.

I'm guessing I can try to utilize the connection from either the Linksys or the Cisco if they are both in operation?

[skywake]

The real-world speeds of each spec are something along the lines of:

G: 12Mbps

N: 30-70Mbps

AC: 200-600Mbps

 

But those are single user, best case scenario real world speeds. It gets more complicated than that though because with a lower spec access point higher speed devices won't be able to run ahead. Especially given that higher spec access points, in particular AC, tend to be dual-band. A client with a poor signal will slow down the works.

 

For example, here's a made-up example of how this can actually play out. Lets assume you have an AC1200 laptop, an N600 phone and an N150 Chromecast. All hammering your internet connection at once as can happen. The phone and laptop have fantastic signals, the Chromecast has an average signal and is running at half speed. Here's how that'd play out:

 

54G: 12, 12 and 6.... shared. You get ~10Mbps usage out of your connection.

N300: 30, 30, 15 shared. ~25Mbps

N600: 70 and 70 shared, 15Mbps on its own. 85Mbps

AC1200: 200, 70 shared, 15Mbps on its own. 150Mbps

AC3200: 200, 70 and 15 each on their own. 285Mbps

 

It's also worth noting that there are other things you can do on your network. If you are streaming a game or something from a NAS to a wireless device? That eats into the available bandwidth also. If you are doing stuff like that? You can absolutely slaughter your available bandwidth even if you have enough for your internet connection. So my advice would be that unless you are living alone with a <10Mbps internet connection? Dual band N is a must. If you're also doing stuff across your LAN? Then AC is worth the little bit extra.

[CLP]

Thanks for the breakdown.

Looks like since we've got so many users in the house we're going to get bottlenecks with the G router and an N600 should solve that.

[Footy]

you absolutely need AC...

If you don't have AC all the cool kids will make fun of you

[BrightCandle]

Despite G being capable of 56mbit/s I have never got that with my laptop antenna touching the antenna of the router. I don't think I have ever seen above 45 mbit/s and its mostly <12mbit/s at any reasonable distance. N would help a lot, AC would be more than you need for just internet sharing.

 

Personally I have found AC to be pretty nice as I have a laptop that can utilise it and around 80 feet through walls and up floors I can get 300mbit/s which is not too shabby and well in excess of what the internet can do but helps when accessing the LAN where I run a server and NAS.

[techguru]

Thanks for the breakdown.

Looks like since we've got so many users in the house we're going to get bottlenecks with the G router and an N600 should solve that.

asus ac56u would be the router I would suggest

and bridge the cisco shaw modem to the router