el1117 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Off topic a little, but with the great community of tech minds here, what a great place to get opinions. I'm going to be in the market for a new router. I have TW 30/2 Mb. I want wireless AC and have a USB drive I need to connect for network access until I upgrade to NAS. Would like to be able to access drive remotely as well from work, mobile, etc. I'm open to suggestions on router models. Please give reasons why you support a particular model, cons, etc. Looking for opinions with hands on experience with different models. Go! And thanks for the input! Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosox801 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have been very happy with my Asus rt ac66r I believe it will do all the things you are wanting to, but I don't do all those so I can't speak from experience on those things. I have numerous devices connected via WiFi and wired and it performs very well 4 phones an Xbox 360 Xbox one couple TVs DTV boxes one computer and 4 laptops its a beast for sure! I tried running tomato on it but it was above my level of expertise so I'm on Merlin's firmware now and its even better now. Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamisonshaw125 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 When I first moved, I had bought a motorolla sbg6580 because it was compatible with comcast and the best router I saw within a price range. I always had 3 computers connected to it, at least 3 iPhones at a time, could easily stream through apple tv and download movies/files at the same time as using other devices without it getting too overwhelmed. Unfortunately, that did not work with my home office phone, so I had to upgrade to a Motorolla Surfboard eXtreme with MoCA here. Have not had a single issue with it, and works well through remote desktop while other people are still sucking on data... My IT guy at my office down in stuart told me this is literally the best modem/router you can possibly own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irev210 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have been very happy with my Asus rt ac66r I believe it will do all the things you are wanting to, but I don't do all those so I can't speak from experience on those things. I have numerous devices connected via WiFi and wired and it performs very well 4 phones an Xbox 360 Xbox one couple TVs DTV boxes one computer and 4 laptops its a beast for sure! I tried running tomato on it but it was above my level of expertise so I'm on Merlin's firmware now and its even better now. Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk I second this. The ASUS RT-AC66* is a very good router. There are some fancier routers that have juiced QAM on the 2.4 but no clients to even take advantage. You can score a refurb'd RT-AC66 for just over a 100 bucks or a new one for around 160, making it the best value out there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digiblur Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I second this. The ASUS RT-AC66* is a very good router. There are some fancier routers that have juiced QAM on the 2.4 but no clients to even take advantage. You can score a refurb'd RT-AC66 for just over a 100 bucks or a new one for around 160, making it the best value out there. I also highly agree with this router. I have the RT-N66u (non-AC version) and love it! Especially with Tomato firmware. It's beast of a router! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el1117 Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 We have a General Topics section for these off topic discussions. Thread moved. AJ Thanks. Sorry. Posted from Tapatalk and had trouble finding the right thread. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el1117 Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thanks to all. I had been leaning toward the Asus since watching a couple reviews. This seals the deal. Much appreciated. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnicekid Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What is tomato firmware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digiblur Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What is tomato firmware? http://tomato.groov.pl/?page_id=81 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paynefanbro Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 This is a router that I recently picked up from Best Buy for cheap. It has excellent range and is dual band. The only thing is that there is not AC support. It comes with a phone app (for Android and iPhone) and set up is very easy. I love how the app tells me when network usage is high automatically. You can also set the speed cap on your router using the software and so much more. I would give this router a 9/10. The only reason I don't give it a 10/10 is because of the lack of AC support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAREND Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 We've discussed this topic before, but i like the Asus RT-N66u with the additional Asus high gain antenna. I got signal almost a block away from the router with the high gain antenna. That was cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What is tomato firmware? It is the directional "cantenna" that you firmly attach to a pole. No, it is not? Oh, then it is just a stupid name. AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickel Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 It is the directional "cantenna" that you firmly attach to a pole. No, it is not? Oh, then it is just a stupid name. AJ Do you think they make Tomacco firmware too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belusnecropolis Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 When they do people will knock down walls to get it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richy Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I found the following site pretty good! http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ Theres also a couple of routers that are giving near NAS levels of speed for connected drives. Depending on what you want from a NAS you may be able to achieve the same from a decent router. When I looke at NAS's I found them pretty darn expensive for the hardware involved. All the arm based ones completely blow at any form of RAID 5/6 due to the parity calculations. The x86 based ones cost a lot of money. If you have a few spare parts it can be better to roll your own NAS and if your storage requirements can be handled by a single USB drive then one of the newer faster routers may do the job. The new Netgear n7000 gets close to 60MB/s read rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascertion Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 We've discussed this topic before, but i like the Asus RT-N66u with the additional Asus high gain antenna. I got signal almost a block away from the router with the high gain antenna. That was cool. Are you talking about the antennas that come with the router, or are they a separate add-on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAREND Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Are you talking about the antennas that come with the router, or are they a separate add-on? This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobilesolutions Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Engenius 1750 AC is a great mid price dual band router, wicked if you have some switches and POE sectors to play with . -William Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dedub Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Any recommendations for dual (or tri) WAN routers that can consistently load balance (not simple failover) between dis-separate (cable vs dsl) internet connections, and support USB or WIFI wan's? I am not looking for 'bonded' wan connections, but something that can distribute individual loads over the least loaded/fastest connection at the time. Without the complexity of pfsense/etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericwalton Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Any recommendations for dual (or tri) WAN routers that can consistently load balance (not simple failover) between dis-separate (cable vs dsl) internet connections, and support USB or WIFI wan's? I am not looking for 'bonded' wan connections, but something that can distribute individual loads over the least loaded/fastest connection at the time. Without the complexity of pfsense/etc. I once had a need for this. I used pfsense as back then I couldn't find any solutions that weren't costly. I still use pfsense though and really don't find it all that complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbs123456 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2429130,00.asp This when its available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rp3 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 The RT-n66u has been rock solid for me. I have 21 devices connected to between wired and wireless. Be running over six months with out a reboot other than firmware updates. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobilesolutions Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Any recommendations for dual (or tri) WAN routers that can consistently load balance (not simple failover) between dis-separate (cable vs dsl) internet connections, and support USB or WIFI wan's? I am not looking for 'bonded' wan connections, but something that can distribute individual loads over the least loaded/fastest connection at the time. Without the complexity of pfsense/etc. Have you ever heard of MikroTik? -William Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascertion Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I just bought this one and it's pretty awesome so far! Reaches every room in my house while still maintaining a signal greater than -65dBm!!! http://www.bestbuy.com/site/802-11ac-dual-band-gigabit-wireless-router/1688401.p;jsessionid=A8F2E55AA098B7D8DC808BFCA22EB6E0.bbolsp-app03-127?id=1219060355760&skuId=1688401&st=asus%20router&cp=1&lp=5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dedub Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Have you ever heard of MikroTik? -William I don't think so, but I will check them out. Thanks for the suggestion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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