Reddit reviews ASUS RT-AC5300 AC5300 Tri-band WiFi Gaming Router, MU-MIMO, AiProtection Lifetime Security by Trend Micro, AiMesh compatible for Mesh WiFi System, WTFast game accelerator,Black

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=psdc_300189_t3_B00S9SGNNS

They have to appeal to the "Gamur" crowd that think having routers that look like eldritch sacrificial altars are cool.

The entire branding for game related gear is ridiculous, it's like the 90s all over again.

It is: http://amzn.com/B0167HG1V6

Was looking into it some time ago, but opted for an extender instead.

you referring to this monstrosity?

http://smile.amazon.com/RT-AC5300-Wireless-Tri-Band-AiProtection-Complete/dp/B0167HG1V6/

Yeah, you should be getting more than that on most hardware especially on 5g bands.
You won't ever get what the line is capable of, overhead and all that jazz.

I'm on spectrum 1gig over coax. The up is severely limited, I get max like 50mb on a good day but my pixel 3 xl on 5g just cleared 370mbs down via fast.com.

https://i.imgur.com/FyrGz4p.png

I've been using this router https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_nwQjDb2M89SGX
for almost 2 years, best router I have ever had.

What we got from att: https://m.att.com/shopmobile/cellphones/att/wireless-home-phone-and-internet.html

the router we are using is via ethernet port: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0167HG1V6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500783438&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=asus+5300&dpPl=1&dpID=41W-l7KcX6L&ref=plSrch

>I had no idea that the model numbers even meant anything specific across manufacturers.

They generally don't. That would be an uncommon exception and not the rule.

You're confusing "Product descriptions in titles on websites" with "Model numbers".

Let's examine Amazon's offerings:

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Description: TP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750 Dual Band Wireless AC Gigabit Router, 2.4GHz 450Mbps+5Ghz 1300Mbps, 2 USB Ports, IPv6, Guest Network

Model name: Archer C7

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Description: NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band Wi-Fi Gigabit Router (R7000)

Model number: R7000-100PAS

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Description: TP-LINK TL-WR940N V3 Wireless N450 Home Router, Up to 450Mbps, 3 External Antennas, IP QoS, WPS Button

TL-WR940N

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Description: D-Link DIR-813 AC750 Wi-Fi Router

Model number: DIR-813


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In summary: Model numbers generally don't mean jack shit. There's probably one or maybe two or perhaps a handful of retail routers out there with their specs in their model number but it is a rare exception and not an industry wide practice.

It seems to me that what you really meant to say is "I had no idea product specs meant something" or "I had no idea a number with an N or AC was the router's total bandwidth" and again - knowledge is power. Now you know more. But these are the very basics and they can all be inferred from reading a couple of products' specifications.


In defense of Zeyn1 he never stated this falsehood that these were model numbers. You made that part up yourself. He never once states those N(X) or AC(X) numbers are model numbers. You either misunderstood him or, more likely, the advertisements for routers.

To put it simply there is a near-zero difference in saying "AC1750/1900/3200" and saying "1750/1900/3200 Mbps" because you'd never find a router rated for that bandwidth that wasn't AC.

It is a very convenient way to separate between the two protocols whilst still revealing the most marketable property of a router - its wireless bandwidth.

I am of the opinion that the linked comment doesn't go into any real depth about anything. It is becoming of the ELI5 subreddit but does it belong here? I think not.

But that's just my perspective and someone with even more knowledge than me would come to the same conclusion about a comment that goes ten times deeper than that one so it is indeed all subjective.

Not sure about your specific situation obviously, but in my experience living in various places across DFW has been that purchasing your own network hardware makes the biggest difference in internet quality. Especially if it's cable, go get your own 8+ channel modem and a decent quality router. This is what I've got and since then complaints around the house have reduced dramatically:

Modem:
https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6141-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B00AJHDZSI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483071039&sr=8-1&keywords=Surfboard%2Bmodem&th=1

Router:
https://www.amazon.com/RT-AC5300-Wireless-Tri-Band-AiProtection-Complete/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483071162&sr=8-3&keywords=Asus+wifi+router

The router is pricier than necessary but I had gotten it for some of the extra parental features (specifically it can schedule internet time for the kiddos by their device)

Also it goes without saying that if your internet up to your house sucks, this kind of stuff won't make any difference. However most cable companies simply provide or lease whatever old equipment they have lying around, usually with an all in one modem/router which is less than ideal for reliability. Getting your own quality stuff can and will make a difference if this is the case.

For your second problem, I had similar issues on my old home network. In my case, it was only when someone was streaming something from the server, though.

Anyhow, after doing tons of testing, I determined that my router was just not capable of handling what I was throwing at it any longer. I threw money at the problem and got a router that is overkill, but it completely fixed all my issues. I have a feeling your #1 and #2 issues are probably related.

We were having things happen like... if we were streaming from the Plex Server to the Roku (which is on WIFI), then page requests on our phones' web browsers would take 30-60 seconds to complete. It was pretty extreme and really bad. We just started using 4g at home, but then started running out of bandwidth.

You probably don't need a router as crazy as the one I got, but I would look for something in the $200-300 price range that has a dual core.

Your modem wasn't an issue, it was the router attached to the modem. I think you wasted your money there.

If you want a hecking good router, the [Asus AC5300 is a fan favorite] (https://www.amazon.com/Tri-band-AiProtection-Accelerator-Compatible-RT-AC5300/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=bdl_pop_ttl_B0167HG1V6). Ensure you sacrifice an xbox 360 to it now and then to keep it happy.

[The TP-Link Archer AC1900] (https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-AC1900-Smart-Router/dp/B00PDLRHFW/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1522431079&sr=1-3&keywords=dual+band+router+tp-link) also has great wireless speeds and control. I recommend this one, TPLink has good products.

And like all home routers it has just 4 ethernet ports. Switches aren't expensive but having an extra one sitting next to my router adds clutter.

It would have cost them about $5 to have 6 or 8 ethernet ports. I can understand why most $50 routers only have 4 ethernet ports but at nearly $300 they can afford to throw in a couple of extra ports. Even the $500 RT-AC5300 comes with just 4.

Sure MU-MIMO improves speed but also so does cabling the devices in your home that can be. Having upwards of 15 devices in a home that use the Internet is now basically the norm.

Seems you went up against some WiFi warriors.

WiFi apologists needed to understand that with even the best router, unpredictable microwave interference can occur.

Honestly I feel most WiFi people are using the default router/modem combo supplied by their ISP. They are definitely not using something like this :

https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Tri-Band-RT-AC5300-802-11ac-Optimization/dp/B0167HG1V6

I would recommend staying away from any of the modem/router combos. Mainly if one of the components goes bad you'll need to replace the whole thing.

I'm going on the assumption that you do not have the Comcast Voice (telephone) service, you can't go wrong with the SURFboard SB6183, SURFboard SB6190, or if you want to go cheap the Zoom 5341J is a good modem.

As for WiFi.. depends on your needs.. how many users, how big your house is, how much coverage is needed.. You can get something relatively low cost such as the TP-LINK TL-WDR3500 or you can spend a ton of cash on something like this monster ASUS RT-AC5300.

I've been really impressed with this ASUS. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

It is a high end router, it is not the sacrificial altar of wireless orgasms but really good for the price. I actually just bit the bullet and bought mine from T-Mo and flashed Merlin on it.

this is a nighthawk

edit: and this is some sort of alien mothership from the same search

My Gut is telling my the WiFi in the basement will cause issues for the 3rd floor. But;

I personally run an ASUS AC5300 and it has Amazing Range. As /u/Ghan_04 said, DD-WRT is awesome. You can flash most routers (there is a DB you can check to verify compatibility first).

With your budget, you can pick up a used AC5300.

Amazon Linky

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When was this house built? I learned (the hard way) that modern homes have what are called "Fire Breaks" built into the walls. It's literally a 2x4 piece of wood that runs horizontal between the vertical beams.

This means you have to find, drill through them, run your wire(s), and then back fill the hole to ensure any wall-fire can't easily spread through your home.

Also, check out Monoprice.com. You can get some Cheap Cat6A STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) "riser cable" (Which you'd want to use if running through walls. Example Link for: Cat6A STP

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Finally, from doing this myself not too long ago, you can find basically all of the keystones, wall plates, etc. on Monoprice for a Fraction of the price that you'd pay on Amazon and like 1/10th the price of HomeDepot.

Yes you need either an access point or a wireless repeater. Access point will be the most reliable option. Or get a beast router like ASUS RT-AC5300 Wireless AC5300 Tri-Band Gigabit Router, AiProtection with Trend Micro for Complete Network Security https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PnhlybS1YKYKY and it will light up your entire house.

Like this one. I use that one and get 15 ping to swedish servers (live in Norway). There is also a big chimney in the way too.
The router probably helps alot too

Yes, the router has to be MU-MIMO as well. I just recently bought an ASUS AC-5300 and I wanted to try to get the most out of it :)

It appears Amazon has it for $262.

Edit: Oh, and the pictures you've provided are not timestamps

Edit 2: Linked the wrong item, this is the correct one.

Wait, your WiFi router is plugged in to power line? Stop it. Get an this router and connect it directly to your modem. If the signal isn't strong enough, use wifi repeaters as necessary. My router provides coverage through an entire 3100 sq ft, 3-story house.

It really depends on the size of the house and what the walls are made out of. My parents house isn't that big but it's old and the walls are plaster and have chicken wire in between them. I needed 3 APs to cover the house and networks speeds were iffy on the remote APs compared to the main one. This was a 802.11n network though.

I don't know where the bottleneck is on your network exactly so I'd troubleshoot starting with the least expensive options first to determine where it is before you go and spend lots of money.

1. $15 If it's an option, buy a cheap switch and move the NAS to room B as I mentioned above and see if that improves performance.
   
   
2. $35 Buy a Chromecast and see if it performs any better than the Roku Stick.
   
   
3. $80-200 Buy a Roku 3/4 or Nvidia Shield TV. Regular settop box might get better receptions than a streaming stick.
   
   
4. $200 Buy 2x Ubiquit UAC-AC-LR Wireless Access Points. These are considered the best APs on the market and these are the long range versions. I personally love these things
   
   
5. $370 Buy THIS MONSTROSITY and pray the signal reaches all corners of your home.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=psdc_300189_t3_B00S9SGNNS

>If I am paying for 50 mbps up and down internet, how fast should i be downloading a steam game? I just tried it plugged up to my router and it was averaging round 1mbps but shot up to 4/5 at some points.

50 Mbit throughput connection peaks at 6.25 MB/sec, given you are actually getting 50 Mbit through the line. Don't just take your ISP's word for it though, do a speed test to validate the stability of your connection. If you are on wifi, you will experience slower speeds unless you have a really nice dual channel 5 GHz router in an area where the channels aren't over saturated with connections.

>When i downloaded the steam game however, after i downloaded 2/3rds of the game it would keep dropping to 0 bytes and staying there for a while, any idea why that is?

This could be a connection issue, depending on if you are on wired or wifi, and depending on the condition of your ethernet cable. Or it can be an issue where you are downloading faster than your hard drive can write. Go to your downloads section and look at your drive activity, or look in the Windows task manager and look at what the write time is on your hard drive. Eg: is it pegged at 100%?

>I'm thinking about getting a new router because my wifi is very shotty, slow, and weak. what kind would you recommend?

This probably leads me to assume you are on wifi which explains everything you are experiencing. This Asus RT-AC68U will do anything you need it to, and then some.

As always, I recommend you to connect any system you will use for gaming hard wired, no matter how good of a wifi router you have. Even if I had this bad boy, I would still go with a Gigabit ethernet connection over wifi for a gaming machine, or anything that was data extensive. Save wifi for mobile devices that you are actually moving around with.

Yeah I know I didn't leave much but I haven't had a problem for almost a year like that. I'm seeing issues of it not being stable even at 1000kbps. I also replaced the modem and ordered this router. Its funny since thats the image on the front page of this sub.

What you want to look at is the physical layer data rate or PHY link speed. That's the maximum speed you could ever get with that router under perfect conditions (and that will NEVER happen), so your going to get some fraction of that speed.

The Comcast gateway is using a chip that is better than anything in any available routers currently, it has an 8.6Gbps link speed: http://www.quantenna.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/QSR10GTV1.0.pdf

It also has 8 streams, so it can be sending/receiving data on 8 'lanes' at once. Your wireless card supports 4 steams/lanes. Ideally 4 of those 8 stream would be talking to your card to get the maximum speed, and the other 4 would be talking to your other devices. Your current router supports 3 streams, which already shows you one of the problems with it. It can only utilize 75% of the capability of your wireless card, and that's only if your wireless card is the only wireless device talking to it.

Let's look at the PHY link speed of your router, it's 1300 (it's called an AC1750, but that's because they add the 2.4 (450) and the 5ghz (1300) together). Your PHY link speed on 5ghz is 1300mbps, or about 1/6th of the Comcast gateway.

So, if you want something close to the Comcast gateway in terms of performance, you want something with 8 streams (though 4 is fine, IF your computer will be the only thing that uses wi-fi) and the highest PHY link rate you can find. Let's look around...

The closest I could find is this: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-RT-AC5300-AiProtection-Compatible-Accelerator/dp/B0167HG1V6/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=ac5300&qid=1566910918&s=gateway&sr=8-2&th=1

But it's not very close in reality. For starters, they inflate the numbers, it's not really AC5300, it's 2167+2167+1000. So it's PHY link speed is really 2167. It's 4x4 not 8x8.

It seems router manufacturers are not terribly interested in pushing 802.11ac to it's limits. They probably figure if people want gigabit+ wireless speeds they should move to 802.11ad and buy their new 802.11ad routers. Which may be an option for you, but you'd need a new wireless card, and be aware that 802.11ad doesn't have as good of range as 802.11ac.

Since it's a desktop (I assume based on the PCIe adapter) and probably doesn't move anyway, best solution is probably to look at Ethernet/powerline/MoCa for some sort of wired connection.

If you're gonna do it, go full goddamn hog

I had this precise issue... I have an 18mbps connection and that should be able to handle all that traffic (I think). I ditched the provider's router and got my own like you did.

I went with the ASUS RT-AC5300. No complaints since