Best prosumer router?

[alizee]

I realize this question has probably been asked before, but I didn't see a thread that exactly answered my questions.

I'm looking for a wireless router that has a few features:
- 2+ VLANs
- VPN (IPsec preferably, not completely necessary)
- 802.11ac, as many streams as possible within budget
- DynDNS and OpenDNS support built-in (not completely necessary)
- No restarting between changes

Budget is up to $300, but prefer closer to $200. The router will be feeding a Cisco SLM2024, internet is Time Warner 50/10.

Thanks for the help!

 

[John Connor]

Maybe this router http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320174

and this firmware. http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Asus_RT-N66U

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm looking for a wireless router that has a few features:
- VPN (IPsec preferably, not completely necessary)

My Engenius ESR1200 AC1200 router has a VPN server, something better than PPTP.

- 802.11ac, as many streams as possible within budget

Two streams. AC1200, 867Mb/s 802.11ac + 300Mb/s 2.4Ghz.

- DynDNS and OpenDNS support built-in (not completely necessary)

I think it might have dynamic DNS, though it might only have Engenius's own, for their "cloud" features.

- No restarting between changes

That's a tough one. Most routers, even DD-WRT routers, need to restart for some types of changes.

 

[Concillian]

First think is decoding the "classes" (AC1200 / AC1750 / AC1900... etc...)

This page is very good for that:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...316-how-to-buy-a-wireless-router-2014-edition

It has a table partway down that breaks down what those really mean.

That's the hardware.

The software is what gets into your other features. As long as you get a compatible router, then you can load dd-wrt with just about every feature known to man... but most will require a software re-start (few seconds downtime) between changes. Some more major changes require hardware re-starts.

Standard firmwares are better than they used to be. Most support the features you are asking for. Some are available for "test drive" like the ASUS firmware:
http://event.asus.com/2012/nw/dummy_ui/en/index.html

In general $200 range is AC1900 routers of several different brands. ~1250 Mbps on AC and 600 on N. The majority of high end home routers are AC1750 or AC1900, as these max out the 2.4GHz N at 600 Mbps and have even better AC speeds on the 5GHz. Price jumps get big for further AC speed increases that are really only needed in special cases at this point. You can definitely get a decent wireless router for $200ish.

 

[PliotronX]

That's a tough one. Most routers, even DD-WRT routers, need to restart for some types of changes.

True, but some are worse than others. I remember before 802.11n at least when D-Link routers would need to restart for every single change made. DD-WRT fares a lot better in that respect and boots up quite quickly. I prefer Gargoyle for performance though.

 

[JackMDS]

Unless One can define well his/her Wireless network needs/use and give a Wireless oriented description of his/her environment, expression like Best etc. are totally meaningless.

Therefore, as an "average", the best Wireless Router is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320091

Its stock firmware is very Good and it can take Merlin, Tomato, DD-WRT, and more if special features are needed

It cost $70-80 less than the top of the line. Whatever extra the Top of the line Gizmos provide is probably meaningless for most main stream users.



​

 

[tinmann]

I use a ASUS RT-AC68U router with a Asus PCE AC68 wireless adapter. Single best investment in hardware this year.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My ESR1200 and five PT-8812AU AC1200 USB3.0 adapters were one of my better investments as well. My LAN generally runs pretty smooth.

However, it seems my demands are hard on wireless routers. I stream internet radio 24/7, and that tends to cause wireless routers to heat up, and eventually, drop out and reboot. It's happened with pretty-much every router that I've tried, up to and including my ESR1200. I have it sandwiched between a gigabit switch, and an Asus router on top running Tomato for my IPv6 tunnel needs.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Unless One can define well his/her Wireless network needs/use and give a Wireless oriented description of his/her environment, expression like Best etc. are totally meaningless.

Therefore, as an "average", the best Wireless Router is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320091

Its stock firmware is very Good and it can take Merlin, Tomato, DD-WRT, and more if special features are needed

It cost $70-80 less than the top of the line. Whatever extra the Top of the line Gizmos provide is probably meaningless for most main stream users.



​

Yup. Very good router. I like to show people this graph a lot:

Sure your new AC routers might be fast as hell but maybe if you're in the same room or one room away. Go any distance away, and you start losing signal. In Smallnetbuilder's tests, some of the location D & F tests just flat out failed for the AC routers. You can't even pick up signal that far out.

The N66U really holds signal well, and same with the 2.4ghz band. Whereas my AC66U is already dropping down into single digits for speed (mbps), the N66U is holding 20-30mbps.

In many ways I regret buying the AC66U and shelling out $180. It was the best AC router of its time according to Smallnetbuilder, but then I didn't really think well about range. The N66U would've done just fine in our situation and maintained better bandwidth for users around the apartment.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Dlerium, are those graphs from the initial release of those routers, when Asus was running way above the FCC limits for power output?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Dlerium, are those graphs from the initial release of those routers, when Asus was running way above the FCC limits for power output?

I thought the power issue was only for 5 GHz? Perhaps the N66 is running older firmware there and so looks a lot better, but Smallnetbuilder claims they only saw it on 5 GHz, so the 2.4 GHz advantage in the N66U should still be apaprent.

 

[sonitravel09]

An N600 class router is probably your best bet.
Put whatever you buy on a UPS to protect against power spikes and brownouts.
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