Does anyone use AC wireless?

[thadoggfather]

got a buffalo 2 bay NAS recently with 1gigabit connectivity, so bought a $35 netgear dual band n router today that can do theoretically 450mbps wirelessly and 1gbit ethernet whereas my N600 wndr3400 can do 300mbps theoretically with only 100mbps ethernet that i have currently and with dd-wrt loaded, really stable. never reboots or have to reboot it.

also bought a usb3 gigabit ethernet adapter to accommodate this new router.

would i have been better off going for a tp-lite archer c7 ac wireless router with gigabit or did I make a decent choice on this one? or maybe some other ac wireless router without breaking the bank?

i know both are dd-wrt'able, but TP-lite is unknown to me and I had a good experience flashing netgear routers that are refurb and on sale in the past.

anyways some input would be great

i can always return the n900 from newegg even though its prepared for shipping.

 

[johnparjr]

AC is the only way to go

 

[thadoggfather]

Do you have an AC router you'd recommend?

AC66U or R7000 perhaps?

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Apple's own Time Capsules/Airport Extremes/Expresses support ac, and are great.

Apple's routers also provide the easiest setup I've ever experienced with routers, and the best performance when bridging between each other for extended networks that I've ever seen.

Can't go wrong with the return policy either, give them a go!

 

[thadoggfather]

wow i can't believe after dwelling on this all day, I missed before my very eyes a refurb for $129:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE918LL/A/refurbished-airport-extreme

cancelling all other orders/entertaining other things.

First time with apple networking gear, excited though to set it and forget it! this'll do

 

[seong]

Of all the routers I've dealt with, Apple ones were by far the simplest to setup and use. If you use Apple devices, it's a bonus!

 

[thadoggfather]

How's throughput on the ac extreme ?

I hear it's not great compared to alternatives. Hopefully good enough for my
NAS and such

I guess I will find out

 

[Wallabe]

Been using Apple ac router for a long time now. It's the fastest out there. Faster than my brothers's Asus' ac junk. When I tried using Airdrop on my brother's Asus network (new too), it transferred at about 5-8MB/s. With my Apple ac router, it sustains at 33MB/s over the 300GB of data transfer. This is definitely better than using a USB drive. It saves a significant amount of time by transfering it directly at a much faster speed.

I never had to reset the router and I don't remember having to reconfigure after my first setup. I remember having to reset and re-setup other brands when it randomly just doesn't feel like working anymore: Netgear, Asus, Dlink, etc. Apple is the way to go.

You get what you pay for. Apple is worth the reliability and the fastest out there.

 

[thadoggfather]

yeah seems like AC may still be in its infancy from having a plethora of stable routers out there.

some of the mixed stuff i've read in the past day have made me really confused.

I hope this airport extreme cuts it, eyeing the R7000 still as well. The wrt1900ac seems like a nostalgic looking WRT54G box but even more premium than R7000. And tp-link scares me. same with asus for some reason for routing.

 

[shenan1982]

+1 for the Apple Time Capsule. I just replaced my 2012 iMac 27" with a iMac 5k, HELLO 802.11ac... And now I just replaced my 2014 MBA with a 2015 rMB, hello 802.11ac.

Make sure if you're using the Apple routers that you're using the 5ghz band if possible (it's more prone to wall interference, etc, but worth it if you're in a small area of connectivity).

 

[thadoggfather]

best deal right now for a non apple AC in my mind is R7000+ a 300mbps compatible modem for when and if my area gets that speed bump for $200 from newer, no tax. I'd pay $195 with amazon price match at best buy after tax, I think newegg would be the route to go.

Wondering if I'm going to regret going AE from a throughput perspective to my dedicated NAS appliance... main concern honestly not all worried about wireless with my 50mbps internet connection..

Seems like tried and true might be good going into this FUD-filled AC router choices for consumers, and apple AE price can't be beat $129+tax for refurb with one year warranty too.

sorry for all the talking and deliberation out there, I just know how finicky routers can be. Maybe I should be glad I'm going AC at all coming from my wndr3400 that's dual band N and 10/100

 

[Wallabe]

MacMall doesn't have tax. At least in my state. Check it out.

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-Wireless-Networking/product~dpno~9690676~pdp.idagddh
$184.99 New, no tax, free shipping.

I can't recommend anything other than Apple's router. I tried all the other brands, thinking I'd save some money, and all routers are just as good. I am tired of it disconnecting my internet, especially when I'm in the middle of playing a game. I don't have to deal with that BS anymore since I switched to Apple's.

 

[nvarga]

Does anyone know if new version of AE is going to be released this year?
I'm also considering Asus, but as you already said, I'm tired of setting, reseting...
Just want to set it and forget it. How is AE in managing one computer watching youtube and other downloading files?

 

[satcomer]

best deal right now for a non apple AC in my mind is R7000+ a 300mbps compatible modem for when and if my area gets that speed bump for $200 from newer, no tax. I'd pay $195 with amazon price match at best buy after tax, I think newegg would be the route to go.

Wondering if I'm going to regret going AE from a throughput perspective to my dedicated NAS appliance... main concern honestly not all worried about wireless with my 50mbps internet connection..

Seems like tried and true might be good going into this FUD-filled AC router choices for consumers, and apple AE price can't be beat $129+tax for refurb with one year warranty too.

sorry for all the talking and deliberation out there, I just know how finicky routers can be. Maybe I should be glad I'm going AC at all coming from my wndr3400 that's dual band N and 10/100

If you decide a third party router then please consider bookmarking the Apple Support site TCP and UDP ports used by Apple Software products to open ports on that router.

 

[Wallabe]

Does anyone know if new version of AE is going to be released this year?
I'm also considering Asus, but as you already said, I'm tired of setting, reseting...
Just want to set it and forget it. How is AE in managing one computer watching youtube and other downloading files?

I don't think Apple is releasing another airport unless they plan to have a new standard with it.

The UFO Airport had G, the square Airport had N, this current tower Airport has AC. It probably won't be at least a few years before they release one with 802.11ad, with a maximum tranmission rate of 7Gbit/s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

The current Airport is more than enough for 4K youtube streaming, if that's what you're concerned about.

 

[Altemose]

AirPort Extremes can be purchased from Apple Refurbished for $129.00. I have bought them multiple times for multiple clients without issues.

 

[nvarga]

Wallabe thanks for your answer. Regarding my youtube concern - now I have 10mbit adsl with provider router. When I play youtube in ipad, all other devices suffer in terms of responsivnes. If I download files on one computer, ipad wont play youtube videos well. I think QoS is what I'm looking for.
I plan to buy new router to manage this problems. I will be getting new 100mbit internet soon too.

 

[thadoggfather]

^^ yep the refurb one is what i ordered

 

[Altemose]

Wallabe thanks for your answer. Regarding my youtube concern - now I have 10mbit adsl with provider router. When I play youtube in ipad, all other devices suffer in terms of responsivnes. If I download files on one computer, ipad wont play youtube videos well. I think QoS is what I'm looking for.
I plan to buy new router to manage this problems. I will be getting new 100mbit internet soon too.

What router are you currently using? The AirPort's QoS is not configurable but in my experience works extremely well. Remember that a poorly configured QoS is just as bad if not worse than no QoS at all. AirPort takes care of all of that for you and we use one as the router on a 150+ client network.

 

[nvarga]

Current router is Thomson, pretty bad device. If AE does QoS automatily, the better. I will go ahead and buy it, thank you!

 

[Altemose]

@nvarga Thomson networking equipment is rather lackluster and poor performing generally. You won't be disappointed with the AirPort Extreme. I would get it refurbished for $129 from Apple. Also, if you have AppleCare on any of your Apple TVs, iPads, or Macs, it is covered under that agreement. Also, if you buy a device in the future (up to two years from now) and put AppleCare on it, the AirPort will automatically be covered.

 

[yadmonkey]

First, to answer your question, I have always used the fastest wired routers available for my home setup and finally decided to try an all-wireless setup when I moved into a new home last July. If AC wasn't up to snuff I would go wired again. Almost a year later I can say that I'm thrilled with the performance of AC and I am not looking back.

I've been using a Nighthawk R7000 and love it. Setup was easy and it has been a super fast, rock solid performer since day one. I keep it in my basement and I get full bars anywhere in my house, including the third floor and porch.

I've installed hundreds of routers over the years and while Apple's offerings are certainly the easiest to set up, there is always a third-party alternative that is faster and gets better range. Also, the gap is closing in terms of ease of set-up. The Nighthawk routers are relatively easy if you're not a complete novice. I've installed a few R8000s as well and they are absolute beasts in performance and range.

I'd personally give the R7000 an edge over the AE, but they are both great, powerful routers.

 

[Altemose]

The Nighthawk will give better benchmark performance however the AirPorts offer better ease of use, reliability, and simplicity. People get caught up in benchmarks when we likely will not fully utilize the power of these routers during their usable lifespan. My Suburban goes 85 according to the speedometer while my friends Jeep goes 120 according to the speedometer. Neither one has ever gone above 80 despite the Jeep being able to "theoretically" go faster. The Nighthawk may bench higher but I rarely see a difference in performance between the two in day to day use.

 

[thadoggfather]

anyone else experience this on their AC? this is the first thing I've seen that I know shouldn't be broken but is. on chrome and safari, I wonder if its a 10.10.4 beta bug, or what. disabled ublock too...

hmm is there something wrong with my router on basis of this? i've had some crappy routers that break stuff in webpages that shouldnt but that was a REALLY long time ago.

havent yet seen other evidence but curious now

yikes seeing it on my retina mini on 8.3 too, not even jailbroken or anything.

Do I have a dud ac wireless? whats at play? maybe weird isp issues?

 

[Altemose]

@thadoggfather I doubt your router has anything to do with this...