How much better is AirPort Extreme (DUAL-BAND) than a Netgear N300 Wireless Router(SINGLE BAND)?

[HappyDude20]

So my home currently has a Netgear N300 Wireless Router V3. I believe it claims up to 300mbps speeds but my home internet provider is at 100mbps so I’m not testing the wireless router to its limits it seems

never the less I pose this question because I believe this Netgear wireless router is only single band And not dual band which I’m told is a big deal in wanting reliable and constant internet usage. Which leads me to my next point that in my home (just moved in a few weeks ago) the WiFi internet seems to just stop working at times and ‘wireless diagnostics’ on MacOS doesn’t seem to be of much help.

the home security cameras connected to WiFi seem tobe unavailable at times, my iPhone and Mac and iPad will just stop loading safari web pages usually in the evening and my ps4 constantly asks for me to re-enter the WiFi password upon turning it on.

I have a friend that lives across the country that is willing to sell and ship his old AirPort Extreme to me. He states it’s the 5th Gen and all I know is it’s dual band and I also know that there’s a newer version of AirPort Extreme but don’t know if I should even concern my self with that.

 

[anthover]

Don't bother, that extreme is way to old, that router is like 10 years out of date. Apple's last router the tower extreme was very good was last updated 2013 if I recall (AC band Model). First note the size of our home, construction of your home, walls between locations, number of floors if any are all variables. While your ISP speed is not irrelevant its not the point. Wifi speed drops off sharpley with distance and aforementioned home construction and clients connected. In fact you can get to the point where it is basically non existant in parts of your home, as you have noticed. And of course neighbor signals can interfere too.

Up until recently (around 2013 best single router tech was AC). Thing is Single router tech is still just that. What most really want is Mesh routers. Mesh routers use two preferably three or more wifi access points acting together as one Wifi network. Something like Orbi Netgear. They have separate back channel wifi antenna and frequencies for communicating with each other then those antenna and frequencies for communicating with clients. Note that mesh is different then WDS or Apple version extend that used two routers but sacrificed at least 1/2 the speed to talk to each other versus the client.

For reference a good mesh system like Orbi netgear (one of the best mesh systems) with 1 router and two satellites can be bought on sale for around $250 (e.g. rbk53). This is their higher end kit that claims to to cover 7500 square feet which is hyberbole still. You always want the most capable because wireless only gets so far even with mesh. Note wifi is long conversation. At least with Orbi it is lot cheaper to buy a kit with 1 router and 2 satellites up front then add a satellite later. With Orbi you basically can buy the aformentioned 3 pack for almost the same price as adding 1 more satellite later. With other brands the price delta later can be less. Again really long conversation but these systems have differing features like how many ethernet ports on satellites if you want to use wired at a satellite location to a client, etc. Some companies like ero and plume want to charge you forever to give the best speed (optimizing signals on the fly they claim).

You can easily spend way more when things are not on sale. If you frequent Costco, BJ, etc look for a sale on Orbi, Google, etc. You can easily spend almost $500 when things are not on sale. There are tons of models from each company and things change at least yearly. And now they are in the process of changing the naming convention of the wifi where AC band models are Wifi 5. Wifi 6 is a newer and very expensive standard at the moment (not worth it because at the moment almost none of the client machines [phones, computers, etc support it]).

 

[zhenya]

Agreed. Forget about both of those and just buy a new mesh system.

 

[squiredogs]

I'm in the same boat. My eyes are rolling into the back of my head reading mesh and router reviews. My is Time Capsule is my main router on the 2nd floor, I get wifi everywhere in my 2.5 story house. I am thinking of grabbing a used Extreme 6th gen and connecting it at a ethernet switch that feeds my apple tv on the 1st floor as a stopgap. I was considering Synology or a Amplifi Alien, but they cost a lot, and I'd also need to replace the NAS of the Time Capsule. I think that will be fine for our house for a while, our laptops are just a 2012 11" air, and a couple chrome books the kids need for school, and our 4 phones are SE, 6S, 7, 7S. The AppleTV's (4th gen) and attic 2012 mac mini are wired. The only thing, if I get a new MacBook in the next couple of years, I might feel the upgrade to mesh bug.

My only other issue is that there are a lot of houses close together where I live, I can see 9 networks when I click on the signal indicator on my Air. Does the newer mesh stuff help with interference any more or less than a TC & Extreme setup?
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By the way, I have comcast 300mbps service. The mini showed the full 300 and then some on speediest yesterday, but the Air downstairs is pulling 9-30Mbps on wifi, so since I spend the most time downstairs on the laptop, I figure I might want to upgrade the network with the extra Extreme. Or, maybe just leave it as is and really save money waiting. Although a used extreme will be like 50-75 bucks, and probably could be resold again in a year.

Is there anything about adding the Extreme as an access point (wired) that could make my setup worse?

 

[HappyDude20]

Is there anything about adding the Extreme as an access point (wired) that could make my setup worse?

I believe that’ll halve the speed of your WiFi if I’m not mistaken.
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Agreed. Forget about both of those and just buy a new mesh system.

I hear you, everyone is saying forget about what I’ve mentioned and go for mesh. However $250 is a lot compared to the $20 I can get this 5th Gen AirPort Extreme. In aware it’s an older model but was hoping the dual bandwould be better than the current Netgear wireless router I have now. If I’m not mistaken the Netgear router came out in like 2008 and the 5th Gen AirPort Extreme Was released in 2013.

As much as I’m interested in WiFi 6, Currently none of my devices support that so that’s still just a dream out there for the moment.

 

[Weaselboy]

However $250 is a lot compared to the $20 I can get this 5th Gen AirPort Extreme.

i think for $20 it is worth a shot. Even though the AE is a little old, it is still a perfectly serviceable router for many people.

 

[zhenya]

I hear you, everyone is saying forget about what I’ve mentioned and go for mesh. However $250 is a lot compared to the $20 I can get this 5th Gen AirPort Extreme. In aware it’s an older model but was hoping the dual bandwould be better than the current Netgear wireless router I have now. If I’m not mistaken the Netgear router came out in like 2008 and the 5th Gen AirPort Extreme Was released in 2013.

As much as I’m interested in WiFi 6, Currently none of my devices support that so that’s still just a dream out there for the moment.

How large of a home are you trying to cover? Mesh systems are available for as little as $100, plenty in the under $200 range.

I would not recommend most anyone buy wifi 6 mesh at this point as the price is too high relative to the minimal benefit.

 

[hobowankenobi]

If it were me, I would not roll out a 5+ year old router, much less 10 yeas old. Reliability, security, and convenience—not to mention coverage and performance—are all good reasons to ditch old routers.

There's a reason old routers can be had for $20: That's about what they are worth.

Even if one is not concerned about range/performance...many consumer-grade routers barely make it 5 years before having issues. Apple gear may do better, but generally, I would replace a router about every 3-5 years, before they fail.

For anybody that wants a router that is as easy to config and use, and is as sexy as we would expect from Apple, Amplifi HD is a great option. Plus they have mesh units that can be added if more range is needed. You can find cheaper, but I doubt you will find better (if one factors in total value: build quality, user interface, etc.)

The only downside is that this model is not wifi 6, but all of those units (as of now) are pricey, regardless of brand. Until most of one's devices are wifi 6, it won't matter....and it may make sense to wait 1-3 years for the options to mature and prices to come down for most typical users. Frankly a good wifi 5 router with a strong signal is faster than most need as of today.

 

[anthover]

Please do not delude yourself 10 old hardware is not going to help. And the old style wds, apple extend where you can combine to compatible 2 apple only or 2 same model/brand other is at best 1/2 as fast as the oldest equipment and not going to do much for range. And this not even counting interference in your own home or from neighbors wifi.

The wifi bands as they used to be called G, N, MIMO variants and then AC MIMO (short for multiple antenna on both sending and receiving). Again I could write pages about Wifi. But be short each individual router or access point can only travel so far even in an open room. Signals also travel in a foot ball shape. Better side to side then up and down so multiple floors are a challenge even with modest distance. As I have noted every time you pass though even a sheet rock wall, wood door etc signal drops off sharply. And if you have brick or plaster walls or worse, etc. Note starting around 2013 is when MIMO AC routers were a available these were not just multi band but multi Antenna as described above.

As I mentioned above Mesh uses wireless back haul wifi channels and antenna to talk to each other separate from clients (aka computers etc) as if you wired the wifi access points together. You still have to place mesh units close enough together before signal drop is off so acute that you gain no benefit. Rounding off with within about 35 feet of each other preferably with as few obstacles as possible.

Everyone's home and thus needs are different. Live in studio apt where everything is more or less 1 room you can use a single good current generation router. As soon as you get into multi room and multi floor your going to want mesh. Can you get away with a two bedroom apartment with sheet rock walls and one good AC router aka Wifi 5 (not to be confused with the 10 year old OP old airport extreme 5th gen). Yes. But your going to have drop offs in some part of the apartment generally even if the router is centrally located.

On sale and not, there are plenty of mesh routers can be had for more reasonable prices. Again their differing features and needs people have. Do they have USB ports. Do the Satellites have multiple Ethernet jacks for clients if desired, etc. I am not going to review every single one there are like a dozen brands and dozen models of each brand. Netgear Orbi are some of the best and come at different price points and bundles/models with differing numbers of satellites. Google's are good too. So are Plume and Ero but they want you to pay for lifetime optimization (which I feel should be built in and are for other brands). There are many other brands. Not counting Covid buy from a store with a good return policy and prices like Costo and see if one mesh system works well for you. My initial recommendation was a one size fits all (which is not always accurate) that would work well for most people. Some would need even more access points, some less.

One more tip when you replace your router keep the SSID (network name) and password the same. That way you will not have to every wifi using device in your home re-choose and authenticate passwords.

If you have specific questions I will answer.

Good Luck

 

[Slix]

A lot of comments here so far have suggested you just pay more to get a "vastly superior setup", and while that might be the best option, like you said in your original post, you don't necessarily need that much of an upgrade.

Our family uses a single AirPort Extreme 6th gen (802.11ac) and it covers our house pretty well. I looked up the specs on the N300 Wireless Router V3, and it seems that even though the AirPort Extreme 5th gen would be only one year newer, it would have many advantages for your set up. First, the AirPort provides Simultaneous Dual-Band Wi-Fi, so it could provide better coverage in some areas of the house. Additionally, according to the manual, the N300 V3 has only 100 Mbps Ethernet ports, so if you are using any Ethernet in your setup, you will likely notice faster local area network transfers with the Gigabit that the AirPort provides.

You may want to check out Network Utility on your Mac to see what local network speeds you're actually getting from your current router in different areas of the house. You can find this app by using Spotlight.

Also, it seems that from your post your current router may indeed be just going out. That does happen eventually for a lot of routers, but I've had better luck over the years with Apple's routers than other routers from the 2005-2013 era. Our older AirPort Extreme (same flat design, can't remember what generation) lasted for a very long time before it eventually stopped working.

I personally think for only $20 it would be worth a try to get the AirPort from your friend. The worst that could happen is that go back to the Netgear, and then you have an extra router to maybe set up as an extender someday.

Best of luck!

 

[anthover]

My recollection is the 5th gen airport are 100 meg ports too. The 2013 airport extreme tower is AC an MIMO so it can travel farther/go faster because of multiple sending and receiving antenna. You can not mix apple and net gear hardware as an extender. I by the way have and retired both the 5th and 6th generation airport extreme so i know just how they perform at least in my home.

** The OP has not posted their home size construction and layout so we are not able make informed opinions on what will serve their needs best and better. ** In fact we do not even know all the client hardware. We only know that the existing set up is insufficient and they asked whether the 5th gen airport was a good upgrade. **It is not. ** A new or second hand AC router would be an upgrade that is a magnitude better. The thing is even a single AC router has limits. Without more information we can not make proper suggestions.

 

[HappyDude20]

UPDATE

Okay, so after creating this thread yesterday I had my friend overnight the AirPort Extreme 5th Gen.

As for my home layout, it’s rather big at 2,500 sq. ft. and spans 3 floors. The lowest floor contains a smart TV and PS4, and we use our iPads and iPhones and occasionally MBP too. The second floor has the living room and that is where the cable modem and wireless router reside. The 3rd floor is all the bedrooms and two smart TVs. All in all about a dozen devices connected to WiFi when everyone is home, not including guests when they come over on weekends. I’d say never more than 20 devices ever connected at once.

OKAY SO...

The Netgear WiFi Router was giving us WiFi speeds at around 17mbps at best, but only when in the living room. The PS4 and SmartTV downstairs would weaken to around 5mbps. Upstairs at the highest floor the WiFi would come in at no more than 4mbps.

The AirPort Extreme arrived about an hour ago and the setup was ridiculously easy. I thought I’d need the AirPort Utility iOS App but honestly didn’t even need it and just connecting to the Apple network under settings was good enough; however I did download that app nevertheless and updated the firmware so am glad the AirPort Extreme is up to date.

Now with the AirPort Extreme I am getting 150mbps in the living room! The SmartTV and PS4 in the lowest floor gets 150mbps according to the network settings on both devices, however my iPhone and iPad clock in at 30mbps in the lowest floor. Same with upstairs, all devices upstairs clock in at around 30mbps. In the living room it’s consistently clocking in at 150mbps and in the dining room and kitchen next to the living room it’s clocking in at 70mbps.
Super stoked about this and am glad that am not experiencing any lag while gaming nor any lag from our home security cameras. The one drag is the AirPort Extreme and iPhone clock in at 2mbps but only when in the bathroom furthest away from the living room, but my 4G LTE clocks in at 20mbps in that bathroom.

 

[anthover]

Well if your happy thats all that matters. Your layout would definitely benefit from Mesh. I am surprised the 5th gen can deliver those speeds all by itself. Even with both a 5th and 6th gen extreme using extend and a Verizon AC router using a different SSID i never did as well as we would like. My home is only two floors similar size too you but we have plaster walls signal drop of was accute. it was manageable but not ideal. We had poor signals in too many locations. I should point out that wired access points are always an option as well for people but most people do not want to run wire through their homes.

 

[Slix]

Glad it's working out for you!

Do you have any of those devices in your house hooked up to Ethernet? The more devices on Wi-Fi, the weaker the signals will be especially near the edges of the house. If you're able to put some of those on Ethernet, that might help strengthen the signal for the edges-of-house devices.

 

[HappyDude20]

Glad it's working out for you!

Do you have any of those devices in your house hooked up to Ethernet? The more devices on Wi-Fi, the weaker the signals will be especially near the edges of the house. If you're able to put some of those on Ethernet, that might help strengthen the signal for the edges-of-house devices.

only the security system hub is connected to WiFi, everything else, about 12 WiFi devices are connected wirelessly