Wireless Router Purchase assistance please.

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Wireless Router Purchase assistance please.

jaypeegee

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#119276 26-May-2013 22:27

Hi. I have an older Asus wireless 802.11G router. It has Vodafone cable as its WAN connection. I, my wife and my son are the audience. We live in a timber framed, stucco covered, 2 storied 1930's house. Population density is average with between 2 to 5 other AP's being seen with various strengths at varying times from where I sit right now. The devices we have are :1 x iPhone, 1 x iPod, 2x Laptops, 1 x PC with a matching Asus USB WIFI NIC, a DNLA cert Television that is LAN cabled connected to one of the ports on the router. (I stream media from my laptop to it with acceptable results.) An Ipad is looming on the purchase horizon as is another laptop. All laptops and PC are running Windows 7.My wife and I both connect to work using VPN – the rest of our traffic is mainly HTTP based. My son is nearly 10 and is the main reason I am looking at upgrading. I wish to get a stronger signal to his room which it seems is possible with an 802.11 N router. It would be great to be able to attach a hard drive to the router to store media and stream from that to all/any device.

I have looked at several wireless routers with costs from NZD 80 – 170 and am getting over saturated from the choices available.

It looks like the 802.11 N spec while slower than the 802.11 AC spec gives a better signal distance . Is this correct?

It seems that external antennae are superior to internal – Correct?

I would like to have a router that is capable of acting as a media server, but that is more a want than a need just yet as the current setup while clumsy, suffices. If that option exists in a solution that is inside my budget (~NZD 150) that would be great.

If anyone has a particular option they feel may match my needs I would appreciate the information. If I am incorrect regarding the coverage of the second story please educate me.

If I can add more information to assist, Let me know

Thanks for your time in reading this.

Llory

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#826505 27-May-2013 17:21

Internal Anntena are not so bad, this depends on the device, How many antenas it has intrenally for example 1x1 will give you upto 130MB per second 2x2 can give you 270-300 MBps with greater coverage, Placing the Modem in an area like the Hallway, near open area (Living room), confined spaces will limit your coverage, away from other wireless devices, wireless phones etc.

802.11 AC dont give you greater coverage gives you greater throughput, 802.11AC is built on 802.11N, so dont rush out and buy a 802.11AC router, it comes with a price tag, and it only operates on 5GHZ band, I think most of the devices you mentioned dont support 5GHZ. the standard is still in development.

Media Server, best build one out of an old PC, far better then anything a router can do.

Find a unit that is ADSL2+/VDSL, 802.11N 2x2 MIMO and GIG WAN Uplink. this should full proof you for most Services offered today in the NZ Market. Hope this narrows your search down..

johnr

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#826512 27-May-2013 17:33

New Vodafone station is out quite a nice unit it also has a LCD display to manage the modem config / WIFI

John

antoniosk

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#826576 27-May-2013 19:25

For simplicity, I suggest just getting one of the new Airport Express devices. It's tiny, has a really awesome range (I'm in a 2-story wood place) and works very well with cable.

Positioning in the house is really important though - ideally where most of the usage will be rather than hidden away inside cupboards in the back corner of the house.

As for a media server, not quite sure what you mean by this. But a PC connected to the Express running itunes will happily distribute over AirPlay to any other apple widget.

Don't worry about 802.11ac at this point - it's still too new as a specification. 802.11n has been around for 6 years and is only now becoming robust and cheap enough to be effective for use, and in practise works really well with new kit.

________

Antoniosk

jonherries

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#826600 27-May-2013 20:14

There is this great new router coming from Telecom, cant tell you too much about it because it is a secret, but if it is missing any features, you just need to ask...

Jon

jaypeegee

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#827030 28-May-2013 13:53

Llory: Internal Anntena are not so bad, this depends on the device, How many antenas it has intrenally for example 1x1 will give you upto 130MB per second 2x2 can give you 270-300 MBps with greater coverage, Placing the Modem in an area like the Hallway, near open area (Living room), confined spaces will limit your coverage, away from other wireless devices, wireless phones etc.

802.11 AC dont give you greater coverage gives you greater throughput, 802.11AC is built on 802.11N, so dont rush out and buy a 802.11AC router, it comes with a price tag, and it only operates on 5GHZ band, I think most of the devices you mentioned dont support 5GHZ. the standard is still in development.

Media Server, best build one out of an old PC, far better then anything a router can do.

Find a unit that is ADSL2+/VDSL, 802.11N 2x2 MIMO and GIG WAN Uplink. this should full proof you for most Services offered today in the NZ Market. Hope this narrows your search down..

Cool. So more antannae whether internal or external will give better coverage all other things being equal. I am aware of signal attentuation due to obstruction/Phase cancel/Environmental construction/Competing wireless signal etc.

You say that the 802.11AC signal is not greater coverage wise than the 802.11n signal? Please confirm.

Media server: If I can read and play movie files from a USB attached storage device- This will suffice. I have no interest in setting up a PC for this. It is not necessary.

I stated I use Cable. It seems that makes your last paragraph as redundant (unless I am missing something?) please confirm.

John: New Vodafone station is out quite a nice unit it also has a LCD display to manage the modem config / WIFI

I stated I use cable. Looking at this device it seems that it does not. Please confirm that I have misread the published material on this. It does look like a sweet unit. But if ADSL and not cable compatible then it is not an appropriate solution.

jaypeegee

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#827037 28-May-2013 13:59

Antonio:For simplicity, I suggest just getting one of the new Airport Express devices. It's tiny, has a really awesome range (I'm in a 2-story wood place) and works very well with cable. Positioning in the house is really important though - ideally where most of the usage will be rather than hidden away inside cupboards in the back corner of the house. As for a media server, not quite sure what you mean by this. But a PC connected to the Express running itunes will happily distribute over AirPlay to any other apple widget. Don't worry about 802.11ac at this point - it's still too new as a specification. 802.11n has been around for 6 years and is only now becoming robust and cheap enough to be effective for use, and in practise works really well with new kit.

Thanks. I have looked at this and will consider it. I guess I need to see if I can find a comparable product spec and price wise that is superior. I have used Apple before and have yet to be dissapointed with them (Aside from the imposed ecosystem issues) Certainly one for the plus . I didnt mention it in the orignal post but I may look to DDWRT/Tomato etc the router down the track. This may cut this option out.
Point taken re 802.11AC. The incoming technology's advantage at this stage is the drop in price of the 802.11N routers. I have no speed issues with my 802.11G router - My main consideration is the coverage.
Media server? I mean to be able to plug a hard drive into the router and access and stream the files from there. Currently I do so by plugging the HD into the TV. Works fine but the reading of the file system is pretty cumbersome.

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jaypeegee

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#827040 28-May-2013 14:02

jonherries: There is this great new router coming from Telecom, cant tell you too much about it because it is a secret, but if it is missing any features, you just need to ask...

Jon

I assume your post is a joke Jon.

Remember not to get anything stuck in the ceiling fan.