Anything better than a Linksys E4200?

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alanimal

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#166364 11-Mar-2015 08:56

Hey Guys,

I have a Linksys E4200 router which I use for Wifi Access around our house.

Our house is quite large so I had to put a wireless extender/bridge in our bedroom for the TV so we could stream videos from our NAS Media server.

However recently I acquired another 50in plasma for the games room which doesnt have wireless, and we cannot run cat5 cabling to it so I stole the extender/bridge and connected it to this tv as the bedroom one can still just make the connection to the E4200 - however it still drops out when someone walks out of the room or moves the door etc.

I am thinking - do I buy another extender/bridge for the bedroom TV or is there a router with FANTASTIC wireless range, which is better than the Linksys E4200?

Keen to hear your thoughts.

Cheers
Alanimal

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#1255118 11-Mar-2015 09:24

-- whoops --

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#1255130 11-Mar-2015 09:36

I have the E4200 and 6900, range is OK for me. E4200 smashes the fritzbox in performance. But, it is getting a little long in the tooth ,and the ea6900 seems to drop my connection sometimes so have been considering an upgrade.

Wirecutter (awesome gadget and stuff review website) recommends the TP-Link Archer C7 (v2).

alanimal

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#1255141 11-Mar-2015 09:49

I always thought TP-Link was a no frills brand?
the Netgear AC1900 Nighthawk Smart WiFi Router looks ok too - anyone got one of these?

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#1255144 11-Mar-2015 09:55

Sorry, I mixed up the E4200 with an older Linksys model. As you were.

macuser

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#1255146 11-Mar-2015 10:06

I have the EA6700 it's ok...but AC is not great from the other side of apartment (2 walls between) If you are able to run cat cabling and put another AP in that would be smart

Opps didn't read OP, but if you can run some CAT under floor or something that would be helpful. Otherwise use a powerline adapter.

alanimal

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#1256117 11-Mar-2015 10:29

Is there much of a difference between the EA6700 and the EA6900?? They appear to be pretty good according to reviews?

surfisup1000

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#1256144 11-Mar-2015 10:45

alanimal: I always thought TP-Link was a no frills brand?
the Netgear AC1900 Nighthawk Smart WiFi Router looks ok too - anyone got one of these?

From Wirecutter...
**
"If you don’t mind spending more and you need good speed, range and fancy features, get the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 for around $180. It performed the best in SmallNetBuilder’s benchmarks for AC1900 routers (and even better than more expensive routers). Reviewers praise its raw speed and comprehensive feature set, which includes a built-in VPN server to secure your coffee shop browsing, a QoS feature to prioritize your network’s traffic, and support for Time Machine backups (a good choice for an Apple household). It also has better parental controls and faster USB ports than the Archer C7.

However, the R7000 costs almost twice as much as the Archer C7, and our main pick was faster in most of our tests. You shouldn’t spend close to $200 on a router unless you plan to use those extra features a lot, especially because new, faster top-end routers are coming in mid-2015."
**

So, they do recommend the R7000 too, but it costs a great deal more.

I guess they base their recommendation on value for money more than peak performance.

So , the r7000 may be for you.

[edit] i see the pricing difference between the archer and r7000 is not so much as in the USA where the R7000 is almost double the cost. Here, the r7000 is only 25% extra.