LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Good morning I am currently looking to upgrade my current router but wondering if its worth it, hoping for some feedback. my current router is the Nighthawk AC1900 or R7000, running the custom Xwrt-Vortex Firmware. I have had this router for a few years now and I am happy with it but here and there I notice some congestion on my home network. I have 26 items on my network that all have assigned IP addresses, nothing is hard wired. I have 4 streaming boxes, 1 fire stick, 2 nvidia shields, 1 ASUS chromebox, Xbox One S, PS4, Wii, 3 iPads, 2 iPhones, 1 iPod, 3 Laptops,garage door opener etc... I have the SB 6141 cable modem, I was looking at getting the Nighthawk AC3200 but wondering if it would do me any improvements? I also have a Raspberry pi connected to the router running pi-hole. when 2 people are using the streaming devices, someone is normally on a laptop and iPad and someone times this causes some lag or buffer. thoughts or tips would be great!. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 What is your internet connection speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) RCN 50mbps and 10mbps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 How many of those devices on the R7000 wireless? You are probably done with bandwidth tbh. Nothing left on the internet and wireless. Wired you would be fine internally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 all devices are connected to the R7000 via wifi, nothing is hard wired as they are all over the house and nothing is near the router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 Then you have maxed out the wifi capability. You may have even maxed out the internet. Take you max bandwidth on any one specific frequency and divide it by how many devices are on that ...your router counts as one device. 26 devices is a lot for 1 ap and it is a lot for 50mb/s If 5 devices stream at 1080 you are just about used up. Another thing about wireless, it will slow down to your slowest device. My opinion, you have too many devices for a single ap. I have 2 supporting about 20 devices. 2 phones, 3 tablets, 3 laptops, 2 rokus, 1 iPod, 2 all in ones, 1 smart blue ray, 1 desktop, 1 smart tv, 2 printers, 1 nas, 3 game systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 ok, so getting a new router is pointless in your opinion and won't help. again at best I may be using 3-4 devices as at best, all the devices are setup on the DHCP server. the issue I have is my cable modem and router are in the closet in my basement. I currently use a TP-Link TL-PA410KIT adapter so the Microcell I have sitting in the window will work via the hard wire. how would I go about getting a second router or ap setup on my current setup as it wouldn't reach the current router? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 3-4 devices isn't that bad. If you can't wire, are afraid to wire, or don't want to hire someone to wire....you are best off with using that power line kit with a access point and put that in a location that would broadcast and cover the upstairs. You should have an AP on each floor, if you ask me. If you were to spend a decent amount of money, I would look at netgear orbi or unifi mesh....both are going to be between 250-350 Otherwise, some access points and some tp-link adapters like what you have...honestly go with the wireless mesh...it looks like you want to replace the router anyway and these systems will cost about the same as a higher end router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted March 6, 2017 Global Moderator Share Posted March 6, 2017 i also have the R7000. it's been great. at any given time i might have 1-4 devices active on the router. i dont notice any lag or performance issues. perhaps the issue is that the router is in the basement? idk - i have mine in a bedroom on the 2nd floor. i get great performance all the way in my basement. also, i'm not sure how to quantify how many active devices is too much... 3-4 devices isnt that much. if all 26 were active at once then i would expect issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 3-4 not an issue, all 26 issue. Distance is a contributing factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 the reason why its in the basement is because that is where the cable line comes into the house. I use directv for tv and RCN for cable internet, I don't have a way to get the cable modem on the second floor as I don't have a active cable line there. the products below do I use my current SB1641 modem and I would use the below items as my router, do these provide me with the same speeds i would get from my current setup, just more balanced throughout the house? are all these the the same concept: netgear orbi unifi mesh Google Wifi system (set of 3) - Router replacement for whole home coverage Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 R7000 should be able to handle that amount of devices, some of them in the list appear to be just devices of function not media consumption, the other media consumption devices I doubt are all streaming at once. Maybe upping your internet package to 100Mbit would be a good idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 are all these the the same concept: netgear orbi unifi mesh Google Wifi system (set of 3) - Router replacement for whole home coverage Thanks Yes, and they do have a main router which would replace your r7000 and hook up directly to the modem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted March 6, 2017 Global Moderator Share Posted March 6, 2017 OP - do you notice performance issues w/ a single device or only when a lot of devices are accessing the router simultaneously? just to rule this out, run a bunch of speed tests on speedtest.net to make sure you can max out your 50Mbit connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 no when a single device is on, flawless. when I run a speedtest on speaskeasy.net or RCN site I am getting slightly higher that what I am paying for at 55mbps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 14 minutes ago, sc302 said: Yes, and they do have a main router which would replace your r7000 and hook up directly to the modem. I forgot to list eero Home WiFi System (Pack of 3) - Blanket Your Home in WiFi, Replaces Wireless Router. I don't need the best of them to achieve stability, but out of them would the google one be good enough as I am not really sure of any of them. I have heard of them before but that's it. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerLG Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Does your firmware allow for setting the Quality of Service (QoS) for each device. If something is hogging the bandwidth, maybe you can lower its priority of limit the amount of bandwidth it uses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted March 6, 2017 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2017 The only one that I was able to get a review on by one of the people in the office is the orbi....the guy swears that it is the best thing in the world. the google is 2x2 mimo where the netgear is mu-mimo and 3x3 (this is where the cost comes into play).....unifi is not mu-mimo and it doesn't look like the eero is either (eero is also 2x2). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted March 6, 2017 Global Moderator Share Posted March 6, 2017 i run two SSIDs in my house - one for 'n' and one for 'ac.' Does this congestion happen on both bands? perhaps you can try to set different channels to see if there's channel conflicts in the area. for example, instead of 'n' running on Channel 11, try 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted March 6, 2017 MVC Share Posted March 6, 2017 58 minutes ago, Jason S. said: for example, instead of 'n' running on Channel 11, try 8. I don't see where 8 would ever really be a good choice. There are only 3 channels that do not overlap on 2.4 be it B, G or N.. those are 1, 6 and 11. 8 would very very rarely be a good choice.. Now your overlapping with 2 other channels 6 and 11.. If your running multiple AP then they should mix these channels so that always as far away as possible from AP on the same channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) You can get a fast little router for cheap.https://www.amazon.ca/TP-Link-Wireless-1350Mbps-Archer-C7/dp/B00BUSDVBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488820941&sr=8-1&keywords=tp-link+ac1750 The CPU, firewall, routing, etc. has many options and is very quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cork1958 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, LilSnoop40 said: ok, so getting a new router is pointless in your opinion and won't help. again at best I may be using 3-4 devices as at best, all the devices are setup on the DHCP server. the issue I have is my cable modem and router are in the closet in my basement. I currently use a TP-Link TL-PA410KIT adapter so the Microcell I have sitting in the window will work via the hard wire. how would I go about getting a second router or ap setup on my current setup as it wouldn't reach the current router? Thanks Have my router in basement and inside a closet also and can have as many as 5 devices connected wirelessly before I start to notice any slowdown. Not a radical slow down, but it's there. That's on a 60/5 connection. No kind of fancy setup but I do have the channels set to channel 11, as Budman states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSnoop40 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 below is how i have it setup now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted March 6, 2017 MVC Share Posted March 6, 2017 Steelers84 is not really a good choice for your PSK I would think that could be hacked in about 2.3 seconds for anyone with a dictionary bruteforce attack Do you have B or G devices - I would think those are long gone and you could turn of the b/g protection. Unless you have some really old printer or something running an ad-hoc B network? I would switch your 2.4 to 20 mhz only. 40 mhz doesn't really bode well on 2.4.. support for it not really standard across the board. There are devices that have problems with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Uncheck Optimize for XBox - that option makes the router report it does not support LDPC error correction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts