I think we may have discussed this before, but I think it was before the whole Drupal thing, so I’ll start a thread here.
I’m looking at buying a new wireless router. I’ve had my current one (Netgear N600 dual band) for about 5 years now, and it’s worked well, but is beginning to strain a bit.
So I started looking into getting a new one, and it’s a bit confusing for this old warhorse. I get that I should be looking at an 802.11ac model, and that the MU-MIMO is going to help multiple devices connect, but also that it’s still a new technology and both the router and the devices need to be compatible.
So are there any recommendations? I’m going to stream things like Netflix as well as music through the house and there will be a few tablets and phones connecting in as well. No online gaming though, (unless the PS3 comes out with a 4K HD dog walking simulator).
I’m a Mac user, so the Airports and the Time Capsules may be an option.
The first thing you need to do is to identify what it is that’s “straining a bit” about your current router and find one that is an improvement in that area, not forgetting, of course to make sure it does the things you do now as well. If the problem is one of range then you may well be better off getting extenders rather than a new router.
That all looks a bit technical for me, but FWIW I tried extending with Airports and it didn’t really make any difference. A whizzy new dual-band Netgear modem did, though annoyingly my Mac Mini (which is where I was getting the performance hit) keeps forgetting it’s supposed to be on 5Ghz and reverting to 2.4Ghz. A restart of either the Mini or the modem sorts it out though. I found that connecting tv/Apple tv to ethernet helped enormously with occasional buffering problems there.
I use Devolo extenders as recommended by Twang. Very easy to set up and you can make all the extenders a clone of your home network plus you can add more extenders as required.
We have two Apple TVs, one connected via Ethernet, the other via wifi. The wifi unit will only work on 5Ghz.
You beat me to it Dave. My Devolos are still doing a tip top job. Also I think Netflix is happier over a wire than via wifi – we have our telly plugged into the Devolo with a cable.