My current router/AP starting to crap out. Would a RT-N66U be recommended (kind of always wanted this one)? Going to local Frys to look for a router, current price range for this is approx. $125. I also looked into the RT-N56U, but I like antennas lol. I don't need ridiculous range, just quality through a max of 2 walls and/or 50ft.
I also have 2 Xbox360's 2 PS3's to manage on the network, user friendly or feature loaded would be nice.
Usage on 50/10Mbps service - Gaming, Hulu, Netflix. Most of the time someone is watching a streaming service while I'm on the internet.
As impatient as I am, most likely will head off to get one before a reply haha.
Yeah, I got an RT-N66U. It is great as a router. As for wifi, I am not sure because I generally run everything hardwired, and everything wifi goes through my AP. As a router, though, I am very happy with it.
Yup. I ended up going out and getting this router couple hours after the post. Just from the interface alone it looked promising and was running about 55/11 on the down & up. So far I guess I am happy with it, but have yet to try it with DD-WRT or use the MicroSD part.
Also didn't know my wireless NIC didn't use 5GHz until now haha, guess I'll look into that.
Yeah, that "didn't know my wireless NIC didn't use 5GHz" is pretty common. Software and hardware are perpetually pushing forward.
Check some of this sssssssstuff out as well - http://blog.ittoby.com/2013/01/setup-and-tweak-your-new-asus-rt-ac66u.html
Does your NIC support gigabyte technology?
Gigabit? (not byte?)
No, I don't think so. Think it's 2.4 only (Asus PCE-N15). I didn't look to see if it could during build time (August 2013) but now will look into more updated wireless NIC. Is being on 5GHz give you more consistency with internet speeds or is it just less interference and more signal strength?
Thanks for the link, running through that right now.
Yeah, I was just asking to see if it could handle jumbo frames (9000bits). I looked at its specs and I don't see any reference to it, so it probably can't. You can set the router to send jumbo frames...something for you to look at down the road.
As for 2.4 or 5GHz, you would use the latter for streaming data intensive files, like HD, gaming and so forth. The drawback is that 5GHz has very limited effective range, so it is not very good at working thru walls or floors in comparison to 2.4GHz. You can try, though, once you get a NIC that is compatible, for it certainly doesn't hurt to try, and you might be able to get some performance from it.