Purchase New AP? Asus RT-N66U or AEBS?

[Val-kyrie]

Hi all.

I am currently running a Linksys WRT54G v.2 stock FW. I currently have a 10/1Mbps connection via Time Warner, but I receive closer to 15-20Mbps down thanks to my Motorola SB6141.

I have been thinking about purchasing a different router so I can have a guest network and right now the AEBS and Asus RT-N66U are both on sale for about $140 (see techbargains.com).

Two questions:
(1) Will an N-router provide more speed than my current G-router or is the 10-20Mbps down within the ability of 802.11g?
(2) I own a MB and an iPhone and my daughter has a DS. Any thoughts about which router to purchase since our household is primarily Mac-based?

[Edit: Only other consideration is that I would like to set up an NAS to be an iTunes media server and DVD/BD repository which I will hook directly into my DLNA BD player. Can the AEBS read media files from an NAS?]

[bhall110]

asus, i have the wireless ac version of that and it is rock solid. excellent range and GUI.

1 those speeds can be expected on a g connection n will help with range also it will work with more devices better.

2. i dont think it matters being mac based network protocol is the same

3. i dont understand why you would need your router/gateway to view files from your media server/nas

[blevins321]

No the only special feature that AEBS has in regards to audio is that you can plug speakers into it and use it as an Airplay destination from iTunes or an iOS device. It can't read media files itself.

[Val-kyrie]

How hard is it to get IPv6 to work with the Asus?

[bhall110]

i havent had the need for it yet. but if its anything like the rest of it its very easy

[DaveF]

Same question: ASUS NT-R66U or new Airport Extreme. My home is all Apple, and this would be an upgrade from a 2007 Airport Extreme (that seems to have performance problems)

But I'm concerned that the router's configuraiton tools aren't OS X Safari (or iOS Mobile Safari) compatible.

In researching, this one negative review at Amazon got me concerned:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2XMOOG...=&nodeID=&tag=

Will I be able to setup and manage an Asus router with a Mac or iPad? Or am I better off with a new Airport Extreme from Apple?

[DaveNinja]

Originally Posted by DaveF

Same question: ASUS NT-R66U or new Airport Extreme. My home is all Apple, and this would be an upgrade from a 2007 Airport Extreme (that seems to have performance problems)

But I'm concerned that the router's configuraiton tools aren't OS X Safari (or iOS Mobile Safari) compatible.

In researching, this one negative review at Amazon got me concerned:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2XMOOG...=&nodeID=&tag=

Will I be able to setup and manage an Asus router with a Mac or iPad? Or am I better off with a new Airport Extreme from Apple?

I was concerned about that review as well but then found this:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=9412
which says it works fine in Safari and mentions a couple other mac users that are fine with the router

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by DaveNinja

I was concerned about that review as well but then found this:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=9412
which says it works fine in Safari and mentions a couple other mac users that are fine with the router

That's actually my thread I asked there too.

[designs216]

Originally Posted by Val-kyrie

Hi all.

I have been thinking about purchasing a different router so I can have a guest network and right now the AEBS and Asus RT-N66U are both on sale for about $140 (see techbargains.com).

Two questions:
(1) Will an N-router provide more speed than my current G-router or is the 10-20Mbps down within the ability of 802.11g?
(2) I own a MB and an iPhone and my daughter has a DS. Any thoughts about which router to purchase since our household is primarily Mac-based?

[Edit: Only other consideration is that I would like to set up an NAS to be an iTunes media server and DVD/BD repository which I will hook directly into my DLNA BD player. Can the AEBS read media files from an NAS?]

The TC and AEBS have a Guest Network feature but I never use it.

It is an N router but that only gets you faster in-building speeds and won't help with TimeWarner's often exaggerated and inconsistent bandwidth coming into the house.

I have devices of different manufacture on my TC network and they all play nice: BRP, Wii, PC, MBPs, DSs, Ooma, iPad, NAS and iPhone.

[DaveNinja]

Originally Posted by DaveF

That's actually my thread I asked there too.

I ordered an ASUS N66u last night so i should know for sure in a few days

[Val-kyrie]

Okay, so I purchased the Asus and all has been well. Easy setup. Considering using the custom firmware put out by AsusWRT-Merlin on the smallnetbuilder Asus forum, but I haven't had the time yet. Otherwise, I can say that this router is way faster wirelessly (of course, it is 802.11n) than the WRT-54G I was running. Very happy with no down time.

BTW, I am running this in conjunction with a Motorola SB6141. According to speedtest.net, I am receiving more down than the 10/1 tier for which I pay.

[DaveNinja]

I got the router in the mail yesterday and set it up last night. I initially had the problem of the web browser UI saying "you must log of the router before someone else can log in" but i was able to solve this by unplugging all the ethernet cables except the one on the computer i was using. Some other device on my LAN must has been grabbing control of the router right after it booted up.

anyways, once i was able to access the UI everything was fine. Very easy to set up. I had taken screenshots of my previous routers UI in order to know how to get the setting correct but i some how had forgotten to grab one of the forwarded ports so i had to figure those out again, but it wasnt too difficult.

I also havent switched on the QoS yet. i need to hit speedtest.net and see what its saying my download/upload speeds are (should be like 15megs up and down).