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What routers do I need to buy in order to take advantage of 802.11 ac Wi-Fi?

M

minkim91

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
2
0
I have finally made the transition from a PC to a Mac by purchasing the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display. I know that the new Macbooks have the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology that allows for faster internet speeds.

I was wondering what routers and what set-ups I need in order to take advantage of that. I currently have Comcast Xfinity and I just use the standard router that comes with it ($7 per month rental fee) and I thought it would be better to just buy my own router and set up for the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi while I'm at it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
 
Quu

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,420
6,792
You could use an Apple Airport Extreme or you could use an Apple Time Capsule. Both now come with 802.11ac radios.

Alternatively you could buy a router from another company. Personally I own an Asus AC66U router which is an 802.11ac router and it works perfectly with my Retina MacBook Pro.

If I was in your position right now I'd probably get the Time Capsule just to have backups taken care of with the router.
 
Menel

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
minkim91 said:
I have finally made the transition from a PC to a Mac by purchasing the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display. I know that the new Macbooks have the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology that allows for faster internet speeds.

I was wondering what routers and what set-ups I need in order to take advantage of that. I currently have Comcast Xfinity and I just use the standard router that comes with it ($7 per month rental fee) and I thought it would be better to just buy my own router and set up for the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi while I'm at it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Click to expand...
They can, but 802.11ac helps very few people gain more internet speed.

There is no Comcast Xfinity package that will exceed 802.11N 150 or 300mbps speeds.

You need to move somewhere with Gigabit Fiber service to use more than 300mbps Internet.

I second the Airport Extreme.
 
T-Bob

T-Bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 23, 2013
673
363
minkim91 said:
I have finally made the transition from a PC to a Mac by purchasing the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display. I know that the new Macbooks have the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology that allows for faster internet speeds.

I was wondering what routers and what set-ups I need in order to take advantage of that. I currently have Comcast Xfinity and I just use the standard router that comes with it ($7 per month rental fee) and I thought it would be better to just buy my own router and set up for the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi while I'm at it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Click to expand...

http://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ac_Hardware

Have a Ubiquiti myself, only ac machine I've tried on it is a phone.
 
Raibyn

Raibyn

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2013
154
8
South Carolina
I got the Airport Time Capsule and highly recommend it. A little pricey, but great for backing up your Mac and the backups should be quicker with the 802.11ac standard, even if your internet speeds won't be quicker.
 
G

gus6464

macrumors regular
May 27, 2007
102
0
http://www.ubnt.com/unifi#apac

Haha but seriously the Unifi stuff is fantastic. I have 2x N AP's and an EdgeRouter Lite and will never go back to using consumer grade stuff again. I paid a little more than your top of the line Asus black diamond and it's faster and 1000000000000000000x more reliable.
 
LV426

LV426

macrumors 68000
Jan 22, 2013
1,835
2,262
Just my 2 cents, but I had a veritable graveyard of routers in my house until I got myself an AirPort Extreme. It's rock solid and hardly ever drops a connection, unlike its numerous predecessors. Plus, it can do Time Machine backups, has an Apple-friendly user interface etc., well worth considering.
 
R

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
I have had horrible luck with Airport extremes they seem to flake out or die after 1 year
 
M

minkim91

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
2
0
I would prefer to not use the Airport Extremes because they are a bit out of my price range and I already plan to purchase WD My Book Live Personal Cloud Storage to back up my files. Could you guys recommend something other than the Airport Extremes?
 
R

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
minkim91 said:
I would prefer to not use the Airport Extremes because they are a bit out of my price range and I already plan to purchase WD My Book Live Personal Cloud Storage to back up my files. Could you guys recommend something other than the Airport Extremes?
Click to expand...

I am hearing good things about the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900
 
D

double329

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2008
452
75
ROLLTIDE1 said:
I am hearing good things about the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900
Click to expand...

That is what I have. So far, I can only get 878mbps out of it. And again, there are close to 20 devices connecting to the router. I like the speed so far. I have been using many NetGear equipments and I like it.
 
S

Scott7975

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2013
270
0
I just bought a Linksys AC1900. Its very fast and I have no drops so far. Been using it for 3 days. It also has a nice interface to add/remove devices, see who/what is on it, etc. You can also control it from anywhere with an application on your phone or ipad or whatever.
 
hallux

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
Menel said:
They can, but 802.11ac helps very few people gain more internet speed.

There is no Comcast Xfinity package that will exceed 802.11N 150 or 300mbps speeds.

You need to move somewhere with Gigabit Fiber service to use more than 300mbps Internet.

I second the Airport Extreme.
Click to expand...

This!

Unless you're looking for faster internal transfers between computers you will likely not see much, if any, difference between what you have now and the 802.11AC unit. I have Time Warner's "Extreme" internet and can get my full internet speed through 802.11N on my Netgear WNDR3700.
 
T-Bob

T-Bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 23, 2013
673
363
Only difference you *might* see is a slightly better lag score if your previous wireless was adding latency which it often does.

800mbps is a very good real world speed, I never get over 150 on n.
 
D

double329

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2008
452
75
T-Bob said:
Only difference you *might* see is a slightly better lag score if your previous wireless was adding latency which it often does.

800mbps is a very good real world speed, I never get over 150 on n.
Click to expand...

Using the same r7000 router:

- 300mbps on sec gen MBA using N
- 450mbps on both Mac mini and MBP 17 using N
- 878mpbs on latest rMBP 15 using AC
 
I

iWeekend

macrumors regular
Nov 28, 2012
118
1
Linksys EA6500 here.


"n" is working 100% better than my old (ha!) Trendnet ever did. AC has been flawless.
 
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