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AC wireless router recommendation

Ipadlover29

Ipadlover29

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 28, 2011
980
336
Looking for a good reliable ac 1900 router that has at least one usb port for file sharing with good range and works well with both PCs and Apple products. I would also like a router that's easy to use, has a bult in usage monitor and that's no more than $200. I currently own a linksys e4200v2.

So far I've tried:

Linksys wrt1900ac - wasn't too happy with it , want something with a smaller profile and cheaper

Netgear night hawk r7000 - didn't like the user interface and had issues with hard drive file sharing.


Thinking about:

Apple AirPort Extreme - only has 3 lan ports, USB port is only 2.0, only has one USB port, doesn't have extra features like qos, dlna or ftp.

Asus RT-AC68U - seems like it has all the features I want except the Internet usage monitor.
 
Ipadlover29 said:
Apple AirPort Extreme - only has 3 lan ports, USB port is only 2.0, only has one USB port, doesn't have extra features like qos, dlna or ftp.

Asus RT-AC68U - seems like it has all the features I want except the Internet usage monitor.
Click to expand...

USB 3.0 on a router is a gimmick in most scenarios as the CPU cannot even handle USB 2.0 speeds on most routers. I use an AirPort Extreme at home and at school. At school it is the head of a network with 12 Expresses acting as APs which serves 150+ clients. The QoS is not configurable but I have never felt the use for it on the Extreme at least. If 150+ bandwidth hungry clients were having speed issues I would hear about it very quickly!
 
Altemose said:
USB 3.0 on a router is a gimmick in most scenarios as the CPU cannot even handle USB 2.0 speeds on most routers. I use an AirPort Extreme at home and at school. At school it is the head of a network with 12 Expresses acting as APs which serves 150+ clients. The QoS is not configurable but I have never felt the use for it on the Extreme at least. If 150+ bandwidth hungry clients were having speed issues I would hear about it very quickly!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input. I am thinking about picking up an AirPort Extreme and trying it out. I have about 10 devices on my network and 5 of them are Apple so I'm sure I would benefit greatly by using an apple router.
 
The Airport is a great router. You can't go wrong with it.

I'm a little surprised that you didn't like the Netgear R7000. I have it, and it has fantastic range and has been incredibly stable. Maybe you were using an older firmware? The latest firmware update has been very good.

Although the Asus has very good reviews, I've read about Yosemite having issues with Asus routers. Not sure how widespread the issues are. Just something to look into further if you decide on trying the Asus. I've used Asus routers in the past. Most have been excellent. A couple have had strange, hard to diagnose issues, though. Most of those issues were solved by loading DD-WRT or Tomato on the router.
 
JTravers said:
The Airport is a great router. You can't go wrong with it.

I'm a little surprised that you didn't like the Netgear R7000. I have it, and it has fantastic range and has been incredibly stable. Maybe you were using an older firmware? The latest firmware update has been very good.

Although the Asus has very good reviews, I've read about Yosemite having issues with Asus routers. Not sure how widespread the issues are. Just something to look into further if you decide on trying the Asus. I've used Asus routers in the past. Most have been excellent. A couple have had strange, hard to diagnose issues, though. Most of those issues were solved by loading DD-WRT or Tomato on the router.
Click to expand...

I did update the netgear to the latest firmware. As a router in general it was great. Very good speed and range. I just didnt like the interface, the space it took up and I had issues with the hard drive in dlna mode.

So far I really like the airport extreme.
 
Ipadlover29 said:
I did update the netgear to the latest firmware. As a router in general it was great. Very good speed and range. I just didnt like the interface, the space it took up and I had issues with the hard drive in dlna mode.



So far I really like the airport extreme.
Click to expand...


Curious how you feel the range of the AirPort Extreme compares to the Netgear.

Thanks!
 
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