Airport Time Capsule AC vs Netgear Nighthawk R7000 AC1900 Router

[Altemose]

Now if only real people posted the majority of online reviews.

SmallNetBuilders not only posts very thorough and well-respected reviews, but they also have an active forum community filled with folks actually using the various products they review. RMerlin, coder of the custom Asus Merlin firmware is a daily contributor.

I highly respect SmallNetBuilders over any other site like CNET. The problem with CNET for example is that they overlook obvious things. They used an unsupported, out of date, and inappropriate version of AirPort Utility to configure the new Extreme. That isn't fair if the Extreme acts up because it was configured incorrectly by an out of date utility! They also do not post accurate information. For instance they still say Time Machine is not supported on USB hard drives when in reality it now is.

 

[dyn]

To be fair, I haven't read any review that didn't overlook something. That's why user reviews and having a forum (like smallnetbuilders has) are so valuable. If you miss something you can ask them or an ordinary user has already mentioned it. Most reviewers get to play with something for a short amount of time. Combine that with not being able to look into every workflow there is and it is very understandable that things get overlooked.

 

[myname70]

If I set the AE to be n and ac standards simultaneously, what will be the iMac connection speed to AE? Will it keep 1200?

 

[Altemose]

If I set the AE to be n and ac standards simultaneously, what will be the iMac connection speed to AE? Will it keep 1200?

It is impossible for someone to say as we do not know your wireless environment.

 

[myname70]

It is impossible for someone to say as we do not know your wireless environment.

I mean - no, by design, deterioration of the speed if I use both - "ac" connected iPhone and iMac and "n" connected another device?

 

[Altemose]

I mean - no, by design, deterioration of the speed if I use both - "ac" connected iPhone and iMac and "n" connected another device?

It shouldn't as it has multiple antennas.

 

[Weaselboy]

I mean - no, by design, deterioration of the speed if I use both - "ac" connected iPhone and iMac and "n" connected another device?

That did happen with older routers, but the Extreme and most newer routers now have what is called "simultaneous dual band" so that does not happen any longer.

With a simultaneous dual band router an N device jumping on will not make the link speed of the AC device drop to a slower connection speed.

 

[Altemose]

That did happen with older routers, but the Extreme and most newer routers now have what is called "simultaneous dual band" so that does not happen any longer.



With a simultaneous dual band router an N device jumping on will not make the link speed of the AC device drop to a slower connection speed.

How long has simultaneous dual band been in AirPort Extreme. Wasn't it since like generation 3 of the pancake style?

 

[myname70]

Another question - is there an option in AE to block some incoming IP connection request? I read the manual but could not find such an option

 

[Weaselboy]

How long has simultaneous dual band been in AirPort Extreme. Wasn't it since like generation 3 of the pancake style?

Yeah... looks like gen. 3 (not that I can remember that off the top of my head ).

 

[Altemose]

Yeah... looks like gen. 3 (not that I can remember that off the top of my head ).

I was doing that out of memory. Glad I was right!

 

[z3braman]

Netgear r7000

I came here searching for some feedback on using this router for time machine backups.
I just got the router up last night. I tried the stock firmware for a few minutes and didn't feel like getting familiar with another netgear interface. I put on tomato and set things up.
I am concerned that I might be giving up some stability and performance that OEM firmware may provide. Have not been able to document that.
My feedback was prompted by comments about using the airport stuff versus this router.
I have had several airport devices. I have two express and one extreme base station. I thought using the apple products would work for what I needed. I love the airplay feature of the express.
I don't have the AC version but I have been disappointed in the constraints of the firmware. Although the canned choices do provide the answer most of the time. I am presently struggling to get reliable VPN through the Yosemite server. I think there might be a router issue.
But what I really want to know is whether it's reliable to use the r7000 for time machine backups. The usb3 port looks pretty good. I suspect I can use SMB. I don't see native mac file system compatibility so I will try a share.