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Cole Slaw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 6, 2006
1,022
1,580
Canada
Hi;
I'm looking to buy a new wireless router.
I presently have an Airport Extreme (the last model before the new AC "Tower" model).
I've only ever used Apple wireless routers so I wouldn't mind some advice on what to get next.
2 things I would like in a new router would be AC WiFi capable, and also I would like to be able to assign a maximum amount of bandwidth to a particular user on the network.
The second reason I gave above is why I am not looking at the new Airport Extreme (the AE can't do that).
Anyway, anyone have any ideas on what make/model of wireless router would be able to do what I need?
 

canuckle

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2011
137
1
Hi;
I'm looking to buy a new wireless router.
I presently have an Airport Extreme (the last model before the new AC "Tower" model).
I've only ever used Apple wireless routers so I wouldn't mind some advice on what to get next.
2 things I would like in a new router would be AC WiFi capable, and also I would like to be able to assign a maximum amount of bandwidth to a particular user on the network.
The second reason I gave above is why I am not looking at the new Airport Extreme (the AE can't do that).
Anyway, anyone have any ideas on what make/model of wireless router would be able to do what I need?

I'm currently using the Asus RT-AC68U, running a custom firmware created by a developer that works closely with ASUS (though he doesn't work for ASUS). Link to his section over at another forum:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=42

I have a pretty broad setup, including Synology NAS, USB drives attached to both computers and the router, and tons of Apple devices. Router is rock solid for me. I don't use QoS, which is what you refer to in your second reason for not going Extreme. Depending on your application my understanding is that it works well but can be a bit sticky to get set up correctly. There is a ton of help at the above link though.

FWIW and to be fair, I've also heard good things about the Netgear R7000, and it beats the 68U in some of the benchmarks. I very much prefer the UI on the Asus products though, so it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

Also FWIW, I had a new Extreme for about a week and returned it. My previous non AC router blew it out of the water for range and throughput, as does the 68U I'm using now.

YMMV
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
Hi;
I'm looking to buy a new wireless router.
I presently have an Airport Extreme (the last model before the new AC "Tower" model).
I've only ever used Apple wireless routers so I wouldn't mind some advice on what to get next.
2 things I would like in a new router would be AC WiFi capable, and also I would like to be able to assign a maximum amount of bandwidth to a particular user on the network.
The second reason I gave above is why I am not looking at the new Airport Extreme (the AE can't do that).
Anyway, anyone have any ideas on what make/model of wireless router would be able to do what I need?
I just replaced my Cisco Linksys E3000 with an Apple Airport Extreme tower. I buy Apple because it works, not because it has the Apple logo on the case. Because Apple uses chips from the same manufacturers as the other manufacturers, I saw no reason to buy Apple when I could drop into my local Office Depot and walk out with a Linksys. I have purchased several routers over the years. Since my first Siemens, each has been a Linksys--until now. My Linksys routers would go bad after about 18 months. I took it for granted that routers went bad after 18 months or so. After I purchased my last Linksys E3000, I learned that Apple Airport routers do not have such limited lifetimes. I vowed that my next router would be an Airport would the time came. The E3000 managed to hang on for more than 3 years, but last month it had become too troublesome. So, I replaced it with a brand new Airport Extreme.

This is not a matter of getting what you pay for. I paid about the same price for my Linksys E3000 as I would have paid for the extant Apple Airport. The bottomline is that you should assess your real needs. What do you hope to gain by throttling your bandwidth? Is throttling your bandwidth a higher priority than having years of reliable service?
 
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