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Router recommendations

webpoet73

webpoet73

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
129
26
Alpharetta, GA
I have a 4th Gen Airport Extreme but the transfer speeds are not as good as I would like, so I have looked a refurb 5th Gen because I can't afford the 6th Gen... so are there any other routers similar to the 5th gen AE that I should look at? Asus, Netgear, etc. I have about 120 bucks to spend...

Thanks!
 
webpoet73 said:
I have a 4th Gen Airport Extreme but the transfer speeds are not as good as I would like, so I have looked a refurb 5th Gen because I can't afford the 6th Gen... so are there any other routers similar to the 5th gen AE that I should look at? Asus, Netgear, etc. I have about 120 bucks to spend...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Since you seem to be happy with AirPort but want a new router I would check out a refurbished Extreme 6th generation. The 5th generation is not a bad router at all but the 6th generation is noticeably faster and stronger.
 
webpoet73 said:
I have a 4th Gen Airport Extreme but the transfer speeds are not as good as I would like, so I have looked a refurb 5th Gen because I can't afford the 6th Gen... so are there any other routers similar to the 5th gen AE that I should look at? Asus, Netgear, etc. I have about 120 bucks to spend...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com

Look over router reviews this site. If you don't care about having the latest 802.11AC wifi, there are a lot of good inexpensive options there.
 
Altemose said:
Since you seem to be happy with AirPort but want a new router I would check out a refurbished Extreme 6th generation. The 5th generation is not a bad router at all but the 6th generation is noticeably faster and stronger.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I can't spend the money even on a refurbed 6th gen ($170) when the refurbed 5th gen is affordable ($85). half the price. the 6th gen would have to be 2x as good or more for me to consider it. The wife won't go for one that expensive. I was looking at Netgear in the 100 dollar range (WNDR4500).
 
webpoet73 said:
Unfortunately, I can't spend the money even on a refurbed 6th gen ($170) when the refurbed 5th gen is affordable ($85). half the price. the 6th gen would have to be 2x as good or more for me to consider it. The wife won't go for one that expensive. I was looking at Netgear in the 100 dollar range (WNDR4500).
Click to expand...

For N900 class routers like that Netgear, check out the ratings here. The top rated Asus there is $40 less than the Netgear on Amazon and looks like it has a lot of good reviews from Amazon readers. Might be a good fit for you.
 
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webpoet73 said:
Unfortunately, I can't spend the money even on a refurbed 6th gen ($170) when the refurbed 5th gen is affordable ($85). half the price. the 6th gen would have to be 2x as good or more for me to consider it. The wife won't go for one that expensive. I was looking at Netgear in the 100 dollar range (WNDR4500).
Click to expand...

I used a 5th generation AirPort Extreme as the head of a 105 client wireless network. Occasionally we got up to 140 clients across my eight APs and the Extreme. It is a fantastic router and well worth the money if you are okay with having N and not AC. The only reason why I upgraded to the 6th generation at home was so I could put the 5th generation at school for my Eagle Project.

In my experience, the Netgear WNDR4500 and 3700 are not good under load. A local school had them installed as APs and they had a whole slew of problems with anything over 7 clients connected and not even downloading. The engineer is obviously no longer with them and a new one is installing the proper equipment. I never had good luck with Netgear even at home in terms of reliability and stability. By the time you spend $100 on a Netgear you are at $200 because you need to buy two in two years.

In summary, get that 5th generation Extreme and you won't be disappointed.
 
I don't need ac. We only own one device that has ac. Everything else is N (either 2.4GHz or 5GHz) or G.

I am going to take another serious look at the AE 5th Gen. I also considered the Asus RT-N56U. Seems to be getting pretty favorable reviews. From the reviews I read, the 5th Gen AE is 2x as fast as the 4th Gen AE and that suits me fine. I just need better range out of a router (and in turn better transfer speeds).
 
webpoet73 said:
I don't need ac. We only own one device that has ac. Everything else is N (either 2.4GHz or 5GHz) or G.

I am going to take another serious look at the AE 5th Gen. I also considered the Asus RT-N56U. Seems to be getting pretty favorable reviews. From the reviews I read, the 5th Gen AE is 2x as fast as the 4th Gen AE and that suits me fine. I just need better range out of a router (and in turn better transfer speeds).
Click to expand...
Once again, I highly recommend the Extreme.
 
Tight budget...

These are in my price range:
Asus RT-N56U ($89)
Apple 5th Gen AE Refurbished ($85)
Netgear WNDR4300 ($89)
TRENDnet DRU812U ($115) [even though I don't need ac and is a bit above my budget...]

The easiest solution is the AE as it can be just inserted into the network and I could keep my current AE and run a third router....
 
webpoet73 said:
These are in my price range:
Asus RT-N56U ($89)
Apple 5th Gen AE Refurbished ($85)
Netgear WNDR4300 ($89)
TRENDnet DRU812U ($115) [even though I don't need ac and is a bit above my budget...]

The easiest solution is the AE as it can be just inserted into the network and I could keep my current AE and run a third router....
Click to expand...

I would go AirPort then...
 
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