Virgin Media Community

[sku11meister]

Hi,

Ok i have a rather large network at home, Plex server, smart tv's, I pads, I phones, Android Phones, Games consoles, Game Pc, Laptops, Rokus, Andriod box, and a couple of NAS drives.

Also have powerline adapters and an access point, baby camera and a couple of Netgear 8 way Switches plus a few other bits and bobs (Like the boiler) all connected both on Lan via switches or Wireless 2.4 and 5 Ghz

Im looking into putting my superhub into modem mode, buying a proper Router, one with better features and wireless range/functions.

Can anyone suggest or recommend one that works well for the ... thanks

[Dave_cq]

I'm no expert regarding the choice out there but a couple of years ago when I decided to put my hub into modem mode I picked up a couple of recommendations for the Asus RT-AC68U and it has turned out to be an excellent choice.  I love the Asus user interface and I've found the Wi-Fi signal to be excellent.

Mind you, my needs are quite simple and I don't have a network anywhere near as large and complex as yours, so you might want to consider one of the more sophisticated (read more expensive) Asus models.   https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=asus+ac+router&...

[MUD_Wizard · Accepted solution]

I setup and monitor an Asus RT-AC3200 for a friend and it has excellent features and capabilities: https://www.asus.com/uk/Networking/RTAC3200/

It has 3 radios - two 5ghz and one 2.4ghz.

High gain antenna.

Universal and Standard beam-forming.

Advanced QoS.

The Traffic Analyser is very good and useful, with both device and app based breakdown of usage.

And a lot more.

Some wifi tests (bear in mind this is not in ideal conditions, but still everyone is happy with it and the signal strength they get on various devices):

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Modem-mode/m-p/3424368#M144314

[MUD_Wizard]

If you've got a lot of devices in use then you'll want to enable the Adaptive QoS so that every device gets the best possible connection no matter what type of app they're running.

You can set an overall manual bandwidth limit of 75%-80% of your top tier speed to avoid the possibility of bufferbloat when the VM connection is maxed out.

This is what I did with my friends setup. The QoS is automatic so once it's enabled there's really nothing to fiddle with, except monitor how well everything is doing on the snazzy monitors.

[MUD_Wizard]

[MUD_Wizard]

I particularly like when you click on a device on the Adaptive QoS screen, that not only can you see how much speed an individual device is using in real-time, but also see that speed broken down into Facebook, web browsing, downloads, youtube etc. Same with the Traffic Analyser for data usage. It really helps to debug your wifi network and check everything is working efficiently. And I'm doing this remotely!

[MUD_Wizard]

Currently £144 on Amazon (PC World still selling at £160, which is still a great price for such a good router).

[MUD_Wizard]

One major consideration when getting a 3rd party router is making sure that the router has more than enough processing power and memory for the number of devices you're using. In testing with 6 devices the dual-core CPU of the Asus barely ran from 1% to 10% max, with only 30% of the memory used, with Adaptive Qos and App traffic monitoring enabled.

As you add more devices, enable more features and do a lot more bandwidth usage you'll be happy that you have processing power and memory in plenty of supply.

You don't want your new router to overheat in the summer when it's busy! Cooling can be a major consideration, which many routers have a problem with. So make sure to keep it well ventilated. The fact you won't be maxing out the CPU should mean it stays cooler compared to a lesser model which you run hotter.

Plus there's the 3 year warranty. 

[MUD_Wizard]

Another stand-out feature: