Awesome Home Router?

[ChrisD.]

They are.

They do a job, but I wouldn't classify them as awesome, the lack some pretty fundamental networking features, plus:

It only has 3 ethernet ports.
There's no web access, to manage it you have to install third party software (on Windows this means more Apple services).
Limited USB drive support.
No means of installing 3rd party firmware.
Limited networking features.
Overpriced.

 

[Caged]

Such as?

 

[crinkleshoes]

I'd be interested to see the interface of one... but I imagine they'll be typical Apple dumbed-down?

 

[ChrisD.]

Such as?

No WPS.
No Port Triggering.
No MAC replication (important for some ISPs).
No Dynamic DNS support.
No website filtering.
Both wireless bands have to be on at the same time.

I think there's probably more, but these are all features you'd expect with a router costing well over £100.

 

[Caged]

It depends what you're after. Yes it doesn't expose advanced radio settings but I'd argue that the vast majority of home users (which is what they are targeted at) don't know what those settings do and would do more harm than good messing around with them.

My number one requirement when purchasing a Homehub 3 replacement was that it would work reliably, as I don't want to be troubleshooting networks at home, I do enough of that at work. On my relatively modest budget of about £120 the AirPort Extreme ticked all the boxes, and as I said earlier, I plugged it in last October and every time I've sat down on the sofa with my iPad, or wanted to use Xbox Live, or play music off a Squeezebox ever since I've had a reliable and fast connection. For me that's worth more than being able to tweak the last half a megabit out of a connection.

 

[crinkleshoes]

No WPS.
No Port Triggering.
No MAC replication (important for some ISPs).
No Dynamic DNS support.
No website filtering.
Both wireless bands have to be on at the same time.

I think there's probably more, but these are all features you'd expect with a router costing well over £100.

No port triggering?

Bit pointless having a router then... lol

The rest of the options are a bit pointless to me, though.

 

[ChrisD.]

Where did I mention radio settings?

But if you're happy with paying that amount of money that something half as much can do just as well then good. I personally don't mind, but to me an awesome router is a router that can at least offer some of the services the Airport Extreme can't.

 

[crinkleshoes]

It depends what you're after. Yes it doesn't expose advanced radio settings but I'd argue that the vast majority of home users (which is what they are targeted at) don't know what those settings do and would do more harm than good messing around with them.

My number one requirement when purchasing a Homehub 3 replacement was that it would work reliably, as I don't want to be troubleshooting networks at home, I do enough of that at work. On my relatively modest budget of about £120 the AirPort Extreme ticked all the boxes, and as I said earlier, I plugged it in last October and every time I've sat down on the sofa with my iPad, or wanted to use Xbox Live, or play music off a Squeezebox ever since I've had a reliable and fast connection. For me that's worth more than being able to tweak the last half a megabit out of a connection.

I'd be willing to bet money on if you switched it to the NT66U you'd notice the difference... hardware NAT makes an incredible improvement to latencies (websites simply load faster on the same connection speed).

 

[ChrisD.]

I'd notice the £60 or so extra in my pocket when compared to the 56!

 

[Caged]

I typed that reply up before I saw your post. I was replying to crinkleshoes suggesting that the UI didn't let you play with advanced stuff, which is true.

I'm 100% happy paying that sort of money because frankly it's been the most stable and reliable wireless router I've owned, with incredibly fast wi-fi performance (it's a full 3x3 mimo device). I accept that it might be missing features that you'd consider a must-have, but I suggested it for the OP, not for you.

It's all a bit academic anyway, I'm not here to sell them to you - make your own mind up. Similarly I'm not going to swap to another model because what I've got works fine.

 

[Mercutio]

Ok, so I have hand in wallet.
Gimme the bottom line on the improvements the 66 has over the 56.

 

[Meatball]

I switched from the Superdud to the N66U and haven't looked back. Brilliant router. I can stream MKV Blu-Ray rips over 5ghz from the back of the house. I find both 2.4ghz and 5ghz have excellent range. The web UI is very intuitive and easy to configure.

 

[crinkleshoes]

Ok, so I have hand in wallet.
Gimme the bottom line on the improvements the 66 has over the 56.

It makes you e-penis bigger

Lol

Built in VPN (56 can do it, but needs 3rd party firmware)
Faster WAN throughput
Faster simultaneous wireless

That's all I can think of... I wanted the native VPN support

 

[KIA]

RT-N66U is slower than the RT-N56U when it comes to routing.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

 

[crinkleshoes]

RT-N66U is slower than the RT-N56U when it comes to routing.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

Interesting - I was going off Asus' advertised figures.

As long as the latency isn't greater, I don't regret my purchase (too much)

 

[kidloco]

My RT-N56U just arrived. All set-up, nice and simple. Upgraded firmware.

Lets hope that gets rid of my wi-fi issues. the SuperHub was shocking bad.

 

[JAzz]

RT-N66U is slower than the RT-N56U when it comes to routing.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

Hardware wise in theory the N66U is more superior but they are both based on different chipsets so maybe the N56U one is more optimised for raw throughput.

My RT-N56U just arrived. All set-up, nice and simple. Upgraded firmware.

Lets hope that gets rid of my wi-fi issues. the SuperHub was shocking bad.

Be interesting to hear your views on how it performs. You finding the range any better?

 

[crinkleshoes]

Be interesting to hear your views on how it performs. You finding the range any better?

Superhub wireless not available in one room in house + conservatory... asus works in both places + still has good signal at the bottom of the garden

 

[cokecan]

Got an older RT-N16 with TomatoUSB installed. Awesome router for its time/spec

I particularly love the hardware recovery mode which makes it almost unbrickable. If only it had dual band wifi......maybe one day I'll upgrade to the N56 or N66!

 

[lamboman]

No WPS.
No Port Triggering.
No MAC replication (important for some ISPs).
No Dynamic DNS support.
No website filtering.
Both wireless bands have to be on at the same time.

I think there's probably more, but these are all features you'd expect with a router costing well over £100.

It has WPS (have used it), DDNS support is experimental (not from Apple). The AE does offer some features that are nifty and useful if you're very much in the Apple infrastructure, merely because of their ease overall.

The AirPort Extreme does skimp on features, but to be honest, that isn't the market that it is aimed at. It is aimed at those who want a strong router that you can setup and forget; the AE is one of, if not the most reliable option out there.

However, if you require anything more from a router, it's not really for you.

As for routing speeds of the N56U vs N66U, both offer enough pace, so no big deal.

Hardware NAT, shame that it gets disabled when some other features get enabled. However, I wouldn't say that switching from an AE or any other non-HW NAT router to a N56/66U is going to make a huge difference unless the network in question has very heavy traffic.