The most reliable router that exists is?

jeff83nz · 16 Mar 2018 at 12:16

Looking for a router that pretty much never dies / resets / hangs (i.e. instant death in game / disconnect from work VPN etc).

I currently have a AC Router, which is fast, but it literally dies once or twice a day at random intervals. It actually nicely resets itself (which is good) to sort it, but it means the internet goes down for like a min, and its interaction with works VPN means I have to restart my POS work laptop (there goes 10mins).

Sooooooo.

Is there an ultimately stable router? It needs gigabit ethernet is the only must. Decent wireless would be nice as well.

Orcvader · 16 Mar 2018 at 12:33

Well if money is no issue then pfSense and maybe an Ubiquiti access point would be best.

What is your current router and how is everything connected?

jeff83nz · 16 Mar 2018 at 12:53

Orcvader said:
Well if money is no issue then pfSense and maybe an Ubiquiti access point would be best.

What is your current router and how is everything connected?

£200 would be my price ceiling I think.

I currently have a chinese "AFOUNDRY Dual Band Wireless AC Gigabit Router,6 External Antennas,Three Processors router"
It looks bad arse. But yeah.

Is there an alternative to pfSense that effectively runs on windows? If such could turn the home server into the home router I guess.

platypus · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:07

Have to say my USG has been rock solid. It hasn't had any downtime save to reboot for critical patches, and its not expensive.

jeff83nz · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:08

platypus said:
Have to say my USG has been rock solid. It hasn't had any downtime save to reboot for critical patches, and its not expensive.

USG?

platypus · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:10

Sorry - https://www.ubnt.com/unifi-routing/usg/.

jeff83nz · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:45

ty. So Hyperlink WAN port --> one of these --> gigabyte switch -- > ethernet through apartment and one into wireless access point?

james.miller · 16 Mar 2018 at 13:48

is there no custom firmware available for your router? Id sooner be trying that, if you havent already, then spending £200 on stuff you potentially dont need.

jeff83nz · 16 Mar 2018 at 14:05

james.miller said:
is there no custom firmware available for your router? Id sooner be trying that, if you havent already, then spending £200 on stuff you potentially dont need.

It is a very random chinese job so I am going to doubt it. It's existing firmware is pretty simplistic.

Orcvader · 16 Mar 2018 at 16:09

Think that's probably the first time I've even heard of AFOUNDRY. Looking at reviews they even comment that the router itself is unstable.

If you want an all in one solution and something a little more simple to use, the Asus routers will do fine. RT-AC86U I think fits in your budget, but if you want to save a bit more, I can vouch for the RT-AC68U which has been rock solid for me for the past few years.

Steveocee · 16 Mar 2018 at 16:41

Reality is you probably don't need something with the 99.999% reliability uptime stuff. It sounds like a "decent" home router will suffice. You could look at Ubiquiti Edgerouters, they are very stable set and forget kind of devices.

AStaley · 16 Mar 2018 at 17:07

Orcvader said:
Think that's probably the first time I've even heard of AFOUNDRY. Looking at reviews they even comment that the router itself is unstable.

If you want an all in one solution and something a little more simple to use, the Asus routers will do fine. RT-AC86U I think fits in your budget, but if you want to save a bit more, I can vouch for the RT-AC68U which has been rock solid for me for the past few years.

2nd vote from me for the Asus routers, I also have a RT-AC68U and find it to be a very good router. That said, doesn't matter what router you have if the line it's connected to isn't stable and keeping the connection up.

Caged · 16 Mar 2018 at 19:09

I’d widen your search to just “a router that works”. To get away from the problems you’re having you don’t need something with crazy reliability claims, you just need a piece of hardware that isn’t broken.

Duke · 16 Mar 2018 at 20:04

Caged said:
I’d widen your search to just “a router that works”. To get away from the problems you’re having you don’t need something with crazy reliability claims, you just need a piece of hardware that isn’t broken.

This.

DIABLO · 16 Mar 2018 at 20:45

A Ubiquiti setup is very stable, it's just comes down to if you want to break from consumer all-in-one devices.
Because what you call a "Router" OP is a Switch, Router, Access Point all in one device.

crinkleshoes · 16 Mar 2018 at 21:15

My pfSense box has an impeccable reliability history. It hasn't gone down once in the years I've been using it. It's current uptime is 2 months and that blip was only due to a power outage that affected the whole house.

It started life as an fanless HTPC and I added a second NIC to turn it into a router... so it's fast, silent, very reliable and didn't cost much at all...

Then I can only ever recommend access points for your wireless... a Ruckus R310 is dirt cheap and will wipe the floor in both range and throughput with any consumer-grade wifi router.

You could update your home server to be a virtualised system and run pfSense virtualised... all you need are 2 NICs in that PC (or a dual/quad NIC you can pick up dirt cheap second hand)... then your budget can go towards a really good access point. The Ubiquiti APs are pretty good, especially for their price point... but even they are junk compared to Ruckus.

You can pick up a Ruckus R310 on ebay for under £200... otherwise the R500 is an older model but almost as good and I've seen them go for under £150.

jeff83nz · 17 Mar 2018 at 02:34

crinkleshoes said:
My pfSense box has an impeccable reliability history. It hasn't gone down once in the years I've been using it. It's current uptime is 2 months and that blip was only due to a power outage that affected the whole house.

It started life as an fanless HTPC and I added a second NIC to turn it into a router... so it's fast, silent, very reliable and didn't cost much at all...

Then I can only ever recommend access points for your wireless... a Ruckus R310 is dirt cheap and will wipe the floor in both range and throughput with any consumer-grade wifi router.

You could update your home server to be a virtualised system and run pfSense virtualised... all you need are 2 NICs in that PC (or a dual/quad NIC you can pick up dirt cheap second hand)... then your budget can go towards a really good access point. The Ubiquiti APs are pretty good, especially for their price point... but even they are junk compared to Ruckus.

You can pick up a Ruckus R310 on ebay for under £200... otherwise the R500 is an older model but almost as good and I've seen them go for under £150.

Thanks i might try this, do a virtual instance. I mean i dont need to, but a good opportunity to learn i guess.

crinkleshoes · 17 Mar 2018 at 13:04

jeff83nz said:
Thanks i might try this, do a virtual instance. I mean i dont need to, but a good opportunity to learn i guess.

Yeah, give it a go... just testing the virtual instance will be free if you already have 2 NICs in your server

iwrox · 18 Mar 2018 at 11:22

Another vote for pfSense visualised, you do not even need multiple network interfaces if you have the right kit. I currently have 2 VDSL PPPOE connections and the WAN interface running over 1 port to my GEN8 HP Microserver.

Using a Cisco 1921 with 2 VDSL HWICS I put the Cisco in bridge mode to pass over the PPPOE and management interface to pfSense using 3 VLANS. Works perfectly so far.

neil_g · 18 Mar 2018 at 13:04

Caged said:
I’d widen your search to just “a router that works”. To get away from the problems you’re having you don’t need something with crazy reliability claims, you just need a piece of hardware that isn’t broken.

Agreed.

Not even my boggo vm router has the issues the op has. Sounds like crap/faulty hardware.