Wifi router for 1Gbps

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

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I am so out of touch with Wifi routers. I previously had a 1Gbps connection which was great but used this with Cat 6a cable laying around my house which I no longer want to do.

Are there routers capable of 1Gbps down & 1Gbps up that do not cost the world? Before I was getting around 950/950

I'm also using a wireless Netgear dongle which i believe is 2.4Ghz, 300Mbps max at the moment (WNA3100 (N300) Wireless USB Adapter) I presume this will need updating too if I want to take advantage of a new router. Also open to other suggestions such as Powerlines, however I have used these in the past and they were pretty crap - but may have improved in the past few years
 
Nothing is going to get 1Gb a sec via WiFi. The only way you're going to get anywhere near the full use of your connection is with Ethernet cable.
 
DIABLO said:
Nothing is going to get 1Gb a sec via WiFi. The only way you're going to get anywhere near the full use of your connection is with Ethernet cable.
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802.11ac supports speeds up to 1.3Gbps. Routers that support that will do 1Gbit over WiFi, but I would imagine it has to be 5Ghz, so it'll limit the penetration and range of the signal.
 
benjii said:
802.11ac supports speeds up to 1.3Gbps. Routers that support that will do 1Gbit over WiFi, but I would imagine it has to be 5Ghz, so it'll limit the penetration and range of the signal.
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It might sync at some crazy speed but the real world throughput is going to be half at best.
 
Friends don't let friends use consumer networking equipment... With a connection as nice as that, buy or build a sff pc and run your choice of router (and firewall) on it. For example, VyOS, OPNsense, pfSense, or straight headless Linux/netfilter or BSD/pf over SSH if you know how to use them. You can plug in a Unifi HD, Pro or Lite AP into your switch for the wifi needs.

If you really must buy something, and your network needs are not complex (no QoS for example), then look at the new Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4 and learn how to use it.
 
AC is going to be the tech you need however you need to as ever cut through the smoke, mirrors and marketing terms they use when selling you these Gb+ over WiFi devices.

All figures are quoted best case scenario, maximum phy rates using all the receiving chains, 1.3Gbps is the usual figure quoted for a triple chain device however you need to be realistic about your own devices, how many devices do you have that are triple chain and can use that? Only MBP's currently to my knowledge have this but when you move over onto smart phones, tablets and laptops, you will be lucky at best if they have 2x2 so straight away you are down to 833Mbps!

Those magical numbers are also maximum phy connection rate, you won't ever really get that through it because of the protocol or how it needs to operate with most often 60% of the PHY rate being the best you can expect. Your 1.3Gbps access point that talks to the dual chain device is suddenly only operating at maybe 400Mbps in this example.

Those figures also take into account you are running a full 80Mhz channel, realistically you don't ever want to do that, yes it'gs great you can use 4 channels bonded together to get more throughput but you are also then getting 4 times the amount of noise so your SNR becomes worse and you pick up a lot more interference causing collision. Even though 5Ghz can do 80Mhz, even in quiet areas you should deploy 5Ghz in 20Mhz channel widths for best possible signal at the client.

The power you output across 80Mhz is also the same over 20Mhz, analogy is having one of those butters you get from a B&B, little foil packed jobby, thats your wifi output power, would you rather spread it over a single 20Mhz slice of toast or would you rather it be thinner but spread over 4 slices of toast?
If your AP was happily talking to devices in 40Mhz channels though and you bring a device that is only capable of 20Mhz or it can't quite negotiate at 40Mhz then your entire network will fold back and only use a 20Mhz channel to accomodate it.

TL;DR
Getting Gb over WiFi is possible but mostly only in test labs and totally clean environments. Use cable where you can and WiFi as a convenience but set it up for the best possible usable configuration and don't be one of those people smashing out 80Mhz channels because more is better.
 
Thanks guys. Some very technical answers which I sort of understand and the answer I didn’t really want but sort of guessed it would be the one I would get (stick to cable)

Also to add, being in a apartment I am surrounded by people with 1Gbps / 150Mbps connections from the same provider - this makes the interferance much greater doesnt it?

My laptop wifi picked up something like 25-30 different wifi connections
 
I'm well out of my depth here, but are powerline adaptors an option?
 
garnett said:
I'm well out of my depth here, but are powerline adaptors an option?
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Milage will vary hugely depending on quality of cabling. My "gig" tplink powerline you're lucky to get 90 Meg through them. Others have had more success but the rated speeds should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
 
If you need a gigabit then you need to cable it. If you don't want to cable it then you have to be happy with around 600Mbps.

The headline throughput figures for 802.11ac will be based on a 4x4 setup using an 80Mhz wide channel - you won't find 80Mhz of interference-free space in a dense environment, and it's not that likely that your client devices are 4x4 either.
 
hmmmm, thanks. Realistic choices are

1. 1Gbps service for £45/month and somehow cable my apartment
2. 150Mbps server for £24/month and use the supplied router and my current Netgear USB dongle
 
Honestly you have to have a very specific use case where you notice the differences between 150Mbps and 1Gbps. Either sharing it with loads of people in an office or downloading and patching games daily.
 
Caged said:
Honestly you have to have a very specific use case where you notice the differences between 150Mbps and 1Gbps. Either sharing it with loads of people in an office or downloading and patching games daily.
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It certainly came in handy for Steam downloads which would download games at 100Mb/s! Also came in very handy for work during a rather big incident - I used my connection to save days of upload time when there was no network (other than recovering things using a 3g/4g mifi unit) Laptop/desktop builds that were something like 30GB... as people say though, other than that and doing Speedtests, I didnt really need it
I’ll go for 150Mbps and upgrade if i feel the need
 
With Hyperoptic if you need the gig you can just phone up and it's an almost instant change anyway. You can get a gigabit leased line for under £400 now anyway (in London) so your work might want to consider upgrading their service.
 
Caged said:
With Hyperoptic if you need the gig you can just phone up and it's an almost instant change anyway.
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Yeh, I did that a few years ago in a rented property. £22/month for 150Mbps/150Mbps is pretty good (no installation fees + £50 Amazon voucher) When I have a think about laying Cat6 cable again I might upgrade. For now money is tight so £22 and Sky basic package for £25 will suffice :)
 
To be fair most WiFi devices are not going to need download speeds THAT fast anyway - at most you can download a 3GB game or OS update on a phone or Laptop. Anything that's actually downloading large files should be Ethernet anyway and the laptop could be plugged in temporarily if you have a really large game to download for example.
 
Guest2 said:
For now money is tight so £22 and Sky basic package for £25 will suffice :)
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You need to explore getting rid of SKY then. I'm sure there isn't much that they can offer that you can't get for <£10 subscription to a streaming provider? (Amazon, Netflix or even NowTV).
 
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