Worth upgrading router?

nightrider1470

nightrider1470

nightrider1470

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25 May 2011
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I have plusnet latest hub one.. I always seem to get WiFi dropouts and can sometimes go offline for random periods.

Can a £150 get me a much better, faster, stable router?... If so what do you recommend?, I'm happy to buy used

While here! Can WiFi be as fast as Ethernet these days?

Thank you

:)!!!
 
I read an article last week that said Wifi is already faster than Ethernet

Just to clarify I think it was about home networking and Gigabit networks

Think it was a ubiquiti article
 
I'd be interested in the article claiming wifi is faster than ethernet in general. Ethernet standards currently support 10Mb/s upto 100Gb/s obviously it gets very pricey up there.

Low cost consumer cat 5e ethernet kit at 1Gb/s isn't realistically widely replaceable by wifi to my knowledge, I've read of wiGig 802.11ad kit supposedly hitting 7Gb/s but that is using the 60Ghz spectrum which wont go through walls and that's likely a very theoretical top end.

https://www.ballicom.co.uk/tp-link-...JEtlY5gfu1wz4k-D7e2qEAklP0O2arLmbLRoCbb7w_wcB

Any kind of wireless 802.11ad router will likely currently set you back at least £350 and from what I can make out on this arstechnica article 802.11ad appears to only match traditional 1Gb/s ethernet for download, when you have router and device on 802.11ad.
https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2016/12/802-11ad-wifi-guide-review/

For example my wifi 802.11ac capable laptop on the 5Ghz spectrum with line of site to a Netgear 7000 ac1900 (£100) router is roughly a third to a half the real world download performance of my wired cat5e connection to the same router.

That said it's obvious the wifi gap is diminishing for home use, unless 802.3bz ethernet kit brings 2.5Gb/s or 5Gb/s (genuine) performance to our cat 5e cables at a reasonable price. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/5gbps-ethernet-standard-details-8023bz/

As I said the 10+ Gb/s ethernet kit is currently silly money for home use.
 
stewski said:
I'd be interested in the article claiming wifi is faster than ethernet in general. Ethernet standards currently support 10Mb/s upto 100Gb/s obviously it gets very pricey up there.

Low cost consumer cat 5e ethernet kit at 1Gb/s isn't realistically widely replaceable by wifi to my knowledge, I've read of wiGig 802.11ad kit supposedly hitting 7Gb/s but that is using the 60Ghz spectrum which wont go through walls and that's likely a very theoretical top end.

https://www.ballicom.co.uk/tp-link-...JEtlY5gfu1wz4k-D7e2qEAklP0O2arLmbLRoCbb7w_wcB

Any kind of wireless 802.11ad router will likely currently set you back at least £350 and from what I can make out on this arstechnica article 802.11ad appears to only match traditional 1Gb/s ethernet for download, when you have router and device on 802.11ad.
https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2016/12/802-11ad-wifi-guide-review/

For example my wifi 802.11ac capable laptop on the 5Ghz spectrum with line of site to a Netgear 7000 ac1900 (£100) router is roughly a third to a half the real world download performance of my wired cat5e connection to the same router.

That said it's obvious the wifi gap is diminishing for home use, unless 802.3bz ethernet kit brings 2.5Gb/s or 5Gb/s (genuine) performance to our cat 5e cables at a reasonable price. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/5gbps-ethernet-standard-details-8023bz/

As I said the 10+ Gb/s ethernet kit is currently silly money for home use.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :),... Information overload! :)

So what modem router should I buy up to £250?... I'm on plusnet fibre

:)
 
The Ubiquiti UniFi USG gateway retails around £120 and a xDSL modem can be had for less than £50, even less for a used one on eBay. They also have a range of APs at various prices so should be able to put a kit together for your budget.

I havent used them myself but they seem to get good reviews.
 
nightrider1470 said:
Thanks! :)

So what modem router should I buy up to £250?... I'm on plusnet fibre

:)
Click to expand...

I don't know your use case (see below) for me I use wired 1GbE as a maximum, NAS with 1 port 1GbE and a 70Mb/s virgin broadband for internet download. With those bottlenecks I can't imagine a reason for spending much above £100-150. The netgear r7000 ac1900 was £100 at the river jungle type place and seems OK even with the stock firmware, I would recommend it, despite silly security flaws (now patched).

Do you know if your current router supports modem mode? This will likely negate the need for a new router with DSL modem built in, but depending on your current router and broadband package (which is probably slow if DSL) it could theoretically introduce a bottleneck.

Do you have existing wifi kit/devices, if so what standards can they support? (a lot of tablets phones etc have a very low top end 802.11n 2.4Ghz only for example)

How many devices were you thinking of connecting (wired and wireless)?
 
By the way, if you went the cheapish netgear route, the equivalent model to mine with a modem built in is the D7000 its around £139.99.
 
I have a plusnet hub one at the minute

I download lots of 4K HD stuff daily while my 15 year old lad constantly jerks off upstairs downloading... While my Mrs watches Netflix.

I want the fastest possible for my budget

:)
 
nightrider1470 said:
I have a plusnet hub one at the minute

I download lots of 4K HD stuff daily while my 15 year old lad constantly jerks off upstairs downloading... While my Mrs watches Netflix.

I want the fastest possible for my budget

:)
Click to expand...

If it's all coming through regular DSL, there's not much mileage in super routers.
 
That's the route I'd go down. Fix the wireless first and worry about the router side of things if it proves necessary.

I'd actually start by trying to fix the Hub One situation. It's a reasonably competent device and shouldn't be dropping out on a regular basis.
 
bremen1874 said:
That's the route I'd go down. Fix the wireless first and worry about the router side of things if it proves necessary.

I'd actually start by trying to fix the Hub One situation. It's a reasonably competent device and shouldn't be dropping out on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

Agree, if all usage is routed through DSL could the "drop outs" be good old fashioned rubbish DSL?

I'd find out more about the specs of the hub one, an ultra quick google by me
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...b-one-fibre-router-and-self-install-fttc.html
links to the BT equivalents suggests it's wireless ac simultaneous dual band, unless its known to be awful at that it's probably got enough legs for your devices. Unless you already have 802.3ad and/or loads of devices you could buy a new router and get the same issues of dsl bottleneck?
 
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