Buying a new AC-wifi router - or not?

[CarvedDuck]

Hi All,

We have been using an unlimited data plan Tether on my win-ph8.1 cell phone for Internet in the house. That's 2-PCs, 2-tablets and 1-phone all using Wifi for Internet. We have had zero problems internally, but the cellular service is less than stellar so I have had the ADSL reconnected.

I am wondering if buying a new AC-Wifi router makes sense, but then I read this page...
What is the actual real-life speed of wireless networks ? :: SG FAQ

The thing being that the devices we are connecting to the Wifi-AP are all 150M (11G or 11N) toys. So, I have gone back to the old trusty Buffalo 300-dual band (DD-Wrt) router and a Actiontec ADSL2+ Modem, as it seems more than adequate for our household needs.

I do have a TP-Link N600 modem router but the 11G band stopped working after three months and TP-Link have been moronically useless at fixing it. I have turned off Wifi (switch on back) and just use it as a router for the home network. I guess I could turn Wifi back on and disable the 2.4GHz band in setup.

Is the Actiontec modem (GT701D-NF) likely to be a strangle-point?
Would the TP-Link N600 have better modem performance?

Thoughts and suggestions?

Thanks

 

[broe23]

Only if you plan on streaming media off of a server, or have the option of getting Gb Internet in your area. Otherwise, just a waste of money.

 

[CarvedDuck]

Thanks, we do use it for streaming Netflix, sometimes on two devices at the same time we are running on average at close to 100G of Data per month. The phone has performed fine with that.

So far the ADSL setup is working OK, but I want to be able to set this up and forget it. If I need to buy some equipment, so be it, but better if I can use what we have here and still get adequate performance. I do not want to have to say to the kids, "no streaming, we are using it."

Just because the ADSL is working now, it may be at it's peak and when the ISPs serves dips, as it may, we may get issues. I'd like to be ready.

 

[pparks1]

My question would be, "what is your internet speed'. That will be your bottleneck. I've only got 15Mbps at my house, an 802.11b wireless router can nearly handle that, let alone G, N or AC.

 

[broe23]

Thanks, we do use it for streaming Netflix, sometimes on two devices at the same time we are running on average at close to 100G of Data per month. The phone has performed fine with that.

So far the ADSL setup is working OK, but I want to be able to set this up and forget it. If I need to buy some equipment, so be it, but better if I can use what we have here and still get adequate performance. I do not want to have to say to the kids, "no streaming, we are using it."

Just because the ADSL is working now, it may be at it's peak and when the ISPs serves dips, as it may, we may get issues. I'd like to be ready.

An AC capable router is not going to improve Netflix streaming. What I am talking about, is DVD's & Blu-Rays that have been copied over to a hard drive, so that you can watch them from a tv or computer. That is where Wireless-ac shines.

It will not improve a low speed ADSL connection.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there.

Probably the best way to watch movies etc FROM A COMPUTER is simply to plug the machine into your TV via HDMI cable. !!! However there are all sorts of reasons why people might not want to do that though or can't do it either.

If you have UNLIMITED phone data plan and a reliable 4G service you can use your phone as a Wireless Internet Access point - should be totally good enough for video streaming etc - for Netflix you only need a minimum of around 2 - 5 Mb/s which your phone would EASILY do on any 4G service.

With phones like the Samsungs you can also stream wirelessly via a dongle movies etc so all you need is to be able to access your HDD files is use the file browser on your phone to access the movie and stream it to your TV at full 1080p quality.

The new battle now is between CABLE and 4G services for internet - currently few people have access to 4G unlimited data plans but these will come - so see who is the cheapest and go for it.

Unless though you view TV only via online services Cable still has it as they supply "terrestrial" services - and the Internet add on is usually only a few dollars extra - especially if you can remove the "Line Rental" component from the package.

This is a question that I think more and more people will look at in the future - particularly as in some areas the phone service is faster than the standard broadband. You need to look at ALL the pricing plans however as a mistake can cost you quite a lot over a year.

Cheers
jimbo