Looking for recommendations for a home WiFi Router.

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ReturnedSword

Active Member
Jun 15, 2018
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Santa Monica, CA
Ah, typically I prefer to have as many cable drops as I can going to my network cabinet. I have two active and one inactive drops per room, with more where I have TVs and APs. While using a wired network connection is very low latency, chaining switches does add a very small bit of latency as the tree "expands" its branches. Having everything going to one place also aids in re-wiring stuff as needed via patch cables. Ofc, as you mentioned, you only have one drop to each room, so this won't be applicable in your case.

You will be able to put the switch in front of the Lyra AiMesh node or vice versa. It should work either way since the Lyra's ports will act like a normal switch when in AiMesh mode. I had to do something similar for the AP covering my backyard, as I didn't have the foresight to run a drop there originally. I ended up using the closest AP's spare port with a PoE injector (the APs are PoE powered, but the second port is not) to get WiFi coverage via another AP in my backyard.
 
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Markess

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May 19, 2018
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Thanks to everyone who gave advice! I thought I'd wrap this up for anyone that comes across this on a Google search looking for info.

With the ASUS GT-AC2900 by itself in the same sub-optimal upper floor corner location that the master Lyra node was, signal strength is much better than I was getting with three Lyra nodes together. No dead spots in our 2600sf house. My daughter was even able to stream HD video outside in the back yard on the opposite corner of the house, where we rarely got a signal of any kind with the Lyras.

We have "up to" 1Gb symmetrical internet, which in the past with the Lyras was never better than 200mb down/100mb up (and usually worse) on the free tests (fast.com etc.). I assumed it was the ISP under-delivering and living up to the "up to speed" disclaimer. The GT-AC2900 is getting between 500-600mb up and down.

My kids decided to help with "real world" testing and had Netflix/Amazon Prime HD streams playing over WiFi on three devices, while simultaneously gaming on their desktops over wired connections, and everything was solid.

So, for the moment, Ill try leaving the new router by itself. If wind up needing to add AImesh nodes, I think I may be better off buying something newer rather than try to reuse the Lyras.
 
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ReturnedSword

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Great to hear your positive report and hope your family is enjoying the better WiFi!

On the issue of the internet speed though, even a cheap router should be able to handle gigabit line speed. The “AC 2900” is mostly just marketing however. The manufacturer takes the highest theoretical, perfect scenario speed and adds up both the theoretical speed of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, then they round up that number (because of course they would).

On your new GT-AC2900, it means a theoretical speed of 5GHz @ 2,167 Mbps + 2.4 GHz @ 750 Mbps. This assumes the device has a 4x4 1024-QAM antenna arrangement on 5 GHz and 3x3 1024-QAM on 2.4 GHz, which hardly any devices has. Realistically devices have a 2x2 non-QAM antenna layout, so 867 Mbps on 5 GHz and 400 Mbps on 2.4 GHz. If there are any lower radio spec devices WiFi settles on the lowest common denominator, reducing speed for all devices.

Assuming your WiFi devices have MU-MIMO, which allows multiple devices to more efficiently share a router, 500-600 Mbps seems reasonable for WiFi throughput when there are multiple devices actively connected.

I would still try to have as many stationary devices connected to Ethernet though, to preserve WiFi bandwidth for WiFi only devices.
 
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Markess

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May 19, 2018
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OOps. Guess I wasn't clear. It wasn't 500-600 mb over the Wifi, I was talking bout the download speed of the internet connection. So, I was assuming if I started getting more than double the download speed from the ISP, and more than 4 times the upload, just by changing the router, then the old router maybe had something odd going on with it?

I would still try to have as many stationary devices connected to Ethernet though, to preserve WiFi bandwidth for WiFi only devices.
Definitely. Except for laptops, phones, and a couple Amazon Alexa Dots, everything is wired. Even the wireless printers are wired instead.
 

ReturnedSword

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Jun 15, 2018
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Santa Monica, CA
It’s possible, though as an example I have a very old RT-N66U that can still do 1 gigabit line speed no problem. Its processor is much slower than the Lyra. Were you testing the Lyra on a wired connection on the master node? The more hops away in mesh mode, the slower the throughout will be if it’s using mesh mode as its backhaul.

Which ISP do you have? I haven’t heard of any FTTH or FTTN ISPs not reaching the quoted internet speed. Usually they actually over provision it a bit.
 

Markess

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May 19, 2018
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Northern California
I was on my desktop, which is wired and run through a switch (Aruba S3500) to the master Lyra. Same setup for the new router...desktop through the switch to the router. So I'm guessing the results would be comparable? Regardless of the numbers, my son the crazy competitive gamer says its like night and day. So, that's good at least :)

Which ISP do you have? I haven’t heard of any FTTH or FTTN ISPs not reaching the quoted internet speed. Usually they actually over provision it a bit.
My ISP is Consolidated Communications (formerly Surewest) in Northern California. They are very careful to say "speeds up to" and actually promise nothing. They ran the fiber in the neighborhood about a decade ago, but its only recently that Gigabit came down in price enough that I wanted to bother with it.

Thanks for all your help on this. I've learned a great deal!
 
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ReturnedSword

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Jun 15, 2018
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Santa Monica, CA
Out of curiosity I poked around reddit about Consolidated, in the SureWest service area. It seems to me that fiber providers don’t really need to oversell their speeds (Unlike cable providers) due to the large amount of bandwidth available. Some commenters mentioned that the line may need to be upgraded (free) if you just give them a call and report that you’re not receiving the speed you pay for. When the tech comes out they should know what to do.

500 Mbps is a huge improvement, and it looks like the Lyra was the culprit. However I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t get the service promised and if it were me I’d definitely be giving them a call!
 
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abtrek

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Markess

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May 19, 2018
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Northern California
Hi,

I just switched from cable to fiber for internet. I am getting excellent speed when plugged directly into the router (it's some Arris piece of ****) but when I connect devices to it via wifi, they get a decent amount less, especially if they are any distance from the router (like in a room ~20 feet away = ~200mbps less.)

If I go ahead and get my own router (which my ISP allows) can I expect a significant improvement to this?

I did a bit of research but I have not really been looking into routers for several years... I got lucky and my last few ISPs provided great routers that worked fantastic. This is the first time in a long time that I got a crappy one. I looked at a few of the Netgear ones like the RAX40, and some Asus products such as the RT-AX3000 and AC2900. (Also, has netgear stepped up their game recently? Back in the day netgear was junk... was very surprised to see so many places recommending their devices now!)

My main priority is reducing the amount of speed that is being lost via wifi... any advice on which device/s would best accomplish that?
I started this string a couple years ago, and you may have read somewhere in the middle that I wound up with an Asus ROG GT-AC2900. I used that in Asus's AiMesh mode with the two other Asus routers I already had in AP mode to allow for better WiFi signal and roaming.

In short: It worked OKish. Not great. And the newest of the three routers...the expensive one...died after about a year. First Asus product I had die like this, so I don't think it was poor quality or anything, just bad luck.

So, I took the opportunity to try the advice most of the people here gave me: a low power firewall/router "PC" running pfSense paired with a more robust "prosumer/commercial" grade access point. Current setup is
  • pfSense running on a Supermicro A2SDi-4C-HLN4F & feeding into a Cisco SG300-10 switch for all the wired stuff.
  • An Engenius EWS377AP access point for WiFi.
Because its separate, I could position the access point for the strongest signal strength throughout the house, instead of being tied to where the cable came in from the outside. I took a while wandering around the house with a signal strength app on the phone, to decide where to mount it. Wound up putting it on the ceiling where I could run the cable through the attic and down to the structured wiring box with the pfSense "PC", switch, and the cable from the outside. Its been really solid so far.
 
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Navy_BOFH

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Aug 2, 2013
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I am having the same dilemma now. I have fiber internet here (choice between AT&T and Spectrum fiber) with a need for failover WAN which I have an LTE modem for such instances. House is a 1500 sq ft townhome in a decently dense neighborhood. I have some CAT5 run in the walls for APs and my "office" and living room to offload some fixed devices from WiFi such as my NAS/server and home theater devices but otherwise everything is wireless including my outdoor cameras.

I have been looking at a Firewalla Gold for router/firewall, and have been split between EnGenius and Aruba for switching/WiFi with a "bonus" of Aruba having a 10GbE aggregation switch that would make my life simple for my NAS/server duties. I have been sticking to these type of options for the WAF and that my other half wants to be able to see the network without pulling up several pages or CLI so having "app support" is a HUGE plus.