Best true dual band routers?

dnme

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in contributing to thsi thread. I'd love to hear peoples opinions on the current best true dual band routers on the market. If you are suggesting kit, please make sure it is actually TRUE dual band, i.e. that it supports both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz N simultaneously!

I have my eye on the Linksys wrt610n, I have read good an dbad reviews but I suspect that some of the bad reviews are from people who may not have it configured right etc. I like the fact that it has a USB port for NAS

Sponge Bob

yeah well 5ghz does not have the range of 2.4ghz , is it a big gaff, lots of walls ???

dnme

Sponge Bob wrote: »

yeah well 5ghz does not have the range of 2.4ghz , is it a big gaff, lots of walls ???

small country cottage, i'll be in close proximity to router, I plan to put it in top cupboard out of sight, I have it cabled for power and phone already. cupboard is across room from me, about 10 feet

dub45

If you dont have other wireless networks to bother you why are you going for the dual band router?

I am using the Netgear WNDR3700 at the moment and its fine.

www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk can be good for user reviews.

DemoniK

I believe the WNDR3700 is the one to get
Check the wireless charts here http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-charts for comparison of all devices.
Review of it here http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/30925-start-your-buying-netgear-wndr3700-reviewed

FTR - I don't have a simultaneous dual band router. When I purchased they were woeful devices, and even today having both bands running at the same time does impact the performance of the bands, i.e. having a 2.4GHz client and 5GHz client connected means neither can get the maximum performance.
To that end I went for 2 devices (DIR-655 for 2.4Ghz, and DGL-4500 for 5GHz) to maximize thruput for all clients.

As asked above though - if you're looking for small range, and don't have many networks around you why look to do dual band? Just make sure you get a good 3stream 11n 2.4Ghz and you should be good to go. I only need 5Ghz as I'm surrounded by (at the last count) 21 other networks and need to get above them to stream video/etc.

Sponge Bob

I would put in ethernet cable if the place was that small, 1000mbits speed FTW

dnme

yea you all raise good points. My wireless card (5695AGN) requires both bands to get above 130mbps. So yes it's overkill, but I like gadgets and was just wondering what folks think.

Reckon I'll get a new wireless adapter that can oiperate N on the 2.4Ghz band, ATM I am running the Netgear DGN3500 and it's grand really.

Just got new 24Mb BB in and want to milk all I can out of it. Then on th elan side, I love the idea of NAS and want to be able to access storage wirelessly as fast as possible. If you saw the installation I have here, it's neat city, I hate cables and want to try and keep them to a minimum. Also have DLNA devices / NetTv that would benefit from very fast wireless lan being fed by fast wan etc.

Mister Gooey

dnme wrote: »

yea you all raise good points. My wireless card (5695AGN) requires both bands to get above 130mbps. So yes it's overkill, but I like gadgets and was just wondering what folks think.

Reckon I'll get a new wireless adapter that can oiperate N on the 2.4Ghz band, ATM I am running the Netgear DGN3500 and it's grand really.

Just got new 24Mb BB in and want to milk all I can out of it. Then on th elan side, I love the idea of NAS and want to be able to access storage wirelessly as fast as possible. If you saw the installation I have here, it's neat city, I hate cables and want to try and keep them to a minimum. Also have DLNA devices / NetTv that would benefit from very fast wireless lan being fed by fast wan etc.

Hi DNME,
unless you have intererence from other 2.4GHz sources, you do not need the 5.0GHz radio. I have the same router as yourself with up to five devices connected wirlessly (and my home pc and VOIP phone wired) and have never needed to use the 5.0GHz. I also stream my music wirelessly around the house through the router.

The 5.0GHz has a very short range relative to the 2.4Ghz radio. Also, getting to 300mbps is not possible in real life (plenty of chat on other forums). You are doing well to get to 130!

jor el

dnme wrote: »

Just got new 24Mb BB in and want to milk all I can out of it.

Once you go to that sort of WAN speed, you really need to consider a wired connection in your home. Wireless (even N) just isn't up to it. The more you add to a wireless network, other computers, storage devices for streaming, etc, the worse it's going to get.

Jonathan

Get yourself a Netgear WNR3500L and put a decent OS such as openWRT or DDWRT on it. It is only 2.4GHz, but I'd much rather have functionality than idle bandwidth.

If speed is that important, use ethernet as Sponge Bob suggests.

And if not, you say you are living in a cottage, so chances are, there is no one else around on the 2.4GHz band. Just use a 40MHz chunk for your N network and you should get the same speeds as a 5GHz network.


Ethernet always trumps wireless.

dnme

Thanks everyone for advice.

Yes I live in a very rural location, not many around using BB, certainly no one near me. Also I enjoy great contention. At peak times, I barely notice any slow down, ahh the joys of country living.

So my new BB is peaking at around 15Mbps download. Not bad considering I'm about 1.5 miles from exchange. So how would wired ethernet on the lan side be of any benefit to BB? I can see the benefits of lan/nas etc but BB? surely the wan dictates that I get 15mbps, plenty of bandwidth on lan wifi to handle that eh?

I'll do a few speed tests tomorrow using wifi and cable ethernet and let you know results.

Also, my I moved my eircom NTU across the room via extension cable in attic. I soldered extension cable to eircom cable at original NTU location. Could this affect performance? any advice? I have logged a call with eircom as the NTU box extension module is dead thus I could not run ext off it, I had to move it.

jor el

dnme wrote: »

So how would wired ethernet on the lan side be of any benefit to BB? I can see the benefits of lan/nas etc but BB? surely the wan dictates that I get 15mbps, plenty of bandwidth on lan wifi to handle that eh?

Because the Wifi will slow this down, often to well below the WAN speed. There's no way to know what will happen until you try it yourself, but even with close proximity to an 802.11G, my 7Mbps DSL was reduced to 4Mbps.

Even though your Wifi network is 54Mbps, you'll never get that speed out of it. 54Mbps is the total for bi-directional too, so it's only half in either direction. Any interference, or disruption will slow this even more, and you can very easily find your WLAN speed a lot slower than your broadband.