Howdy All,

I have discovered that my current Belkin router is the cause of my slow internet download speeds (0.8MB/s).

Please recommend a good dual-channel router for my home use, $100 or lower in cost please.

Thanks,
CMOS

How did you determine this? Our internet has been slow for a while, but I just thought it was due to our ISP.



 

Depending on your ISP, bypass the router and run a speed test.

Easy - disconnect the Router completely by removing the Ethernet connection from the DSL modem, then plug the Ethernet cable from the DSL modem directly into the PC (or laptop).

Run a Speed Test.

This will show you if your router is slowing down the service.

CMOS

AT&T has blamed everything they could on my intermittent internet performance here at work. I have no other realistic options. We paid for the "upgraded speed" BS. I have determined that they just suck.

What are your expectations for it? Do you have any specific needs? What kind of bandwidth is the ISP feeding you?

You can go on something like NewEgg and look at the reviews. This meets your price and has ok reviews...

I can't recommend a specific model... I don't use consumer grade equipment. But then again that's a curse of being an IT guy.

ETA: There is the "Urban Commandos" group that might have more info and probably more responses.

Not quite.

If you have multiple devices connected to the router, it is possible one of them was the data hog and there was nothing wrong with your router. for example right now one of my PC's is doing a live update, my iPhone is updating apps, and spousal unit is watching streaming TV. So a speed test would be inaccurate.

You should check your router and see what else is is S/R data. or shutdown all the devices in your house, then do the speed check before/after.

NetGear, Linksys have worked well for me.

Woulda been faster but I only had Gige to PC

Renegade - I  did that.  No other devices and I ran the Ethernet cable from the DSL modem directly into my PC's NIC.  Then I got the expected 2.57-2.6 MB/s.  Reconnect the router - with only my desktop PC connected  - and I drop back to a download speed of 0.8MB/s.

Google shows a ton of issues with Belkin on this very same issue.  Solution?  "Replace with a different brand router."


CMOS

I just ordered this:  https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HO9DK4/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TLF,

Yes, I'm in a rural area where cell service sucks, so I want to have a Micro-Cell installed to deal with that.  I need a MINIMUM speed of 1.5MB/s to use the Micro-Cell, so the 0.8 I am getting just won't cut it.  With the router bypassed, I get 2.6MB/s.

The ISP is feeling a 1.5-3.0 feed.

CMOS

Good choice. I am running the N600. I have about 25+ devices and a DLNA server as well as NAS backup. It handles it all fine. The N750 is even better.

Hope the new one works well for you. I suspect it shoud!

Those speeds! I shudder just thinking about some that slow.

Anyone making affordable commercial gear these days?

Not bad for gig speed. I have 200 right now and always hit 200 down and 20 up which is the limit for up.

Define commercial and affordable...  There is no need to have "commercial" gear for a regular home.  It is expensive ,  loud and takes work to setup and maintain correctly.  Now if you just wish to play network admin at home then go for it.

Just go to Best Buy or other big box and get something in your price range.


Me... I use a Apple AIr port because it works.. Easy to use ... And has all the extra features I was looking for.

Now with all that said I will most likely have some "commercial" gear in the next house I purchase because of the Size of the house and layout..  The cool thing is there are some manufacturers that are starting to scale down hardware for the home user.  You get the advantage of "commercial" gear but with the ease of home gear.   This will allow you to have full wifi coverage in a large home and not use some crappy wifi extender that is common today for home users.

AAR:

I just installed the Netgear N750 and got triple my previous speeds.  Belkin sucks.


CMOS

I thought my ISP and their box was the reason I was getting 90/90. Turns out it was my NIC drivers. Back to 900/900.

I know some people who use MicroTik in commercial applications. I don't know that I would call them commercial grade or rather in the same catagory as Cisco/HP/etc but I've never heard anything bad about their equipment.

If you want a commercial grade router/firewall check out PFsense. That's what I personally run and it's solid. Just need a good old or new PC and quality NICs.

Asus RT-AC66U
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871035-REG/ASUS_RT_AC66U_AC1750_Dual_Band_Wireless_N_Gigabit.html
Buy from B&H Photo (free shipping & no sales tax).

Then, install Shibby Tomato firmware.  Ran this for about a year, was very happy with the setup.
http://tomato.groov.pl/

This is what I'm running now and would highly recommend, although you need to be more technically inclined.

Ubiquity EdgeRouter X
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1139738-REG/ubiquiti_networks_er_x_edgerouter_x_5_port_single.html

Be sure to enable NAT offloading.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/4t09l2/edgerouter_x_wan_to_lan_throughput/

Paired with...

Ubiquity UAP-AC-LITE
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1184038-REG/ubiquiti_networks_uap_ac_lite_unifi_ap_ac.html


Hope this helps.

TLF & Zulu_niner - you guys really delivered.. lots to read up on!

Back in the day, I was Bay certified (their orig commercial stuff - not the net gear spinoff that survived into the 90s) - always wanted to set up a vlan to separate my work stuff from home stuff, but the gear was a little pricey.

sanangelo - the reason I'm looking out for commercial gear is it tends to last (or at least it did when I worked in telco and dealt with mostly Fiber to Ethernet gear), but I've been out of that arena for a while.  I used to really like the netgear stuff for home use, but my last two NG routers were plagued with OS issues and had to be replaced.  Currently I need to find a better solution than the re-branded 2wire junk ATT forces you to use on their Uverse network.  We're on our 3 or 4th device at this point as they keep failing about every year or so.   The guy at the ups store say he return ships at least 40-50 devices from our neighborhoods a week and I believe him.    My current ATT router's WAP  doesn't reach more than 15-20 feet (it's predecessor covered at least 80ft, and when I called their support they stated ( 3 different times ) it was only guaranteed for 6 ft.  I want to force their gear into bridge mode and put my own router and WAP behind it...

That's that I do... Bridge to my PFsense box and go from there. I run a Motorola AP7131 for wireless and a 48 port POE HP switch. Also have a VM host for other stuff.

For home stuff does not touch commercial gear... That's just the way it is... But if you are a computer guy and especially a IT pro like myself you expect certain control and abilities that for home equipment can't deliver.

Ubiquiti is right about the sweet spot for price/performance/features. Its probably overkill in a residential application, but if you want to play network admin without getting *too* deep into the weeds, it's doable. And they're not terribly expensive, considering.

The EdgeRouter Lite is a good option for home use paired with the aforementioned AC Lite AP.
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Edgerouter-Lite-Desktop-ERLITE-3/dp/B00HXT8EKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474472701&sr=8-1&keywords=edgerouter+lite

I don't think you can force it into bridged mode (the 2wire device doesn't do PPPoE) but you can put it into DMZ mode, with all traffic forwarded to your external IP. I put a Check Point firewall behind that with a Ubiquiti AP on one of the interfaces.
 

Here are my speed test results and the reason I switched to the Ubiquity hardware.

Time Warner Cable (300Mbps)
speedtest.net

Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to wired Computer = 296.5 down/23.8 up

Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to Router (Asus RT-AC66U running Shibby Tomato firmware) to Wired Computer = 157.9 down/23.8 up
Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to Router (Asus RT-AC66U running Shibby Tomato firmware) to WiFi Computer = 68.7 down/23.4 up

Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to Router (Asus RT-AC66U running Shibby Tomato firmware) to AP (Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-LITE) to WiFi Computer = 170.2 down/23.8 up

Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to Router (Unifi EdgeRouter X) to Wired Computer = 278.7 down/23.9 up
Cable Modem (Arris Surfboard SB6183) to Router (Unifi EdgeRouter X) to AP (Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-LITE) to WiFi Computer = 192.1 down/23.9 up

I recently installed 4 new routers in different homes. I went with ASUS (RT-AC68U) Wireless-AC1900, a little over the budget ($150ish and I see you already upgraded/purchased another one). I'm seriously impressed with the layout, features, and speed the Asus offers.
Gigabit 5 port hub (configurable dual WAN), dual band, USB 2 and USB 3 ports for printer and/or NAS, dual core cpu, and all the features/protection you can stand. Definitely worth looking at for any needing/wanting a new router.