Thinking about 802.11ac router, is it too early?

[bransonstewlett]

There are so many tech gurus in here, I thought it might be a good place to ask...

My wife wants to use her laptop downstairs while watching TV, so I am looking at getting a wireless router.

I am looking at some N routers, but I see that some of the new 802.11ac routers are out now, and so I started looking at them.
I found that the AC standard won’t be issued till early next year even though a few are out now.

Are the 802.11ac routers out now “Wi-Fi Certified”?

I don’t think they are since the standard is still not out yet.

From what I read in PCmag, these early ‘AC’ routers could have problems with products made after the final standard has been issued next year...

How true is this?

[i0wnj00]

Since the "ac" standard won't be finalized till next year, the best that you will be getting right now is wifi router based off the "ac" draft.
You may find devices based off of the "ac" draft, but the Wi-Fi Alliance may change a few things between now and the final version. If you buy now, you will likely have no recourse if and when the Wi-Fi Alliance finalizes the standard and you'll have to live with whatever issues present in the old "ac" router.

IMO, the companies offering "ac" capable routers right now are jumping the gun by utilizing a standard which hasn't fully been agreed upon.

[UrbanBounca]

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would need anything faster than G. I use my laptop all the time while watching Netflix on my Xbox.

Sent from my DROIDX using HowardForums

[bransonstewlett]

Since the "ac" standard won't be finalized till next year, the best that you will be getting right now is wifi router based off the "ac" draft.
You may find devices based off of the "ac" draft, but the Wi-Fi Alliance may change a few things between now and the final version. If you buy now, you will likely have no recourse if and when the Wi-Fi Alliance finalizes the standard and you'll have to live with whatever issues present in the old "ac" router.

IMO, the companies offering "ac" capable routers right now are jumping the gun by utilizing a standard which hasn't fully been agreed upon.

Good feedback. I was wondering, Is 802.11N really much slow than 11ac? How much slower?

[DRNewcomb]

Good feedback. I was wondering, Is 802.11N really much slow than 11ac? How much slower?

One problem with N routers is that in congested environments they may actually be slower than a G router. This is due to the broader bandwidth causing collisions and conflicts across more channels. If you have an N router you need to get it set up with 5 GHz for all your devices.

[Slinkwyde]

Honestly, I don't understand why anyone would need anything faster than G. I use my laptop all the time while watching Netflix on my Xbox.

Sent from my DROIDX using HowardForums

A month or so ago I finally upgraded from a Linksys WRT54Gv2.0 (very well regarded 802.11G router) to a Netgear WNDR3800 (high-end 802.11n) and saw a significant improvement. The range is much better; I can get a signal at the end of the driveway (good for assisting GPS and downloading podcasts for long trips if I forget to do in the house) and even several house down on my block. Before I had to be right on the front porch. The speed is fantastic for sending data over the local network (ex: AirPlay, file sharing, backups, iPod as WiFi controller for Real Racing 2 on my Mac), and the router also has 1,000Mbps ethernet instead of only 100Mbps plus features like 5GHz (less interference), automatic channel adjustment, USB, and guest networks.

The biggest surprise to me was that it actually helped with Internet speed, even though my family only has a 6Mbps connection. VOIP works much better (GrooVe IP on my phone and Callcentric X-Lite SIP on my Mac), online gaming finally has an acceptable amount of lag and jitter, and YouTube videos load instantly even if they're 1080p (also buffering problems are now rare instead of the norm). I had always assumed the Internet connection was the bottleneck, but apparently the old 802.11g router was a big part of it.

I'd stay away from 802.11ac until it's finalized, but a high-end 802.11n router could be a good choice if you haven't already upgraded.

[boomhower]

The main problem with AC is you are going to be stuck using dongles since it'll be at least another year before notebooks come equipped with AC chips. Get a good N router and call it a day for now.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

[howard]

I recently moved to a new house and found that my Netgear WNDR3700 wasn't doing the job range wise. Normally the WNDR3700 is an awesome router. If I'm in the same room I was able to get sustained transfer speeds of up to around 15MB/s (120mbps). I'm not a wifi expert but as I understand the 3700 is a 2x2 router meaning it handle 2 streams. Each stream is 150mbps so since the 3700 is a 2x2 router it can do up to 300mbps.

My laptops have Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wifi cards in them.

I initially put the 3700 in my basement but found I could only get a sustained 8mbps in my bedroom upstairs. I moved the 3700 to my family room and could now manage around 48mbps but I still wasn't satisfied.

I read some reviews that said the newest ac routers have better range even on N so I ran out and grabbed a Netgear r6300. So far I'm pretty impressed. I can get a sustained 208mbps in the same room and more importantly around 120mps in my bedroom. Since the r6300 is in my family room I'm also that it isn't as bright as my 3700. The 3700 had all these flashing LED's on it that looked tacky. I'm also thinking of attaching a picture to the r6300 to hide it further.

I don't plan on using an ac adapter with this router unless I upgrade my laptops. My desktops are all wired.

Hopefully it will work with the real ac standard when it is out.

[howard]

In case anyone is wondering why I didn't save ~30 and just got a N900 (450mbps + 450mbps) router I got a good deal on the r6300 so it cost the same as them.

BTW, funny thing. After I wrote this post my r6300 died. It reset but I wasn't able to log back into the GUI. After an hour on the phone with Netgear support they told me to exchange it since it's new. I just swapped it today. Hope the new one works out better.