Wi-Fi Router recommendations wanted

[BubbaVO]

So, I bought the 3-d TV with internet access via the wi-fi (fantastic picture - thanks Johnny B for the recommendation). I can check out Amazon Prime movies through that. The kids play xbox live in the basement - another wi-fi use. The wife, kids (at least 7 devices) and I all have computers (mostly apples), ipods, kindles, etc that we use throughout the day all accessing the wi-fi.

Well, sometimes I try to watch a movie and I get a message that the bandwidth is too low or the kids will complain that the xbox live keeps dropping them. Or I'll try surfing the net and it takes forever for a webpage to load. We have the router that Verizon FiOS gave us when we signed up about 7 years ago. I just checked the speed on the Verizon site and they say we have a 16.18 mps download speed and an 8.94 mps upload speed. We're supposed to be getting 25/25 speed. Would upgrading the router solve some these issues? If so, any recommendations on what we can use?

Thanks for the help.

[kenjones]

I could never seem to get enough speed over wifi for any kind of streaming, so I ran ethernet cables with hubs everywhere. I only use wifi for our laptops, iPad, and phones.

My set up is this: our cable modem sits next to the television in our living room. Ethernet leaves the cable modem and hits a hub (ethernet splitter). I run an ethernet cable to everything there that has ethernet (smart TV, DirecTV, AppleTV, Blu-ray player, Xbox, Airport Express for wifi and AirTunes). I then run two ethernet cables out of that hub back outside the house. One cable to goes to a hub in our master bedroom and hits another hub (wired to a smart TV, DirecTV, blu-ray, Airport Express for wifi and AirTunes) and the other cable runs out my office above the garage and hits another hub (wired to a DirecTV, Airport Express for wifi and AirTunes).

Bottom line - you cannot beat a wire for speed and reliability. I bought all of my short ethernet cables at Monoprice. The long ethernet cables were custom-cut from a spool. It's pain to do all of this, but its done and I have zero issues and a very strong wifi signal everywhere on our property.

[G Man]

I was having similar issues with our wireless a couple of years ago, replaced the wifi router with whatever was the newest/fastest at the time, problem solved. Go to your local comp. place, be that Staples, Best Buy or a local place and see what's the newest/fastest now and get that.

[cynic]

I've been using powerline adaptors from the outlet nearest my router to the outlets nearest the two TV's for nearly ten years. The first batch started crapping out after seven years, so I replaced a while back with these.

I never bothered to measure the speed of the signal because I don't have a computer hooked up to them, but I stream Amazon/Netflix regularly in HD with no issues. You can buy four for less than the cost of a new router, and mine have survived as long as three routers.

[velorush]

^^^ That's a great idea.

We just upgraded to 60 Mbps service through Charter and the speed is as-advertized, wired. My older LinkSys router, however, cuts the speed in about half over WiFi. I was about to move the cable modem and router in to the living room for a wired connection to the son's XBox and the television, but the TP-Link would eliminate the need!

[BubbaVO]

I've been using powerline adaptors from the outlet nearest my router to the outlets nearest the two TV's for nearly ten years. The first batch started crapping out after seven years, so I replaced a while back with these.

I never bothered to measure the speed of the signal because I don't have a computer hooked up to them, but I stream Amazon/Netflix regularly in HD with no issues. You can buy four for less than the cost of a new router, and mine have survived as long as three routers.

This is very interesting. But aren't I still relying on the old router to divvy up the signal between at least 9 different devices? Sounds like this would be very good once I have a better router because I'll be able to avoid additional wiring around the house. My TV would definitely benefit from this device. But I'd still want WiFi for my lap tops and wireless devices. I'm thinking my old router is the weak link in the chain.

[cynic]

Yes, you would still rely on the current router to divy up the wifi signal, but the two most gluttonous devices (TV/Xbox) would be off the wifi tit.

For me, these offered the best solution for TV's and gaming consoles in other rooms of the house. My speed over wifi is >55Mbps download and I still get better performance for video streaming using the powerline adaptors.

Is 25Mbps enough for 9 hard-wired devices? I ask because I don't know, but have recently been trying to learn more about bandwidth usage because I'm soon moving to a location where I'll be capped at 3Mbps.

I would check the disparity between the wired and wireless speeds when there's only one device online. If it's more than a couple Mbps, you may benefit from a new wireless access point. Otherwise, you might see if your router provides a snapshot of bandwidth usage, and compare that against your measured (not advertised) speeds. Maybe you're maxing it out?

[velorush]

I've been investigating port forwarding for the XBox. As I understand it, it reserves specific ports that XBox "likes" available for XBox use... or sumpthin'

[Teh]

I agree with replacing the wireless router with latest technology. I replaced the one in our house with an ASUS model that offers 802.11AC when we weren't getting close to what Comcast. Went from dog slow to screaming with that change.

A couple other things to do once you put the new router in...:

1. The newer routers allow you to set up two different networks -- One at 2.4GHz only and one at 5GHz that will revert to 2.4GHZ if necessary. In our house, we set up one network for the kids stuff and one for the adults. That helped reduce packet crashes and slow throughput.

2. The router management software will allow you to control bandwidth usage by device. In other words, if the kids are sucking up all the bandwidth watching YouTube, you can go in and restrict usage on their devices. That way, you can watch all the YouTube you want!

[Ting Ho Dung]

So, I bought the 3-d TV with internet access via the wi-fi (fantastic picture - thanks Johnny B for the recommendation). I can check out Amazon Prime movies through that. The kids play xbox live in the basement - another wi-fi use. The wife, kids (at least 7 devices) and I all have computers (mostly apples), ipods, kindles, etc that we use throughout the day all accessing the wi-fi.

Well, sometimes I try to watch a movie and I get a message that the bandwidth is too low or the kids will complain that the xbox live keeps dropping them. Or I'll try surfing the net and it takes forever for a webpage to load. We have the router that Verizon FiOS gave us when we signed up about 7 years ago. I just checked the speed on the Verizon site and they say we have a 16.18 mps download speed and an 8.94 mps upload speed. We're supposed to be getting 25/25 speed. Would upgrading the router solve some these issues? If so, any recommendations on what we can use?

Thanks for the help.

Verizon Fios is Halffast? There's where I would start first. Call them and ask them to flash the bios on the router they gave you so you can get the service you are paying for. Once that's taken care of you can decide to upgrade or what to buy. I haven't bought hardware in 5 or 6 years so I have no advice on anything current. I also am apparently the slowest guy on the forum. 8.5 down and 1.25 up, lol. I'm behind.