Suggest cheap but powerfull router/access point

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I have been pulling my hairs. I have one of the Edimax router turned in to wired access point. When I run tests, it gives good throughput but when I try to stream Amazon Prime, it immediately gets stuck within few seconds and just continues to do that. I can still run the Speedtest with good numbers while Prime is having hiccups.

Because I have an ethernet switch between the main router and this Edimax, replaced that with old 100Mb hub but the behavior did not change.

I then purchased a cable tester (master/slave with 8-led) and checked all the cables and the wall outlet to make sure there are no wiring problems.

That Edimax is running with the latest firmware. I have set it with the same SSID and same password. Hand off seems to happen transparently. Only the signal strength and specific app (such Fing) indicate if I am running off the main or the Edimax router.

At this stage if I can get a different one with excellent wireless coverage, I am willing to spend some money but still I refuse to spend in three digits!
 
What are you trying to stream Prime from? I had similar issues and it ended up being my Prime app on my Samsung TV, an issue that self-rectified the next time the app updated. Netflix worked fine the entire time.
 
I have a Netgear Nighthawk wireless router that I've been very happy with. Powerful, fast, very configurable, and reliable.

Mine is the R7000-100PAS - AC1900 version, but they do offer another one that's not quite as fast (but still very fast) and substantially cheaper:

R6700 - AC1750. Under $100 on Amazon, and still faster than nearly all consumer-level broadband.
 
Amazon often sells refurbished R7000 for around $90.

The problem with R6400 is that it's unsupported by most third party firmwares, and a lot of people don't like the stock Netgear firmware.

However, I agree with OVERKILL to first focus on the streaming device itself to make sure that is not the culprit before spending money on a new router.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
What are you trying to stream Prime from? I had similar issues and it ended up being my Prime app on my Samsung TV, an issue that self-rectified the next time the app updated. Netflix worked fine the entire time.


Both my iPhone7 and Amazon TV stick suffers but for some reason Amazon Kindle does NOT. So may be you are on to something here. Streaming is done from the Big Mama aka Amazon Prime.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
What are you trying to stream Prime from? I had similar issues and it ended up being my Prime app on my Samsung TV, an issue that self-rectified the next time the app updated. Netflix worked fine the entire time.


Both my iPhone7 and Amazon TV stick suffers but for some reason Amazon Kindle does NOT. So may be you are on to something here.


Easy test: Try streaming something from Netflix or a high def Youtube feed on the same devices.
 
Just to clarify, you have a router -> switch -> Edimax router (configured as an access point).

You mention the Edimax device as the problem, but does the Amazon Prime streaming also have issues when directly connected to the switch, or wireless connected to the main router? Any chance you have any QoS enabled somewhere?
 
Originally Posted By: EdwardC
Just to clarify, you have a router -> switch -> Edimax router (configured as an access point).

You mention the Edimax device as the problem, but does the Amazon Prime streaming also have issues when directly connected to the switch, or wireless connected to the main router? Any chance you have any QoS enabled somewhere?


Amazon prime works fine from the same iPhone when it is associated with the main router. The main router is the Verizon Fios one and it is running with all default settings. The moving Firestick near the main router is difficult to test.

I think for 2800 sq ft (on 2-levels combined), a single but more powerful and newer tech router should be able to handle this easily. I don't think streaming on iPhone uses that much of bandwidth, single digit megabits at most?
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I don't think streaming on iPhone uses that much of bandwidth, single digit megabits at most?
It probably depends on what stream resolution the iPhone chooses to pull from Amazon. Not sure if it's grabbing the 1080 HD stream or something lower. Your Firestick may be trying to grab a higher resolution/bandwidth stream than your iPhone.

When you read Amazon's system requirements, they state 3.5 Mbps is needed for each HD stream, but when I observe real-time bandwidth consumed by my Roku players streaming Prime Video in HD, it averages around 8-10 Mbps, with spikes up to 50 Mbps, which is the max speed of my internet service. Obviously, it is pre buffering when/if extra bandwidth is available.

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Reading some of the high end routers review on Amazon is scary. These units self-update their firmware and then suddenly starts behaving very badly. Most of them don't have a setting to stop this self-update. Some even needs a cloud account before you can set it up! I want my router to NOT surf the internet on its own :)

I know I would be put under luddite lable; but I really prefer my appliances to stay working *exactly* the way they were originally designed. This is becoming more and more difficult as every device is now connected and needs to be updated just to prevent it from being hacked. I wish I could go back to simple dial-up modem where it could not be remotely hacked :)

Seriously, the only reason that I can come up with such disparate reviews where previously "working great" router suddenly developes having "issues". The hardware usually does not break in few months and if it does, it breaks catastrophically for you to know that it is broken. The updated firmware on the other hand can do lot of mysterious things on you.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Reading some of the high end routers review on Amazon is scary. These units self-update their firmware and then suddenly starts behaving very badly. Most of them don't have a setting to stop this self-update. Some even needs a cloud account before you can set it up! I want my router to NOT surf the internet on its own :)
Yet another reason to switch to third party firmware.
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I have powered down that Edimax AP. I was having too many complete lock up (aka no internet with good signal strength) on client devices.

So I turned on yet another AP, a 5G-Only-AP and kept the SSID different from the main router. As long as I manually switch my clients, things work great. But for some reason, the client just does not want to switch over from one to other on its own. I have seen my iPhone7 using LTE instead of associating with the other even though it was right next to it and had full signal strength. Automatic hand off in either direction just does not happen most of the time. Reading FAQ, it seems that this is somewhat of an universal issue and there is really no configurable solution for tweaking WiFi roaming in iPhone world.

This is where I think a single powerful whole house router would be the ideal solution provided the router (and I suppose clients) have the adequate radio strength. Sometimes I wonder if I should remove the "cheap" part from my requirement. That requirement is more on principle than on resources aka I *think* spending anything more than $50 is stupid as there *should* be a solution available in that price range but may be I am wrong. I can go to Costco and try the most expensive one but I will still have to disable the auto-upgrade to guarantee it will continue to work for years.

Any recommendation on a pre-built DD-WRT or Tomato router on Amazon or ebay?
 
A couple of HP OfficeConnect cloud AP's would probably be ideal in your situation. Eliminate your primary WiFi (shut it off) and put in two of those. They allow for hand-offs and clustering.
 
ASUS. Excellent highly configurable routers at reasonable prices with lots of 3rd party firmware and support available, the asuswrt-merlin firmware is particularly good.
 
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what is "TP-Link ID or the password" mentioned in the TP-Link documents? Do I need to create a cloud account with email adress / password for TP-Link corporate website? I want my router to NEVER make any "call home" on its own.

What is the default (factory reset) numerical ip address of this router? From reading the document, it seems like it wants to talk to its "Mama" before letting you do any setting.

"tplinkwifi.net" is an actual HTTP server and translates to "52.23.134.86" and if the client making the connection is NOT a TP-Link router, replies with

"Oops! It looks like you aren't connected to your TP-Link network.Please check your network connection and try again."

When I configure my devices in my house, they don't get internet access during the configuration phase. Come to think of it, they don't get internet access ever unless I explicitly let them.

May be I am completely mistaken and TP-Link also allow conventional method of configuring?
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
what is "TP-Link ID or the password" mentioned in the TP-Link documents? Do I need to create a cloud account with email adress / password for TP-Link corporate website? I want my router to NEVER make any "call home" on its own.

What is the default (factory reset) numerical ip address of this router? From reading the document, it seems like it wants to talk to its "Mama" before letting you do any setting.

"tplinkwifi.net" is an actual HTTP server and translates to "52.23.134.86" and if the client making the connection is NOT a TP-Link router, replies with

"Oops! It looks like you aren't connected to your TP-Link network.Please check your network connection and try again."

When I configure my devices in my house, they don't get internet access during the configuration phase. Come to think of it, they don't get internet access ever unless I explicitly let them.

May be I am completely mistaken and TP-Link also allow conventional method of configuring?


Ac1750 Archer c7 configures like any router, not understanding anything of what you are saying but to say what I just typed.

I think you are WAY over thinking it, just talking here, it just seems at times, whenever we find a REALLY good product at a fair good price, any product, we look for some short coming, there are no shortcomings, no more then any other router.

AT THIS PRICE TP LINK BLOWS EVERYTHING AWAY and being I think you know what you are talking about, you will love the interface, simple, clean, complete.
It does what ANY router does and does it well and for $70 or so you can find out for yourself and always return it.
192.168.0.1
 
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TP-Link seems to be hitting it out of the park, and if you own a "flashable" model that can support DD-WRT or Tomato, it's probably one of the best values for routers.

I have a Linksys WRT1200AC I bought off Craigslist for $20. The seller wasn't aware the router sold for $200 when it was first introduced. Flashed it with DD-WRT and it's been rock solid stable.
 
I had a TP link N300 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router - WiFi Bridge/Range Extender/Access Point/Client Modes, Mobile in Pocket(TL-WR802N) that I used as to feed the wireless signal from my Verizon Jetpack 4G to wifi hot spot to the Netgear R6300 router for my network. It was easy to set up but kept dropping the signal. I ended up getting a NETGEAR N300 WiFi Range Extender (EX2700) and it works flawlessly.

You need the account for your administrator login to the router.
 
I have had great luck installing mid-range TP-Link routers in my family/friends places. Personally I use a Ubiquity UAP-AC-PRO access point and it not only covers the house but the backyard and driveway. My backyard is huge too.
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