What's a stable Dual Band A/G/N router for cheap?

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Looking to spend $50 or less on a 2.4/5Ghz dual band router with a good rep for stability. Wal mart or Best Buy in-store availability a plus. Haven't had my head into router tech for a long time, don't know what's hot and what's not.
 
TP Link WNDR3600. This is an older model it doesn't have ac, but easily found under $50 and good compatibility with OpenWRT etc. The 3500 and 4300 are almost identical to it but slightly different features.
 
Switched our network to the Western Digital N750 this year. So far its been pretty good, and definitely an improvement over the cheap single band I had before.
 
Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Check Ebay. Lots of E2500's, etc. for cheap.

Put DD-WRT or TomatoUSB on it.



I'll agree with this, but I think out-of-the-box firmware should be decent.
 
I vote the tp link WDR3600 or 3500 if you are staying under $50. Otherwise, any of the TP Link Archer series are pretty awesome also. the 3600 has gigabit ethernet ports while the 3500 only has 100 megabit. The 3600 is $60 on amazon right now, but I know I bought mine for $40 earlier in 2015.
 
I've gone through a ton of AC routers that are cheap ever since I found Walmart clearing out the DLink 810L for $10-$20 last year. I've tried/played with the Linksys EA6200,EA6400,EA6500, Asus RT-AC56U, 1 Belkin, 1 Trendnet, and that Archer C7 that both smallnetbuilder and wirecutter recommended.

You will not find any of those for $50 at Walmart or BestBuy. What I recommend at the moment for cheap is the Linksys EA6200 at woot for $28. It's AC566 but installing DD-WRT re-enables AC866. It's gigabit, 5 internal antennas. 3 of which you can change DIY.

However in your price range, nothing beats the ASUS RT-AC56U. I was sorely disappointed with that Archer C7. Newegg has it $80 with a rebate and I was pretty excited, but SORELY disappointed. It uses a very early gen AC chipset that doesn't even support beamforming. Apparently beamforming is what's required in my home for coverage. The end result is the ASUS and the Archer had the same signal strength at my two of my fringe locations.

The ASUS also DD-WRT compatible, but it doesn't need it. It's firmware is the best I have seen and feature RICH. You can dual failover your internet using another Ethernet or even plug in a 3G/4G LTE USB dongle for Internet. Newegg had it on sale for $50 4 months ago, but I have yet to see it at that price since.

Keep an eye on flash newegg, groupon (ya groupon!), and woot. Woot frequently has Linksys routers on sale. from that cheap EA6200 for $29 all the way to the monster WRT-1900AC at $139 and even the monsterous MIMO AC3200 for similar price. Though it's useless unless you have devices that support it.
 
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Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Linksys EA2700
Dual band, with gigabit wired speed.


I have been running the 2700 for around 2 years without issue. It was a cheap refurb.

I'm a big fan DD-WRT, but I haven't bothered to swap firmware yet.
 
Sorry, I have to chime in here and give a vote for the Linksys series that support DD-WRT. I have two of the E4200 routers that I got off of ebay for about $70. One is connected to my cable modem, the other sits in my office and is linked to the other router. From the office, my wired PCs have access to the network at 50mb/sec.(what I'm paying for speed-wise) I haven't been happier.

I have also created a "pseudo" WAP with an older 54GL model connected to the same network to boost the signal in the other rooms in my house.
 
I agree, but the OP stated he wanted a Dual band G/N/AC type. The 54GL will only do A/B/G

but as far as stability and if you don't require more bandwidth than 25mb/sec or so they are great!

Matter of fact, I'm letting a buddy of mine have an old B/G 54GL for his new setup, currently with Verizon DSL... SUCKS!
 
Personally I look for the more stable chipset (Broadcom, Atheros) and enough RAM and NAND to support DDWRT or other firmwares. Stay away from Ralink, Marvell, and other unknown chipset brand unless it is the high end multiple antenna stuff (like Quantenna).

You really have to look for chipset, because sometimes brand changes chipset in the middle of production and revision, like WRT160N ver 2.0 got Ralink chipset that's not so great, and 1.0, 1.1, 3.0 got Broadcom that's not bad (3.0 has less NAND or RAM that only support limited feature open source firmware).
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Archer AC-1750 - its rated very well especially for a price of about $100.


Absolutely ! Bought a TP-Link AC 1750 back in Dec after much research. Router rocks, rock solid, great price too. But is double the cost of what the OP is looking for. I got lucky, those Dec holiday sales. $69 with $10 rebate. I liked it so much I also bought TP Links DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem. System is super stable and getting slightly higher speed 24/7 then the speed I am paying my cable company for.
If the OP is not in a rush, it might be worth the wait for a sale someday, they ALL go on sale sooner or later, though it could be way later, but they will. I dont think any 2.5/5 ghz router exists in the $50 range. Tplink AC1750 a bargain even at $99 compared to the other brands..

Here is one review, but I also based my decision on cost and Amazon Verified reviews

As well as my own "smarts" *L* (I also deal with customers routers on an almost daily basis.
 
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I'm in no hurry. I'm actually running both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz right now, but it's two separate machines as follows: An old Cisco-LinkSys WRT120N 2.4Ghz a/b/g/n receiving broadband via Ethernet cable from an Arris MG5225G Media Gateway DVR box (from the cable co). Inside the Media gateway resides an Arris a/b/g/n router capable of *either* 2.4 or 5 but not both simultaneously. I have it on 5Ghz but it's not the best signal strength. I know that 5Ghz is inherently weaker signal strength than 2.4 due to the shorter wave length or whatever, but the Arris is somewhat notorious for being a relatively [censored] router. It's working for me, but not spectacularly. The 5Ghz spectrum here in my neighborhood is completely vacant though. When I fire up the Arris on 5Ghz it is *the only* wifi network showing on the spectrum. Local 2.4 on the other hand, is pretty crowded. Really crowded, actually.
 
Yes, when looking into the 2.5/5 ghz routers, I learned the 5GHZ doesn't penetrate/pass through walls and objects as well as the 2.5.

IN fact, those fancy looking routers, on the TPLink ac1750 the external antennas are only used for the 5Ghz band, simply because the band needs them! The 2.5 antennas are actually internal on this router.
I found that interesting. So true though, with 5Ghz your ahead of the curve if you are in a crowed place.

I like the interface on this router, some reviews call it basic looking because lack of "color" and symbols but that is why I like it, straight forward menu system using real words instead of colorful symbols.

Im sure all dual band routers have this but you can choose to turn on and off the 2.5 or 5 ghz independent of each other, as well of course leaving them both on and giving them seperate names etc..
 
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I have a [old] Canon MX870 printer that is 802.11b/g @ 2.4 only is why I want to keep 2.4 going. Laptop is 802.11a/b/g/n so it's good to go. Phone does a/b/g/n/ac, and since it does wifi voip calling (Republic Wireless) I prefer to have it on the wide open empty space that local 5Ghz is (for now). Only those three devices, nothing major. Suppose I could just get a 5Ghz printer and run everything off the Arris @ 5, but as I said the Arris is not very robust at all. It struggles to throw 5Ghz to the out lying rooms of the house, and the house is only 2000 sq ft.
 
Yes, I assume your Arris is combined with a modem for your internet access?

I deal with customers modem/routers almost on a daily basis with wireless cameras for security systems, many times I find the range of these combination modems/routers less then desirable and many times if in larger homes we always need to use an extender if all they have is the internet company provided combination modem/router.
 
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