Aging Tech: My Router

[bulbasaur]

The very first router I bought was a Linksys in college.  I forget the model, but it was $150.  It wasn't even wireless.  That was a lot of money for the time, but it was worth it to share the network.  I kept the router for a long time, but I finally upgraded when I moved.  I bought a cheap Buffalo router for about $50.  Again, I don't remember the model, but it was wireless.  When I moved again, I finally decided to invest in a good router.  I settled on the D-Link DIR-855.



At the time, it was really fast.  It doesn't support NAS or a print server, but I didn't need those at the time.  Unfortunately, I sorta want those features now.  Plus, there is a new standard for wireless.  I might as well upgrade.  I don't need to upgrade because everything still works, but I might as well keep an eye out. 

What are you using?  What do you recommend? 

[Sifu]

Love my nighthawk.  Can't say anything bad about it.  My wife was pissed that I spent $300 upgrading modem and router but she doesn't complain about the QoS, zero buffering and no dropped connections.  Like I said it was the best tech investment last year. I'm only on a 25mb connection but I'm getting what I signed up for.

Before id be lucky to get 2mb on a crappy router/modem.  I really wish I could test it on a proper connection but it handles everything I throw at it.

[bulbasaur]

At least you have good taste in routers.   

I like the old school design.  It looks like my first router.  I will probably upgrade my router the same time I upgrade my laptop, which is probably next year. 

best on the market as of this post

[Sifu]

Posts have been deleted.  I don't mind arguments or debates but let's stay on topic.  Plenty of other things to argue about.

[bulbasaur]

Routers and Wi-Fi have come a long way.

With 802.11, we were wireless!  My high school had one, and we were all sending mp3's from one building to another.   

With a/b...it was just cool to not have to drag a cable across the house. 

With g...oh how fast you were.  If I remember, almost 5x as fast as b.   

With pre-n/n...oh how far you were.  Multiple antennas.  MIMO.  5ghz band.  I noticed a big speed jump, but others didn't.  Maybe I just had a bad g router. 

With ac...I am not there yet. 

[bulbasaur]

TP-Link Archer C7

A relatively cheap and high performing router.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/28/the-best-wifi-router-for-most-people/

[nightrider]

Just how old are you guys? You guys make it sound like you're all in your teens always wanting the latest and greatest gadgets whether you have a lot money or not. I must be too old. I'm on the the wired, no routers/wireless hardware... My tech hardware spending for this year so far has been $0.

[Sifu]

Dirty sieben here.  As for technology.

I usually will opt for medium to higher end stuff but rarely do I need the best every time I need to buy something.  I don't dump my money on my tech (that's for my cars man), I want stability and less hassle.

If you've been lucky to have an obscene internet connection, don't have anyone sharing that said connection (where everyone in the house is on youtube/netflix/prime/hulu/twitch), you like to game, torrent, media stream then consider yourself lucky.  I have 15 different machines on my router and they are ALL bandwidth hungry.  Having the hardware to handle that has been a blessing (yes a Goddamn blessing). 

[bulbasaur]

People spend money on anything that is of interest.  Some spend it on tech.  Some spend it on food.  Some spend it on cars.  Hobbies.  Travel.  Music.  Clothes.  Etc.  It's all personal preference.  If your old tech suits you just fine, then more power to you. 

For example, I don't really care to upgrade my phone.  All I do is make calls and text.  However, some people use their phone as their main computing option.  I can understand if those people want a powerful phone every year.  As for routers, some people use a ton of bandwidth, so investing in a good router is a good choice, especially if you consider that there are new and faster standards. 

Just how old are you guys? You guys make it sound like you're all in your teens always wanting the latest and greatest gadgets whether you have a lot money or not. I must be too old. I'm on the the wired, no routers/wireless hardware... My tech hardware spending for this year so far has been $0.

[bulbasaur]

Asus RT-AC5300

This will apparently be the fastest router.  The looks are funky, but the proposed specs just sound nuts.

[bulbasaur]

So I found a nifty hack to get more out of my router.  Who woulda known.  Maybe I should pickup one these routers on the market before it becomes blocked or illegal to do so.