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Our startup has tried both the Asus RT68-U and the Netgear N7000 (the two top of the line, AC1900 class, consumer routers on Small Network Builder[1]) for both

Our startup has tried both the Asus RT68-U and the Netgear N7000 (the two top of the line, AC1900 class, consumer routers on Small Network Builder[1]) for both office and factory operations with both stock and DD-WRT[2] firmwares. Our initial preference was to lean towards the Asus given their track record on OpenWRT for the past few years. If your last experience with flashing a router's firmware was with the Linksys WRT-54G back in 2004 than you may have missed out on all the Asus development that happened in the past decade. We found the Netgear N7000 performed better overall. We were reluctant to use it as it did not support Dual-WAN mode initially like the Asus on stock firmware. (I.e. primary Comcast internet, secondary Verizon MiFi usb adapter.) We recently updated both routers to [Kong]'s firmware mod of DD-WRT[3] and now the Netgear N7000 blows everything out of the water. At our factory we are concurrently connecting 50 previously unassociated WiFi devices every 30 seconds and the dual-core 1Ghz Netgear just keeps on trucking with no problems. Our Asus meanwhile will crash about once a day. Going forward we will stick with the Netgear. It seems to have become the 'default' router on the DD-WRT community, with support for other routers being forks off the N7000 code. Given Linksys has long no longer been 'Linksys' been 'Cisco' been 'Belkin' been Marvell, I don't anticipate it superseding the thrown despite the classic throwback black and blue livery. The 1.2Ghz processor and quad-band antenna is nothing to snub at. Should be an interesting year for router enthusiasts. [1]http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32239-ac1900-first-look-netgear-r7000-a-asus-rt-ac68u http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/322... [2]In broad strokes, DD-WRT is like a nice, easy to install, easy to configure version of OpenWRT. If you previously preferred using Tomato to OpenWRT this is for you. OpenWRT is when you really want ring-zero console access only with no amenities out of the gate. [3]http://tips.desipro.de/ http://tips.desipro.de/ - [Kong] made some modifications to DD-WRT to work better with the new AC-1900 class routers. They are fast becoming the master branch.

newman314 13y ago
What build number of Kong's are you using for the R7000? I just picked one up to potentially replace a flaky RT-N16 running Kong but it's not the cheapest device for home use. For that kind of money, it seems that Ubiquiti could be a viable option. Trying to decide if I should return the R7000 and get the Ubiquitis instead.
- jzelinskie 13y ago
  What's the model of router that people are recommending for Ubiquity? I recently upgraded my parents to an Asus and was extremely satisfied with Merlin's builds of the Asus firmware. Ideally, I just want something that runs Debian and lets me install packages so it can act as a home server. Why isn't this a thing yet?
  - Spittie 13y ago
    I don't own one, but I usually see lots of raccomandations for the EdgeRouter Lite or the EdgeRouter POE (which is a Lite + integrated Switch + POE). It does run on Debian, I think you can just ssh in an do everything you want. By the way, on DD-WRT/OpenWRT/Tomato you can install pretty much what you want by using OptWare/EntWare. The problem is usually not the software, but the hardware. Router are still slow (for example, I tried once to use transmission on my puny e3200, and the speed was capped at ~350kbps by the CPU) and they don't have lots of connectivity (on high-end routers you get maybe 2 USB 3.0 ports. The WRT1900AC is in fact the first router with an eSata port, and the first one with decent speed over USB). If you want to run anything somewhat "heavy", you're far better with having a different box, or using a custom pfsense/smoothwall/m0n0wall/vyatta box.
    - MertsA 13y ago
      One thing to add is that the Edge Router Lite is based off of Vyatta and it is mostly feature compatible with it. It also boots off of a 4GB flash drive formatted as 2GB so if you open it up you can get double storage for free.
    - pktgen 13y ago
      > The problem is usually not the software, but the hardware. It's both. The hardware is slow and the software (in the cases you mentioned, the Linux network stack) is slow and inefficient. The ERL uses hardware acceleration to avoid all this. It's capable of routing 1M PPS and the latest beta build does this with PPPoE as well. (In other words, it'll support Google Fiber connections well, for the lucky few.)
- 13y ago

newman314 13y ago

What build number of Kong's are you using for the R7000? I just picked one up to potentially replace a flaky RT-N16 running Kong but it's not the cheapest device for home use. For that kind of money, it seems that Ubiquiti could be a viable option. Trying to decide if I should return the R7000 and get the Ubiquitis instead.

jzelinskie 13y ago
What's the model of router that people are recommending for Ubiquity? I recently upgraded my parents to an Asus and was extremely satisfied with Merlin's builds of the Asus firmware. Ideally, I just want something that runs Debian and lets me install packages so it can act as a home server. Why isn't this a thing yet?
- Spittie 13y ago
  I don't own one, but I usually see lots of raccomandations for the EdgeRouter Lite or the EdgeRouter POE (which is a Lite + integrated Switch + POE). It does run on Debian, I think you can just ssh in an do everything you want. By the way, on DD-WRT/OpenWRT/Tomato you can install pretty much what you want by using OptWare/EntWare. The problem is usually not the software, but the hardware. Router are still slow (for example, I tried once to use transmission on my puny e3200, and the speed was capped at ~350kbps by the CPU) and they don't have lots of connectivity (on high-end routers you get maybe 2 USB 3.0 ports. The WRT1900AC is in fact the first router with an eSata port, and the first one with decent speed over USB). If you want to run anything somewhat "heavy", you're far better with having a different box, or using a custom pfsense/smoothwall/m0n0wall/vyatta box.
  - MertsA 13y ago
    One thing to add is that the Edge Router Lite is based off of Vyatta and it is mostly feature compatible with it. It also boots off of a 4GB flash drive formatted as 2GB so if you open it up you can get double storage for free.
  - pktgen 13y ago
    > The problem is usually not the software, but the hardware. It's both. The hardware is slow and the software (in the cases you mentioned, the Linux network stack) is slow and inefficient. The ERL uses hardware acceleration to avoid all this. It's capable of routing 1M PPS and the latest beta build does this with PPPoE as well. (In other words, it'll support Google Fiber connections well, for the lucky few.)
13y ago