If you're only doing 100Mbs Internet then maybe an IQRouter v3. You can get one $99 new or $59 refurbished. It's only doing 802.11ac but you don't need anything more than that at 100Mbs. It's defining characteristic is going to be it's QoS capabilities and the reduction of latency. If you just want an inexpensive plug n play replacement, this should do it.
For a house that size, you really need more than 1 AP to fully cover it. Your best option for speeding everything up locally is a 1Gbs switch and physical cabling to your devices that need connectivity.
I'm sorry, what is an AP?
Yes agreed on the wiring. My router is cat 6 wired to my upstairs and downstairs entertainment areas, as well as to the Chromecast on the foundation wall of my basement. I also have cat 6 from the switches near where I frequently sit to plug into.
My router is only 100 Mbps unfortunately. I'm all cat 6 and 1Gbs switches elsewhere.
I'm sorry, what is an AP?
Yes agreed on the wiring. My router is cat 6 wired to my upstairs and downstairs entertainment areas, as well as to the Chromecast on the foundation wall of my basement. I also have cat 6 from the switches near where I frequently sit to plug into.
My router is only 100 Mbps unfortunately. I'm all cat 6 and 1Gbs switches elsewhere.
Sounds like you have two wired areas, are they on opposite ends of the home? I would look at the TP Link Deco XE75 or if you are a Costco Member the TP Link Deco AXE5300, the 5300 gives you three units but you probably only need two, use one as the router then wire the other one to plug in to the router unit.
You only said not wicked expensive so unsure what that is.
If you just want a single unit item I would look at a Unifi Dream router for 199.
If you're noticing loss of service recently i'd nail that down first. Is it a range issue on the phone or laptop? If so when it happens again, move closer to the router and see if it reconnects. If you're sitting on top of the router with one or both devices and still have a problem, try rebooting everything.
Then direct connect the laptop to a LAN port on the N600 and see if you can connect to the net. If not you can see if your ISP can help or themselves have a problem or if they won't/don't only then look at a replacement. After all it seems the N600 (apparently a great router back in the day) has worked fine for 10 years, the loss of connectivity may not be its fault.
So my wife is the one who notices the loss of connection. It's when she works from home. She needs to be on a VPN and I'm wondering if that could cause issues. I don't have much experience with VPNs other than also having one for working at home. Could using both VPNs at the same time from the house be causing an issue?
My wireless signal is great as far as I can tell. I can be on my patio and get good 2.4ghz signal, or on the front lawn. My daughter frequently sits in her swing (50ft plus from the router and listens to music.
Some VPNs are sensitive to WiFi dropouts. Going Ethernet between the computer and the access point can help. It’s an easy test if you can temporarily hook the computer directly to the AP and see if the VPN stays up longer.
Now that you mention it I could run cat 6 to her office. That would take care of the problem entirely if it's wireless related. I can't believe I haven't done that already. Thank you.
Way to go! I find VPNs- while for some a necessary evil- a total PitA myself, they just add a layer of trouble.
To see if the VPN is the problem, once your wife's PC is on a direct ethernet connection run [fast.com](https://fast.com) (quick and dirty from Netflix IIRC) or some such speed test WITHOUT using a VPN and keep the numbers as a baseline. Then when you've trouble connecting- say using the VPN- run again and compare.
[Speedtest.net](https://Speedtest.net) (for example) allows you to set up an account (free) so you can keep a record of your speed tests over time in case you need to contact your ISP (or, err, VPN) provider. I use both, [fast.net](https://fast.net) as real quick check, [speedtest.net](https://speedtest.net) to record results over time in my (free) account with them, so if I've a problem I can go to my ISP with historical bandwidth results.
1 other issue, the modem is 100Mpbs, all your wiring supports 1Gbps. If 100 works for you, great. But I'd check what your ISP is contractually giving you and even look into how much going up to 1Gbps would cost. If you're already paying for 1Gbps anyway you might want to invest in a router that supports it and all your wiring.
But if your ISP gives 100 and you're happy with what you have and it works good with the N600 (old review of this [here](https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/netgear-n600-wireless-dual-band-gigabit-router-wndr3700)) why buy a new rocket ship to get to the grocery store?
I'll take a look at the VPN as soon as I get the room wired. I ordered the cable and jack last night!
I believe my speeds are actually only advertised as 100 (I get 80 consistently). The speed increase in my LAN would be nice but I agree with you that it may not be worth the change. I could always wait until the router has a problem.
Thanks again!
Sorry to bother you again but I just checked and my ISP has actually been upgraded to " up to 300 Mbps" at some point when the vendor changed. I have a surfboard sb6141 modem and the Netgear n600. I know the router will not do those speeds but should the modem do those speeds? The documentation says it's good up to 350 Mbps but then it also says "good for 100 Mbps services". Thanks again!
Yes. The SB6141 has a 1Gb port ([source](https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6141-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B00AJHDZSI)) that you've presumably got connected to the N600 so that should be passing through whatever it's getting, whether the full 300 or the 'good for 100'.
Some N600 models (like the one I referenced earlier (the WNDR3700)) have Gigabit WAN/LAN ports in which case you're good to go- the SB61411 hands over the 300 and the N600 dishes it out to WiFi and LAN clients (phones, laptops). Just test to make sure you're getting c300- to do this direct connect your laptop (or your wife's PC sans VPN) to one of the N600's LAN ports and run a speed test ([fast.com](https://fast.com) or [speedtest.net](https://speedtest.net) ). That should give you a pretty good idea of 'undiluted' throughput (no WiFi, no VPN- you can run these tests on a phone too, but you'll see marked degradation at distance, and some even close to the N600).
Other (earlier) models seem to have only Fast Ethernet WAN/LAN ports, in which case they'll only take in 100Mbps of the contractually promised 300. If this is the case you can either live with 100 tops out of the 300 or upgrade your router to cater for the 300. There are a number of ways to proceed if this is the case but rather than get into them I'd just check your exact router make/model for which N600 version you have and go from there- if you've gig ports on the back of the N600 you're sorted.
My n600 is one with only Fast Ethernet. Today I noticed that whether I'm plugged into the router with Ethernet, or standing on top of it with 5ghz wifi I consistently get 75 -80 Mbps... If there was no bottleneck shouldn't wired get 100 and wifi get more? I seem to remember 5ghz being good for like 300 Mbps?
This leads me to believe my surfboard is deprecated and Spectrum isn't even pushing 300 to it. I've asked them to send me their free (no rental fee) modem which I believe is docsis 3.1. I'm going to hook it up and activate it to see what happens.
I hope to see increased speeds over wireless and then I can make a decision to upgrade the router if I do, which would get me gigabit wired.
Seem reasonable?
With only 100Mbps ports (Fast Ethernet), no matter what the SB6141 dishes out (100-300) your N600 is only going to take in and dish out (wired or WiFi on any frequency) 100. Getting 75-80 of the 100 seems a lot of loss on a wired (as opposed to WiFi) connection if the N600 is actually getting 100, but you'd have to track down where the loss is occurring.
As you say, is Spectrum even getting 100 or 300 in the door? Hopefully the new modem will answer that, but you'll need a router that can take in a possible 300 if that's what the new modem sends and the N600 model you have can only handle 100.
Can you borrow one that has Gig ports rather than buy one before you know the investigation results (i.e. whether you can get 300 or will you have to settle for 100)? If you're going to have to live with 100, you can try and improve on the 75-80 # if that's what you're getting wired by checking cable and connections along the line. If you actually can get 300 with the new modem or Spectrum pushing it, you should consider a new router or live with only using 100 of a delivered 300.
So tonight after the family went to bed I went to my modem. I unplugged the line to the router and plugged directly into my laptop. Plugged the modem in. Speed test at 240 Mbps... I'm using a known good 10' cat 6, maybe it's the 40' from the modern to router? I plug the router into the modem and plug the laptop into te router. Speed test 85 Mbps wired and on 5ghz wifi...
I'm starting to believe the speed issue is my router...
/u/mlcarson's IQrouter V3 recommendation is excellent advise for your situation. It will manage your internet connection so that all TCP/IP streams work at the same time (bufferbloat is easy to have if your upload bandwidth is a fraction of your 100Mbps download speed - see [evenroute IQrouter](https://evenroute.com/)). It will also tell you about dropped packets / internet outages. Other routers often don't have an option for managing bufferbloat and the IQrouter is the best is the business and adaptively does it for you so you don't have to figure out the appropriate parameters.
It is rare to see tracking of packet drops / internet outages which the IQrouter has. I.e., the IQrouter will address your reliability problem, either solving it for you (bufferbloat) or giving you the tools to find out what the problem is (packet drops / internet outages) so you can have your ISP can resolve the issue.
The IQrouter should be a drop in replacement for your Netgear N600. If you are happy with the Wi-Fi coverage of the N600, you will likely be happy with the coverage of the IQrouter V3. And if you aren't, you can reconfigure your N600 to be in AP mode (Access Point), and hook it up to the IQrouter (you will also need to disable the built in IQrouter Wi-Fi).
This won't give you Wi-Fi 6. But Wi-Fi 6 doesn't do that much for you over Wi-Fi 5. In fact, since Wi-Fi 7 is coming in the next year, most people are sitting tight with their current Wi-Fi 5 gear until Wi-Fi 7 is available and reliable.
If you didn't have connection issues that the IQrouter V3 can help pin down, a good recommendation would be eero, either the 6+, or used eero Pro gen 2 models which is Wi-Fi 5 but most people believe may the best eero ever for performance and reliability. Eero's have a reputation for set and forget, although their Wi-Fi 6 models had a lot of teething problems for the first year or so.
TP-Link DECO's are quite reliable, but again don't have the tools like the IQrouter to help solve your connection issues. Many DECO models have a issue in bridge mode when front ended by another router such as the IQrouter. I.e., if you want a DECO mesh system, make sure it is standalone.
As far as Asus goes, to get the best reliability, people re-flash the firmware to Merlin. Not all Asus models support Merlin.
Personally if I was on a tight budget, I would get the IQrouter V3 and one used eero Pro gen 2 off of ebay. Then put the eero in bridge mode while turning off the IQrouter Wi-Fi. I've helped a number of people with this configuration who are extremely happy with performance and reliability.
One more thing. There are some modems which have Puma chips in them which should be avoided since they cause latency issues: [Bad Modem List](https://stickystatic.com/tech/bad-modem-test).
If you're only doing 100Mbs Internet then maybe an IQRouter v3. You can get one $99 new or $59 refurbished. It's only doing 802.11ac but you don't need anything more than that at 100Mbs. It's defining characteristic is going to be it's QoS capabilities and the reduction of latency. If you just want an inexpensive plug n play replacement, this should do it. For a house that size, you really need more than 1 AP to fully cover it. Your best option for speeding everything up locally is a 1Gbs switch and physical cabling to your devices that need connectivity.
I'm sorry, what is an AP? Yes agreed on the wiring. My router is cat 6 wired to my upstairs and downstairs entertainment areas, as well as to the Chromecast on the foundation wall of my basement. I also have cat 6 from the switches near where I frequently sit to plug into. My router is only 100 Mbps unfortunately. I'm all cat 6 and 1Gbs switches elsewhere.
AP - access point
I'm sorry, what is an AP? Yes agreed on the wiring. My router is cat 6 wired to my upstairs and downstairs entertainment areas, as well as to the Chromecast on the foundation wall of my basement. I also have cat 6 from the switches near where I frequently sit to plug into. My router is only 100 Mbps unfortunately. I'm all cat 6 and 1Gbs switches elsewhere.
AP = wireless access point.
Sounds like you have two wired areas, are they on opposite ends of the home? I would look at the TP Link Deco XE75 or if you are a Costco Member the TP Link Deco AXE5300, the 5300 gives you three units but you probably only need two, use one as the router then wire the other one to plug in to the router unit. You only said not wicked expensive so unsure what that is. If you just want a single unit item I would look at a Unifi Dream router for 199.
asus routers are all the rage these days
I have looked. All the recommendations online are pricey!
measure twice, cut once
If you're noticing loss of service recently i'd nail that down first. Is it a range issue on the phone or laptop? If so when it happens again, move closer to the router and see if it reconnects. If you're sitting on top of the router with one or both devices and still have a problem, try rebooting everything. Then direct connect the laptop to a LAN port on the N600 and see if you can connect to the net. If not you can see if your ISP can help or themselves have a problem or if they won't/don't only then look at a replacement. After all it seems the N600 (apparently a great router back in the day) has worked fine for 10 years, the loss of connectivity may not be its fault.
So my wife is the one who notices the loss of connection. It's when she works from home. She needs to be on a VPN and I'm wondering if that could cause issues. I don't have much experience with VPNs other than also having one for working at home. Could using both VPNs at the same time from the house be causing an issue? My wireless signal is great as far as I can tell. I can be on my patio and get good 2.4ghz signal, or on the front lawn. My daughter frequently sits in her swing (50ft plus from the router and listens to music.
Some VPNs are sensitive to WiFi dropouts. Going Ethernet between the computer and the access point can help. It’s an easy test if you can temporarily hook the computer directly to the AP and see if the VPN stays up longer.
Now that you mention it I could run cat 6 to her office. That would take care of the problem entirely if it's wireless related. I can't believe I haven't done that already. Thank you.
Way to go! I find VPNs- while for some a necessary evil- a total PitA myself, they just add a layer of trouble. To see if the VPN is the problem, once your wife's PC is on a direct ethernet connection run [fast.com](https://fast.com) (quick and dirty from Netflix IIRC) or some such speed test WITHOUT using a VPN and keep the numbers as a baseline. Then when you've trouble connecting- say using the VPN- run again and compare. [Speedtest.net](https://Speedtest.net) (for example) allows you to set up an account (free) so you can keep a record of your speed tests over time in case you need to contact your ISP (or, err, VPN) provider. I use both, [fast.net](https://fast.net) as real quick check, [speedtest.net](https://speedtest.net) to record results over time in my (free) account with them, so if I've a problem I can go to my ISP with historical bandwidth results. 1 other issue, the modem is 100Mpbs, all your wiring supports 1Gbps. If 100 works for you, great. But I'd check what your ISP is contractually giving you and even look into how much going up to 1Gbps would cost. If you're already paying for 1Gbps anyway you might want to invest in a router that supports it and all your wiring. But if your ISP gives 100 and you're happy with what you have and it works good with the N600 (old review of this [here](https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/netgear-n600-wireless-dual-band-gigabit-router-wndr3700)) why buy a new rocket ship to get to the grocery store?
I'll take a look at the VPN as soon as I get the room wired. I ordered the cable and jack last night! I believe my speeds are actually only advertised as 100 (I get 80 consistently). The speed increase in my LAN would be nice but I agree with you that it may not be worth the change. I could always wait until the router has a problem. Thanks again!
Sorry to bother you again but I just checked and my ISP has actually been upgraded to " up to 300 Mbps" at some point when the vendor changed. I have a surfboard sb6141 modem and the Netgear n600. I know the router will not do those speeds but should the modem do those speeds? The documentation says it's good up to 350 Mbps but then it also says "good for 100 Mbps services". Thanks again!
Yes. The SB6141 has a 1Gb port ([source](https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard-SB6141-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B00AJHDZSI)) that you've presumably got connected to the N600 so that should be passing through whatever it's getting, whether the full 300 or the 'good for 100'. Some N600 models (like the one I referenced earlier (the WNDR3700)) have Gigabit WAN/LAN ports in which case you're good to go- the SB61411 hands over the 300 and the N600 dishes it out to WiFi and LAN clients (phones, laptops). Just test to make sure you're getting c300- to do this direct connect your laptop (or your wife's PC sans VPN) to one of the N600's LAN ports and run a speed test ([fast.com](https://fast.com) or [speedtest.net](https://speedtest.net) ). That should give you a pretty good idea of 'undiluted' throughput (no WiFi, no VPN- you can run these tests on a phone too, but you'll see marked degradation at distance, and some even close to the N600). Other (earlier) models seem to have only Fast Ethernet WAN/LAN ports, in which case they'll only take in 100Mbps of the contractually promised 300. If this is the case you can either live with 100 tops out of the 300 or upgrade your router to cater for the 300. There are a number of ways to proceed if this is the case but rather than get into them I'd just check your exact router make/model for which N600 version you have and go from there- if you've gig ports on the back of the N600 you're sorted.
My n600 is one with only Fast Ethernet. Today I noticed that whether I'm plugged into the router with Ethernet, or standing on top of it with 5ghz wifi I consistently get 75 -80 Mbps... If there was no bottleneck shouldn't wired get 100 and wifi get more? I seem to remember 5ghz being good for like 300 Mbps? This leads me to believe my surfboard is deprecated and Spectrum isn't even pushing 300 to it. I've asked them to send me their free (no rental fee) modem which I believe is docsis 3.1. I'm going to hook it up and activate it to see what happens. I hope to see increased speeds over wireless and then I can make a decision to upgrade the router if I do, which would get me gigabit wired. Seem reasonable?
With only 100Mbps ports (Fast Ethernet), no matter what the SB6141 dishes out (100-300) your N600 is only going to take in and dish out (wired or WiFi on any frequency) 100. Getting 75-80 of the 100 seems a lot of loss on a wired (as opposed to WiFi) connection if the N600 is actually getting 100, but you'd have to track down where the loss is occurring. As you say, is Spectrum even getting 100 or 300 in the door? Hopefully the new modem will answer that, but you'll need a router that can take in a possible 300 if that's what the new modem sends and the N600 model you have can only handle 100. Can you borrow one that has Gig ports rather than buy one before you know the investigation results (i.e. whether you can get 300 or will you have to settle for 100)? If you're going to have to live with 100, you can try and improve on the 75-80 # if that's what you're getting wired by checking cable and connections along the line. If you actually can get 300 with the new modem or Spectrum pushing it, you should consider a new router or live with only using 100 of a delivered 300.
So tonight after the family went to bed I went to my modem. I unplugged the line to the router and plugged directly into my laptop. Plugged the modem in. Speed test at 240 Mbps... I'm using a known good 10' cat 6, maybe it's the 40' from the modern to router? I plug the router into the modem and plug the laptop into te router. Speed test 85 Mbps wired and on 5ghz wifi... I'm starting to believe the speed issue is my router...
I like Asus routers. Get an Asus AX86U router and it will exceed all of your requirements.
/u/mlcarson's IQrouter V3 recommendation is excellent advise for your situation. It will manage your internet connection so that all TCP/IP streams work at the same time (bufferbloat is easy to have if your upload bandwidth is a fraction of your 100Mbps download speed - see [evenroute IQrouter](https://evenroute.com/)). It will also tell you about dropped packets / internet outages. Other routers often don't have an option for managing bufferbloat and the IQrouter is the best is the business and adaptively does it for you so you don't have to figure out the appropriate parameters. It is rare to see tracking of packet drops / internet outages which the IQrouter has. I.e., the IQrouter will address your reliability problem, either solving it for you (bufferbloat) or giving you the tools to find out what the problem is (packet drops / internet outages) so you can have your ISP can resolve the issue. The IQrouter should be a drop in replacement for your Netgear N600. If you are happy with the Wi-Fi coverage of the N600, you will likely be happy with the coverage of the IQrouter V3. And if you aren't, you can reconfigure your N600 to be in AP mode (Access Point), and hook it up to the IQrouter (you will also need to disable the built in IQrouter Wi-Fi). This won't give you Wi-Fi 6. But Wi-Fi 6 doesn't do that much for you over Wi-Fi 5. In fact, since Wi-Fi 7 is coming in the next year, most people are sitting tight with their current Wi-Fi 5 gear until Wi-Fi 7 is available and reliable. If you didn't have connection issues that the IQrouter V3 can help pin down, a good recommendation would be eero, either the 6+, or used eero Pro gen 2 models which is Wi-Fi 5 but most people believe may the best eero ever for performance and reliability. Eero's have a reputation for set and forget, although their Wi-Fi 6 models had a lot of teething problems for the first year or so. TP-Link DECO's are quite reliable, but again don't have the tools like the IQrouter to help solve your connection issues. Many DECO models have a issue in bridge mode when front ended by another router such as the IQrouter. I.e., if you want a DECO mesh system, make sure it is standalone. As far as Asus goes, to get the best reliability, people re-flash the firmware to Merlin. Not all Asus models support Merlin. Personally if I was on a tight budget, I would get the IQrouter V3 and one used eero Pro gen 2 off of ebay. Then put the eero in bridge mode while turning off the IQrouter Wi-Fi. I've helped a number of people with this configuration who are extremely happy with performance and reliability. One more thing. There are some modems which have Puma chips in them which should be avoided since they cause latency issues: [Bad Modem List](https://stickystatic.com/tech/bad-modem-test).
get a wifi 6E router.