Hardware Router Recommendation for Virgin Media UK

[Deleted member 473940]

Hi
Completely fed up of the virgin media box 3 or whatever router that was provided with my 350MBPS connection.

Wired I get 390mbps but wireless hardly ever works.

I have a household with 8 phones, 2 tablets, 1 smart tv, 3 computers, many many many individual gaming consoles.

Let’s say at peak times, there would be at least 15 things connected to the router. Up to 20 at max.

ALL DEVICES WILL BE CONNECTED VIA WI-FI!

I have looked at the netgear nighthawk x6 and its around £160 on Amazon. I am happy to pay that it if works well for my use.

BUT

IDEALLY I WANT TO SPEND LESS THAN THAT.

I live in a 2 floor house and never had any WiFi signal issues. Most of the house has full to 70% coverage with any past routers that I had. (Sky, talk talk, etc)

Please post recommendations and links to www.amazon.co.uk

Thanks

 

[Originality]

I’ve used the Asus RT-AC68U for many years without issues. Easily the best router I’ve ever had.

Router recommendations have to always be based around what your home environment is. The ideal state is to have the router in the centre of the house so that the signal reaches everywhere. In a two floor house, that usually means by the stairs. However if you have an older house (many use lead paint, etc, which inhibits WiFi signals) then you likely want to use a mesh router setup. They’re more pricey, but have better coverage thanks to the intelligent handling of network signals.

And for reference, the Asus router mentioned has been updated to offer their own mesh functionality with other Asus routers.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I’ve used the Asus RT-AC68U for many years without issues. Easily the best router I’ve ever had.

Router recommendations have to always be based around what your home environment is. The ideal state is to have the router in the centre of the house so that the signal reaches everywhere. In a two floor house, that usually means by the stairs. However if you have an older house (many use lead paint, etc, which inhibits WiFi signals) then you likely want to use a mesh router setup. They’re more pricey, but have better coverage thanks to the intelligent handling of network signals.

And for reference, the Asus router mentioned has been updated to offer their own mesh functionality with other Asus routers.

Sorry missed your reply.
The problem isnt coverage.. problem is that I have a large household of users that are connected at the same time. We face a lot of issues throughout the day. The supplied router just doesnt cut it for us.

I am looking at these two routers right now, one is tri-band(netgear X6) and the other one is dual band(Linksys WRT3200). On paper the X6 seems to be the better choice, but which one would be better overall?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ni...&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=linksys+triband+router

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-WR...&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=linksys+triband+router

 

[subcon959]

I would go with this one : https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/asus-rt-ac86u

Should be around £160 on Amazon.

 

[tech3475]

One option may be to go for multiple WAPs similar to something Ubiquiti can do, but there are cheaper options e.g. TP-Link.

Not to be confused with something like Mesh as these are still wired per WAP.

BTW, check that your Virgin router has a modem mode.

Ubiquiti:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016XYQ3WK

TP-Link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M7WS3IF

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I would go with this one : https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/asus-rt-ac86u

Should be around £160 on Amazon.

Is that better than a triband router?

One option may be to go for multiple WAPs similar to something Ubiquiti can do, but there are cheaper options e.g. TP-Link.

Not to be confused with something like Mesh as these are still wired per WAP.

BTW, check that your Virgin router has a modem mode.

Ubiquiti:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016XYQ3WK

TP-Link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M7WS3IF

The router provided by virgin does have modem mode. I considered using wi-fi repeaters, mesh etc.. but deffo need a replacement router and use the virgin one as modem

 

[subcon959]

Is that better than a triband router?

In my opinion its a better router overall, but if you consistently have double-digit users fighting for bandwidth then you might see better stability with tri band.

 

[Originality]

One thing to mention is that with many users, you will still run into issues with internet’s as your modem gets saturated with requests and by design can only handle one at a time. Getting more WAPs will improve connectivity and signal, but intenets will see little improvement.

I have the same problem in my current home - 150mbs internets, but when all 11-12 residents are home in the evenings, everything is slow as hell.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

One thing to mention is that with many users, you will still run into issues with internet’s as your modem gets saturated with requests and by design can only handle one at a time. Getting more WAPs will improve connectivity and signal, but intenets will see little improvement.

I have the same problem in my current home - 150mbs internets, but when all 11-12 residents are home in the evenings, everything is slow as hell.

So I got myself the Netgear X6S on black friday sale for more than £100 discount.
Individually I am getting the max speed possible. (401MB / my max is 360 so getting higher than promised max.)

But I am struggling to find a setting to keep a balance between my devices.

When I run a speed test, my brothers ping on league of legends drops massively. We are connected to different bands..

I have tried network priority, changing his priority to highest and mine to medium, changing both to highest etc through Dynamic QoS.
Nothing working...
THE ENTIRE bandwidth seems to go to ONE device entirely and the rest are struggling.

I have been watching youtube videos and trying to read up on this.. no luck
what do I DO!?

 

[Originality]

This is not exactly easy to troubleshoot. The first area you should be looking in is the QoS settings (for both routers) and making sure that gaming (and maybe VoIP) are highest priority since they’re the time-critical applications. And other traffic such as FTP and HTTP and streaming are low priority as they’re not time-critical.

I can’t help beyond that aside from suggesting your brother finds a less toxic game to play than LoL.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

This is not exactly easy to troubleshoot. The first area you should be looking in is the QoS settings (for both routers) and making sure that gaming (and maybe VoIP) are highest priority since they’re the time-critical applications. And other traffic such as FTP and HTTP and streaming are low priority as they’re not time-critical.

I can’t help beyond that aside from suggesting your brother finds a less toxic game to play than LoL.

haha I was using LOL as an example.
This keeps happening with anything. I have customised the QoS but still face this issue... the x6s really lacks customisation options for a router that retails around £250 :/ I cant even manage the bandwidth to set a max limit per device... thought that would be a basic functionality.

 

[Originality]

Try looking for custom firmware for your router that would give additional functionality. Bandwidth limiting isn’t as common as you might think since the average consumer would just want everything to go fast and that’s it.

And don’t forget, the issue might lie with the Virgin router instead.