At the suggestion of the hive 2 years ago I got the ASUS RT AC1900P and it has served me top notch. The basement was hit or miss on signal which was to be expected so I added an ASUS RT N12D1 to use as an access point in the basement to fill the void. I bought it simply because it was the cheapest ASUS that could be set up as an access point.
And all of this has been just fine with my blistering 50 down and 5 up service. With the Covid stuff and everyone sucking up the internet I have been lucky to see 20 from the cable company and they decided to up my bill by $10 a month.
So I am upgrading to the fiber company and their 200 up and down service is the same cost as my current service. They are bumping everyone with kids doing school at home to the next tier speeds for free until the end of the year for free.
So I’ll be getting 500mbps service.

The N12D1 is only rated to 200 mbps. So I thought of moving the AC1900P to my secondary access point and getting something new as my main router.
I have been very happy with the ASUS and their software and app and don’t really want to swap.

So do I just buy another AC1900P or something newer? Don’t feel like spending crazy money as I did have to buy all new gigabit switches for the wired network as they were all old fastethernet switches.

Just use a WAP connected via an Ethernet cable to your AC1900P. I'm assuming that's how your N12D1 is connected.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Just use a WAP connected via an Ethernet cable to your AC1900P. I'm assuming that's how your N12D1 is connected.

Forgot to mention I need 4 WAN ports that are gigabit capable you replace the N1D2 as the XBOX, TV, and Roku are also wired to it.

The AC1900 I have will work so figuring that the AC1900 is like 5 year old tech at the moment upgrading the main router would be wise instead of just getting a cheaper access point

i don't bother with providing my own router anymore.

i just use the cox panoramic combo modem/router on my 500 plan & see just under 500, both wired/wireless.....can run up to 7 devices.

I am not a fan of all-in-one router/WiFi/switch combos. IME they generally don't do any of the three roles well.

Routers to route. Switches to switch. Access points to supply WiFi.

And, by "access points" I do mean access points, not any of this mesh silliness. I've seen mesh WiFi networks generate all kinds of grief.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ensigmatic,

I am in 100% agreement with ensigmatic.

quote:

Routers to route. Switches to switch. Access points to supply WiFi.

This is poetry!

I have a Tp-link mesh setup and it works great.

I have an unmanaged 6 port gigabit switch to go with it.

$170 for the three pack covers 5500 sq ft

$20 for the switch.

Personally, based on what you posted, I'd leave everything alone and run with what I had in place with the new bandwidth for a while. You're going to have at least four times the amount of bandwidth you had previously, which I'd bet will be more than enough to meet everyone's needs (and then some). And always remember, quoted bandwidths are only a piece of the speed equation. Lots of things impact actual every day through put.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Personally, based on what you posted, I'd leave everything alone and run with what I had in place with the new bandwidth for a while.

I concur.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
I am in 100% agreement with ensigmatic.

quote:

Routers to route. Switches to switch. Access points to supply WiFi.

This is poetry!

Also agree.

Address the problem (if there actually is a problem), this is not a brand or model issue.
Also don't forget to look at your clients - the connection is only as good as the weakest link.

Like what others are saying to keep what you have for now- maybe get the new ISP connection and re-evaluate at that time.

I'd think you'll be fine with what you have. I've got an older ASUS RT-AC68U router and got hooked up to fiber last April.


I'm getting this speed (wired).
Wireless is pretty decent too (240Mbps down, 135 up). At this moment I have 43 clients on the network.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Personally, based on what you posted, I'd leave everything alone and run with what I had in place with the new bandwidth for a while.

I concur.

According to ASUS specs
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTN12_D1/

My limited understanding tells me my access point is limited to 300mbps (WiFi) and 100 mbps (wired).
So I’ll be missing out on 200 mbps WiFi and 400 wired if I don’t swap that to something else at least. Which is why I thought maybe getting a new main router and setting up the old router as the access point.

WiFi is not a huge deal as the basement WiFi is really only used by the iPhones. But my home theater and camera system are hooked to that access point by wire so I do need to upgrade that somehow as those are the two things where the speed matters most.

The problem is speed provided by my ISP. The hodgepodge system I have setup has actually been quite solid only limited by the speed and service of my ISP.

My current set up is as follows.

Modem —> ASUS router -> Netgear 16 port switch (feeds the 1st floor and basement wired Ethernet ports) -> Netgear 8 port switch (feeds the 2nd floor wired ports).

The ASUS N1D2 is plugged into one of the wired ports in the basement which gives WiFi to the basement and wired access to my home theater area.

I also have 2 other 4 port switches connected elsewhere for multiple devices in those areas.

It works as it solidly gives me the speeds the ISP is providing (which is crap currently). I am guessing not the best setup but my knowledge is limited and I converted the old phone system to the Ethernet system. Thankfully they used Cat5 when wiring the phones when the house was built. I just swapped the connectors and added the Netgear switches.

The current switches are all just fast Ethernet switches which are limited to 100 mbps. I bought all new gigabit switches to replace those to allow for the full speed I just need to swap them.

TLDR; the limiting factor is almost never your LAN.
You probably won't notice a difference with the equipment you have vs buying new, and nowhere near the difference to justify the cost/hassle of upgrading. Speed tests aren't the holy grail people act like they are.
You're comparing apples & oranges in your max speed calculations - I doubt any of the individual wifi clients are straining your current /WAN/ISP bandwidth, let alone the LAN. Combined, they are straining the WAN, but that's going to happen almost no matter what. Streaming is going to suck up the available bandwidth, but it's nowhere near straining your LAN.

10yrs ago I ran cat5e all over the house so I could serve DVD-quality reliably - now I can do 4-5 plex streams of 1080p over N-wifi.

If you want to get deep into it, figure out QOS/queuing for your devices. I had my wife's laptop setup as the #1 priority while she was doing her masters (online lectures in a shitty uncompressed stream) as I got tired of hearing her scream about our 4dn/.768up that would choke where her fucking iPhone would try to update.

I have no clue what any of that means.

My access point specs says it is rated for 300mbps and 100 mbps.
You are telling me it will handle the new 500mbps???

Same with my switches? They are rated for 100mbps and you are saying they will do the 500 mbps?

If they handle these numbers why are they rated such a way in the specs?
Companies usually stretch their number capability not greatly reduce them.

If the Ethernet ports on your router and switches are really limited to 100baseTX, then, yes: You're going to want to upgrade both router and switches to take advantage of your new Internet bandwidth.

One caveat: No matter what you do, you're unlikely to see anywhere near your new Internet bandwidth with any of your wireless devices. The most any of your wireless clients will support is probably 802.11ac with 2x2 MIMO, for a max of 320mb/s. Most of them will probably top-out at 160mb/s or less.

And, again: I would not use an "AIO" router/switch/WiFi device. I recommend (crude ASCII drawing):

                                               + <-> AP
                                               |
                              + <-> switch <-> +
                              |                |
WAN <-> router <-> switch <-> +                + <-> Ethernet clients
                              |
                              + <-> AP
                              |
                              + <-> Ethernet clients                                             + <-> AP
                              |                                                                  |
                              + <-> Wireless Bridge <~ outside ~> Wireless Bridge <-> switch <-> +
                                                                 (in out-building)               |
                                                                                                 + <-> Ethernet clients

IOW: Router talks to a switch, which, in turn, talks to other switch(es), AP(s), and Ethernet clients. That is how you achieve maximum performance.

The most the router should be doing is routing, firewalling, and providing DHCP. There should be no other routers on the LAN.

As for brands: I like Ubiquiti's ERLite routers and wireless bridges, EnGenius' Access Points (and perhaps wireless bridges--haven't tried them yet), and NetGear's switches.

Oh yeah: And, unless you wired the place with a minimum of Cat5e, you're going to want to replace at least the run between the two switches with Cat5e or Cat6 in order to get GigE between the two. Otherwise the aggregate bandwidth available on switch #2 will be 100mb/s. Same with the Ethernet runs to the APs.

ETA: Recommendation for back-hauling a connection to a far out-building. Could substitute buried fiber. I do not recommend copper for this application.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:
I'd think you'll be fine with what you have. I've got an older ASUS RT-AC68U router and got hooked up to fiber last April.


I'm getting this speed (wired).
Wireless is pretty decent too (240Mbps down, 135 up). At this moment I have 43 clients on the network.

Sweet jesus. You could down load the whole interwebs with that.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Forgot to mention I need 4 WAN ports that are gigabit capable you replace the N1D2 as the XBOX, TV, and Roku are also wired to it.

You need LAN ports. Even if your new router has only one gigabit available, you can always plug an 8 port (or more) gigabit switch into that and have all kinds of things wired in.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Forgot to mention I need 4 WAN ports that are gigabit capable you replace the N1D2 as the XBOX, TV, and Roku are also wired to it.

You need LAN ports.

Correct. Sorry, I missed that. Acronyms:

LAN: Local Area Network

Includes all locally-connected Ethernet clients and access points. This includes wired and wireless back-hauls to additional LAN switches and to APs.

AP: Access Point.

Provides WiFi connectivity only. Does not route. Bridges Ethernet to wireless.

WAN: Wide Area Network

Connections to other sites outside the LAN. E.g.: The Internet and (private) remote sites.

WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network

IOW: Your (local) WiFi network.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
If the Ethernet ports on your router and switches are really limited to 100baseTX, then, yes: You're going to want to upgrade both router and switches to take advantage of your new Internet bandwidth.

One caveat: No matter what you do, you're unlikely to see anywhere near your new Internet bandwidth with any of your wireless devices. The most any of your wireless clients will support is probably 802.11ac with 2x2 MIMO, for a max of 320mb/s. Most of them will probably top-out at 160mb/s or less.

And, again: I would not use an "AIO" router/switch/WiFi device. I recommend (crude ASCII drawing):

                                       + <-> AP
                                       |
                      + <-> switch <-> +
                      |                |
router <-> switch <-> +                + <-> Ethernet clients
                      |
                      + <-> AP
                      |
                      + <-> Ethernet clients

IOW: Router talks to a switch, which, in turn, talks to other switch(es), AP(s), and Ethernet clients. That is how you achieve maximum performance.

The most the router should be doing is routing, firewalling, and providing DHCP. There should be no other routers on the LAN.

As for brands: I like Ubiquiti's ERLite routers, EnGenius' Access Points, and NetGear's switches.

Oh yeah: And, unless you wired the place with a minimum of Cat5e, you're going to want to replace at least the run between the two switches with Cat5e or Cat6 in order to get GigE between the two. Otherwise the aggregate bandwidth available on switch #2 will be 100mb/s. Same with the Ethernet runs to the APs.

Mostly true and an overall upgrade to Gigabit is a worthy cause.
Except you not have to have multiple switches unless you need to.
Where this design makes most sense is where the downstream switches either are for convenience of location or function such as POE.
Additionally, you could add in to the design the ISP device which will usually be a modem/router/WAP device.
Optimum configuration of this device would be to get Public IP's from the ISP, use the pass-through mode (what used to be a bridge mode) and turn OFF DHCP.
Then configure the stand-alone router for the firewall, DHCP and perhaps VPN also all port mapping (forwarding) as necessary.
Then find the optimum PHYSICAL location for your AP(s) and configure them.

One more important Wi-Fi consideration is to properly configure the security and protocols.
IF you do not you will limit your throughput.
Many times I see in clients that have configured in the default configuration 2.4ghz for example to allow B G N Protocol.
You should only allow N, use 20mhz channels, WPA AES and use a simple wi-fi scanner to find the channel with the least congestion then use ONLY channel 1 or 6 or 11.
Of course if you have very old devices then this could be a problem with them not connecting - get a new device.
Similar can be done for 5.0ghz the best performing band.
Minor note: it is the accepted best practice to configure the 2.4ghz channels with a much lower power than the 5.0ghz channels.
Typically we set 2.4 at 11 dbm and 5.0 at 17 dbm (your AP may or not be that specific an use other nomenclature).
It is not about how loud it is rather than the quality of the conversation.
Use more AP's, properly placed and configured then test the results and make changes accordingly.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Except you not have to have multiple switches unless you need to.

He mentioned he had a separate switch, already, for the 2nd floor wired ports. I assumed that switch was located on the 2nd floor. But you're right: If they're co-located, a single switch with more ports would be better.

Anyway, I since edited that "drawing" to make it more comprehensive.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Then find the optimum PHYSICAL location for your AP(s) and configure them.

Yup. I should have put that in. Thought about it and forgot

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Many times I see in clients that have configured in the default configuration 2.4ghz for example to allow B G N Protocol.
You should only allow N, ...

Since you're our resident EnGenius genius , riddle me this: My EAP1300 has the Wireless Mode selector grayed-out, so it's stuck on 802.11B/G/N. Why might that be? Only thing I can think of is one of the devices that are currently connected is limited to B or, more likely, G, so it won't let me change it?

It's not a problem, as either B or G are plenty enough for what's connected on 2.4GHz, but I'm curious.