I'm trying to help someone in my family and could use some advice. He purchased a Linksys N600 a few years ago that is still sealed in the box, but would he be better off buying something manufactured more recently? Best Buy suggested either the Netgear AC1750 or the AC1000. The AC1750 is a better router, but that would probably exceed his needs. His service is 150 mbps and he would at most have a laptop and a Roku on the network at the same time. Thank you all for any help you could give me.

I personally wouldn't buy a new router until the WPA3 is widely supported or the new router is upgradable

Security-wise, probably better off getting a newer router, the one I'm currently using is a Linksys EA7500 AC1900, I bought it as a refurb and although it's not the newest/fastest/most-features, it's been pretty reliable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offe...e=UTF8&condition=all

**If you have a router, make sure your "firmware" is up-to-date.

What is the Internet source (phone line or cable)? What device has that provider given as an interface? Will the devices be interacting as wired or wireless devices? With only two devices, what benefit are you hoping to gain with a router?

quote:

Originally posted by ffips:
What is the Internet source (phone line or cable)? What device has that provider given as an interface? Will the devices be interacting as wired or wireless devices? With only two devices, what benefit are you hoping to gain with a router?

Cable ISP, laptop and a Roku are wireless, and his current router went down, so he needs to replace it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackks:
he would at most have a laptop and a Roku on the network at the same time. Thank you all for any help you could give me.

I got one of these...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...ilpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
..and I'm totally happy. Budget priced. It fits the needs of a small installation, secure, fast. Most important, it's VERY EASY to set up. VERY EASY.

If his Roku and laptop are just a room or two from the router, then this is fine. But, For longer range, maybe something else might be better.

The most non-techie friendly routers that I've used recently are Eero and Google Wifi. I went with mesh routers to cover some dead spots in the house. The management interfaces are extremely simple compared to the Linksys stuff that I used to run.

you need to simply hook up the N600 router and see if he's happy with the connect speeds. You said he's using only two devices anyways and the connect speeds are more often limited by the devices compared to the router anyways especially if the devices you are using can't use the bandwidth or features. If everything works great, a fancy new router isn't going to make everything work better unless you know what weaknesses or problems the old router is giving you anyway.

If the old one is "out" then plug in the new one and THEN see if you actually have a problem that needs fixing.

The poor guy just tried to start the process on the N600 and the disk had a physical defect. I'm not close to him, so I wasn't able to help him get around that. We'll have to get him a new one, which may be a blessing anyway.

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N600 and the disk had a physical defect

What disk?
The router has no disks.
If you are talking about an "install" disk > you don't need one.

Yes, the install disk. I tried to walk him through the process of getting around it, but it only frustrated him. It's alright. We'll just get him a new one and it may be better for him anyway.