Wireless Router for budget of 2000-2500

Hey Guys, my Asus RTN13UB1 modem has finally given away. Its been giving me a whole lot of problems with connectivity and i have decided to go for a new one.
My connection is a local internet package(I think it is a direct RJ 45 link). I guess modem should be fine then instead of modem cum router.
I am looking for a connection with excellent coverage area and stable wifi connection. My budget is around 2000-2500 but could stretch till 3000 if the model is worth the extra investment.
Please help as i need to order it soon.
Thanks

W

I think you either typed wrong or you somehow got opposite of correct concept.RJ45 is lan/ethernet wire & does not require modem.Only net connections provided through telephone wire(which In India means BSNL/MTNL,Airtel & Reliance) require ADSL modem.

Go for AC wifi routers only & in this price range only options are Archer C20/20i,Dlink DIR-816,Archer C50 & Archer C60.A member here recently got Archer C60 for 2700 from flipkart but his experience is mixed/waiting for issue to be resolved?
Suggest wireless AC router that you use (for ACT broadband)

To be honest there isn't much choice & you would also need AC wifi to utilize the 5GHz bandwidth provided by AC router.Almost none of the budget laptops bought a year ago came with AC wifi & even today many 40k Dell laptops don't have AC wifi so one would also need to buy AC usb wifi adapter which again costs ~900 at least.Still getting AC wifi router is recommended now as it is just like deciding between getting usb 2 or usb 3 pen drive now-a-days.Even if one doesn't have usb 3 port in his/her pc still it is worth it to pay extra 50-100 to get same capacity pen drive in usb 3.

whitestar_999 said:
I think you either typed wrong or you somehow got opposite of correct concept.RJ45 is lan/ethernet wire & does not require modem.Only net connections provided through telephone wire(which In India means BSNL/MTNL,Airtel & Reliance) require ADSL modem.

Go for AC wifi routers only & in this price range only options are Archer C20/20i,Dlink DIR-816,Archer C50 & Archer C60.A member here recently got Archer C60 for 2700 from flipkart but his experience is mixed/waiting for issue to be resolved?
Suggest wireless AC router that you use (for ACT broadband)

To be honest there isn't much choice & you would also need AC wifi to utilize the 5GHz bandwidth provided by AC router.Almost none of the budget laptops bought a year ago came with AC wifi & even today many 40k Dell laptops don't have AC wifi so one would also need to buy AC usb wifi adapter which again costs ~900 at least.Still getting AC wifi router is recommended now as it is just like deciding between getting usb 2 or usb 3 pen drive now-a-days.Even if one doesn't have usb 3 port in his/her pc still it is worth it to pay extra 50-100 to get same capacity pen drive in usb 3.

Oh damn sorry about that. Wrote it by mistake.
I am not familiar with the term AC wifi routers. Are they some sort of dual band routers like 2.4 GHz and 5GHz. In that case, yes i was in fact looking to future proof my router. I do not have any use of 5GHz now but will definitely do so in future.
If i raise the budget to 3500 or so. Would that help to narrow down the list of options.

Also range is of utmost importance here. I need it to cover quite a distance(Rooms with walls). I know it can't go through every but it should atleast be better than my existing one.

W

AC wifi is the latest standard & yes it works simultaneously on both 2.4GHz & 5GHz.If you can raise the budget to 4500 then get Archer C5.I am saying it because as per the review by smallnetbuilder,this model has the best wifi range(check throughput vs Atten graphs where more the distance/obstacles like walls etc more will be the atten) among cheap AC routers(as per Indian prices). Do note that wifi range depends a lot on characteristics of the environment where router will be used so no test in the world can guarantee good/similar range as every home/work environment is unique.
TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router Archer C5 V2 Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder

Archer C5 has pretty bad reviews unilaterally. I understand few bad reviews do come but its just unanimous that its no good. Also there is a confusion between which version are they selling. FK has a three antenna pic while amazon has a two antenna pic.

Any options in Tenda, Asus which you recommend or should i go ahead with tp link archer?
Tenda AC6 Router - Tenda : Flipkart.com

W

I don't know.on flipkart there are only 3 reviews for C5 & on Amazon there are only 11 reviews out of which there are 6 bad reviews out of which only 2 are somewhat detailed ones.On the other hand,on amazon global site C5 has 3.8 out of 5 rating with 1120 customer reviews which is similar to other routers in this price range.

I looked at Asus RT-AC58U but then as per this review it has some issues probably due to buggy firmware despite having good hardware:
Reviewing ASUS RT-AC58U - Is it a top-notch AC1300 wireless router? | Digital Citizen
However a new firmware was released on 13th june 2017(review is dated Apr 2017) so you can take a chance.There is also this review on amazon global site where it has 4.2 out of 5 stars with 974 reviews(there its name is different) that says changing settings is not good:
Customer Review

So you see there is not a single router in the world for which you won't get a bad/negative/some weird review so all it comes down to is which one you trust more as a brand.For me Asus is better than TP-Link but in case of cheap routers TP-Link is more value for money.

As for Tenda,it is also available on Amazon global site with same 4.2 out of 5 stars with 513 reviews but then I don't trust Tenda as a brand & neither do any good reputable tech site when compared to Asus,TP-Link,Netgear,DLink.

To be frank if I had the money I would take my chances with Asus RT-AC58U probably because I want to see how Asus routers perform as till now I have only used TP-Link routers.

whitestar_999 said:
I don't know.on flipkart there are only 3 reviews for C5 & on Amazon there are only 11 reviews out of which there are 6 bad reviews out of which only 2 are somewhat detailed ones.On the other hand,on amazon global site C5 has 3.8 out of 5 rating with 1120 customer reviews which is similar to other routers in this price range.

I looked at Asus RT-AC58U but then as per this review it has some issues probably due to buggy firmware despite having good hardware:
Reviewing ASUS RT-AC58U - Is it a top-notch AC1300 wireless router? | Digital Citizen
However a new firmware was released on 13th june 2017(review is dated Apr 2017) so you can take a chance.There is also this review on amazon global site where it has 4.2 out of 5 stars with 974 reviews(there its name is different) that says changing settings is not good:
Customer Review

So you see there is not a single router in the world for which you won't get a bad/negative/some weird review so all it comes down to is which one you trust more as a brand.For me Asus is better than TP-Link but in case of cheap routers TP-Link is more value for money.

As for Tenda,it is also available on Amazon global site with same 4.2 out of 5 stars with 513 reviews but then I don't trust Tenda as a brand & neither do any good reputable tech site when compared to Asus,TP-Link,Netgear,DLink.

To be frank if I had the money I would take my chances with Asus RT-AC58U probably because I want to see how Asus routers perform as till now I have only used TP-Link routers.

I will try the Asus model then. Thank you whitestar. I will get back once i receive the order.

W

Do post a small review here once you get it & used it for 1-2 days continuously.I am especially interested in 2.4GHz & 5GHz signal strength across walls & stability of connection(i.e.any connection drops) as the above review mentioned signal strength on both frequencies as not that great.

P.S.Check firmware first & update it to latest version before testing.Use UPS/inverter & lan/ethernet wire for updating firmware as sudden power loss during firmware update or using wifi connected device to update firmware may brick the router.

whitestar_999 said:
Do post a small review here once you get it & used it for 1-2 days continuously.I am especially interested in 2.4GHz & 5GHz signal strength across walls & stability of connection(i.e.any connection drops) as the above review mentioned signal strength on both frequencies as not that great.

P.S.Check firmware first & update it to latest version before testing.Use UPS/inverter & lan/ethernet wire for updating firmware as sudden power loss during firmware update or using wifi connected device to update firmware may brick the router.

Thanks for reminding me about the firmware update. Will be delivered tomorrow. Will update after few days.

whitestar_999 said:
AC wifi is the latest standard

Not a single mid range mobile phone supports it. Neither does any main stream laptop models. Only a handful of devices are available in India where you can make use of it. It is absolutely unnecessary to invest in costly dual band routers, at the moment. You can get a b/g/n model for as low as 1.1 K when compared to 2K + budget range of ac routers.

W

Now-a-days AC wifi routers have both AC at 5GHz & N at 5GHZ & 2.4GHz while a simple N router only has N at 2.4GHz.Also any decent mid range phone like Redmi Note 4,Moto G 4/5 etc has dual band N meaning they support both 2.4GHz & 5GHz N wifi.You are buying AC router not just for AC standard but also for 5GHz N wifi standard too.My friend purchased a 35k Acer laptop last year & it has AC wifi.You can buy a cheap AC usb wifi adapter for around 900.

It is absolutely unnecessary to invest in costly dual band routers, at the moment.

The only thing unnecessary is making statements like above.First of all how much is "costly" for you is not the same to others.People buy 10k+ routers in India too & yet here you are terming a difference of "Rs.1000" or 3k router as "costly". It is not your money so it is not your decision to restrict router recommendations to below 1/1.5k especially when by just spending 500 or 1k more you get a newer & better wifi standard device.In big cities like Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore etc there is a lot of interference on 2.4GHz band & using 5GHz wifi really helps.

I was not aiming at you. Just making a statement. I hope you too agree that there is only a handful of devices that support ac at the moment. What is the need to invest more than double the amount of a b/g/n router, when only a handful of premium devices support ac mode.

W

AC router does not only have AC at 5GHz band,it also has N at 5GHz band & almost any good mid range phone now-a-days comes with 5GHz N band support.You don't need AC device to utilize 5GHz band advantages,a N wifi device supporting 5GHz can also utilize the advantage of 5GHz band in AC routers which is not possible in case of N routers which are almost always only 2.4GHz.

What is the need to invest more than double the amount of a b/g/n router

again

it is not a ferrari man,double of 10000 is something,double of 100000 is quite something,but here we are talking about double of 1000 which means a difference of 1000 rupees which won't even cover an order of 2 large size pizzas or 4 multiplex movie tickets for family in an evening.Why are you so insistent on saving every last penny?

Can you share some specs of mid range phones saying it supports 5 GHz band ? iBall routers stand as low as ₹900. I was merely suggesting that in normal conditions, you can do well with a ₹900 router than a cheap ac router at almost double the amount. Also, would be great if you can use normal text. Provokes me to use the same as well

W

Well I guess now it requires a detailed effort from my part since you asked politely so here it is:

The thread title is "wireless router for budget of 2000-2500".I was having a nice discussion with the op & everything seems settled & then you post this:

Not a single mid range mobile phone supports it. Neither does any main stream laptop models. Only a handful of devices are available in India where you can make use of it. It is absolutely unnecessary to invest in costly dual band routers, at the moment. You can get a b/g/n model for as low as 1.1 K when compared to 2K + budget range of ac routers.

Then I post this giving you the benefit of doubt that you might not be knowing that AC routers also support N devices at 5GHz:

Now-a-days AC wifi routers have both AC at 5GHz & N at 5GHZ & 2.4GHz while a simple N router only has N at 2.4GHz.Also any decent mid range phone like Redmi Note 4,Moto G 4/5 etc has dual band N meaning they support both 2.4GHz & 5GHz N wifi.You are buying AC router not just for AC standard but also for 5GHz N wifi standard too.My friend purchased a 35k Acer laptop last year & it has AC wifi.You can buy a cheap AC usb wifi adapter for around 900.

I also posted this because as I said it is op's money not yours so when his budget is till 2500 what issue you have with him not buying your recommended Rs.1000 router.

The only thing unnecessary is making statements like above.First of all how much is "costly" for you is not the same to others.People buy 10k+ routers in India too & yet here you are terming a difference of "Rs.1000" or 3k router as "costly". It is not your money so it is not your decision to restrict router recommendations to below 1/1.5k especially when by just spending 500 or 1k more you get a newer & better wifi standard device.In big cities like Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore etc there is a lot of interference on 2.4GHz band & using 5GHz wifi really helps.

Then you posted this which implies that either you didn't read my earlier replies at all or simply chose to ignore them:

I was not aiming at you.(reply:sure doesn't look that way when you comes in the middle of a thread when everything is settled & op has already placed the order & op & me are the only persons in this thread) Just making a statement. I hope you too agree that there is only a handful of devices that support ac at the moment.(reply:completely ignoring my earlier reply about how it is not just AC devices but 5GHz N devices too that can benefit from AC routers not to mention a 35k acer laptop purchased a year ago comes with AC wifi) What is the need to invest more than double the amount(reply:again completely ignoring this thread's title as well as my earlier logic that when it is op's money what right you have of deciding how much he should spend if he has the budget) of a b/g/n router, when only a handful of premium devices support ac mode.

The facepalms were for exactly these reasons.

And here is your last post:

meetdilip said:
Can you share some specs of mid range phones saying it supports 5 GHz band ?(reply:sure after ignoring my reply about Redmi Note 4 & Moto G 4/5 having 5GHz N you ask again but still I will give you links) iBall routers stand as low as ₹900. I was merely suggesting that in normal conditions, you can do well with a ₹900 router than a cheap ac router at almost double the amount.(reply:now how many times have I said this that it is op's money so his decision & yet here again you are recommending a Rs.900 iBall router nonetheless,seriously?) Also, would be great if you can use normal text. Provokes me to use the same as well (reply:well I have no issues with you "feeling" provoked,you are welcome to provoke me.I am also curious to see if I can be provoked by someone without clearly violating forum guidelines here as it would be a first for me)

Does Redmi Note 4 supports 5ghz WiFi band? - Redmi Note 4 - Xiaomi MIUI Official Forum
Moto G

Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz)

*www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Ideapad-110-i...32?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1505489967&sr=1-32

Integrated Wi-Fi : 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

*www.amazon.in/Acer-E5-573-Windows-...29?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1505489967&sr=1-29

Wireless Type801.11 AC

~Rs.800 AC wifi usb adapter:
Buy Leoxsys LEO-NANOAC600 600 MbpsWireless USB Adapter (Black) Online at Low Prices in India - Paytmmall.com

Do go through what I posted above & if you still feel like posting then go ahead but if you don't feel like continuing or simply don't like my posts then feel free to ignore my posts.

I learn by asking questions. Does having a staff badge makes you immune to counter arguments ? Kindly specify if that is the case.

W

And please do tell where exactly you are asking questions in this thread?

Your first post in this thread:

Not a single mid range mobile phone supports it. Neither does any main stream laptop models. Only a handful of devices are available in India where you can make use of it. It is absolutely unnecessary to invest in costly dual band routers, at the moment. You can get a b/g/n model for as low as 1.1 K when compared to 2K + budget range of ac routers.

Where exactly is a question hidden in above post that started this whole argument?

And these are the questions you asked:

Q1.

What is the need to invest more than double the amount of a b/g/n router, when only a handful of premium devices support ac mode.

Asked by you in post#14 but replied by me in earlier post#13

It is not your money so it is not your decision to restrict router recommendations to below 1/1.5k especially when by just spending 500 or 1k more you get a newer & better wifi standard device.In big cities like Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore etc there is a lot of interference on 2.4GHz band & using 5GHz wifi really helps.

Q2.

Can you share some specs of mid range phones saying it supports 5 GHz band ?

Asked by you in post#16 replied by me in earlier post#13

Also any decent mid range phone like Redmi Note 4,Moto G 4/5 etc has dual band N meaning they support both 2.4GHz & 5GHz N wifi.You are buying AC router not just for AC standard but also for 5GHz N wifi standard too.

As for the below statement by you

Does having a staff badge makes you immune to counter arguments ? Kindly specify if that is the case.

No,having a staff badge does not make me immune to counter arguments but yes,having a staff badge do make me take a closer & judgemental look at the posts by other users to see if they are following forum rules &/or are not unnecessary/irrelevant to thread topic & op's queries which your posts here seems to be & hence my replies.

Dear hotstar, the owner can do pretty much everything they do with a costly AC router with a ₹900 router as well. I am happy to know about 5 GHz N. I must admit I didn't know of it before. I closely follow Xiaomi and other mobile brands on Twitter. None of them had any advertisement about 5 GHz N. So, I honestly thought it would be nice to enlighten OP of cheaper options.

As for a nice conversation going on with you and OP. I didn't come into a PM. This is an open thread. I only had the best interests of OP.

W

Dear hotstar, the owner can do pretty much everything they do with a costly AC router with a ₹900 router as well.

Thank you for posting the above because now I can give you a formal warning.Do not post anything after this in this thread as it is clearly evident that you are "obsessed with Rs.900 router".

Hey @meetdilip Thanks for the tip but decided to go for the Asus dual band router after going through the pros and cons. Since i use a router for a long term, i see this as an investment. The router doesn't disappoint..Been few days since i got it and been testing both bands and its performing really well. The range is far better than my older router. I will post an update over the weekend since i am still testing it out.

W

@Ronnie11 waiting for your detailed review,also have you updated to the latest firmware.

P.S.just a suggestion.If you have a good speed net connection(preferably 10-20mbps or more) then start some torrents with large no. of seeders & peers & then try to connect a device(a mobile) over wifi from a distance,say,a floor above or below the one where router is placed.Try both bands.

whitestar_999 said:
@Ronnie11 waiting for your detailed review,also have you updated to the latest firmware.

P.S.just a suggestion.If you have a good speed net connection(preferably 10-20mbps or more) then start some torrents with large no. of seeders & peers & then try to connect a device(a mobile) over wifi from a distance,say,a floor above or below the one where router is placed.Try both bands.

Interesting. I shall try this out.

Hey guys, So first of all my apologies for delaying the review by a week due to some unforeseen circumstances. But it has given me more time to test the router even further more.

I currently have an 8Mbps connection which goes up to 10 at night. I have also updated the router's firmware to the latest version before testing it out and tested both bands using laptop and mobile.

I will start off with 2.4 GHz first. The range is excellent!!. When compared to my previous router Asus RT N13U, The Asus AC58U gives about 40% better range. I have tested it during heavy load and normal usage, and i have had no trouble with connecting to wifi although as expected speed does drop during heavy usage. Since the last 2 weeks of continuos usage, I did not encounter any signal drop or disconnection issue (Router is on for 24 hours). The only downside i see here is that if you make any changes in the router, the router takes some time to reboot and implement the changes but less time compared to my older Asus router.
To give a hint on the range capability, I have connected the router from the ground floor of my house while i stay in third floor. If placed right, It should easily cover an area of 800-900 sq. ft.

The 5 GHz range is the only downside in this. It is not the same as 2.4 GHz. I suspect its the new firmware which is causing this as the previous firmware had higher coverage area. Although it is stable and encountered no drops in speed or range or disconnection.

Getting to the firmware, When i installed it the first time, i was using the stock firmware which came with the box. I used it without updating for 4 days to see the difference when i upgrade it to the latest firmware. The previous firmware had issues especially with the 2.4 GHz line. There were some unexplained drops in speed but 5GHz worked well without any trouble. Post the update, the 2.4 GHz is working flawlessly. They seem to have fixed the bugs of 2.4 GHz. Hoping for a similar fix in range for 5 soon. My current firmware is 3.0.0.4.380_7485.

Please note that on a given date, we have 4 mobile phones and 2 laptops connected at all time along with the pc.

Thanks to @whitestar_999 for the recommendation.

W

Good to know it worked well for you

About the 5GHz coverage,how much it is reduced.Say router is placed in a room on top floor,how good is the signal in adjacent room separated by a single wall & in a room just below the top floor room where router is placed.Can you post values of signal strength by using wifi analyser(note spelling,there is a similar wifi analyzer app too) app on mobile in various rooms/floors if possible,it would be a great help?

whitestar_999 said:
Good to know it worked well for you About the 5GHz coverage,how much it is reduced.Say router is placed in a room on top floor,how good is the signal in adjacent room separated by a single wall & in a room just below the top floor room where router is placed.Can you post values of signal strength by using wifi analyser(note spelling,there is a similar wifi analyzer app too) app on mobile in various rooms/floors if possible,it would be a great help?

Yup sure, will post values from the app.
About the coverage for 5 GHz, by taking your example, signal is weaker than my 2.4 Ghz when measured in the adjacent room. I get one or two bars at most.

W

Thanks!I need values in dBm to see how weak the 5GHz signal is in adjacent room & a floor below.Anything upto 70dBm should be enough though I would like value below 60dBm in adjacent room & 70-72dBm in room directly below the router room for 5GHz.Also post values of 2.4GHz signal for comparison in same locations.If possible,please do a speedtest too on both signals in same locations.

whitestar_999 said:
Thanks!I need values in dBm to see how weak the 5GHz signal is in adjacent room & a floor below.Anything upto 70dBm should be enough though I would like value below 60dBm in adjacent room & 70-72dBm in room directly below the router room for 5GHz.Also post values of 2.4GHz signal for comparison in same locations.If possible,please do a speedtest too on both signals in same locations.

Alright sure. Give me a couple of days since I am caught up with work.. Will post the figures soon.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Ronnie11 said:
Alright sure. Give me a couple of days since I am caught up with work.. Will post the figures soon.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Is this is the app you're talking about *uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171003/389d204efc4e7550a7ce696ebc38cc47.jpg

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

W

Yes.

No problem!Take your time.If your values are good then maybe if some good diwali offer comes I may buy it for a friend who is looking for a good AC router.A few days back it was available for 4k on paytm with cashback & icici card combined offer.