Hey, what's up with finding the top Wi-Fi and Ethernet combo for our whole family?
Hey, what's up with finding the top Wi-Fi and Ethernet combo for our whole family?
My Linksys router is pretty slow for my needs, especially when only one device is connected at 100 Mbps. My internet from Spectrum goes out to me on a 300/10 Mbps connection, but the new computers make browsing much faster because they are so fast that old laptops didn't seem like a problem before. A Spectrum tech told me to replace it last year without explaining why; maybe he just wanted to sell something. I have three computers: one custom PC with an i7-12700k and 64GB RAM, another custom PC with an i5-12500k and 32GB RAM, and a laptop. We live in a 1200 square foot apartment inside, though I hope to buy a house soon. My goal is for the router's speed to match or beat the max speed of my second computer (the one with the i5), so it can handle both gaming and uploading video well even if not everyone uses them at once. The new gear is way better than what we had before, though I don't want to spend more than about $200 right now unless something really pops out. Someone said I should wait for Wifi 7, but that seems too expensive for me right now. Could someone explain simply and briefly why routers work the same way with both Wi-Fi and Ethernet ports? Also, do I need two separate devices (like a mesh system) to get better performance, or is one good enough as long as it has fast Wi-Fi and Ethernet? I know my computers are super fast thanks to the new parts. Thanks for checking in!
The first problem is usually the wifi in an apartment. There are probably 10 to 40 signals fighting for attention from your devices. The wifi will most likely be slow. Your Linksys router model number doesn't tell you what kind of device you have, so that's okay. BUT if your wifi speeds are really limited at 100 megabits per second, maybe it has good ethernet ports. Any newer routers usually have gigabit ethernet ports, which means you can get fast internet through the wires instead of just using wifi. Can you connect your custom pcs to ethernet? You only need one cable. If all those computers are in the same room, you could even put a switch between the router and them. I would recommend an Asus router, but NOT a very expensive one. Get a router that Merlin firmware supports -- here is the link: https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/ The AX58U would be a good choice -- here is another link:
If you really want to use ethernet, it's worth checking if your connection can handle it. When people say upload speeds are slow, they mean how fast data gets OUT of their house to the internet, not how much they can send IN. Most wifi routers should easily get that 10mbps speed you pay for. You won't actually get more than that, and even if you do, sharing your router with other devices in your home will slow it down a lot too. A new router probably won't make a big difference either. Instead, think about powerline connections instead of wifi. For upload speeds, you should easily be able to hit the 10mbps deal, and that connection is way more stable than any wifi. If you are very lucky, units with numbers like 1000 or 2000 might let you get up to 300mbps, but something around 150mbps is much more common. As kanewolf mentioned earlier, your internet speed is likely limited by the port on your modem, which is probably capped at 100mbps anyway. But remember, faster download speeds only help with gaming downloads; having more bandwidth doesn't make games run better or faster. Games don't need that much data to just play them well. Even big streaming services like Netflix can use way less than 25mbps for a 4k movie. The router you got should give you the full speed your plan promises, but I wouldn't rely on it for playing games at all when you live in an apartment. There are simply too many annoying signals coming in that cause random lag and bugs in your games.
Thanks so much, @kanewolf and @bill001g. You gave me great tips! Now I need to figure out if I should buy more with my $216 in rewards from Capital One Shopping. It doesn't seem like a better router will help much. Maybe I'll grab a bigger SSD because my videos fill up the 1 TB one too quickly. Or, maybe I'll get a new monitor since that old Dell 25-inch screen probably can't handle my XFX Speedster Swift 319 Radeon RX 6800 XT properly. Also, some more fans for my case. Bill, what exactly do you mean by powerline networks? My router is right next to those two custom computers.
If the router is right next to the computers you do not need powerline networks. Powerline networks are a pair of boxes you plug into a electrical outlet that in a way makes the electical wires in the house act as a ethernet cable between rooms you would have trouble running a actual ethernet cable. You should be able to just run a ethernet cable directly between the machines and the router. This is always the best option both for speed and reliability. This is even more true if you are playing games. Even though games need very little bandwidth they need quality connections. Wifi is very bad for playing games because of interference damaging data. What exact router do you have. Generally unless the router is very old or you buy extremely cheap routers they have gigabit ports. You want to do all your testing using ethernet cables to start. You can see the speed the port connects at if you dig around the status page for the ethernet port on your machine. You can also tell by the lights on some routers if the port is running at 100 or 1gbit. If the router is 1gbit and your tests are still only 100mbps then maybe there is a issue with a cable, maybe the one between the router and the modem.
I got a Linksys EA6350 v4 back in 2020. It cost a lot less because that was all my budget allowed then. This router does not support gigabit speeds. I have finally connected it using the ethernet cable from this guide, and now everything is working well.
The details for this router show it comes with gigabit ethernet ports. It is also a dual band router. This looks pretty much like the Asus we talked about before. The page says even the V2 version has gigabit ports too -- https://www.linksys.com/support-article?...Num=316757 But the black text on that blue background makes it hard to read...