How fast do you grow past your routers limits?

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Hi all,

While this isn't a post about automation per-say it is kind of related. I haven't had a lot of luck with my routers as technology advanced. It seems like I always run into issues where as more devices connect to it, others tend to have performance issues. Turn another device off and performance improves. It never mattered which device. So I'd buy a new router and BOOM things were better for a time.

Fast forward a few years and throw in some children. Now their devices become connected and lan enabled devices begin popping up everywhere. Once again I am running into performance issues with my network from time to time. I know hardware doesn't last forever, but what is the life expectancy on a router? I am currently running an Airport Extreme that is about 3 years old. However in the last 3 years I've added many new Lan devices.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

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I just 3 weeks ago replaced my Aiport Extreme.

But I have 3 WiFi networks here to throw in some paralleism. I have 'guest' WiFi and a 'TV's Wifi'. Manually spaced channels. Mine don't 'wear out' as quickly that way, because I tripled the wireless bandwith.

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Isn't that a NAT nightmare? Or do you just use the others in bridge mode?

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'guest' is the ISP provided WiFi subnet.

Next comes the FW and NAT.

Inside is the pair of WiFi Routers. I replaced the Airport with an Asus RT-ac68u in Access Point mode.

"tv" is the same, just an Access point.

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Ubiquiti, USG for the firewall, and a few access points managed by a cloud key. Never skips a beat. Plus you can do a VPN off it as well that connects natively via iOS, Android, Mac and Windows. No software required.

We have a ton of wifi devices between my stuff, my 2 teenagers and my wife. Stream everything, multiple streams at a time, even 4k.

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6

I've never looked much into this router. It looks like amazon has ones that are wired only. Are they all like that? Which model are you using? ( I only did a 2 minute search so I could have misread the descriptions on amazon LOL)

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Ubiquiti for WiFi and pfSense for the router. pfSense handles OpenVPN for connecting back to the house (and keeping the lake house and in town house on the same network) as well as Teamspeak and a few other things. Some day when the kids get older it will run some filtering.

Ubiquiti is great for the WiFi end, even if it's just one, two or three access points. You can set them up and use them without a cloud key, though it's nice to have if you're deep into the info overload hole.

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Firewall

Cloud key

Wifi APs

This is the setup I use at most of my family locations.

The cloud key just makes it easier then installing the software on a rPi or similar...

Can do everything via web UI but still has command line if you prefer.

This is beyond consumer grade, but works well in busy households for sure.

Separating your firewall and wifi is a good start.

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This is my setup as well but with 3 UAPs a couple of their POE switches too.

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It's quite a bit less featured than a Ubiquiti, but I've been pretty happy with the TP-Link Deco M5 I bought recently. Other than the issue I mentioned in another thread, where there's a 16 device limit to the reservation table for some reason. But I'm sure it could be increased with a firmware update.

Other than that, the features are just what I needed. App controllable (and it's a decent app), securely remote controllable via the internet, Mesh capable (I'm only using a single unit), great signal strength, automatic band selection (no need to select 2.5 or 5 Ghz networks manually), automatic firmware updates (as is the case with most mesh wifi routers), great parental controls (easy to add time, pause internet, block etc.) all from your phone and even when you're not home, 3 years of built-in Trend Micro anti-virus and lifetime support. Favorite feature is the IFTTT triggers for arrival/departure. I'm using them in combination with HomeKit geofencing to get a two stage presence detection. It really works well.

I've put in a few of the three unit bundles in client homes and the feedback has been outstanding. Price is very reasonable. They're not the top of line mesh router, but do work very well, even if you only use a single unit like I have. They're USB-C powered, and there was a plan to offer a powerline network adapter option at some point, so you wouldn't have to have ethernet in your home to have a type of wired backhaul. Not sure if that is still going to happen with the M5. Might have to have the new M9 for that.

There is one additional caveat to this router. You cannot manually change it's IP range. Factory, it is 192.168.0.x and that third octet also cannot be changed manually. There is a trick I discovered by accident though. If there is already a 192.168.0.x device on the network, it will automatically change to 192.168.1.x to avoid IP conflict. So there's at least a way, but the evening I installed it wasn't very fun as I had to change everything to work in the new IP range.

So here's the rub. You need a switch. It has two ethernet ports. Doesn't matter which one you use for the WAN, it auto configures, but that leaves you with only one. Frankly, I like that. The switches built into these routers are not very good anyway. Besides, I've already filled 16 ports of an unmanaged switch, so 24 port managed switch is in my future.

I ordered one of these mounts from a Chinese seller for $6 CAD, but if you can't wait they're at least available from Amazon, and it's a nice looking mount. Holds it very securely.

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I'm running a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X ($55) as my wired router with a TP-Link EAP225 ($66) wireless access point. The TP-Link EAP product line can be had for a great price and there's a software controller than can be used to manage hundreds of EAPs, it's a 'prosumer'/small business product - similar to how the Ubiquiti products are. The EAP products are also PoE, and ceiling mount.

I only need one WiFi AP to handle my house (single story, 2,400 sqft). I have an open floor plan and my router is dead smack in the middle of the house. Where you put your access points is very important. If I ever need to add another access point I can very easily add another EAP to my setup.

I can easily max out my internet connection with this setup, I'm provisioned for 150/10 and I get 180mbits down when wired, or on 5ghz. I've been meaning to benchmark LAN throughput over 5ghz, but haven't gotten around to it yet. My TVs are all wireless (hulu, netflix, plex) and I never have any problems with this setup.

Even the best access points can only handle so many devices connected to them, I would try to limit it to 20 clients per AP. If you have a pretty even split of 2.4ghz and 5 ghz clients, you could probably get away with 25 clients or so, but devices will be fighting for airtime.

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I have a Gryphon Router 3 pack that I have been beta testing for them. Very stable and fast. I love the parental control part of it. I have anywhere from 40-50 devices on the network. 2 teens and wife who are always streaming.

I also have a eero gen 2 3 pack was that I used before this system. Very stable but not as fast as current system.

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Using the Comcast router in bridge mode, then a 3 puck eero v2 pro system. Eero app controls everything. Over 60 devices connected across two building. Works flawless. We use PlayStation Vue, SlingTV and Movies Anywhere, so everything is streaming. Most nights have 3 TV's streaming and several Chromebooks/tablets active at the same time. Never skips a beat! Also has great features to control the kids usage and what they see.

Used to have the Google wi-fi system...don't recommend it at all. TV's where always buffering.

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I will also vouch for Ubiquiti's gear. Either the UniFi or the EdgeMax stuff. I currently run the EdgeRouter-X with an AirCube AC and and AirCube ISP (the b/g/n version) at my house, with a UniFi-UAP/EdgeRouter setup at the parents place. It all supports PoE* as well.

*UBNT PoE is not necessarily standard PoE... just a warning

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One of the main drivers for the development of Zwave was to have a residential lighting system that wouldn't put any weight on the home router. :wink: Of course we undid some of that by adding cloud, but it is one of the big advantages of using one of the other protocols.

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I use Peplink hardware at home and work and have been happy with their routers and WAPs.

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Sorry for bringing an old post back to life, but I am trying to justify buying the cloud key. I read the description but other than single sign on, I don't see any other benefits. I am also not sure how single sign on with this item helps. Can you maybe supply some examples?

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I bought one to run the admin interface as it is easier than maintaining an rPi or VM image somewhere... I haven't had to touch it in over a year. Besides just updating it's firmware.

Sure you can just run the admin jar on any box, provision your stuff and shut it down, but you do loose some functionality along the way. What put me over the top was a java change and my box couldn't run an update, and had to mess around for several hours, lost my config, wouldn't restore... I just gave up realized I wouldn't have to deal with this stuff if I bought the cloud key... Haven't looked back.

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Do you strem 4k? How are the speeds with this router?

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Wonder how many Man Centuries of hours have been lost to "Java just updated. Now nothing works."

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