Go with what these guys are recommending.
ASUS it is - I'll start looking around for a bargain.
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Sheesh - there's more models of ASUS routers than Zwave wall switches.
Tell us again how you connect to the internet?
My ISP has an antenna on my roof and I get wifi from a nearby water tower. (2-3 miles being nearby). I believe they use Motorola radios. There is a MikroTik Router Board that feeds to my Linksys router. I'm high up so they feed 8 homes from my rooftop antenna system.
I think the ASUS RT-AC86U or AC2900 looks in my price range and seem to be highly liked. One last questions for tonight. My current router and the AC2900 have 4 ports - can I use a jumper to connect a generic switch to add ports? Will it cause degradation of the system? I currently have 2 PCs and two Hubitat plugged into my Linksys.
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You can use an Ethernet cable to connect the router to a switch, and connect other devices to the switch. I would recommend a small TP-Link unmanaged gigabit switch.
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If you just need one or two extra ports, you can also just use your existing router like a mini switch. Same idea. Connect an ethernet cable to one of the four ports, and the other end to one of the ports on the new router. Just disable WiFi on the old router since it will be close by. And don't use the WAN (internet) port on the old router. Put a piece of tape over it.
Now, having said that, this isn't ideal, but it will work and won't interfere with anything. The old router does all it's access control between the WAN and the LAN ports, not among the LAN ports. Those are a separate physical layer.
Oops, one more thing. You need to disable DHCP on the old router if you do this!
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Thanks fellows - I think I have a new project coming up.
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I may be too late - but if I'm not you may want to consider the 8 Port Asus routers - I have two of them.
I have the RT-AX88U and the RT-AC88U.
Also, a further point. In my humble opinion (many would disagree on this point), spending a LOT more of the AX88U to give you WiFI6 for the future, might be a waste of money, unless you have a few WiFi6 devices right now.
Spending a little more, is a good forward looking strategy. However, in my humble opinion, things in this arena will change dramatically in the next 2-3 years.
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Nope - still looking. I see some bargains on eBay for the AC88U - I'll try for one of them. Used, but lots of $ cheaper than new. Thanks for the heads up.
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Found a LN AC3100 8 port on eBay for $135 with free shipping. Should have it in just a few days. Thanks again for the tips (all of you).
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So I received my AC88U and have it installed and running. PITA but I have my google mini devices, Amazon Alexa devices, two Hubitat hubs, assorted tablets and laptops and 2 PCs connected and running fine. Only thing giving me trouble is my Brother MFC-L2700DW which joined the network okay, but always reports as being offline when I try printing to it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Brother.... hmmm... my colleague just got that printer.
Have you got a static ip assigned to that printer?
- from the printer itself
- the same ip assigned from the router
Also, does that have an auto off?
I'm a bit of an amateur when it comes to networks. I don't know if I have a static IP assigned for the printer. I used the printer menu to do everything. It went something like this.
Menu, Network, WLAN, Wizard, ---- found my router. I entered my password and in a couple minutes the printer sent out a sheet with connection OK. But, as I say when I try to print to it I always get the printer off line message. I saw something somewhere about pressing the WPS button on the router, but I have not done that yet. Other suggestions I found online didn't work for me. This printer worked fine on my old router so I know it's capable of working on WIFI.
So, I have a number of printers in my house, and as part of the setup routine, I always assign it a static ip.
What's that?
That's an IP address that it will always have. As soon as it reaches out to the router, if it's in the routers table, it will automatically give it that number, and nothing else.
The way the Asus routers do it: Use the "Lan" on the left hand side of the initial screen, then use the Tab marked DHCP. Then add to the table at the bottom of the page, a set (static) ip address. Whenever the device with that MAC address tries to establish an address, it will give it that address.
Also, on the printer itself, many printers will allow a "static" address to be assigned, instead of being DHCP assigned.
The reason that this is important for printers, is that many computers don't update their tables - if you set the printer up as "192.168.1.91", it will always know that it's there, not anywhere else.
Please excuse the simple English that I've used here.
Thanks for your message Jtmpush18. I may have accomplished a couple things based on your information. I believe I now have both my active Hubitat hubs on static IP addresses after following your instructions. That's a good thing.
My router is in Wireless Router Mode - should I have it in Access Point Mode? I read something about that somewhere.
I'm going to dig around some more on the Brother printer. It's odd that it going thru the router connection and says it is connected, but always is reported as offline. I suppose if northing else I can get a cable and wire it into the router.
Thanks again for your help.
