Time for a new router

Q™

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I finally took the plunge and eliminated the old business class 30 down/10 up cable service with 5 static IP addresses because I'm no longer running servers at home. I've replaced it with 60/30 residential service at a cost savings of $60.00 per month. In the process I pulled the old Cisco Pix along with other old energy hog equipment.

But I'm going to need a new router because the router provided by the cable company is just too stupid.

So.

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I have to ask.

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What is the best router?

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Perhaps a Tomato infused unit?

I'm going to need to set up a VPN

All opinions are greatly appreciated.
 

c hris527

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Wow this is right up my ally, I also will be taking the plunge and being lazy do not want have to blow out a new router with dd wrt or tomato if I do not have too. I have looked into the ASUS line as a few others. This will be a good thread and looking forward to what other peeps have successfully done .
 

drew91101

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Synology makes the RT1900ac which I recently purchased and love it. I'm not as tech savvy as others around the forum but the router has some great features at about $150. It has built in NAS functions as well as VPN and DNS server and has a really nice GUI. Check out some reviews or videos
 

Ihbond

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As fenderman suggested asus makes seems easy configurable\vpn routers did-wrt
 

Kawboy12R

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Asus AC68U or for a few bucks more the AC87U. Great features, great speed, great reliability, midrange price.
 

Zorac

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i would consider an asus that i could put asuswrt-merlin on: Home | Asuswrt-Merlin

ive been running pfsense forever though and its been solid and is full of features. using an old mini computer from aliexpress to run it.
 

Q™

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Thanks all! One of my goals is to cut electrical use, so I won't be running pfsense on an extra computer. Another requirement is that the router must include wireless.
 

bp2008

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My last 3 routers were Asus, running Tomato by Shibby, and I'm currently using ASUS RT-AC68U

Tomato firmware isn't as important anymore as it once was. It used to be that a great many configuration changes in stock Asus firmware forced the router to reboot for changes to take effect. In Tomato firmware, you could change many things without interrupting connectivity. I don't know how much Asus firmware has improved in the years since I last tried it, but I'm sure it is much better now. It is almost certain to be faster at ... routing ... when running stock firmware, although with a 60/30 internet connection you are not likely to notice any difference in routing speed.

This router has a little faster CPU (1GHz dual core whereas the RT-AC68U is 800MHz dual core), and is also very popular among Tomato users. Netgear R7000 There are newer/better routers out there, but they mostly use the same CPU speed as this one and just have better WiFi and a higher price tag. For WiFi, I prefer a multiple-access-point solution like Ubiquiti Unifi, rather than a single access point built into a router']Netgear R7000/URL] There are newer/better routers out there, but they mostly use the same CPU speed as this one and just have better WiFi and a higher price tag. For WiFi, I prefer a multiple-access-point solution like Ubiquiti Unifi, rather than a single access point built into a router[/URL].
 
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zero-degrees

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+1 for Asus. I'm rolling an RT-AC1900 in a 10k sq ft' business environment for our guest network. Some nice customization features and QOS options. It's honestly overkill for what we need feature wise, but when the last Linkysys started to fail my brother literally tossed it from the second floor office down into the warehouse one day when he had to reset it half a dozen times for a customer renting out our venue for a work meeting. It's been great with no issues at all obviously - since it hasn't gone flying.... yet...
 

nayr

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im fond of Ubiquiti Edgerouters; but they are not as simple as Asus by any stretch.. they are for power users whom know what they are doing; ie, Setting up VPN is done from command line.

If your running multiple VLAN/Subnets the hardware is great; it can subnet route at GigE speeds unlike any other off the shelf router at this price point.. I left pFSence for EdgeRouter because the hardware needed for GigE routing was consuming absurd amounts of electricity.
 

Kawboy12R

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Yeah? Hmmm. The only thing I've heard bad about an Asus router was a flimsy switch in the back. I never touch them so no issues so far. I was considering an 87 as an upgrade for a 66.
 

zero-degrees

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Asus RT-AC68U Wireless AC1900 T-Mobile CellSpot Router $59
T-Mobile Wi-Fi CellSpot Router | T-Mobile
This is a bad decision for anyone other than a T-Mobile customer that is utilizing wifi calling... This is going to have hard coded QOS rules in place to prioritize wifi calling and support that. I'm not saying it won't function fine, but I would be hesitant to purchase unless I was buying specifically to compliiment a t-mobile phone.
 

randytsuch

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I bought a reconditioned asus recently
ASUS RT-AC68P Wireless-AC1900 Dual Band Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.1

Works great, was easy to setup. Asus has a free ddns service, and openVPN supported out of the box. i didn't load in merlin, didn't need to.

I normally buy routers that are a little older, so you don't pay the latest and greatest premium. But router works well, fast enough and all the features I wanted. Coverage is good too, get a good signal throughout my good sized, two story house.
 
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