Currently have an RT-N66U and it's fine TBH but getting up to 5 years old. Would upgrading to the AC86U get me much more an improvement? I understand the Wi-Fi side of things would be a big step up but Wi-Fi is not critical for us and the 66U seems adequate in that dept. But I was wondering if I would get any general speed improvements out of our wireless NBN and LAN by going to a newer router? (Christmas sales are on……:) )
Cheers
I recently installed an ASUS RT-AC88U because I needed much better WiFi coverage, which I now have. The speeds are faster but to be honest you become used to what you have. If you were a serious gamer where response time a critical, it would be worth doing.
If expanding your wireless network is what you want, you could consider Google Mesh Wifi
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/google-wi-fi
Gizmodo says: "The days of a big dumb Wi-Fi router sitting in the centre of your home are limited. Google Wi-Fi is one of a new breed of wireless router that distributes all those Wi-Fi smarts into different rooms and corners of your home. Instead of one chunky Wi-Fi router sitting near your modem and broadcasting a signal as far around your house as possible, Google's new Wi-Fi pucks connect to one another and rebroadcast a mesh network of strong and stable wireless, giving you a seamless network over a wider space."
Though there are some concerns about gaming performance on Google Wi-Fi
There are many competing 'mesh' products from other companies as well, such as Netgear Orbi and TP-Link Deco
But if gaming and latency is an issue, I suggest wiring up your PC or game console using ethernet or Powerline adapter for the best experience. Wifi is always inferior to cabled networks.
If you want mesh you'd be looking at the others ahead of the Google unit. The Orbi is substantially faster.
edit: The unit I was looking at was at Gearbest and apparently OS units have a different Wi-fi setup that Aussie units. Local prices seem pretty expensive so I 'probably' wont bother.