Choosing a < $100 Wireless Router

Widget on 17/05/2023 - 03:18
Last edited 17/05/2023 - 10:32 by 1 other user

Hi all,

Looking to upgrade from our iinet supplied wifi router, just wondering what OzBargainers might recommend? Mum regularly says the internet is either slow on the laptop or drops out. Though the internet works fine with me (ethernet), the router has been dropped a few time and the antennas are a little broken at the base (they flop like basset hound ears instead of sticking up like rabbit ears), so I may as well upgrade.

I also plays games and watch youtube so perhaps being doing this is draining the bandwidth to her, though I wouldn't think gaming uses much bandwidth, or at least enough to cause her internet to not work/load. We're on 50mbit with iinet.

I was originally looking at one around the $100 mark, but noticed on 'Umart' website there were quite a few around the $50 mark. Don't know much about routers these days, so I'm not sure what's good & what to avoid. We primarily use it to connect to the NBN and run ipad/smartphones, laptops & my PC (which I game on), so something with

  • Gigabit ethernet ports (I prefer),
  • WiFi 2.5ghz + 5.0ghz for the phones/laptops
  • VPN feature

Are there any features or anything special with routers that techies recommend or are they mostly much the same?

Is getting a router with a USB to connect a phone as an internet hotspot worth it? Cost much extra?

Are there any particular (budget) routers that come up from time-to-time that Ozbargainers fist-bump the air for ?

[EDIT] Just read something here https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2100697. Though its 10years old, does a certain chip in a router make it better/worse?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Computing Broadband nbn Wireless Router

Comments

  • Hamish125 on 17/05/2023 - 08:12

    Also looking for a recommendation on a router. Just got NBN 50/20 same as OP connected so will follow for any recommendations

  • Paavam on 17/05/2023 - 09:52

    Get a Telstra SMG2 from marketplace, most go for around $30-40 and they outperform routers almost 6x the price

    • [Deactivated] on 17/05/2023 - 10:01

      Gateway Max 2 is quite alright as well, can be jailbroken to access the full OpenWRT firmware underneath.

      • Paavam on 17/05/2023 - 13:04

        nope, smg2 is in an entirely different league of performance

        • [Deactivated] on 17/05/2023 - 16:57

          I see, good to know.

          There seems to be two different routers branded as the Smart Modem Gen 2 though, one by Telstra's usual OEM Technicolor, and another as a rebranded Arcadyan LH1000. Either fine, or is one better than the other? Going by past Telstra modem the Technicolor is probably good, but I can't say for the Arcadyan

          • Paavam on 17/05/2023 - 21:24

            @[Deactivated]: Technicolor preferred (can do some pretty cool stuff once you root the firmware), arcadyan still competitive

    • Widget on 20/05/2023 - 04:59

      Thanks for the suggestions, I'll keep an eye out on marketplace. What firmware do these use to make them good?

      • Paavam on 31/05/2023 - 20:05

        Just the usual one, but with some rooting and unlocking of the stock firmware it gets even better. For the average joe though, plug it in and its good to go

  • [Deactivated] on 17/05/2023 - 09:59

    At that price, a used high end Wifi 5 router and chuck a good custom firmware on it.

    ASUS

    Anything supported by Merlin, but an AC86U would be ideal. Even the stock firmware is fine, ASUSWrt is damn good out of the box. Technically the Netgear R7000 and Linksys EA6900 also falls under ASUS due to the existence of the xWRT Vortex firmware, which is a port of Merlin to those devices due to them sharing the same chipset as the AC66U. You can even use the converted router as mesh nodes using ASUS's AIMesh.

    Netgear

    Broadcom based routers has supports from FreshTomato (check their compatibility list), which is most of their range. I see a lot of R7000/R8000/R6400 around used, though the R7000 I'd favor using the ASUS firmware if you don't mind the slightly more complicated installation process. Outside of that, there's the Qualcomm based R7500/R7800/D7800 and XR500 which can run OpenWRT. They're more powerful, but OpenWRT is a less user-friendly router OS out of the box

    Other brands/models

    Check the compatibility list for FreshTomato, DD-WRT and OpenWRT, if its fully supported and has decent specs (dual core CPU and 256mb RAM at this price level) you're good.

    Best option for plug and play out of the box

    Used ASUS. Telstra Gateway Max 2 and other Telstra-branded Technicolor modem/routers are very good as well, they're fairly high specced, run OpenWRT under the Telstra themes and are available for dirt cheap.

    Best option new

    Redmi AX6S from Aliexpress (around ~$80 last I checked), flashed to OpenWRT.

    • Widget on 20/05/2023 - 05:04

      Thanks for the write-up :). I do hear ASUS being an alright choice, though usually keeping an eye open on OCAU for a 2nd hand one, haven'r come across any yet.

      So either asus on the Merlin compatibility list or Netgear on the FreshTomato list?

      "Outside of that, there's the Qualcomm based R7500/R7800/D7800 and XR500 which can run OpenWRT. They're more powerful, but OpenWRT is a less user-friendly router OS out of the box"

      When you say more powerful, in what way?

      • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2023 - 08:54

        More RAM, more powerful CPU, better wireless range. The R7800 is the gold standard for Wifi 5 router to run OpenWRT, because while its not quite powerful enough to achieve true Gigabit WAN without hardward offloading, it can still reach 700-800mbit/s while still having to packet processing functionality like QoS and Firewall. In comparison, the older Broadcom based routers like the R7000 can only do half of that, or even less, to achieve Gigabit WAN it has to cheat with hardware acceleration, which offload packet processing to a dedicated hardware chip, but you lose access to all functionalities relating to packet processing because the packets are no longer being handled by software.

        Gigabit isn't a massive problem for you right now, but since you have FTTP/FTTH its an option in the future. The Redmi is a very good option as well, it can do Gigabit in software, and is a Wifi 6 router.

  • Top G on 17/05/2023 - 21:25

    Spend 200 for something decent

    • Widget on 20/05/2023 - 05:05

      $200 a bit steep. We don't have a big network here, just a few computers/phones on the network.

  • ihfree on 18/05/2023 - 15:08

    [EDIT] Just read something here https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2100697. Though its 10years old, does a certain chip in a router make it better/worse?

    This is only really applicable if you're on FTTN.

    If you're on FTTN, you'll need a modem or Router with a modem built in. Some of the Telstra devices, IIRC, have a modem built in, so you would be fine with them.

    If you are buying just a router and you're on FTTN, you'll likely be able to continue using your current router as a modem in bridge mode.

    If you are on the other technologies(ethernet cable to the router and NTD somewhere in your house), then a router is fine.

    so perhaps being doing this is draining the bandwidth to her,

    I think your next step is to identify whether this is internet or wifi related. ie. Does it only occur when there is load? or far away from the router?

    • Widget on 20/05/2023 - 05:10

      To my knowledge, we're Fibre to the Home (fibre from the street to the side of the house). Just one device connected to the NBN modem/box on the wall.

      I've never really noticed any issues on my end. I thought perhaps it's the website she's connecting to that could be the issue (streaming TV shows from ch9, ch10 etc..). She mainly uses WiFi which is about 3m from where she sits, so not far away at all, in the same room too. I'm not sure how frequently it happens, will have to ask her, but she's mentioned it a few times.

  • DemocracyManifest on 20/05/2023 - 09:07

    Telstra Smart Modem 3 can be practically had for free, has Wi-Fi 6 and 4g backup/usage built in, and can be unlocked. Smart Modem 2 is easier to unlock but no Wi-Fi 6

    • Paavam on 20/05/2023 - 18:22
      +1

      They have not completely fixed the wi-fi latency issue afaik, so would not pick up one of these as a primary router personally

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