Need Help Buying A New Router

I'm not sure this is the proper place to post this but its the best spot I could find.

I'm looking to replace my old Dell router I've had for about 7 years or so now. Its done a great job but its showing its age.

For my new router I have a lot of requirements for it.

First, it has to be 802.11n capable, while also being able to support all of the older Wi-Fi specs. I would really like ac spec to future proof but even streaming 4k video doesn't take up all the bandwidth of an n router.

It has to be able to broadcast at least 2 separate networks on two different specs at the same time but preferably 3, although I'm not sure that's possible.

It has to have VPN support.

It has to have have least 3 wired gigabit ethernet ports.

It has to be capable of handling printing from the network, wireless of course.

It has to have NAS capability, as I plan on having at least one very large external hard drive attached to it to store movies and such, so I can stream them to my PS3, laptop, etc.

All in all, it will have about 4 or 5 laptops connected to it, 3 gaming systems, 4 or 5 smart phones, 2 tablets, the printer, the hard drive, and 2 different cell-phone signal booster boxes attached. A lot I know.

I want to setup a guest network upstairs, then hopefully two different networks for downstairs.

I may have to buy 2 routers and have one act as wired bridge to the other to do this, again if possible. Or I might buy a powerline solution and then connect a router to that in another room.

Grego86 said:

Wow a lot of stuff lol. Are you using cable or dsl ? I would also suggest a switch along with your router might make some things simpler.

Cable.

Since I've posted this, I've done some more research, it seems like actually a few routers might work for me. The Asus RT-AC66U, the WD My Net 900 or the Netgear R6300.

I'm leaning towards the Asus router.

What I'm now thinking of doing is buying 2 of the Asus routers. Have 1 upstairs, then one downstairs as a bridged connection and have that run everything downstairs (a smart phone, tablet, 2 laptops, PS3 & Xbox 360).

I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything though, as I'm also simultaneously trying to setup some sort of storage or media center for all of my music, movies & pictures.

I'm trying to figure out if my PS3 or Xbox can even recognize and run the files correctly from a network drive, how many network drives they will recognize and if it will be easily organized and accessed.

If not I'm probably going to get a net top setup it up with XMBC and have it aggregate all the content together. Plus be able to surf the web.

Its a lot going on at once and not something I've dealt with before. I'm pretty decent with this type of stuff and will get it eventually though.

Zepher said:

How much do you want to spend?
How big is your house?

You can probably get away with one router, one switch, and one wireless access point.
Need to know how many wired devices you are planning on using and the locations of those devices.

My network consists of 2 routers, and 4 switches. Second router is used as a wireless bridge for wifi access downstairs since the modem and primary router are upstairs and the signal is low downstairs.

Price is not much of an issue, especially for the whole system overall. I'm not talking a grand for a router but the $200 for the Asus doesn't bother me much.

The house is not that big, only about 2,000 sq. feet.

I'll try to describe the setup as best as possible. The modem and booster boxes are pretty much dead center of the house in the front. The printer is also in that room and its wired.

Depending on signal strength, the PS3 might be wired and that's on the bottom floor, as far from the modem as possible. That's why I was thinking a second router downstairs. Or at least a signal extender.

Now I've been exploring media center ideas, I would probably put a Mac Mini or Asus net top in the same room as the PS3 and then a Mac TV with XMBC or a Google TV device running Plex in every other room in the house.

A whole bunch of hard drives would be attached to the media center and maybe 1 or 2 the router.

I think I've kinda got a handle on the situation.

What exactly is a wireless switch? I'm having a bit of trouble figuring that out exactly.

So GT086, what router did you end up going with?