Seeking new wireless router for high bandwidth streaming
I've not bought a new router since 2010 because I try to physically wire everything in my house so it's pretty much my phone using Wifi.
However, I've found great use for my Steam Deck as a streaming platform on my TV using Moonlight and I'd like to get a new, good router to support it.
I think the Steam Deck can support Wifi 6, but I'd like a Wifi 7 router if possible so I can future proof the possibility of getting a new wireless VR headset too. Though I'm not 100% sold to the idea if there's good argument to just buy Wifi 6 today.
Long story short, I'm finding it really hard to choose what router to buy. There's so much "gamer" junk.
Reviews are all over the place too, site A will give a router a top recommend and site B will list off a huge range of cons.
Does anyone have any advice? I just want a good, reliable, high throughput router and I can't be bothered with the returns process to try and buy if possible.
For the most part, the biggest advantages of Wi-Fi 6* and Wi-Fi 7 come from situations with a lot of devices (e.g., a smarthome enthusiast, apartment dweller, or commercial setting). If you have most/all of those devices connected to 2.4 GHz and are reserving the 5 GHz for stuff like your phone, Steam Deck, etc., then you'll see limited benefits on your 5 GHz devices.
*: An exception to this is Wi-Fi 6E, which adds the 6 GHz spectrum as channel options. But most devices still aren't even Wi-Fi 6 compatible, let alone Wi-Fi 6E where the 6 GHz channels aren't backwards compatible.The reason for recommending against going with a Wi-Fi 6E/Wi-Fi 7 router now as a way is future-proofing: Wi-Fi protocols don't change quickly, but cutting edge options are always going to be far more expensive. You'll likely spend x3+ more on the hardware for ultimately no near-term benefit and the chance the hardware will fail (and will most likely be end-of-life support from the manufacturer) before you even have devices that can support it. And hardware generally improves over time, becoming more powerful, more energy efficient, and less expensive over time, so there's really limited benefits to upgrading before you even have client devices that can support it.
As someone who upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 routers (and has an Ethernet-backhauled mesh network in my home), you'll honestly probably see more performance benefits by doing a Wi-Fi site survey and making sure your 5 GHz network is using bands that have the least noise from neighboring networks.
Other than that, for the most part, I'd recommend looking at routers that have third-party firmware support (e.g., Asus routers that are supported by Asus-WRT). I'm not sure if DD-WRT is still active, but that was another big router firmware project.
I did campus wireless for a bit. This is all correct, however I don't feel it directly speaks to OPs situation.
OP mentions having a wireless router from 2010. That's like WRT54GL-ish time frame. /u/smithsonian likely isn't running anything that old. Even just from a security standpoint (WPS side-channels, WEP default...etc.) it would be advisable to upgrade.
Personally, I prefer splitting my router and access points into separate devices, but if you're sold on an all-in-one approach, something like Ubiquiti's dream machine is a good option. It is a little more hardcore to setup than the standard linksys or netgear options, but provides a good, extensible ecosystem for managing your network.
OP, just be aware, the use case (Gaming VDI) you're talking about is wildly latency and jitter sensitive. Even with amazing gear sitting directly next to your steamdeck there are environmental variables that can degrade performance compared to being hardwired. If anything you're playing requires input timing, I'd recommend being hardwired. Civ 7 or whatever, you'll probably be fine, but Counter-Strike isn't gonna go so well.
Ubiquiti actually has a line of consumer grade routers that are very good, branded with the Amplifi name. They are really easy to configure, though they may not have all of the nicer netadmin abilities, but they're very easy to manage. Their Alien router is also the only all-in-one router with wifi that has faster than WiFi 5.
I worked in WiFi for 10+ years and can completely echo this response.
(For street cred here is what my network looked like at the time)
If you’re not into tinkering with 3rd party OS, whatever is on sale at Costco is probably an easy bet. Most consumer routers allow you to tweak your channels, so as long as it can do that, you’re good. A bonus would also be being able to set an SSID to just 2.4GHz to get all the low bandwidth stuff off your 5GHz like they said above.
I went with Orbi 725 cause it does everything I need. Great responsiveness for streaming and VR.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah I think the thing is, as @NoobFace mentioned I'm getting a reasonable upgrade here, but I guess it's probably like I could buy anything and I'd see some improvement.
I should have been more specific though, I guess I do actually really want an access point more than a replacement router. The modem can stay put, then I want a banging access point for streaming.
Does seem that Ubiquiti is the cool guy on the block these days so I'll check them out.
I actually disagree with you about how WiFi standards lasting a while. I bought a then-new WiFi 6 router, and within just a few months, 6E was introduced. 7 was came by just a few years after. WiFi seems to be making major changes fairly frequently now. While, yeah, maybe getting 7 might be a waste, I wouldn't say the same with 6E.
That being said, these things are basically arbitrary distinctions at this point; the actual thuroughput between routers with the same desegnation can vary wildly, so it's more important to worry about that than the label on the tin.
Check out Unifi if that's within your budget. They mostly sell enterprise equipment, but they have some products like the Unifi Dream Router or Unifi Express made for smaller-scale/home use. They work great and their firmware is the best one I've seen. It's also really easy to connect extra access points if you have a larger home (if your living space is more than 100m² you'd probably greatly benefit from having multiple access points)
Another option, as @smithsonian said, is to look for routers with open-source firmware support. I think OpenWRT is what the most people use.
Thanks for the reply, yeah I'll check them (and Ubiquiti) out!
You already have a few recommendations for ubiquiti. I absolutely agree with that. They make high quality devices.
I can also recommend GL.iNet. It’s a weird company name, but they make some good products. I have a GL-MT3000 right now. It’s advertised as a travel router, but it would be suitable for a home router as well. It is surprisingly well featured given its price. The 5ghz signal is also quite good at penetrating very tough walls. When I had it installed at my school, my 5ghz network had better signal penetration than the school’s 2.4ghz network (admittedly, that network was old and terrible).
If you’re interested in the WiFi part in particular, maybe look at a dedicated wireless access point rather than a router/access point combo? They tend to be much better quality (not for any inherent reason, just a side effect of market segmentation), and you can upgrade the WiFi independently of the wired router - which in turn means you can get the high quality hardware cheaper because you’re only buying the bit you need.
Ubiquiti are great, either way, and would be my strong recommendation. Most of what I’ve seen in the more consumer oriented side of the market is either built down to an absolute bare minimum price and suffers for it, or is covered in pro gamer branding and marked up by a factor of five for still-pretty-anaemic hardware.
Ubiquiti and Mikrotik both do a good job of filling the niche for hardware that’s still good value but aimed at people/businesses who’ll understand and judge on the actual specs.
Yeah you're on to something, I should have been more clear I think. A really good access point would be exactly what I want for the living room basically, it's just between two adjacent rooms and the modem can stay as is. I can literally cable the modem right into the access point.