Upgrading from Linksys WRT-3200ACM

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hi all,

I'm rather dissatisfied with the performance of my Linksys WRT-3200ACM, which I have been using for years with small issues such as occasional WiFi drop-outs on a 60Mbps DSL connection.

I now have a Gigabit fiber Internet connection and the WiFi performance doesn't quite keep up with the speed, plus we still have random drop-outs.

I have a 2.4GHz and a 5GHz SSID and each have their own issues, so I can't really win:

  • The 2.4GHz is on 20MHz and while signal is better than the 5GHz when there's a couple walls in between, the speed is low (around 50Mbps with a couple walls between the client and router/WAP, and around 150Mbps in direct line-of-sight)
  • The 5GHz is much faster at around 500-600Mbps (upload is always around 100Mbps faster than download, for some reason) but once there's a couple walls in between, the signal is either so weak that the SSID disappears, or the speed is terrible, like 10Mbps.

Now, this is in a small house with two floors and no thick walls. There's no granite and most walls are plaster walls.

I was wondering if I could completely fix this issue by simple replacing the router with a newer and better one that covers the whole house across both floors or if I'm better off adding a secondary router as a WAP on the top floor, which suffers the most from signal loss/performance.

I'd quite like to be able to have either (or close to) Gigabit over WiFi throughout the whole house, so if a new router would do it and anyone recommends one, it must fit that criteria. I've been eyeing the GL.inet Flint 2 - Is it any good and worth the upgrade?

I'm in the UK, so will be buying from Amazon UK.

And lastly, if I'm better off adding a secondary router as a Wireless Access Point, what's the cheapest (or reasonably cheap) router that supports OpenWRT that could do Gigabit over WiFi on modern devices such as iPhone 15's and WiFi 6 laptops? Just trying to get the most out of the speed I pay for, since only one device currently gets the full speed, which is connected via Ethernet.

Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

2

your location is relevant info, not all devices are available everywhere.

3

If you can buy Flint2 in the store, it is as good as any other (even more expensive) filogic device.
https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi
7621 can barely forward close to gigabit
qualcommax needs propretary NSS drivers to have good performance
mt79xxx aka filogic does gigabit without breaking sweat, adding 500+Mbps VPN or SQM etc.

1 Like
4

Apologies. I'm from the UK. I'd be buying it from amazon.co.uk :slight_smile:

5

Do you (still) need DSL?

6

Nope, just a standard WAN RJ45 port :slight_smile:

I'm really leaning towards the Flint 2, as there's a £10 off promo on Amazon :smiley:

7

Get more coupons, it is rather good.

Alternative Zyxel T-56 that is usually from people selling what provider installed "for free".