Which router should I buy?

[hiren43]

Which router should I buy?I'm an indian. I have been using connectify software to run wireless network at my home since 1 year. So I haven't bought any router yet. My LAN connection is from Vodafone. In future I will not get more than 2 mbps plan probably. But I have only 1 Mbps plan as it is very costly. My usage : youtube surfing, downloading and net surfing. I'm a heavy internet user although i'm not playing multiplayer on my ps3 but will start playing in future. Devices used: laptop and 2 mobiles I have some questions. Do I need dual band router at such speed provided by ISP? I don't need an 802.11ac router. Right? And what the hell router speed can affect my internet speed? They all come with speed like 150/300/600. I don't even have that much speed. I read somewhere that it can make internal network faster. What do I can expect at my situation? Suggest me guys. I'm so confused. And ASDL and DSL are not my things? A guy from shop told me that I don't need those routers. Thanks to read my question.

 

My nexus 5 and hp laptop both supports 802.11ac

Edited December 25, 2014 by robk
deleted spurious URL from post.

[Norphy]

I don't know how the broadband system works in India so I can't give specific advice on which product to buy. AFAIK, in this country at least the only broadband services that Vodafone supply is access over cellular networks rather than through cable television networks or though the phone networks (*DSL) so I'll try to give some general advice.

 

You're right in that having a faster wireless connection on your wireless router will do nothing for your internet connection. It will however improve the communication speed of the devices on your network with each other so if you're transferring files or doing some other bandwidth hungry task, it will improve those.

 

When a router is dual band, it means that it can communicate using two wireless frequencies, either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. Both frequencies have their advantages; 2.4GHz has better range and is better at penetrating certain types of building materials. It is, however, considerably more congested than the 5GHz range. If you live in a densely populated area, you will see lots of other networks on that frequency. There are also plenty of other wireless protocols (such as bluetooth) that sit on that frequency and products such as baby monitors and DECT phones do too. Things like microwaves have a habit of interfering with them.

 

Routes which can use the 5GHz may give you a faster network connection depending on how many antenna are in the router and the computer/tablet/phone. There are fewer people who use it so network congestion is less of an issue. It is less prone to interference. The disadvantages of using the 5GHz range is that it won't travel as far and it doesn't penetrate denser building materials.

 

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. It is a form of a high speed internet connection that uses a standard copper phone line to connect you to a phone exchange which in turn is connected to the internet. ADSL is a variant of DSL, the A stands for "asynchronous". That means that the speed of the connection is faster in one direction than the other; you usually get faster download speeds than upload speeds. The vast majority of home internet connections are asynchronous. You can also get SDSL, the S in this case standing for "synchronous". I'll leave it to you to determine what that means.

 

In the UK, you can generally get two kinds of router; a broadband router and a DSL router. A broadband router is generally a wireless access point and switch with a special port to which you connect your modem. An ASDL router is similar to a broadband router but it has the ADSL modem built into it. I'm guessing that Vodafone aren't providing you with a DSL service if you've been told to avoid ADSL routers.

[hiren43]

Thank you norphy. Now I'm clear on lots of things. Though I have some doubt.

 

You said it will only improve my device communication. Does that mean If i'm playing videos from my nexus to bravia tv through DLNA? Whats other than that that can be improved?

Youtube surfing won't be improved?

 

And yeah, vodafone doesn't give wired connection here.

[Norphy]

Thank you norphy. Now I'm clear on lots of things. Though I have some doubt.

 

You said it will only improve my device communication. Does that mean If i'm playing videos from my nexus to bravia tv through DLNA? Whats other than that that can be improved?

Youtube surfing won't be improved?

 

And yeah, vodafone doesn't give wired connection here.

 

Yes, that's an application that could theoretically be improved with a faster wireless connection. If you have more internal bandwidth available, you could play higher resolution and higher bitrate videos if the player is capable of handling them. You could also play video back on more devices too if the source has the capacity for that. Playing back from a Nexus 5 probably won't make that much difference but if you have a media server to play back from, it'd be better.

 

However, anything that would come from the internet wouldn't be and that includes YouTube. The bottleneck there isn't your internal bandwidth, it's the internet connection and at 1mbps that's quite a bottleneck.

[hiren43]

So I don't have to consider any specs for a router. I will just have to worry about range at this internet speed. Sad!

I will buy one cheaper router soon then

[Norphy]

If you can, avoid getting the very cheapest that you can and at least get one from a reasonably well known brand. Like a lot of computer equipment, routers can be unstable and unreliable and the cheaper you go, the more likely you are to get one that doesn't work very well. At least with a known brand, you have a better chance of getting something that works well.

[hiren43]

Okay. Thanks mate