What is the best router for connection to husband's work computer?
October 18, 2017 9:00 AM Subscribe
We need a more powerful router---what brand is best?
We need a more powerful router that will connect my husband's home computer to his work computer and still allow our wi-fi to work well with our other home computer, Roku, tablets, etc.
As it is now, my computer slows to a crawl, or even a stop, when he is connected to his work.
We're looking for suggestions for a reasonably priced, powerful router that will allow us to use all our devices.
Thank you in advance for advising!
We need a more powerful router that will connect my husband's home computer to his work computer and still allow our wi-fi to work well with our other home computer, Roku, tablets, etc.
As it is now, my computer slows to a crawl, or even a stop, when he is connected to his work.
We're looking for suggestions for a reasonably priced, powerful router that will allow us to use all our devices.
Thank you in advance for advising!
I think your question is too broad to attract good advice so far. There are a few things you might add so folks can make a recommendation. First, I assume that you are looking for a wireless access point or router, right?
1. What kind of internet connection do you have, preferably including how fast it is?
2. What environment your residence is in (e.g., "big building in Manhattan" or "single-family dwelling in a suburb")? This might include a description of your space--a large area will have different wireless performance than a small studio.
3. What your husband does to "connect to work." Can he do that using a wired connection? Does that make a difference?
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:23 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
1. What kind of internet connection do you have, preferably including how fast it is?
2. What environment your residence is in (e.g., "big building in Manhattan" or "single-family dwelling in a suburb")? This might include a description of your space--a large area will have different wireless performance than a small studio.
3. What your husband does to "connect to work." Can he do that using a wired connection? Does that make a difference?
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:23 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: We use Charter Spectrum: Download speed is 66.42 Mbps, upload speed is 5.87. My husband's computer is upstairs and is wired in (via a long cable) to the router, which is downstairs in our den.
It's a two-story house of over 2000 sq. ft.
My husband signs into his work computer using a remote connection. The workplace is 10 miles away; no wired connection is possible.
posted by ragtimepiano at 10:04 AM on October 18, 2017
It's a two-story house of over 2000 sq. ft.
My husband signs into his work computer using a remote connection. The workplace is 10 miles away; no wired connection is possible.
posted by ragtimepiano at 10:04 AM on October 18, 2017
It's difficult to give any advice without knowing what the current router is.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:28 AM on October 18, 2017
posted by humboldt32 at 10:28 AM on October 18, 2017
Best answer: So it sounds like your husband uses remote acccess software to log into his work computer from his home computer. His computer uses a network cable, so it is not a wireless problem. The problems seems to be the protocol of the remote access software disrupting the other traffic in the network.
When most people think of network speed, they like it to road traffic. To get more data through, you make it faster or increase the number of lanes. But with some of the remote protocols, think of it like a bridge that only lets one car pass at a time. It may be sending back and forth several small packets instead of a steady stream of data as you would streaming a movie.
A obvious answer would be for your husband to try different connection software, but cost and network security procedures may not allow him to.
You may be able to limit the impact this has on the rest of the network by changing settings in your router to limit the bandwidth of your husband's home computer. I suspect that would not help. A better possible solution would be to use a network switch to connect your modem, router and husband's computer instead of plugging husband's computer into the router. This may better share the bandwidth between your streaming devices and husband's nibbling software.
It may help to search for the software your husband uses and lag to see what solution others have come up with.
If you decide to go with trying a new router, ASUS and Netgear Nighthawk are generally around the tops. I like Linksys as I think they are better value, but if I had deeper pockets I would probably get the Nighthawk. Most of these have multiple networks that may work like the suggestion of using a switch. The number in the model names of these is generally the addition of the speeds of all the networks added together, so a 1200 and a 3200 might each have the max speed of 600, but if you have 15 wireless devices, the 3200 will split the traffic accross more networks. The specs will tell you how many radios and networks it uses. With the lower end units they may technically handle a lot of devices for a short period, but will heat up and cause performance issues over the long term.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 10:59 AM on October 18, 2017
When most people think of network speed, they like it to road traffic. To get more data through, you make it faster or increase the number of lanes. But with some of the remote protocols, think of it like a bridge that only lets one car pass at a time. It may be sending back and forth several small packets instead of a steady stream of data as you would streaming a movie.
A obvious answer would be for your husband to try different connection software, but cost and network security procedures may not allow him to.
You may be able to limit the impact this has on the rest of the network by changing settings in your router to limit the bandwidth of your husband's home computer. I suspect that would not help. A better possible solution would be to use a network switch to connect your modem, router and husband's computer instead of plugging husband's computer into the router. This may better share the bandwidth between your streaming devices and husband's nibbling software.
It may help to search for the software your husband uses and lag to see what solution others have come up with.
If you decide to go with trying a new router, ASUS and Netgear Nighthawk are generally around the tops. I like Linksys as I think they are better value, but if I had deeper pockets I would probably get the Nighthawk. Most of these have multiple networks that may work like the suggestion of using a switch. The number in the model names of these is generally the addition of the speeds of all the networks added together, so a 1200 and a 3200 might each have the max speed of 600, but if you have 15 wireless devices, the 3200 will split the traffic accross more networks. The specs will tell you how many radios and networks it uses. With the lower end units they may technically handle a lot of devices for a short period, but will heat up and cause performance issues over the long term.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 10:59 AM on October 18, 2017
What speed is your Charter connection supposed to be? I suspect the issue isn't so much your router as that when your husband is working he is uploading lots of data. If he is currently using VPN software but has the option to use Remote Desktop instead, that would probably solve the problem.
Otherwise, what you need is a router that will do rate limiting to prevent all of the upload bandwidth from being used. Set it to limit uploads to 4Mbps and I suspect your problems will disappear. That doesn't mean a fancy and expensive Nighthawk, which is drastic overkill for most people. A cheap Mikrotik or Ubiquiti, properly configured, will do it, as will any of the mass market routers/AP combos that can run DD-WRT, Tomato, or other third party firmware.
It's been so long since I've looked at consumer-specific routers like you find in Best Buy and other big box retailers that I can't make any recommendations.
The other option is to see if Charter has an Internet plan with a higher upload speed. Most cable companies don't, but some do have plans below the most expensive that have improved upload speeds relative to the normal bundle you get if you just call and ask for whatever most people get.
Whatever the issue, it's definitely not the WiFi itself since your husband's computer is connected with a wire. It's possible the router can't handle the volume of traffic, but unless your husband's VPN is actually a BitTorrent client, I doubt that is the problem.
posted by wierdo at 2:51 PM on October 18, 2017
Otherwise, what you need is a router that will do rate limiting to prevent all of the upload bandwidth from being used. Set it to limit uploads to 4Mbps and I suspect your problems will disappear. That doesn't mean a fancy and expensive Nighthawk, which is drastic overkill for most people. A cheap Mikrotik or Ubiquiti, properly configured, will do it, as will any of the mass market routers/AP combos that can run DD-WRT, Tomato, or other third party firmware.
It's been so long since I've looked at consumer-specific routers like you find in Best Buy and other big box retailers that I can't make any recommendations.
The other option is to see if Charter has an Internet plan with a higher upload speed. Most cable companies don't, but some do have plans below the most expensive that have improved upload speeds relative to the normal bundle you get if you just call and ask for whatever most people get.
Whatever the issue, it's definitely not the WiFi itself since your husband's computer is connected with a wire. It's possible the router can't handle the volume of traffic, but unless your husband's VPN is actually a BitTorrent client, I doubt that is the problem.
posted by wierdo at 2:51 PM on October 18, 2017
If your husband is using a wire to connect to the router, it is not his work computer that is causing your internet to slow down.
(After each step, see if there are still problems).
First, if you haven't in a while, reboot your modem and router and see if the problem is fixed.
Second, make sure his laptop is using the wired connection and not the wireless connection.
Third, Turn off Wifi on your phones/tablets/etc. It's possible that another device is causing the problem here. Sometimes routers have a max number of devices (like 15). I've run in to problems like what you've talked about before because of this reason.
Plug your computer into a wired connection.
See if his laptop still causes the problem without the VPN. Usually you can toggle it on and off.
posted by bbqturtle at 12:04 PM on October 19, 2017
(After each step, see if there are still problems).
First, if you haven't in a while, reboot your modem and router and see if the problem is fixed.
Second, make sure his laptop is using the wired connection and not the wireless connection.
Third, Turn off Wifi on your phones/tablets/etc. It's possible that another device is causing the problem here. Sometimes routers have a max number of devices (like 15). I've run in to problems like what you've talked about before because of this reason.
Plug your computer into a wired connection.
See if his laptop still causes the problem without the VPN. Usually you can toggle it on and off.
posted by bbqturtle at 12:04 PM on October 19, 2017
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posted by pipeski at 9:21 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]