Does it worth to upgrade provider's router?

[GamingLove]

Hi all,

I was wondering if upgrading the router of the internet provider could imporve download and upload speed for gaming. I know that wifi for gaming is not optimal, but my router is not close to my pc so I can't use and ethernet cable. My pc has a Gigabyte GC-WBAX200 wifi antenna with which I can reach 45Mbs downaload speed. I don't know what's the specifications of my provider's router but I suppose that a gaming router is faster.
Do you think I could get better performances with a more powerfull router like the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 for example?

Thanks all!

​

 

[3x0]

Consider using a powerline adapter which provides ethernet over existing electrical circuit
For ex https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/powerline/tl-pa7017/

 

[bonehead123]

the speed your router provides will NEVA be able to exceed that of whatever service level you are paying for..... so if you pay for 1Gbs service, that's the most your gonna get, with either wired or wireless.....so if that's what you are expecting by buying a better router, then you will be sadly disappointed

And if you're not getting the speeds that you are paying for, or close to it, be it because of the router or something else, then you should take that up with your provider and DEMAND that they fix that FIRST, before you waste moar of your money...

Granted your provider's router is probably mediocre at best, but it still should be capable of supplying the speeds you are paying for....

And don't be fooled into thinkin that just because a router has the "gammr" tag slapped on it, that it will be better/faster/stronger that ones that don't carry that label. Usually the only benefits of some of those models are mainly advanced QOS steering (if available in the firmware/interface) and a dedicated band just for your gammr rig (and the obligatory R.f'n.G.f'n.B.f'n lite em up rainbow pukefests)....but these features are available on ALOT of other routers too....and usually for less $$ than the tagged models...

 

[Bill_Bright]

Do you think I could get better performances with a more powerfull router

How can we tell when you didn't tell us what you have now?

But bonehead is right. Your true "internet" speeds are going to depend on your service agreement with your ISP and on the capability of your current "modem" and not your router - unless your router is really REALLY old and using very obsolete wifi protocols and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet.

It is important to understand the differences between the various network devices. Technically the cable/DSL modem, router, WAP (wireless access point or AP) and 4-port Ethernet switch are all totally separate, "discrete" network devices.

1. A modem (modulator/demodulator) is used as the "gateway device" to provide your network access to the ISP's network and the Internet.

2. A router has just one “wired” input and one “wired” output and is used to connect (or isolate) two networks. In a home network a router connects "your network" (the router and everything on your side of the router) to the ISP's network (and the Internet) through the gateway device/modem.

3. A Ethernet switch (also called a switching hub) is used to connect via an Ethernet cable, multiple networked devices on your network to the one input port on your side of the router.

4. A WAP is used to provide wireless (Wifi) access to your network. The WAP actually connects internally to a 5th Ethernet port of the switch.​

Technically speaking, there is no such thing as a "wireless router". That is simply a "marketing" term for a "3-way" "integrated" device consisting of a router, a Ethernet switch (typically 4-port), and a WAP. These are three discrete network devices that just happen to share the same box, same PCB (printed circuit board) and same power supply. Note the 4-port switch connects internally to the router's one input. And the WAP actually connects internally to a 5th Ethernet port of the switch.

In recent years manufacturers have also been integrating a modem with "wireless routers" for a 4-way integrated device. Four discrete devices in one box. These are "marketed" under different terms like "residential gateway" devices, "wireless modems" or " wireless modem/routers".

In some cases, they even have 5-way devices that integrate Internet phone (voice over IP or VoIP) too. Five discrete devices, in one box.

So you need to tell us what you currently for your network devices. The most common provided by ISPs are a single, "residential gateway" integrated device - that is, the router, modem, WAP and 4-port switch in one box.

Also common is an ISP provided modem, connected (via Ethernet) to a separate "wireless router" (router, WAP, switch).

But note this. That Gigabyte adapter supports 802.11ax - up to 2400Mbps. It is NOT your problem.

 

[eidairaman1]

Well most companies slap a equipment rental fee on their stuff, are you internet only or do you have TV boxes/VOIP?

Consider using a powerline adapter which provides ethernet over existing electrical circuit
For ex https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/powerline/tl-pa7017/

Anything from trendnet?

 

[3x0]

Anything from trendnet?

Sorry, haven't read any 3rd party test/experiences with that manufacturer.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Rental fees are increasing so yeah it's probably worth just buying one now days.
15.us x 12 = 180.us per year.

 

[bonehead123]

Also common is an ISP provided modem, connected (via Ethernet) to a separate "wireless router" (router, WAP, switch).

Yep, I forgot to mention this, but Bill is right on this too.... and in most cases, the ISP's modem is fairly basic, but unfortunately, most ISP's won't allow you change it for a better one of your choice (cause then they can't charge you a rental fee), but a few will....

A few years ago, I wasn't getting the speeds I was paying for & asked my ISP about getting a better, more up to date modem because the one was usingwas almost 10 yrs old and I already had a relatively recent router, and they said I could not do that since it was stipulated in my user agreement. But lo & behold, 3 days later a brand new DOCIS 3.0 modem showed up on my doorstep, with instructions to just discard the old one....and guess what.... my speeds went from ~100 to ~650mb/s Down & ~12 to 100mb/s up, even though I was only paying for 500 down/100 up !

 

[Bill_Bright]

most ISP's won't allow you change it for a better one of your choice (cause then they can't charge you a rental fee), but a few will....

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in the US, you can provide your own in most, if not all locations. However, the ISP can (and often do) say "not my problem" if there are problems, leaving all troubleshooting and repair up to the user. Plus, if the ISP needs to send a tech to the house, that may not be a free service call if the problem ends up being something inside the home.

Another problem is modem (or gateway supplied) rental fees are often simply rolled into the monthly service fee. This means even if we provide our own network hardware, we are still paying rental fees on hardware we are not using. Just another way the big providers gouge their customers out of our money.

Hopefully this "No hidden fees" bill will be a wake-up call to all service providers (TV, phone, internet, utilities, etc.).

For the record, for the last 30+ years, I have always bought my own modem and router. This makes them mine where I know the ISP has no "back door" access. They also cannot use my wireless network to share my connection with every Tom, Dick and Harry driving down the street by turning my connection into one of their "hotspots". If they want to start paying me a fee and a part of my electric bill, we'll talk.

And I always buy separates so I can upgrade separately. For example, when DOCSIS 3.1 became standard here, I upgraded to a 3.1 modem while keeping my same router - which was still perfectly good. And when I upgraded my wireless network to dual band 11ax, I bought a new wireless router because my modem was still perfectly good.

 

[dirtyferret]

Another problem is modem (or gateway supplied) rental fees are often simply rolled into the monthly service fee.

this, I used to own my own modem with cablevision but when we switched to charter they just switched the fee into the billing so there was no point in getting one for them. I do use my own router (currently Asus AC 86u) because it provides a fast and steady 2.4ghz & 5ghz signal through out my house and yard.

 

[GamingLove]

Thank all for your replies.
My setup is composed by two hardware peripherals: the TV box and the router. The two are connected together thanks to an ethernet cable. My internet connection should be around 600MBs. As I said the router is too far to be connected to my PC with a cable, so I have to use the wifi connection. Meaby I'm wrong but I've read somewhere that the wifi output of a router can not match speed of the ethernet cable. So I was thinking that with a more "powerfull" router I could increase the wifi download and upload speed (even though I don't really know how "power" a router is) . As you said my Gigabytes wifi antennas should run up to 2GBs so they can handle all the bandwidth with no problem. My question is more about if my router can do the same or it's wifi signal is not powerfull enough and can't match the real internet speed. As mentioned before, with my setup I can download games at 45MBs for example.

I hope you will understand what I'm triyng to say.

Thanks again.

 

[thewan]

Due to regulation on how much power a consumer device radio can output, there is a limit with how much power a router can output for its WiFi. Buying a better router will not get you more power, but signal quality can improve through better updated WiFi technologies and better antennas. But it still won't help you that much after a certain distance and number of obstacles/walls. You are better off investing in a mesh system or a powerline, or even MoCA if your house has the wiring for it, instead of a more expensive single WiFi router.

Also that you need to remember, ISP advertise their speeds in Bits, while your download speeds on your computer are measured in Bytes. So please confirm the speeds of your internet connection. 600Megabits is only 75Megabytes. You are not losing that much speed, and don't forget everything else in your house is also using some of that speed.

 

[dirtyferret]

Meaby I'm wrong but I've read somewhere that the wifi output of a router can not match speed of the ethernet cable. So I was thinking that with a more "powerfull" router I could increase the wifi download and upload speed

depends on your ISP provided speeds but cables (hardwire) obviously offer better speed & latency. You can test your actual speed at something like speedtest to see if they approach your ISP provided speeds,

As mentioned before, with my setup I can download games at 45MBs for example.

so you are getting around 384 Mbps, depends how many games you download if that is a real world issue for you

 

[Dan.G]

It's highly possible that the router from your IP supports only 802.11ac, thus limiting your speed.
A powerline adapted would be a really good solution, not to mention it's MUCH cheaper than that ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000.

 

[claes]

I think the real question is what’s the model number of the router they provide?

Others are right when they say they may continue to charge you for the router anyway, but IME if you give them a call and return the router that fee goes away. I always use my own router because it’s cheaper in the long run and I can get better equipment than provided.

They’re also right when mentioning that gaming routers are typically overpriced for the hardware included.

powerline is also a good solution but can be underwhelming with older wiring. Ymmv

 

[tabascosauz]

Thank all for your replies.
My setup is composed by two hardware peripherals: the TV box and the router. The two are connected together thanks to an ethernet cable. My internet connection should be around 600MBs. As I said the router is too far to be connected to my PC with a cable, so I have to use the wifi connection. Meaby I'm wrong but I've read somewhere that the wifi output of a router can not match speed of the ethernet cable. So I was thinking that with a more "powerfull" router I could increase the wifi download and upload speed (even though I don't really know how "power" a router is) . As you said my Gigabytes wifi antennas should run up to 2GBs so they can handle all the bandwidth with no problem. My question is more about if my router can do the same or it's wifi signal is not powerfull enough and can't match the real internet speed. As mentioned before, with my setup I can download games at 45MBs for example.

I hope you will understand what I'm triyng to say.

Thanks again.

There are too many factors at play here:

• Wifi "max" speeds for both routers and adapters are purely theoretical. Often times they are just taking the max theoretical bandwidth of one antenna on 802.11ac/802.11ax and multiplying it by how many antennas are present. But actual performance depends heavily on the router's own SoC and network hardware, whether both router + antenna have the same number of antennas, etc.
• Theoretical is really theoretical. For example, most 802.11ac adapters advertise 867Mbps (2x2) or 1733Mbps (Wave2), but you'll probably see 500-700Mbps sitting right next to the router on a good day. Read some actual router reviews to see what you can realistically expect at various ranges.
• Wifi performance depends very heavily on distance to the router. All routers should have pretty good speed at close range, but most entry-level AX routers fall off very quickly. Example of a strong router at range is the AC86U that I have (Asus RT-AC86U Review: A Terrific Router | Dong Knows Tech) - at close range it can't beat AX routers like AX58U at pure throughput, but once you're a few rooms away then the AX58U's signal is just nonexistent whereas the AC86U is still usably strong without extenders.
• Downloading games is a pretty bad gauge of max network performance. eg. Steam has dozens of servers and some of them are regularly just slow. If I redownload a Steam game right now I might be lucky to hit 40-60MB/s, but if I download a battle.net game I can usually max out at about 117MB/s (saturating my 940/940 ISP service). If I only played games on Steam then I would probably be frustrated at my internet being "slow", but it just isn't the case.

You mentioned a TV box. Is your ISP service real fibre (roughly equal up/down speeds), or just DOCSIS (very low upload speeds)? DOCSIS setups can suffer quite a bit on service reliability if the provided ISP router/modem is terrible, and if you also have a TV service, as both run over the same coax lines.

I use a fibre service so the first thing I did was get rid of the provided router/modem and connected my AC86U directly to the ONT. But I am further away from the ONT now, so I use MoCA adapters to run a line from the ONT, upstairs through existing coax lines, converted back into ethernet and into my router upstairs. Much more reliable than wifi or powerline, I still get full 940/940. Wifi is just not ideal.

 

[GamingLove]

Wow that's a lot of informations: thanks guys.

Sorry if I'm repeating myself but, as you cann read, I'm not too much into networking stuff.
As @thewan said, the speed of my provider is 600 Mbits.
I really can't tell you what are the specifications of my router, but reading all of your comments, I suppose it is indeed capable to handle all internet speed.
I was wondering about an upgrade just because of the download speed from gaming platforms which never exceed 45Mbytes/s. But how @tabascosauz said, those platforms have multiple servers and the game download speed can't be compared to the real connection speed.
So a router "upgrade" is not a great idea and won't increase my internet performances as it's already working at full speed.

Thank you all for your comments and advices: I will keep my money for something else.

Thanks again!

 

[3x0]

As mentioned before, look for powerline adapters, you can push "ethernet" over your power lines to your pc and connect it via ethernet. It should be much better than Wifi.

 

[dirtyferret]

I was wondering about an upgrade just because of the download speed from gaming platforms which never exceed 45Mbytes/s. But how @tabascosauz said, those platforms have multiple servers and the game download speed can't be compared to the real connection speed.

tabascosauz is correct but that does not necessarily mean your wifi is (or is not) providing your full paid for bandwidth. As I stated before it may not really be a real world issue for you. If all you do is download 1 or 2 games per month and can wait the extra few minutes than it's not an issue.

As mentioned before, look for powerline adapters, you can push "ethernet" over your power lines to your pc and connect it via ethernet. It should be much better than Wifi.

Possibly, really depends on the house. In my experience with power adapters (I find them to be great if used properly) their benefit is more for expanding coverage into dead zones than necessarily increasing throughput. You may also increase latency by using the powerline adapters.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Wifi is always a convenience thing "hard to wire" and always going to be slower
How much slower depends on the equipment and signal

I find it more straight forward to hardwire where it counts and wifi where it doesn't really matter what the speed is = cell phone usage.

 

[Shrek]

Experiments needed

First connect your PC via ethernet (no WiFi) to see how fast is really possible with the modem, then you will know if updating the WiFi will help.

I run old AC routers and have seen 1Gbps download on occasion (when close, more typically ~300 Mbps), but would be happy with 100 Mbps if that was cheaper.