Netgear R7000 vs TP-Link C9

I have AT&T DSL and hate it but live in a rural area and have no other options. Since I’ve had so much trouble with their modem/routers (both Netgear 7550 & Pace 4111N) I want to try a different approach. I want to bridge one of their routers and use its modem with the R7000 or C9.

I have a two story house and have multiple devices ran off their modem/routers; 3 computers, 2 iPads, Blue-ray players, Apple TV, etc. & use Netflix a lot. Some connected via Ethernet but more via WiFi.

1. Netgear R7000 vs TP-Link C9. I know the R7000 is touted here as being the best available at the price point but all I read are bad reviews (terrible at newegg, little better at Amazon) and Netgear’s terrible customer service. The C9 on the other hand while not perfect seems to get better reviews and a more accessible CS. I don’t really need all the frills of either but just a fast, stable router. The R7000 is $180 and the C9 $140... is the R7000 worth spending $40 more for my simple needs?

2. Once I bridge the AT&T router will it be a mostly automatic setup using either R7000 or C9’s software?

 

IMO,Newegg is possibly the worst place for reviews on this entire planet.

For reviews I suggest http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

I've been using an R7000 for about a year and a half without any issues that were not of my doing during senior moments.

I have a single 2.4ghz Motorola modem/router from ATT with my uVerse .

I didn't go the bridge route but a simple Access Point Mode.

I disabled wireless in the Motorola setting and attached the R7000.

The R7000 auto sensed the Acess Point mode and set my attached devices to 10.0.x addresses to avoid any address conflicts with those of the Motorola.

I have 11 wireless devices connecting to the R7000 using both bands.

My notebooks,tablets and desktop use the 5ghz while the smartphones and lazer printer are on 2.4ghz

 

Archer C9 is too expensive for what it offers if you ask me. If you want to save some money buy an Archer C7, if you want better performance (in terms of Wi-Fi range and throughput) pay for R7000.
Archer C9 is somewhere in the middle making it neither affordable nor top of the range.

 

Thank you for the replies!

I should have mentioned my DSL package is the fastest I could get for my area but it's only a measly 6 Mbps. We are supposed to be getting UVerse at some point (could be months) so I will eventually have access to better speeds.

With my 6 Mbps speed in mind besides the R7000 giving me a better more stable router am I likely to see any performance gains?

 

802.11ac routers don't offer performance gains for Internet access for most users. It's LAN transfers between wireless devices where they excel compared to 802.11n. With 6mbps package you'd be fine even with 802.11g.

R7000 offers better range and throughput - stability not so much because other router mentioned in this thread also some with stable firmwares. Assuming you won't be doing a lot of LAN transfers over Wi-Fi (like from a NAS to a laptop) the only thing R7000 excels at would be superior range. How important is this is hard to tell since two story house might mean different things - depending on how it's built and how large it is it might be easy to provide coverage or a nightmare.

Either way - if you don't transfer a lot over Wi-Fi and don't have a really fast Internet connection, you shouldn't spend money on a really expensive router. It would be a waste.

 

Kind of what I was trying to get at whether it would worth the money or not. I don't do much transferring of files just have a lot of devices connected via WiFi and it takes forever to load internet pages. I also do a lot if Netflix streaming although even when not streaming web pages load slow.

I mainly use my iPad in the basement with the router upstairs. I'm not sure if the slow web page loading is from not getting a strong enough signal or something else. Sometimes web pages load slow upstairs too so it's hard for me to determine what's going on. AT&T checked my service and said I'm getting the speed I should be and verified by online speed test.

Guess I can keep my crappy AT&T routers was just hoping a newer router might improve things.

 

Not too sure about the ATT router but if you have a lot of devices going with at least a dual band n router will help out. Getting some of the traffic between the radios will usually make for a better experience.

 

Yeah that's another thing I was wondering about I have about 12 devices running off the router guess I need to count up how many are running off of WiFi.

Can having a lot of devices hooked up via Ethernet by way of a switch box slow down or overload the ability of a router to do it's job?

 

That depends on a router and what type of traffic is it facing. 12 devices connected to a router and using P2P networks can, 12 devices with people browsing, not so much.
Also I assume those devices are not all actively used at the same time.

Another thing is that it's not the number of devices that poses a problem, it's the fact that if multiple people are using the Internet at the same time and the connection is only 6mbps, it is bound to be slow especially if someone is watching videos or downloading something.

 

Which wireless card will you be using to pair with the router?

The router should be set to WPA2 AES and if it's an Intel AC wireless card U-APSD should be disabled in the cards Advanced Settings.

My ATT uVerse is 18Mbps which is much more expensive and a hell of a lot slower than the 100/100 Mbps I had while in Asia.

I have my 11 devises distributed on both bands with only a few active at the same time.

I have a guest network for visitors.

Two Samsung wireless laser printers work very well.

My desktop,with an Intel AC-7260 mini pcie,is furthest from the router at about 30'~35' and 3 sheet rock walls between with the theoretical link speed mostly at 780Mbps.

My Internet download speeds didn't differ when I was using a Netgear WNDR4500 N router and AC 1750/1900 routers.

The file transfers across the home network is where an AC-7260 paired with the R7000 on the "5ghz band" showed it's strength.

When I replaced an M.2 AC-7260/65 with a Killer N1525 in an MSI GS60 the file transfers were even better.

 

You're right downloads I'm not using all of the devices at the same time. WTP I'm not using any particular card I was just asking overall if upgrading my router would help my internet speed.

I now understand that with my internet package it's probably just going to be slow, hard to accept but when we get U-verse maybe I can get afford faster speeds.

There is one thing I have going on though that has nothing to do with 6 Mbps speeds. I have a desktop computer connected via Ethernet setting right beside the router. This computer loads web pages fine and maybe 5 minutes later can't load them, and then a minute or so later can load them again... goes on constantly never changes It's like it looses it's connection to the modem.

AT&T phone support said sounded like my Network card. I had this computer built for me 3 years ago I bought all the parts & then a guy built it. I never bought a separate card so I'm assuming it's part of my ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 motherboard.

Under Device Manager > Network Adapters, it lists Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (driver version 7.48.823.2011) & TAP-Windows Adapter V9 (driver version 9.0.0.21). I'm assuming it's the Realtek Controller that's used to connect the modem but I think I have the latest update. Never a yellow exclamation in the Device Manager.

Just to make things more confusing it only does it with their (AT&T's) Netgear 7550 but not with their Pace 4111N (or at least it didn't do it the last time I hooked up the latter). Now you may ask why not just use the Pace well mainly because I have to constantly unplug & plug back in because it looses the connection. Supposedly the Netgear is supposed to be the better router.

Any idea's?

 

Your Realtek GBE Network Controller driver is very old

Try this newer Windows 7 driver for your Realtek GBE Network Controller
Version 7.092.0409.2015 WHQL

http://www.station-drivers.com/inde...TL-81xx-Drivers-Version-7.092.0409.2015-WHQL/

 

WTP thanks for providing the link I didn't realize I didn't have the latest driver. Unfortunately the new driver didn't change anything must be something else. Don't know if that means it has to be the modem in the Netgear 7550 or just the router in general.

 

Is your ASRock Z68 Pro3 bios the newest

Try a Beta bios?
http://www.station-drivers.com/inde...eres/137-asrock/z68-serie-6/573-z68-pro3-gen3

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z68 Pro3/?cat=Beta

 

WTP my Bios version is P1.20 (11/7/2011). Do you recommend I update to a newer Beta bios and if so which one?