Which WiFi AC speed for good connection?

[etnpnys]

I currently have a WiFi-N300 single band router. The Nexus Player just BARELY needs a little more than that, so I've been looking into an AC router. ...But which one? I'm absolutely fine buying used to keep the cost under $100, but I'm finding that it's not an easy search... AC1200? AC1750?

Are they ALL better than what I have right now and it shouldn't matter too much?

Thanx in advance!

 

[Rukbat]

Are you going from something connected to the router to something else connected to the router, or from the internet to something connected to the router? (If the latter, your limiting speeds are your connection to your provider [you have to pay for more speed there] and your speed from your provider to the server you're connecting to [there's nothing anyone can do about that - the idea of the internet is "Eventually", not "immediately".)

If you're transferring something across the router itself, without the internet being involved, first make sure that BOTH devices are capable of the speed you need. Then I'd convert to Ethernet and go wired. You won't see gigabit wifi for quite a while, but gigabit Ethernet is common on cheap routers these days. (AC needs a bit of work on your part [which means knowledge and experience] to get full speed from point A to point B. Just because the router can do it doesn't mean that's the thruput you're getting no matter where you put things. Wired is wired - unless you have a few hundred of feet of cable, or a bad connector [remember the "faster than light" experiment that wasn't], you get full speed.)

 

[etnpnys]

This is where I get into trouble because I was trying to ask a simple question without providing all the details - but I'm glad another detail-oriented person has tuned in.

I'm actually quite capable with these things. I have a Silicon Dust HDHR3-CC tuner connected via gigabit to my N-router's gigabit port. My HTPC, also connected via gigabit, has no problems at all maintaining the bandwidth to get the HD channels without issue. But the speed of N just doesn't have enough oomph when you consider attenuation and signal loss and what-not, so I'm looking to upgrade the router. Additionally, I could just plug a gigabit NIC (even a 100-base NIC would be better than WiFi-N) into the back of the NP, but I'm out of ports on my router as well - so I'd have to get my gigabit switch out of the attic and have yet another device behind the couch in the family room, where things need to look at least not atrocious... I'm just looking for the easy path here, and while my NP in the main family room is the desired benefactor from an upgrade, I have another NP in the guest room and a laptop in the far reaches of the house that could benefit from stronger signal and better speed as well. Just trying to keep it simple.

All that said, I understand also that the Nexus Player doesn't support MPEG2 until Android M, but even when I've flashed the Previews onto the device (which have MPEG2 native support built-in finally), I'm certain that the router/WiFi speed is the culprit for the issues I'm having.

 

[Snapphane]

If you have a large house it might be an idea to keep the current router and place an extender elsewhere to boost the signal?

 

[etnpnys]

If you have a large house it might be an idea to keep the current router and place an extender elsewhere to boost the signal?

I'm about to set up another N router today as a repeater to boost the signal, but my main NP is in the same room as the main router and still has trouble getting the throughput that it needs to tune TV signal effectively.

An AC router *will* give me a little better range and far faster speeds, right?

 

[Snapphane]

It should. On the other hand I'm running an older, cheap, router with no issues (must be G at 54 mbit). I stream both Netflix and from my NAS. However I never go beyond 720p as that is the limit of my TV.

 

[etnpnys]

It should. On the other hand I'm running an older, cheap, router with no issues (must be G at 54 mbit). I stream both Netflix and from my NAS. However I never go beyond 720p as that is the limit of my TV.

Gotcha. Yeah I have no issues with stuff from Plex, but raw MPEG2 HDTV is about 7GB per hour. That's where the extra speed and bandwidth comes in! But I'm wondering if anybody has AC1200 or better speeds and if it's the right direction for me to go in.

 

[Snapphane]

Edit

Lets pretend we didn't see that. My tired brain went with megabytes instead.

Instead let's say this. Getting the Shield Pro with 500 gb of storage might provide you with more storage for cache. Not sure what's the better way of going in your case