[crackface]

My current setup is an R7000 (with DDWRT of course), a laptop with internal AC Wifi NIC (heavy usage), hard wired dual NIC VMWare ESX server, hard wired dual NIC NAS, 2 Fire TV streaming devices, and anywhere between 1-4 phones.

I have a 2nd business line that I'd like to get a decent router for. Figured I can either get a R6700 (v1) off eBay (I tried one from Amazon and it was a v2), another R7000, or an RT-AC68u. I also thought maybe I could upgrade, use my R7000 for business line, and use a better router for rest of the house.

My question to you is, in terms of improved bandwidth and range coverage, is either the RT-88u or R7800 worth double the price of the others? Or would I likely see minimal improvement that wouldn't justify the cost.

If it makes any different, I tried (3) 3x3 usb NICs, and all of them performed worse than my internal 2 antenna AC one. I was using iperf.exe to test with.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer!!!

[MDA400]

Depending on how much bandwidth you receive from your ISP and how good the wireless signal range throughout your network placement is, would determine if its better to upgrade or not.

Range will increase similarly with either a r6700/r7000/ac68u or ac88u/r7800 since you are adding a second presence of wireless connectivity away from the first.

You will probably not see a big difference in wireless range with a r6700/r7000/ac68u versus an ac88/r7800, but the throughput will be better with the ac88u/r7800 as they have faster CPU's and with DD-wrt's lack of NAT acceleration, if you are not getting the full bandwidth from your ISP through your current router it would be better to go with an ac88u/r7800 in that regard.

[crackface]

I should clarify:

- I'm not extending my network. I have 2 broadband connections, 1 personal, 1 business, that I'm looking for a 2nd router for. Either I get a similar router to my R7000, or I upgrade my personal and move my R7000 to my business line.

- ISP I get about 65Mbps down, and 5'ish up.

- I'm not clear on the statement of range. I assume (perhaps I'm wrong) that moving from an R7000 to a R6700/R7000/ac68u would make no difference on range. But if I replaced my R7000 with a ac88u/r7800, do you think I'd see a decent improvement?

- You're saying I would see faster throughput due to faster CPU, which is something I'm definitely interested in. I'm almost tempted to buy a R7800 or ac88u just for that reason.

The real question I have, will range and/or throughput increase a)a lot, b)a medium amount, or c) a little?

[Xeon2k8]