I am in the market for a new router ... currently have a Nighthawk X4 AC2350/R7500 router. I am trying to decide between the RAX200 and the XR1000. I live in a moderetly sized ranch style house where the router is located in the basement. Due to the pandemic, there are 4 people at home working and attending virtual school. The house was built with network outlets in every room. So we have several devices connected to the router directly (3 Xbox Ones) and several (smart TV's) connected through a splitter (Netgear 8 port splitter). The remaining devices (phones, laptops, etc) are connected via the wifi.
Yes, we like to game ... but it seems the RAX200 would be the better solution for connectivity and speed. The DumaOS software seems to be the only advantage for the XR1000.
And from the sounds of it, you have most of your gaming setup and tv's hardwired in. Thats optimal for taking a load of the wireless. You've kind of got the ideal.
How big is the home? moderate means different things to people.
Reason I ask is if have you checked into using a mesh system and placing them around your home? You'd get better wireless coverage which seems to be what you're looking for since you seem to have the high bandwidth devices already optimized.
Wireless broadcast distance didn't change a while lot with the move from wireless AC to wireless AX. so if you're looking for coverage, then I'd look at a mesh setup. If you're looking for just jumping to AX, then I'd look between the two you picked.
If you're looking for some optimized ping/lag times, I'd look at the XR1000.
If you're looking for the triband to seperate out some devices, then I'd look at the RAX200.
If you're looking for additional coverage, then I'd look for a mesh setup .
Personally, I've got the RAX200 and went back to a mesh setup because of the added range with mesh.
Thank you Plemans for the information and quick response! To answer your questions, the foot print of our house is 1800sq ft. Its a ranch style house so we have 3600 between the 2 floors ... most of which is finished sq footage. The current router is located in the basemane at one end of the house and we had issues connecting on the other end of the house. So, I forgot to mention we do have a AC2200 Nighthawk X4S extender that I have upstairs and in the middle of the house. This solved our connectivity/coverage issues when on the other side of the house.
We have 1GB internet service and but still seem to have some lag or temporary interuptions (rare, but it happens) ... I assume due to the heavy use right now. I expect it to get worse as winter comes and we will be inside even more. I was thinking that a newer faster router (and/or switch ... our switch is the Netgear GS60 8 port) could solve this issue. Or I guess, I would hope it would.
3600sq ft is what I'd consider on the large size because its spread out on 2 floors.
do you have your extender hardwired in running in AP mode? or is it running in extender mode?
Is it certain devices that tend to have issues? or certain bands? (2.4ghz vs 5ghz)
Do the devices that are hardwired running fine?
with your 1 gig service, is it cable or fibre? Cable tends to have much lower upload speeds (usually around 30-50mbps)
Switches are pretty much set and forget. They ether work or they don't. I've never had one gradually go bad. Not saying it can't happen but their fairly reliable.
All great questions. I checked the extender and I think it is only a plug and play extender (not hardwired). I have it plugged into an electrical outlet upstairs. We have most (if not all) of our devices set to use 2.4G only because prior to the extender, the 5G would not reach to the other side of the house very well. Have not tried to move devices to 5G. It would be nice to have a larger/better 5G capapbility ... then I would feel comfortable moving more devices to the 5G.
The one issue we have is with a work laptop that is connected through the switch ... all of which is direct connected through cat5 wires. I think the issues maybe on the other end. Not sure.
We have cable internet and it has been very stable. Had fiber before and was a constant problem and the speeds provided were no where near the speeds that we were paying for. Had several technicians not be able to fix and so we went back to the cable internet and the speeds exceed what we are paying for.
Again, these are all great questions but we have not had many problems, if at all. Just a few hiccups here and there and some performance issues that I think are related to a 5 yr old router. (which was excellent at the time). I dont need a new router, just thinking it might be time to make the investment and upgrade ... as I assume either the RAX200 or the XR1000 would be substantial upgrades ... but maybe not?
I am just confused as it appears that the RAX200 is a far better router than the XR1000 but the XR1000 has some great software for gaming. Outside of the software ... it is hard to compare specs and that is why I posed the original question.
All great questions. I checked the extender and I think it is only a plug and play extender (not hardwired). I have it plugged into an electrical outlet upstairs. We have most (if not all) of our devices set to use 2.4G only because prior to the extender, the 5G would not reach to the other side of the house very well. Have not tried to move devices to 5G. It would be nice to have a larger/better 5G capapbility ... then I would feel comfortable moving more devices to the 5G.---5ghz is the optimal solution as it has much higher throughput. Not sure what extender you have but if you can hardwire it in and run it in AP (access point) mode, it'll have much better throughput.
The one issue we have is with a work laptop that is connected through the switch ... all of which is direct connected through cat5 wires. I think the issues maybe on the other end. Not sure.----Easy to test. Move the laptop to a different room and try it. Issue persists, then try moving it by the router and just direct connecting it without the switch and trying it. Still issues, then its the router or the laptop.
We have cable internet and it has been very stable. Had fiber before and was a constant problem and the speeds provided were no where near the speeds that we were paying for. Had several technicians not be able to fix and so we went back to the cable internet and the speeds exceed what we are paying for.
Again, these are all great questions but we have not had many problems, if at all. Just a few hiccups here and there and some performance issues that I think are related to a 5 yr old router. (which was excellent at the time). I dont need a new router, just thinking it might be time to make the investment and upgrade ... as I assume either the RAX200 or the XR1000 would be substantial upgrades ... but maybe not?---they are if you have AX devices. If you dont simply upgrading to a renewed/refurbished mesh network might make much more of a difference. the more devices you have on 5ghz, the more stable the network will be.
I am just confused as it appears that the RAX200 is a far better router than the XR1000 but the XR1000 has some great software for gaming. Outside of the software ... it is hard to compare specs and that is why I posed the original question.
It is tough to compare the RAX200 and the XR10000. But I'd be more concerned about full coverage on the home versus having the best router. I've used the RAX200 and mesh systems and my home is only 3300sqft. I even went back to my orbi AC system becuase it had higher average throughput in comparison to my RAX. The RAX was much faster in close range but at the edges of my network, the orbi was so much faster. i haven't tried the orbi AX setup yet but I've heard good things about it.
But I would stress to put some more devices on othe 5ghz. Is much much faster. And its has less interference.
