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I'm considering purchasing a wireless 802.11ac router as my current N router only gets around 50Mb download speeds when connected via a laptop with inbuilt N adapter. I've tried this with multiple devices phones etc but never exceed this limit.

Can anyone tell me if getting the new AC router will improve my speeds even though my laptops, phones etc will all be using N. Will I get the full N speed with an AC router?


Current Router: Cisco EPC9325 EuroDocsis 3.0

  • 802.11n, single band 2.4 GHz 2x2 Wireless Access Point (WAP) with four Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) or optional Dual-Band 2.4/5 GHz 2x2 non-concurrent radio

Current WiFi Client: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000

  • 1x2 IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless adapter

New Router: Asus RT-AC68U Wireless Broadband Router


SpeedTest result (over WiFi): http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4314323148

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  • What is your line speed.
    – whs
    Apr 23, 2015 at 22:21
  • 240Mb down, 25Mb up
    – Seany84
    Apr 23, 2015 at 22:51
  • Then an ac router may help. But you will also need ac dongles for the PCs.
    – whs
    Apr 24, 2015 at 1:29
  • @whs I know where you are coming from but in my question I was asking: will having an 802.11ac router improve my 802.11n clients.
    – Seany84
    Apr 24, 2015 at 17:44
  • Too broad without knowing more details. If the 802.11ac router/AP performs beam forming that will typically help increase download speeds even to an 802.11n client. If your 802.11n client is dual band and your 802.11n router is single band, then you may gain increased performance in the 5GHz band. If your current 802.11n router has only 1-2 spatial streams but your client supports 3-4, then the 802.11ac router/AP will provide more performance. Notice the trend? This entirely depends on your current devices' specs and the new device's specs.
    – YLearn
    Apr 24, 2015 at 18:06

1 Answer 1

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The new router you are looking at does have several performance gains over your current router, even for some 802.11n clients.

Unfortunately, your current client will not be able to take advantage of most of them. It is single band and only provides support for two spatial streams (max 300Mbps data rates under ideal situations, typically less in the only band available to your client).

However it does appear that the new router you are looking at does support beam forming. This is a complex process of manipulating the RF energy to strengthen the signal toward a client device. This higher signal strength should typically allow for higher data rates to be used from the access point to the client device resulting in somewhat better performance.

Ideally, you would want to also upgrade your client device to take further advantage of the increased capabilities provided by the new router. This could be as simple as using a USB adapter, but many people find using a USB adapter less than ideal.

Another option would be to replace the wireless adapter in your computer. This is generally a fairly simple process in most laptops, but if you are not comfortable opening up the laptop to replace components you should be able to find a local computer shop that would do it for you. If you don't have to pay someone to do it, the internal adapter is often similar in cost to a comparable USB adapter.

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