Now that we have addressed how to get your wireless signal through your whole house, let’s talk about why you need to have the right hardware in place if you have lots of wireless connected devices.
The simple fact is, if you have a modem router that has been provided by your ISP (i.e. Bigpond, Telstra, Optus, iiNet) then it’s likely to be not the best quality. They mass produce these gadgets, pre-configure them and out they go. Of course they are trying to maximise their profits so the hardware is cheap and the software is limiting at best.
In our experience, you need good quality hardware that is purpose built to handle the variety of connected devices you are likely to have in your home or office these days. Many households are also streaming high definition content which makes the requirement for this hardware even more essential.
It’s not just about lots of devices – it’s also about speed
There is no point just being able to connect all your devices. You also want them to be able to function properly, so whether that is streaming 1080p Youtube, online gaming, streaming movies around your home network – you want them to be able to do all these things without continual stop-starts of buffering.
So to get good speed in your wireless network – you need AC Wireless!
What is AC Wireless?
AC Wireless is the next generation wireless networking standard that was developed to optimise video streaming experiences and maximise wireless network throughput. Providing gigabit speeds over wi-fi allows content to download faster and for large video/music files to sync faster. the only downside is that wireless AC will only run on the 5GHz network, meaning that some devices will not have support.
Our recommended gadgets
Ok you can do this 2 ways, 1 is to have a single device that is a wireless modem router all in 1, like this:
Asus DSL-AC68U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit ADSL/VDSL Modem Router
So one of our staff members says you should pick this simply because its “cool”! I’m sure you want more justification than that – so here we go.
The “1900” part of the device name is referring to how much data it can output wirelessly. 1200 of which is used for wireless AC and the other 600 is used for standard Wireless N (which is what most devices currently still use). In English, this means it’s “cool” because it can allow for smooth streaming of 4K/Ultra High Definition videos, online gaming or other bandwidth intensive tasks.
If you have a home or office with kids that do online gaming, or you like to stream high def movies around your house – this is the device for you.
This modem router is also compatible with ADSL2/2+, ADSL, VDSL, fiber and cable services – so you won’t have to keep upgrading it as your connection improves.
Or, if you live in an area with lots of power surges (like we do in Peachester) a more cost effective solution in the long run is to get a basic single port modem (around $30) and then plug your wireless router into that. The benefit? When a power surge comes through your phone or power lines, it will cook the cheap modem only – and not your expensive router. Trust us, we speak from experience!
Asus RT-AC68U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router
Again – this is “cool” for all the same reasons as the one detailed above. It’s pretty well the same but doesn’t have the modem built into it. We can’t tell you how many modems we have fried living in Peachester with the seemingly substandard power and phone infrastructure combined with Queensland storms. So this is a great idea if you live in a power surge prone area.
How does all this help with lots of connected devices?
Well if your wireless router can’t dish out heaps of data simultaneously then if you have a lot of connected devices it will struggle. The whole point of the gadgets listed above is that they can send out lots of data to lots of devices all at the same time.