Need new router with USB port with budget up to ₹4,000

vyral_143

vyral_143

Jarvis
Staff member
Super Mod
I need a new router with USB port to which I can attach my 2.5" HDD or pen drive and can consume media. I would be streaming music and movies from attached storage to TV or/and tablet most times. Devices connected would be 4 smart phones, 1 TV, 1 PS3, 1 Tablet, 1 Android TV Stick and a desktop.

I have attached schematic of my home.

Router_2.jpg


I may place router at following locations,
- in passage > would provide range almost everywhere as would have to pass through one wall only but wiring has to pass through middle room (read kitchen) and it would be quite visible. Also need to make provision of shelf and plug point in passage.
- area near TV and PS3 > would be better for most devices and also TV/PS3 can be connected via LAN. However I am not quite sure if I can pull a wire from outside to this location as everything else in concealed. At present only wire of DTH is routed from outside to this area.
- in Balcony > would be simplest place and least visibility/difficulties of cables. not sure if signal can reach to the right most room through two walls.

Thickness of walls is approx 5-6 inches. Total area is approx 500 sq ft

Considering worst case scenario of placing it in balcony, I would need a quite strong router which provides range in all the rooms as well as can cater to most devices. I can spend up to ₹4,000.

EDIT: Option of placing near TV & PS3 area is no longer feasible.
EDIT 2: Router will be placed in passage :D
 
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In case of first router, I have TP Link 740N right now. Can it be used as repeater ? If yes, I think for configuring it to act as repeater, I need to have it connected with main router via wire. Please correct me if I required, I m still a noob in this segment.

I would also checkout TL-WDR4300 too.

I am keen on placing router near, TV/PS3 area but highly depends upon ability of pulling wire there from outside. Would I still be requiring likes of TL-WDR4300?
 
blr_p said:
Does the 740n cover the while place if its placed near the tv ?
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I have not yet moved to new place hence can not comment. In present case, after penetrating two walls signal is erratic. Best range is available when I m one wall over.

By any chance it is possible that woofer of my HT would attenuate it ? Currently router is placed approx 2 feet away from Woofer.
 
vyral_143 said:
I have not yet moved to new place hence can not comment. In present case, after penetrating two walls signal is erratic. Best range is available when I m one wall over.
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How thick are your present walls ? 2 x 6 inches or 1 x 11 inches should work with it.

By any chance it is possible that woofer of my HT would attenuate it ? Currently router is placed approx 2 feet away from Woofer.
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try moving it further away and see if it makes a difference.

Glass will attenuate. This is why balcony is not a good idea.
 
blr_p said:
How thick are your present walls ? 2 x 6 inches or 1 x 11 inches should work with it.
Click to expand...

Present walls also are of almost same thickness i.e. 6-7 inches around.

blr_p said:
try moving it further away and see if it makes a difference.

Glass will attenuate. This is why balcony is not a good idea.
Click to expand...

At present it is like Router then at 2 feet woofer than 2 walls. In this scenario place after 2 walls gets very weak signal. What I can try is placing router to little higher height to avoid woofer in between.

If it helps, I would try any app on iOS to measure signal strength of WiFi and post results.
 
vyral_143 said:
What I can try is placing router to little higher height to avoid woofer in between.
Click to expand...
Try that.

If it helps, I would try any app on iOS to measure signal strength of WiFi and post results.
Click to expand...
Since you are moving its better to do this range test in the new place. no way for you to access it ?

Take the router with you and just connect it to the power and then measure the signal strength.
 
At my current place, signal in same room as router is between -30dBm to -40dBM, after one wall it is in range of -50 to -60 dBm. However after two walls it drops to -80s dBm. This is when woofer is not powered on but its in between first wall and router.

Now when woofer is ON, above results are more or less similar, instead it showed some improvement of 4-5dBm.
 
You need to do this test in the new place. When can you do that ?

However after two walls it drops to -80s dBm.
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Right, should have been in the 70s. maybe there is some rebar in it.

your 2x 6 inches are not the same as eternomind.
 
You should have a look at this thread.

https://www.techenclave.com/communi...g-router-with-5dbi-antenna-a-usb-port.173407/

Not a good idea to try and stream media from router. It will not work the way you think it will and eventually you will be frustrated. My archer c7 with 128 mb ram has media streaming issues, though I get good wifi range and speeds when I stream from a file/media server. Consider building a file server and connecting it to your router for streaming.
 
Ranjith Sai said:
You should have a look at this thread.

https://www.techenclave.com/communi...g-router-with-5dbi-antenna-a-usb-port.173407/

Not a good idea to try and stream media from router. It will not work the way you think it will and eventually you will be frustrated. My archer c7 with 128 mb ram has media streaming issues, though I get good wifi range and speeds when I stream from a file/media server. Consider building a file server and connecting it to your router for streaming.
Click to expand...

Yes I am following that thread. I have ordered MK808B Plus. Can it help me ?
 
vyral_143 said:
MK808B Plus will be over WiFi. How reliable this setup would be ?
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I believe you would connect the android dongle to your TV through HDMI and you would want to stream movies stored on your external hard disk by connecting it to a USB port on the router. Your android box will perform pretty well and will process anything you throw at it, but your router most probably can't feed it without delays. As explained in another post your router doesn't have enough oomph to do all these things if you plan on playing HD movies. How much did you pay for your dongle? If you can return it and try a raspberry pi solution, you might get some help here or on the raspberry pi forum. At least this is what I would do, as my experiences of playing HD movies on an archer C7 was not at all good. But the router with my file server delivers better results as it doesn't have the file server role anymore.
 
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