$20 Asus RT-N53 Dual Band Wireless N600, DD-WRT compatible router.

Price is good but the reviews on newegg.com for the non-refurb are awful. 37/98 reviews gave it one star and lots of complaints about frequent disconnects.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833320088

9$ for cheapest shipping option

superfigz wrote: ↑Price is good but the reviews on newegg.com for the non-refurb are awful. 37/98 reviews gave it one star and lots of complaints about frequent disconnects.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833320088

Maybe it will be better when flash with DD-WRT or Tomato?

Anonymous_ wrote: ↑9$ for cheapest shipping option

Damn shipping.

There's almost little to no NVRAM on this router. Yes it's DD-WRT and Tomato compatible but it's also unstable. I have one and no firmware can fix this instability issue. The hardware is underpowered for anything beyond its stock firmware.

wilsonlam97 wrote: ↑There's almost little to no NVRAM on this router. Yes it's DD-WRT and Tomato compatible but it's also unstable. I have one and no firmware can fix this instability issue. The hardware is underpowered for anything beyond its stock firmware.

so, youre saying its not good enough for a small dorm room?

PilotInTraining wrote: ↑so, youre saying its not good enough for a small dorm room?

I would get something more reliable while giving up third party firmware. Any cheap TP-Link would be good enough.

PilotInTraining wrote: ↑so, youre saying its not good enough for a small dorm room?

no hes not saying that at all....read again

traktion wrote: ↑no hes not saying that at all....read again

Even the stock firmware sucks. The reviews don't lie. This isn't a good router.

I have owned this router for years, and can confirm that it does, for unexplained reasons, reboot itself from time to time. It's been happening more frequently of late, often when I am watching a movie through Plex.
More annoying, because since it happens so abruptly, Plex does not bookmark (when/where in the movie) the stop, and I then have to start from the beginning, and jump ahead to where it stopped.
As such, I would not recommend this router at all.

In fact, I'd like to find something that could replace it. Can anyone suggest a wifi router that is reliable for high bandwidth and media-server use, but also reasonably priced?

Well why not give the Tomato custom firmware a try?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-I ... 7324.shtml

This router was doomed to be terrible at the start. It uses a USB connected 5Ghz radio like the Linksys E3200 and E2500. (I had the E3200 and it was flaky, constant reboots and disconnects with stock or tomato firmware).

If you search on tomato forums that USB 5 Ghz is the cause of a lot of issues. DDWRT doesn't support the USB radio hence no 5Ghz on all 3 models.

Eg see E2500 about USB radio. http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Li ... imitations

For $29 (and FS) you could get the Xiaomi MI wireless router which also supports 802.11AC and 2x2 dual band from here:
http://merimobiles.com/original-xiaomi- ... i10157.htm

And then install on it OpenWRT and English support, using the guide here:
http://en.miui.com/thread-64391-1-1.html

Crappy routers generally have poor heat management, so you either need to leave the side of the case off as I do for my Asus rt-n16, mod in a fan, or add a heatsink to whatever is overheating. Its also better to do this relatively soon after buying it, before the components have a chance to degrade from the heat.

Looking at the internals: http://www.redeszone.net/asus/rt-n18u-n600/
Looks like they do have a decent heatsink, perhaps you could just drill more air holes in the case, and maybe add thermal paste so it transfers heat better.

Do you have one? Is it simultaneous dual band?

Thanks

Opher wrote: ↑For $29 (and FS) you could get the Xiaomi MI wireless router which also supports 802.11AC and 2x2 dual band from here:
http://merimobiles.com/original-xiaomi- ... i10157.htm

And then install on it OpenWRT and English support, using the guide here:
http://en.miui.com/thread-64391-1-1.html

Zhopa wrote: ↑Do you have one? Is it simultaneous dual band?

Thanks

Yes, I have one and yes, it does support simultaneous dual-band.

You can also check some of the feedback it has been receiving on DX:
http://www.dx.com/p/xiaomi-mi-wi-fi-min ... ZmSMVWqpBc

Thanks!

Now, when I'm ready to try, it's OUT OF STOCK...

Do you know if they replenish stock frequently?

Opher wrote: ↑Yes, I have one and yes, it does support simultaneous dual-band.

You can also check some of the feedback it has been receiving on DX:
http://www.dx.com/p/xiaomi-mi-wi-fi-min ... ZmSMVWqpBc

I grabbed one for use as a vpn/ap. I guess we will see how it goes... looks grim!

Zhopa wrote: ↑Thanks!

Now, when I'm ready to try, it's OUT OF STOCK...

Do you know if they replenish stock frequently?

Plenty of places to get the Xiaomi router from:

Merimobiles has them in stock here:
http://merimobiles.com/original-xiaomi- ... i10157.htm

Or you can get it from AliExpress - this seller has good feedback:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-Orig ... 4.2.jseQKk