Recommendations on Dual-band 802.11n

[sechs]

Recommendations on a dual-band 802.11n access point?

I have two basic problems: I'm trying to cut the cord on my Roku and the 2.4Ghz space around my apartment is waaaay too crowded. The 5GHz band is pretty much wide open.

I realise that 802.11ac is here, but it's a bit pricey and I have nothing that supports it. I'd rather go for cheaper and more reliable 802.11n stuff and wait for ac to mature, or be supplanted by ad or something else.

A device with a built-in router or switch would be nice, since I'm tapped-out on ports with my current gigabit router, but that's not a requirement.

 

[Clocker]

I have one of these and it works great. Can easily be put into Access Point mode with one click: http://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN66U/

 

[Howell]

Even in a very clean environment I found 802.11n had difficulty supporting my TV and/or bluray. This was after I gave up on 802.11g. It could have been the router but there was only 10ft between them.
So now my core is MOCA based. I also have some powerline adapters still in the wrapper I'll eventually put up for sale.

 

[Clocker]

The router I am using is working great with Chromecast & Plex to my TV. Not sure if the Chromecast is using 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz...not sure how to check. I believe I have both SSIDs the same. Just fyi.

 

[Mercutio]

One thing worth mentioning is that 802.11ac equipment, with its premium price and early adopter tax, typically has ridiculously nice host CPUs that don't make it down to budget products. That means support for more simultaneous connections, both external (torrents, basically) and internal (lots of wireless clients).

I've seen 802.11ac products down in the ~$80 range, which doesn't strike me as unreasonable.

 

[sechs]

$80 was more than I was hoping to spend, but I'd be interested in any examples you've found.

 

[Mercutio]

Look for refurbished Netgear products.

 

[sechs]

This was a really good tip, Merc.

I'm scoping a Netgear R6200 right now. Any thoughts?

 

[Mercutio]

I've put them in offices. I know they have pretty decent range, but there's not much actual 802.11ac equipment floating around to try them with. I don't care that they're refurbs since home routers are not terribly reliable in the first place. I actually figure that the ones that have been re-certified by Netgear are probably better than the ones fresh off the line because they've been through a second round of testing.

 

[sechs]

Range isn't really an issue for me, as my apartment simply isn't that big. It's the interference that's the real problem. And the first piece of 802.11ac equipment I'm likely to get is a phone, which certainly wouldn't need the bandwidth.

Only thing bothersome that I see is that refurb is more likely to be the v1 hardware, which will probably never take a third-party firmware. Not a big deal.