“Nighthawk AC1900 vs Nighthawk X6 AC3200 I have used my Nighthawk AC1900 since I bought it when it first came out. From time to time we have slow buffering problems (ie. watching Netflix). Will I be wasting my time and money to upgrade to the Nighthawk X6 AC3200? If so, is there a better solution?”
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I have yet to encounter any buffering on Netflix or Vudu when it was so bad before sometimes my movies wouldn't play. Of course, you need to check the speed of your internet too!
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I bet you have cable Internet. It isn't your router. It is your ISP. They call it "traffic shaping". There are two ways around this. The first, my preferred solution, a VPN, this encrypts your traffic so your ISP can't see what's in it or where the final destination is. Second, hard coding known good DNS servers (google it) into your router.. This bypasses your ISPs DNS servers which work for your ISP not you. Your ISP wants you to watch their content not Netflix so they will degrade the connection as much as legally possible. Your ISPs DNS servers are setup automatically via DHCP on your router. You will need to disable DHCP for DNS and then manually plug in IP numbers for "honest" DNS servers.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I haven't streamed but it hasn't gotten offline either. My house is 3800 sq ft and every room has connection with 5 people all online. I've been impressed.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I doubt it would help you much to upgrade the only real advantage is the ability to add more devices with more available total bandwidth over the AC 1900. I have experienced the same issue you talk about with all 5 routers I have owned including the Nighthawk 3200. What I found works best is to periodically reset the router and modem when things get sluggish.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The buffering issue is related to both your router transfer speed and your ISP supplied transfer speed. If your current router is rated to transfer data at or faster than your ISP delivers you will not see an improvement by installing a faster router. If you have an ISP connection that is faster than your router rated speed then you may benefit from a faster router. Ex.: Router rated 1Gb/s, ISP delivers 500Mb/s - no benefit with faster router; Router rated 1Gb/s, ISP delivers 10Gb/s - probable benefit with a faster router.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Your problem seems to stem from one of (in decreasing order of likelihood) A) your ISP, B) Wireless interference/congestion C) other devices chewing up bandwidth on your home network. I doubt it's C, you'd probably know that. To rule everything out besides your ISP, you need to run a cable from the modem directly to a computer, and try netflix, youtube, vimeo (do a variety), from there. If you have issues with everything, suspect something is wrong that your ISP could fix, i.e. modem (personally have had this happen). If you just have issues with one or two sites, everything else works fine, read about net neutrality and be annoyed. It's possible it's B... trying the cable would help confirm this... if everything works well with the network cable, and everything works no so well wireless, try setting a different wireless channel. If you are on 2.4ghz, and in an apartment, this could be the problem--but I think you'd have noticed in other applications, not just streaming. If your current router has 5ghz radio(s), then see if you can use that instead. The X6 is awesome because it's got 3 radios (one 2.4ghz and two 5ghz) and you can offload some of the traffic to other bands. If your problem IS (B), then the X6 should fix it. It might be overkill. If you have lots of streaming devices (i.e. a couple kids continuously streaming video to their laptop/tablets while you're trying to watch Netflix through AppleTV) you can dedicate one of the 5ghz bands to your devices, and let your kids use the other. The X6 has Quality of Service to give your device of choice a higher priority too.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Go out and get it! You won't be sorry. I have a 3,000 sq. ft. house, and have no problems whatsoever.
I would recommend:
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.That I can't answer. But I upgraded to it and never had a problem. But my Netflix is causing problem when I log under my main account. Now I just created an another account for me and just use that and no buffer problems. Strange but true. Think Netflix is changing there end.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.We made the upgrade for the very same reason. I think the upgrade is definitely worth it. We have had buffering problems since with so far up to 7 people streaming at the same time. Everything from phones to tablets to the X-Box. It's been absolutely seemless.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.From my experience, the AC3200 is a waste of money unless every device you have can use the 5GHz bands. If you have devices that only work on 2.4GHz, then this is a waste of money. They 2.4 GHz has been awful, and not all of my devices can connect to the router consistently. I can say that anything that can utilize the 5GHz bands have had blazing fast speeds through this thing, though.
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