Best consumer router?

MTUser

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Sep 11, 2014
144
Hey guys,

What routers do you use at home?

I'm looking into upgrading my ISP router to gain some functionality and privacy, the problem is that it's really hard to find something good. Nowadays, every "consumer grade" company integrates the ***** Trend Micro protection in their software, and If i wasn't a fan of Trend Micro, after reading @ForgottenSeer 58943 discoveries I completely refuse to buy something with Trend Micro integrated. This means ASUS and TP-Link routers are out of the equation, yeah TP-Link is integrating Trend Micro too.
On the other hand, D-Link doesn't seem like a good brand to go, and netgear isn't much sold where I live (+ the fact their models are a bit more expensive than ASUS & TP-Link ones).

ASUS and TP-Link models, they both have many "advanced" options for a consumer product, so they fit well, the problem is Trend Micro... ASUS routers released in 2013 are still receiving updates to patch vulnerabilities, so they seem to care a bit about it. Something rare in the consumer industry.

Why this guys doesn't make a single version of their products without so much telemetry... I know they have lower models without Trend Micro integrated, but that versions doesn't support VPN server, or other functionalities.

Gryphon Connect is interesting, but what credibility they have? It's a new company, so I don't know how much I can trust them. Anyway, they don't sell here, and the price is higher. Also, the router software/capabilities seems to much for what I need right now. I don't need a device with layer 7 inspection, only a wireless router with great configuration options, like the ASUS ones, but without something like Trend Micro integrated.

So.... What do you guys use? ASUS? TP-Link? NetGear? Shoot out your opinions and experience with consumer grade routers.
 
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Vasudev

Level 33
Verified
Nov 8, 2014
2,224
If your net speed is above 1Gbps then you might need ac based or ad based routers from Asus,Netgear,Unifi from Ubiquity.
I use Netgear AC1200 which I got in Holiday season. Netgear has 2 yr warranty and 5 years of security updates.The model is from 2014, at that time it was expensive. I got it for INR 2 782.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 58943

I agree on the Trend Micro thing. Also while using a variant of DDWRT they close sourced their AI-Protection so nobody knows exactly what it does but there have been warnings it sends incredible levels of telemetry back to Trend Micro. Also AIProtection is known to slow connections and reduce overall network performance.

Gryphon is the best overall product IMO in terms of performance, parental controls and security when all of those are factored. Gryphon doesn't send logs unless you manually trigger that send from the app and those logs are cleared very rapidly including with every restart of the device from what I can tell. I've tried to send them logs 1-2 hours after an issue and they said the log wasn't encompassing that time frame. Also, I know the logging and external telemetry has to be super limited because to dig into a problem I was having they had to Fed-Ex a development unit to me with modifications to allow better logging and SSH access for investigation which required me to setup a local system w/Teamviewer for them to take a look.

Check to see if Portal WiFi or Razor Sila are available in your area if the Gryphon isn't. For raw performance they are LIGHTYEARS better than anything Asus, TP-Link, Netgear and others offer.

Portal Wifi Router - Lag-Free Gaming and Streaming

If you can, get the Sila version, it's got a much better CPU and better lockdown from hacking.

Gaming Router - Razer Sila
 
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HarborFront

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Oct 9, 2016
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Netgear ties up with BitDefender for its Netgear Armor and Dlink ties up with McAfee. I maybe wrong on the latter
 
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MTUser

Level 4
Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
Hey,

Thanks for your comments. Gryphon seems interesting, but I don't really need parental controls, or app control. I was looking at NetGear but they don't sell much in Europe so I'm not sure if it's worth to go with them (support, etc).

@HarborFront yeah, but I prefer Bitdefender than TrendMicro. Anyway, only the "top" products have Bitdefender integrated, things like the R6400 doesn't seem to have it integrated.

Thanks to all!
 
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HarborFront

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Oct 9, 2016
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Hey,

Thanks for your comments. Gryphon seems interesting, but I don't really need parental controls, or app control. I was looking at NetGear but they don't sell much in Europe so I'm not sure if it's worth to go with them (support, etc).

@HarborFront yeah, but I prefer Bitdefender than TrendMicro. Anyway, only the "top" products have Bitdefender integrated, things like the R6400 doesn't seem to have it integrated.

Thanks to all!
Netgear Armor is a subscription-based service

Actually, these routers with AV/AM are more for IoT devices protection rather than protecting your non-IoT devices like laptop, PC, handphone etc which can be protected by installed AV/AM

You can also do that for current routers unsupported with AV/AM by having an external box linked up to your router for protecting your IoT devices
 
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MTUser

Level 4
Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
Yeah, and I don't have any IoT devices right now. I just need more control over the router configuration and security than the ISP router provides (if consumer grade routers are no example in security, ISP routers are a nightmare).
 
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MTUser

Level 4
Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
Netgear products seems interesting for what I need. Also Bitdefender protection isn't free (it's via subscription) so I believe they don't have the habit of spying everyone like TrendMicro on ASUS? (+ the fact I will not pay for the subscription so it shouldn't be enabled),
 

MTUser

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Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
I'm curious... Does anyone here have a ASUS router with AiProtection integrated, with time to test if with having AiProtection disabled completely disables the telemetry (as it should)?

@ForgottenSeer 58943 I think it will be interesting to test this :)
 

HarborFront

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Oct 9, 2016
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MTUser

Level 4
Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
Yeah, but all that "features" are related to Trend Micro. Adaptive QoS by Trend Micro, Apps Analyzer by Trend, Traffic Analyzer, etc...

You still have all the other normal features that a ASUS router without AiProtection have. You still have QoS, but only the "traditional one".

The curiosity is: even if you don't enable Trend Micro features, does the router still send data to Trend? I'm just very curious about that...
 

HarborFront

Level 71
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Oct 9, 2016
6,014
Yeah, but all that "features" are related to Trend Micro. Adaptive QoS by Trend Micro, Apps Analyzer by Trend, Traffic Analyzer, etc...

You still have all the other normal features that a ASUS router without AiProtection have. You still have QoS, but only the "traditional one".

The curiosity is: even if you don't enable Trend Micro features, does the router still send data to Trend? I'm just very curious about that...
For that I think you'll need to write in to Trend Micro and ASUS. If not, you can buy one ASUS router and then use WireShark to analyse its traffic
 
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MTUser

Level 4
Thread author
Verified
Sep 11, 2014
144
Netgear isn't an option for me anymore after the really bad experience I had with their support (or lack of..)

Anyway, it's good to see there is someone taking some attention into forums / social networks.
 
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DV_NETGEAR

New Member
May 3, 2019
2
Netgear isn't an option for me anymore after the really bad experience I had with their support (or lack of..)

Anyway, it's good to see there is someone taking some attention into forums / social networks.
Probably too late, but apologies for the bad experience. Definitely something we don't like hearing. Hopefully we get a second chance to change your feeling about NETGEAR some day :)
 

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