xr300/500/700

[bbursley]

thoughts on these? If I were to upgrade from the R1 which is really a smart choice? Im leaning more between the xr300 and 500. Since they are really just as powerful of routers from what I can tell as far as processing power goes. Sure wifi might be "faster" but honestly thats something nobody will ever notice without gigabit speeds anyways. Im kinda worried the 300 wont have enough juice for the really intensive future of the DumaOS, since as I have seen with the R1 it tends to max the CPU a bit from time to time, adding anything more demanding is surely a lost cause for it. But the XR500 seems like its got the best of all worlds. Speedy CPU, Good wifi, etc. DO these routers also offer DMZ? If so how does that work with the GEO and other features? I know I only have a 100/10 line, but for a router to have that extra Oomph matters it would seem. 

Also If anyone can speak for modems, If I do not have a Puma chipset is there any need to buy any other kind? This one I have now is a Ubee from spectrum, and I cant say that its not performing as it should since it seems to be, I think Im just lagging behind in router power, and tbh I am kinda over the R1's weak wifi. I know that is due mostly to other router interference though. The R1 was a blessing for my old DSL, but nowadays I think its slightly trailing behind. Id still recommend it to most people since it does work well, but id rather be futureproofed at this point since I want to move after graduating and live that fiber life someday :P.

[Netduma Fraser]

I would personally go for the XR500, I have one at home and it keeps up with the demands of 7 people with tons of devices. They both have DMZ and it doesn't cause a problem with standard DumaOS features. I also have the same speeds as you. 

 

[bbursley]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:58 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

I would personally go for the XR500, I have one at home and it keeps up with the demands of 7 people with tons of devices. They both have DMZ and it doesn't cause a problem with standard DumaOS features. I also have the same speeds as you. 

 

Interesting, I mean I don’t have a lot of traffic per say. But I do feel like the 500 has the best price/power/feature ratio. It would seem that BB would stay at a minimum over the inferior cpu’s of the lower tiers. I don’t get why there’s a massive price increase just for theoretical “faster WiFi” but if the are functionally the same device aside from that and looks then I don’t see the point in paying more. I’m sure the 300 isn’t bad, and is a step up from the R1. Also I’ve seen many of them used on eBay, not sure if that’s a safe route though since you never know what you are buying at that point, there’s also refurbished ones via places like Newegg. But I’m not sure if those are worth dipping into either. 

[Netduma Fraser]

The different prices points are reflective of the changes in hardware, I don't believe there are any major software variations between the models. The XR500 WiFi covers the dead spot in my house that couldn't receive WiFi from the ISP hub so if you have a large area over more than one floor I'd definitely recommend it not for the speed of the WiFi per se but for its strength.

[Bert]

If you only have a 100/10 line I would simply keep the R1 and buy something new when you upgrade your connection. They always come up with something new and who know's whats available at that time.

 

Only reason I would get a XR500 is for it's wifi performance but if you don't care about that a XR300 or keeping the R1 will do. The XR500's wifi is not only very powerful like Fraser said but also if you're in a situation where you need to use wifi for your gaming devices it's actually very stable. I have tried using my PS4 on wifi and granted it's only a few meters away from my router I can't tell much difference between playing on wifi or ethernet.

 

XR700 is only interesting for larger networks as you can use link aggregation or use use the 10G port to build a backbone. All other ports including WAN are 1GBps so for most home users this will bring very little unless you really want the 60GHz wifi.

 

I would get the XR series if you need to use PPPoE connectivity or need the wifi performance otherwise there is no issues using the R1. If you want better wifi you can always switch off the R1's wifi and get a 5GHz wifi AP for very little money.

 

Also something I see very little people consider but the XR500 has quite a considerable footprint while a R1 is quite compact and this can make for a much cleaner install.

[Guest Killhippie]

1 hour ago, Bert said:

If you only have a 100/10 line I would simply keep the R1 and buy something new when you upgrade your connection. They always come up with something new and who know's whats available at that time.

 

Only reason I would get a XR500 is for it's wifi performance but if you don't care about that a XR300 or keeping the R1 will do. The XR500's wifi is not only very powerful like Fraser said but also if you're in a situation where you need to use wifi for your gaming devices it's actually very stable. I have tried using my PS4 on wifi and granted it's only a few meters away from my router I can't tell much difference between playing on wifi or ethernet.

 

XR700 is only interesting for larger networks as you can use link aggregation or use use the 10G port to build a backbone. All other ports including WAN are 1GBps so for most home users this will bring very little unless you really want the 60GHz wifi.

 

I would get the XR series if you need to use PPPoE connectivity or need the wifi performance otherwise there is no issues using the R1. If you want better wifi you can always switch off the R1's wifi and get a 5GHz wifi AP for very little money.

 

Also something I see very little people consider but the XR500 has quite a considerable footprint while a R1 is quite compact and this can make for a much cleaner install.

A 600Mhz single core CPU with multiple devices, heavy webpages etc and streaming services does not cut it in this day and age. The SoC in the XR500 is actually a  Quadcore (see link) it has two 1.7Ghz cores and two 800Mhz cores just for packet processing. The R1 is old, yes it may be a nice box but that CPU is also tired and you are just adding another device with a wall wart and the R1's SoC will still be a bottleneck and it only has 128MB RAM. The XR500 has 512MB RAM and 256MB of Flash NAND as well. Also it has power amplifier modules on both 2.4 and 5Ghz radios. The XR500 is probably the best bang for its buck with a proven (Qualcomm IP8065) SoC. The R1 is well past its sell by date.
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/ipq8065

[Bert]

That might be, but what do you get out of this in the real world?

 

When you're just playing games and you're using the internet, putting a XR500 in place of a R1 will hardly make a difference except for wifi performance or when you need a certain feature that is not available on the R1.

 

I would get the XR500 if buying new from scratch but if somebody already has a R1 in place, replacing it by a XR500 isn't going to perform miracles.

[Netduma Alex]

I would tend to agree.