Conclusion:[U]

1) If you don't care or never going to use the IPTV provided, TP-Link would be good enough. Relatively cheaper yet decent with good signal strength.
2) If you are watching the IPTV, please avoid TP-Link and get an Asus.

Full story here. [U]
I live in a double storey terrace house. The router provided by Unifi not strong enough to cover the first floor. So I decided to get a new router on my own.

First, I bought TP-Link WR841HP. The signal strength is good. Good enough to cover every corner of my house (both ground and first floor) with stable wifi connection. But the problem is, even though it's Unifi compatible, it doesn't seem to support IPTV. Some channels can only be viewed for like 5 mins then the screen goes completely off without connection. Other channels only show black screen. In short, non of the channels are actually working.

So I called up for Unifi support (I spent 5 days just to lodged a report. On the fifth day it took me 3.5 hours non stop calling and waiting on the line just to speak to a manager. A very frustrating experience). Then after bloody 2 weeks time of waiting, I managed to talk to an Unifi field technician.
His explanation is short and simple. Get an Asus router.

So I bought Asus RT-N12HP. After using for two days, so far so good.
Wifi connection strong and stable. IPTV works perfectly fine.

TPLink 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit (TLWR1043ND) - i upgraded for my iptv (OpenELEC/KODI) from TM router . I bought it 2 months ago....and it's running awesome. I'm staying in double storey terrace as well, my unifi setup on the first floor. even downstairs toilet also got full signal....

I also using TPLINK 150Mbps Wireless N Nano USB Adapter TLWN725N for my Raspberry Pi2. Everything works so smooth...can watch 1080p movies also no problem one...

One thing to suggest: I change the DNS settings, point to Google DNS in the router instead using TM DNS settings.



raj

Aiks... I have no idea whats OpenELEC/KODI LOL
But ya, i have changed to google dns. =)

TP-Link routers has always been shitty. Their official firmware is worse.
The only reason why TP-Link is still alive is because their prices is cheap & 3rd party firmwares help saved their company.
Without OpenWRT/DD-WRT, TP-Link would've been dead already.

Not hate speech nor a die hard fan of ASUS.
I'm here speaking on years of experience in using both TP-Link & ASUS.

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v1 - Only acceptable when using OpenWRT. On official firmware, the WiFi function keep disappearing. Not WiFi channel issue, but the firmware itself.
TP-Link TL-WDR4300 - Worse router ever. Even OpenWRT couldn't save it.

ASUS RT-N16 - 5 years old & still running strong. Not to forget that ASUS still produce firmware updates for this model until today eventhough production for this model has been stopped for 2 years.
ASUS RT-AC68U - Best router I've ever had.

The point is, TP-Link doesn't give a shit about their customers.
Sure, we've heard how bad ASUS is when it comes to warranty but TP-Link non-existant tech support is the worse of all.
ASUS on the other hand have their own tech support guy in our forum that will answer all your question.

You get what you pay for.

Not sure about TP Link router, since i only own powerline from the same brand. No problem and working flawlessly. For router, yes I have changed my stock unifi router to Asus AC66U bought second hand and I am happy with the performance. Plenty of features and best bang for buck spent! Hope it can lasts long

I have a much different experience.
I've used the WDR3600, WDR4300 models and didn't find any problems even on stock firmware from 2013. I didn't face any hassles setting them up. No iptv issues at all or any problems with wifi. Both models are very similar and are supported well on openwrt, at least from AA onwards. I only ran BB and had no problems. The advantage over the rt-n12 is that both tplink models have a better cpu and more memory - 128Mb. Asus stock firmware has better support for multiple guest wifi networks out of the box.

The Asus rt-n16, ac68u are 2-4x more expensive so cannot be compared directly with the tplink models you mentioned.

If I had to get a router tommorow, the tplink Archer c7 looks good. As of 2014, the tplink firmware (as well as openwrt) supports unifi/maxis fibre.

I beg to differ.
You can't compare these routers based only on their prices.
You have to compare them based on what they are offering.

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v1 is a wireless 300MB with Gigabit LAN, thus it is on the same level with the ASUS RT-N16.

If you're going to compare TP-Link & ASUS routers based only on their prices, then tell me, where do you put ASUS RT-AC68U & TP-Link Archer C9?
Are they not using the same processor, giving same wireless speed?

The only differences between ASUS RT-AC68U & TP-Link Archer C9 is their RAM & flash memory size.

This post has been edited by sHawTY: Jun 20 2015, 08:20 AM

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v3 model and it's working fine for me....

1043nd hang up again & again.... time to throw away

go for ASUS if you have extra money to spare, TPLink only if your budget is limited

overall TPLink serve well just ASUS can give you more if you afford

For me Asus RT-N13U (Worst Router Ever) > TL-WR1043ND v1 (Worth the money but tendency to have Ping Spike) > TP-Link TL-WDR4300 (Worst Coverage. Keeping as Spare) > Asus RT-AC68U (Worth my every penny. No ping Spike and very good coverage.)

Change to Google DNS got what benefit?

Google please.
http://www.howtogeek.com/167239/7-reasons-...ty-dns-service/

google dns is fucked up. been trying to access taobao and is non valid

changed to opendns....pop...done

Working fine over here.
Must be something from your side.

I have an older version of 1043nd, been like 3 years. It works fine even with 20mbps unifi running through it now. Stock firmware still.

I have an asus n12, crap as hell.. advertise as having repeater function, it never worked for me. Had to change to 3rd party firmware for it to work for my intended purpose..

I also have a tplink 8961nd, the older model. Used it when still using 4mpbs streamyx, modded a fan on to of it and it can maintain the lousy snr of the 4mpbs and 24/7 bt.

By far the best router i have is a linksys wrt54gl, it is still running after almost 10 years. No such thing as hang or wifi drop on this lil beast.

This post has been edited by ihavenoidea: Jun 28 2015, 11:50 PM

The hardware specs of the N16 is better and it supports more features that the 1043 doesn't have like smb file sharing, torrent client. The AC68 is clearly high end for a homeusers and should not be compared to either of the tp-link routers you mentioned earlier.

I did not bring up the Archer c9 at all in my post. When I talked about the c7 it was not in reference to your earlier post.

WDR-4300 working flawlessly since day 1.

It is my main router beside ASUS/Apple/Drytek/Mikrotik

So far for wireless access point... Apple Airport Extreme is still the king of reliability. LOL.

For routing purpose,TPLink or ASUS will do.

So far,good TPLink router i have used WDR3600/4300/1043 (latest version)
ASUS will be RTN66u/ RTN18u

haven't tried their AC yet.

This post has been edited by Xefron: Jun 30 2015, 10:31 AM

The WR1043nd, WDR3600/4300 are popular models which should work with very minor or no issues with Unifi/Maxis at this point. Only user error is stopping people from getting those models up and running.

The WDR3600/4300 models have poor 5Ghz wifi range (and to a lesser extent 2.4G) because the antennas are all shared by both bands I believe. Its still sufficient for normal use. The antennas use sma connectors and are replaceable, so they are handy for mods and diy antennas to improve the sensitivity/range.