New router

[pillar]

So my mom is in the market for a new wireless router. She has a unique situation where her office is on the opposite of the house from where the living room is. She has even invested in a signal repeater device, but that only helps so much. She watches a lot of Netflix through her hdtv. The following router is what I am looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320115

I have 2 immediate questions about this router: #1 do you guys think that the better technology will be able to help possibly get rid of the possible latency issue or signal lag (not sure which is the proper term for this issue)? #2 how exactly does the 256mb of memory help with the processing of the signal?

 

[Painbow]

Resident IT guy here.

Flash memory on routers help process network traffic.
I.E. if multiple sources are generating data, it helps avoid packet collision (dropped packets) - "Lag"
Latency is more signal strength and bandwidth throughput combined with pipe behavior and server response times. - also "lag"
Latency gets complicated, so if you want to know more, let me know and I can ramble.

I've used the RT-AC68U as an interim office solution whilst waiting on a business class router before, and it's great. Good signal, wonderful range, and a lovely UI.
It also has an onboard traffic/bandwidth monitor, so if you're lagging you can check if someone else on the network is downloading or using a lot of data, and WHAT APPLICATION IS USING IT.
You can also rate limit if I remember right, but I'll not get too far into that.
I think it runs by default the Merlin firmware(Edit: Wrong, it runs the ASUS stock. Sorry. Haven't had my coffee.), check it out here if you want to see your control panel on the 68. (Personally flashed tomato on there for security reasons during the past few months. See here for details on that.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2rsUDIsx_w[/ame]
Onboard access control, DOS prevention (To an extent) , and it's designed more for gaming than some of the older models like the 66U.

Both models have beamforming which is going to help with your mothers signal issues across distance, and the 68U has more processing power if there's a lot of network use at your home.
The 68 we tested capped at nearly 400mb/s top-end, while the 68 hit like 350-360 (via ethernet, not wireless)


It's like a 20$ difference or so, but I'd really recommend the 68 if you have more than two-three users at your home. They're both dual-band, so you can avoid pesky signal interference on the 2.4ghz band.

Hope that helps!