Wireless Router Recommendations (1 Viewer)

IaHawk

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We are switching from cable internet (200 Mbps with 2 TB data cap) to a fiber services with 1Gbps and no data cap. My current wireless router is a TP Link AC 1750. I think it has performed ok but it is hard to truly know as we have had many issues with our cable modem and/or service in general. I even taught the whole family (including our 8 year old) the "secret" fix of rebooting the cable modem and wireless router when the internet goes out.

Coverage seems to be fine, our house is just under 3000 sq ft, so not sure I need any type of mesh setup (I could be wrong though) but just looking for recommendations or feedback from wireless routers you have used....or, ones to stay away from.

Here are the ones I'm looking at after some brief research:
 
Not sure why I'm doing this, but The AmpliFi HD System is about 3x the cost but seems to have great reviews.

AmpliFi HD System
 
I take care of the internet stuff in my house, and to be honest I don't think you need anything more than you currently have. Your big issue with your cable connection was the cable company's garbage modem. When I switch that out with one I got from best buy my connection strength and speed increased BIG TIME. If you are determined to upgrade equipment, get a gateway (combo modem and router) as the so called free equipment providers give to people are underpowered and throttle too quickly. If you give me the name of the new provider I will gladly research a good gateway for you.
 
LOL, I just bought a new system yesterday, and went with the Netgear Orbi RBK75 system.
Seems great with our 1Gig fiber connection, getting ~600Mbps wireless and 950Gbps wired.
Costco is selling a 3 pack (1 router and 2 satellites) for $500 right now, which is $100 less than buying directly from Netgear.

I had bought a Linksys EA9500 2 years ago and after a firmware update the wifi went to shit........hoping this mesh system lasts longer.
Probably overkill for us, but I'm an IT Pro and figured why not.... ;)
 
I take care of the internet stuff in my house, and to be honest I don't think you need anything more than you currently have. Your big issue with your cable connection was the cable company's garbage modem. When I switch that out with one I got from best buy my connection strength and speed increased BIG TIME. If you are determined to upgrade equipment, get a gateway (combo modem and router) as the so called free equipment providers give to people are underpowered and throttle too quickly. If you give me the name of the new provider I will gladly research a good gateway for you.

Appreciate the help. https://www.metronetinc.com/
 
Can't say I would ever recommend Netgear, unless you're comfortable replacing the firmware. They tend to have problems with streaming and gaming, apparently due to buggy code.
 
Ok they use a proprietary modem (you are stuck with it) but honestly your current router is perfectly fine for your usage. If you want to upgrade, Linksys Max-Stream AC2200 comes highly recommended for metronet. There are some complaints about the built in parental controls not working properly, but the complaints are about things not getting blocked, not the other way around.
 
The Netgear Orbi has been consistently rated as one of the top mesh routers. I have had one for several months and am very happy with it. Coverage over my entire house is rock solid.
 
The Netgear Orbi has been consistently rated as one of the top mesh routers. I have had one for several months and am very happy with it. Coverage over my entire house is rock solid.

That's what I was seeing too, and then we had new neighbors move in across the street and they work for Google and I asked them what they use and he said the Orbi was great and he replaced a Google Nest system, and said Orbi was better.....! That sold me... :)
 
LOL, I just bought a new system yesterday, and went with the Netgear Orbi RBK75 system.
Seems great with our 1Gig fiber connection, getting ~600Mbps wireless and 950Gbps wired.
Costco is selling a 3 pack (1 router and 2 satellites) for $500 right now, which is $100 less than buying directly from Netgear.

I had bought a Linksys EA9500 2 years ago and after a firmware update the wifi went to shit........hoping this mesh system lasts longer.
Probably overkill for us, but I'm an IT Pro and figured why not.... ;)

I've been running an Orbi RBK23 system for maybe 2 years now, and really like it. Main in the front of the house, satellites in the basement (aka bunker) and back of the house. Get strong signal everywhere in the house, and in our huge backyard, and out in our culdesac. Super easy to manage via their app, though I don't really use any of their advanced features yet.
 
Totally anecdotal, but I just got a Netgear Nighthawk X4S R7800 / AC 2600 to replace our Netgear R7000 / AC1900 that died after a recent power outage, and the X4S is leaps and bounds ahead of the R7000 - at least in our home.

We live in an 1800s brick townhouse, no more than 1500 sf, and WiFi struggled reaching everywhere indoors (and out). There were a few corners where signal would drop completely with the R7000, my wife couldn't successfully stream her work Zoom meetings in our dining room (located one floor below the router location), and one of our TVs was always buffering when trying to stream video. Our outdoor Nest cam also regularly dropped off WiFi and struggled maintaining the higher video resolutions. The R7800 solved all of these problems... all of our Amazon sticks now stream immediately, the outdoor Nest cam functions perfectly, and the few WiFi "black holes" we had have disappeared completely with the Netgear X4S.

We have 28 devices regularly connected to it, our phones, a few Amazon streaming stiks, an iPad, a couple of laptops, a wired PC, a wired NAS, a few Nest cameras, a rooftop weather station, and a bunch of IoT devices like smart switches, smart outlets, etc. Now all of them work great on the X4S / R7800. It has been a very noticeable improvement, and we couldn't be happier. :tup:
 
I just ordered this a few weeks ago when my original TP Link went out. So far, so good.
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I’ve also heard good things about mesh systems but I don’t have any experience with them.
 
My Asus router was having trouble reaching all areas of my house. I upgraded to the Google mesh 3 piece system and it has been working well.
 
Can't say I would ever recommend Netgear, unless you're comfortable replacing the firmware. They tend to have problems with streaming and gaming, apparently due to buggy code.
I have been running the same Netgear C6300 cable gateway for WAY too long (I think I got it 6 years ago, but it might be even longer) and have not once had any problem whatsoever. I might look at other componets in the systems having problems with Netgear.
 
I had an Orbi, and had problems at the extreme ends of the repeater range (3-story row house, main in basement, repeater on middle floor).

I installed a Ubiquiti system in our new place. Probably have too many access points, but it helps. We also run our HD antenna to An HDHomeRun box which gives us free TV over WiFi.

Best thing about the system- we run the TV and our work laptops off the LAN- speeds are significantly higher. AppleTV, Zoom meetings are handled with ease. You can set that up regardless of the router. Also keeps that bandwidth off the WiFi, allowing us to not worry about the kids.
 
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What do you guys recommend for a Verizon modem? I've noticed it throttling lately and wifi has been lagging.
 
What do you guys recommend for a Verizon modem? I've noticed it throttling lately and wifi has been lagging.
I wouldn't - similar problem with metronet - need something designed to read the signal from Verizon. That is the main reason I stick with cable. The protocols are so finely tuned that there are tons of modems all over the place for cable internet.
 

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