I've set up Wi-Fi routers since they first became available and in a former life was a network guy. That said, I can't even spell network now. My current 2.4/5GHz Asus router is dying and I'll be putting it out of its misery asap.
This is for my 3800 sq. ft. 2-story home. My modem and router are upstairs in a loft with a semi-clear view down to the family room where the TV is that is connected via Wi-Fi. The router can't "see" the TV but it's just out of eyesight.
I'm looking at a standard Wi-Fi router and perhaps a 2-3 station mesh router. One going upstairs, one near the TV, and one behind 2 walls in the master bedroom. Whatever I choose has to have no less than 2 internet jacks, 3 preferred, for misc. gear that is plugged directly into it.
Every time I find a router that looks really good, some of the one-star techy reviews give me cold feet. I'm looking at Netgear, Linksys, Nighthawk, etc.
What I want in order of my priorities.
- Reliability with no need to repeatedly reboot/reset it even once a month to get it working again.
- Big house coverage. I'm tired of the spinning wheels on TV and movies especially in the bedroom.
- Ease of setup. I would rather not have to worry about its TCP/IP address or have to install it via my browser logging directly into the device. I will if I have to and have in the past but aren't setups supposed easier now?
Mesh sounds technically cool and the way to go for my size house and I jumped onto that bandwagon early in this process but I haven't seen any with all solid positive reviews. The simplicity and the fact I've installed multiple standard Wi-Fi routers (the kind with 4-6 antennas) has me drawn to that but isn't that kind of outdated technology in view of mesh having come on strong?
Is there a good reliable mesh system out there? If I go mesh I'm thinking 3 modules would be required but I need to keep it $350 or under. This is not for anything but my wife & I and it's primarily for our work computers (upstairs and downstairs plus two TVs. No gaming.
Anyone have any dead-solid recommendations for something that meets my needs? I'm all ears! Thanks.
This is for my 3800 sq. ft. 2-story home. My modem and router are upstairs in a loft with a semi-clear view down to the family room where the TV is that is connected via Wi-Fi. The router can't "see" the TV but it's just out of eyesight.
I'm looking at a standard Wi-Fi router and perhaps a 2-3 station mesh router. One going upstairs, one near the TV, and one behind 2 walls in the master bedroom. Whatever I choose has to have no less than 2 internet jacks, 3 preferred, for misc. gear that is plugged directly into it.
Every time I find a router that looks really good, some of the one-star techy reviews give me cold feet. I'm looking at Netgear, Linksys, Nighthawk, etc.
What I want in order of my priorities.
- Reliability with no need to repeatedly reboot/reset it even once a month to get it working again.
- Big house coverage. I'm tired of the spinning wheels on TV and movies especially in the bedroom.
- Ease of setup. I would rather not have to worry about its TCP/IP address or have to install it via my browser logging directly into the device. I will if I have to and have in the past but aren't setups supposed easier now?
Mesh sounds technically cool and the way to go for my size house and I jumped onto that bandwagon early in this process but I haven't seen any with all solid positive reviews. The simplicity and the fact I've installed multiple standard Wi-Fi routers (the kind with 4-6 antennas) has me drawn to that but isn't that kind of outdated technology in view of mesh having come on strong?
Is there a good reliable mesh system out there? If I go mesh I'm thinking 3 modules would be required but I need to keep it $350 or under. This is not for anything but my wife & I and it's primarily for our work computers (upstairs and downstairs plus two TVs. No gaming.
Anyone have any dead-solid recommendations for something that meets my needs? I'm all ears! Thanks.