Home Wi-Fi router and / or mesh purchase help

Jerry Bransford

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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I've installed multiple standard Wi-Fi routers (the kind with 4-6 antennas) has me drawn to that but isn't that kind of outdated technology in view of mesh having come on strong?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.
 
Been using this one for over a year now. It works flawlessly in our 3500 square foot, 2-story house.

It has full bar anywhere I go in the house, and I have never once had a single issue with it, period.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F0DD0I6/?tag=wranglerorg-20

The signal strength on this thing is impressive!
 
Been using this one for over a year now. It works flawlessly in our 3500 square foot, 2-story house.

It has full bar anywhere I go in the house, and I have never once had a single issue with it, period.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F0DD0I6/?tag=wranglerorg-20

The signal strength on this thing is impressive!

X2, I have the one up from that, the 7800 bought based on the recommendation of my gamer friend. It’s a great setup. My home is two story as well and the coverage only gets spotty at the far end of my back yard opposite corner of the router.
 
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I was sold on a mesh setup thinking I needed it, but it turns out that this router is all I need. (y)
 
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I have Eero. Can add pucks for the mesh set up easily if I have a dead spot (one in the back yard)
3,400 sq ft house with three of us on virtual meetings daily in addition to each on a phone and/or iPad. Works well and has for a year.
 
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When we moved to WA a year ago, I got a Linksys Mesh mid-level with 2 nodes. We have a three story house, 2750 sq ft. I have one node in the basement and one on the main floor. The TV's are on the main floor and upstairs right above the node on the main floor. It has been working well without issue. No problems streaming on TV through Amazon Prime or YouTube TV. No gaming.
 
I have Eero. Can add pucks for the mesh set up easily if I have a dead spot (one in the back yard)
3,400 sq ft house with three of us on virtual meetings daily in addition to each on a phone and/or iPad. Works well and has for a year.
Forgot to add we switched to You Tube TV 12 months ago. So, we chew through data and rarely encounter buffering.
 
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I was looking at the tp link Deco M9plus from Costco for $199, 3 bases with a dedicated backhaul channel but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

Can anyone recommend it? I have an old house and my Archer m9 router isn’t cutting it
 
This is great help thanks everyone! I'm definitely going with a Netgear Nighthawk now. Being a why buy a .357 when there are .44 magnums type, I'm thinking of their next step up power-wise Nighthawk, just for a little added reassurance.

I'll be pulling the trigger Wednesday, I'll give you the model # link on Amazon Chris so you can give me your link to order through.

Thanks again all!
 
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You already picked but since my house has 6 levels including the garage and I run WiFi devices on each level. I have the following and it’s been simple and plenty of signal.

ARRIS SURFboard SBG7600AC2 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem & AC2350 Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router, Approved for Cox, Spectrum, Xfinity & others (black)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H4VJHB9/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
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You already picked but since my house has 6 levels including the garage and I run WiFi devices on each level.

😳😳😳

5BBFE0BE-11F7-4F43-AE03-98DA09D19C5A.jpeg
 
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Netgear Orbi. I work from home full time (Video/VOIP) + 3kids and a wife who’ve spent lots of quarantine time streamline Netflix + multiple security cameras. I’ve got the router in my office, 2 satellites on the main floor and an extra in the basement. I can get 100meg+ anywhere in the house including my yard. What’s also really nice is each satellite also has 2 Ethernet ports so you can hardwire things like a TV or security system thats not WiFi.

This or whatever the newest version is
NETGEAR Orbi Tri-band Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with 2.2Gbps speed (RBK23) Router & Extender replacement covers up to 6,000 sq. ft., 3-pack includes 1 router & 2 satellites https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CQDHPFT/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
I have a 3000 SQ ft house on 2 stories. I bought the Orbi mesh from Costco about 3 years ago. It has worked flawlessly. We currently have 8 people connecting devices to it.
 
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One word of advice: Whatever router you get, plug it into a surge suppressor of some kind. I've found that "some" Netgear equipment is particularly sensitive to dirty power, YMMV and all that. As far as brands go, I prefer D-Link and avoid anything made by Belkin. That is all.
 
Netgear Orbi. I work from home full time (Video/VOIP) + 3kids and a wife who’ve spent lots of quarantine time streamline Netflix + multiple security cameras. I’ve got the router in my office, 2 satellites on the main floor and an extra in the basement. I can get 100meg+ anywhere in the house including my yard. What’s also really nice is each satellite also has 2 Ethernet ports so you can hardwire things like a TV or security system thats not WiFi.

This or whatever the newest version is
NETGEAR Orbi Tri-band Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with 2.2Gbps speed (RBK23) Router & Extender replacement covers up to 6,000 sq. ft., 3-pack includes 1 router & 2 satellites https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CQDHPFT/?tag=wranglerorg-20
That looked really good until I noticed it only has 1 ethernet output port on its router, I need 2 at a minimum 3 preferable and don't want to be adding network switches to add them. But thanks for that suggestion!
 
That looked really good until I noticed it only has 1 ethernet output port on its router, I need 2 at a minimum 3 preferable and don't want to be adding network switches to add them. But thanks for that suggestion!

I sent the link to the one I had from 2018. Check the new version, looks like many more Ethernet ports.

Netgear Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with Advanced Cyber Threat Protection, 3-Pack (RBK53S-100NAS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXNRZ4L/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
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Thanks all, I'm going with the recommended Netgear
I sent the link to the one I had from 2018. Check the new version, looks like many more Ethernet ports.

Netgear Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with Advanced Cyber Threat Protection, 3-Pack (RBK53S-100NAS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXNRZ4L/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Thanks for that which would work great but it's way out of my price range.

And thanks all, I'm going with the recommended Netgear router like was recommended. @Chris this is the one I'm going with, please give me a link for it so you'll get something out of it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M12RE4A/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
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Thanks all, I'm going with the recommended Netgear
Thanks for that which would work great but it's way out of my price range.

And thanks all, I'm going with the recommended Netgear router like was recommended. @Chris this is the one I'm going with, please give me a link for it so you'll get something out of it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M12RE4A/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Just click on the link you just posted Jerry, that will do it.

I think you’ll be happy with it. I was convinced I needed a mesh router until I got my Netgear. I don’t understand why anyone gives them bad reviews. I’ve never had an issue with mine, it works flawlessly.
 
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