wifi router suggestions?

[Steve@TF]

currently i have Fios internet which has pretty good speeds but my internet is slow as balls. my neighbor said its due to my Google mesh puck system which is slowing things down. he's recommending some over the top commercial grade system which would probably end up at $1k, not to mention complex. he's a bit on the spectrum when it comes to discussing computer stuff (or anything really lol). figured i would ask here where there are more sensible people.

im in the process of moving into my new house. two story, 3100 sq ft. the house was pre-wired for ethernet. there are ethernet jacks throughout. where i can plug in manually (televisions) i will. but then there's phones and tablets and laptops etc...

ive been told before there are some really good wifi routers that can handle a large two story house. any recommendations? ive googled but seems like i just get comparison articles which almost seem more like advertisements than honest reviews. also something relatively user friendly to set up.

 

[13COBRA]

currently i have Fios internet which has pretty good speeds but my internet is slow as balls. my neighbor said its due to my Google mesh puck system which is slowing things down. he's recommending some over the top commercial grade system which would probably end up at $1k, not to mention complex. he's a bit on the spectrum when it comes to discussing computer stuff (or anything really lol). figured i would ask here where there are more sensible people.

im in the process of moving into my new house. two story, 3100 sq ft. the house was pre-wired for ethernet. there are ethernet jacks throughout. where i can plug in manually (televisions) i will. but then there's phones and tablets and laptops etc...

ive been told before there are some really good wifi routers that can handle a large two story house. any recommendations? ive googled but seems like i just get comparison articles which almost seem more like advertisements than honest reviews. also something relatively user friendly to set up.

If it were me, I'd use what he's suggesting and see if he can help you set up. He'd probably love to.

For a good router you're looking at $500 or so anyways, and to have a neighbor tech support would be handy.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Im personally using 2 net gear pieces in my house and it works but next time I need anything I think I will be trying Ubiquiti products.

Also though - it might be worth diagnosing the current system.

What download speed do you pay for?
What speed do you get?
what speed is your google system rated for?

At the original access point (where the hardwire comes into your router) can you hook up a hard wired laptop (cat 5 or better) or PC with a gigbit card and see if you have proper speed there? Could be on Fios end, could be a bad cable or device on your end.

My xbox speeds were TERRIBLE - swapped the cable to my laptop and they sucked there too (25mb on 200mb service), swapped for a new network cable and now its all good.

 

[13COBRA]

Im personally using 2 net gear pieces in my house and it works but next time I need anything I think I will be trying Ubiquiti products.

Also though - it might be worth diagnosing the current system.

What download speed do you pay for?
What speed do you get?
what speed is your google system rated for?

At the original access point (where the hardwire comes into your router) can you hook up a hard wired laptop (cat 5 or better) or PC with a gigbit card and see if you have proper speed there? Could be on Fios end, could be a bad cable or device on your end.

My xbox speeds were TERRIBLE - swapped the cable to my laptop and they sucked there too (25mb on 200mb service), swapped for a new network cable and now its all good.

I use Ubiquiti as well.

UMD, two ceiling mounted access points and two wall outlet access points. 5000square foot house, 3 levels, no issues.

Sent from my Potato

 

[CobraBob]

I've been using Eero (mesh) for about 3 years (basement, first floor, second floor) with no issues. It easily handles our iPhones, iPad, two MacBook Pros, two LG tvs, audio receiver, thermostats, three Amazon Echo devices, five outside Ring cameras, and more.

 

[Blown 89]

Consumer wireless is trash, do the over-the-top solution your friend suggested. All of my problems went away overnight when I stopped using the latest/greatest Netgear, Asus, etc garbage.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Consumer wireless is trash, do the over-the-top solution your friend suggested. All of my problems went away overnight when I stopped using the latest/greatest Netgear, Asus, etc garbage.

While I largely agree I think it's worth taking an hour to do some basic trouble shooting before replacing an entire network over a $10 cable causing a bottle neck

 

[rotor_powerd]

AmpliFi | Faster, Whole-Home Wi-Fi

Not Just a Wi-Fi Router, It’s a Mesh Wi-Fi System.

amplifi.com

This is what I use at home since my house isn't wired with Cat5/6. It's affordable, made by Ubiquiti, takes 30 seconds to setup, and works perfectly. The router in the basement with a mesh point on the first and second floor covers 6600sqft with no issue, I have full wireless signal in every room.

That said - unless there is a configuration issue, your current Google setup shouldn't be causing any sort of noticeable slowness. Do you have the default wifi on your modem/router disabled? If not, is it named the same as what your Google devices are advertising?

 

[quad]

currently i have Fios internet which has pretty good speeds but my internet is slow as balls. my neighbor said its due to my Google mesh puck system which is slowing things down. he's recommending some over the top commercial grade system which would probably end up at $1k, not to mention complex. he's a bit on the spectrum when it comes to discussing computer stuff (or anything really lol). figured i would ask here where there are more sensible people.

im in the process of moving into my new house. two story, 3100 sq ft. the house was pre-wired for ethernet. there are ethernet jacks throughout. where i can plug in manually (televisions) i will. but then there's phones and tablets and laptops etc...

ive been told before there are some really good wifi routers that can handle a large two story house. any recommendations? ive googled but seems like i just get comparison articles which almost seem more like advertisements than honest reviews. also something relatively user friendly to set up.

Steve, since your new house has wired outlets throughout all you need to do is place 3 or 4 wireless routers spaced out in the house. You plug an ethernet cable in at the wall jacks and the other end goes into the WAN port of the wireless router.

Then you configure the wireless routers as access points. Most modern routers can do this. ASUS routers are really easy to configure this way. And they don't have to be expensive either. I have not checked the latest prices but $100-150 per router should do. There are expensive $300 or more routers but that would be a waste for an access point. The tricky part is assigning a static IP to each of the wireless access points. Because once you configure them as an access point you'll need to log in via their IP addresses to configure them further.

You'll want to leave your main wireless router as a router with DHCP still enabled. All the rooms in the house would connect back to the main router. You might need a switch next to the router also to handle more than 4 or 5 connections.

Example IP Addresses:

Main Router with DHCP enabled: 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1
Access Point 1: 192.168.1.2 or 192.168.2.2
Access Point 2: 192.168.1.3 or 192.168.2.3
Access Point 3: 192.168.1.4 or 192.168.2.4
Access Point 4: 192.168.1.5 or 192.168.2.5
You can keep adding more depending on how large your home is.

You make the SSID and wifi password identical on all the devices including the main router and the wireless access points. 5 GHZ and 2.4 GHZ can be configured all the same. If you want an oddball wireless access point to have a different SSID for guests or out by the BBQ area you can give that one a different SSID and password. Any device near that unique access point will be able to connect to the internet also since the AP still gets it's internet from the main router.

You will have excellent coverage throughout this house even with "consumer trash" lol!

Wireless Access Points (AP) is the way to go. Nothing beats the performance of that.
And as a bonus all the APs function as switches also! You can plug computers, consoles etc. into any of the available ports on the APs and they'll be connected at wired speeds!

The only thing that will mess up your WIFI is if there is a neighbor nearby that is using the same channel for their WIFI. That will cause traffic on that channel. There's an Android app called WIFI Analyzer that will show you all the WIFI signals as you walk around. I have used that to hop on another channel if a neighbor's WIFI causes issues. The only thing is this will only work as long as the neighbor sticks to their channel. Most people do however since most people don't even know about all these settings and stick to the defaults.

 

[quad]

Consumer wireless is trash, do the over-the-top solution your friend suggested. All of my problems went away overnight when I stopped using the latest/greatest Netgear, Asus, etc garbage.

I have zero issues with consumer trash. Using a combination of ASUS, Cisco, Netgear etc.

 

[quad]

AmpliFi | Faster, Whole-Home Wi-Fi

Not Just a Wi-Fi Router, It’s a Mesh Wi-Fi System.

amplifi.com

This is what I use at home since my house isn't wired with Cat5/6. It's affordable, made by Ubiquiti, takes 30 seconds to setup, and works perfectly. The router in the basement with a mesh point on the first and second floor covers 6600sqft with no issue, I have full wireless signal in every room.

That said - unless there is a configuration issue, your current Google setup shouldn't be causing any sort of noticeable slowness. Do you have the default wifi on your modem/router disabled? If not, is it named the same as what your Google devices are advertising?

Wireless Access Points are faster than Mesh solutions.

Comparison of Mesh WiFi vs Access Points - Which One is Best for Homes

We get why you're here. You want fast and consistent Wi-Fi coverage all across your home or office network so you want to compare Mesh WiFi with multiple Access Points network. The good news is that both wireless technologies are amazing options that are ready to help you connect to…

www.tech21century.com

 

[cobracide]

Asus is pretty much top of the line consumer. Works great for me.

 

[Blown 89]

While I largely agree I think it's worth taking an hour to do some basic trouble shooting before replacing an entire network over a $10 cable causing a bottle neck

The amount of time and money i spent chasing problems and replacing over priced hardware over the years wasn't worth it. Everyone's different though.

ASUS, Netgear, etc are Jack's of all trades and masters of none IMO

While we're on that topic; the crap that passes for high speed cabling these days is astonishingly bad.

 

[cobracide]

First off you need to identify where your issue is. Speedtest your router to verify you are getting good speed from the your isp. Next you should be scanning the wifi channels to see what is CLEAR. Manually select those channels for usage. I am able to do all this with my Asus, you dont need a $1k router to do this. Its as simple as identifying the free channels and using only those. You may need a mesh network to cover a large house and Asus has that as well by simply adding another mesh capable router. Ive used many brands of routers and hands down Asus WRT-merlin custom firmware is has down the best and most intuitive. But until you identify the issues, just dumping money at the issue is kind of pointless. You say you are moving so everything may just work fine at the new place anyways so wait until you are there first.

 

[specracer]

Yes start BASIC 1st, as mentioned, speed test your router with a new cat 6 Ethernet cable (not via WiFi). You must know the baseline speed entering your home before anything else.

 

[CobraBob]

Wireless Access Points are faster than Mesh solutions.

Comparison of Mesh WiFi vs Access Points - Which One is Best for Homes

We get why you're here. You want fast and consistent Wi-Fi coverage all across your home or office network so you want to compare Mesh WiFi with multiple Access Points network. The good news is that both wireless technologies are amazing options that are ready to help you connect to…

www.tech21century.com

You've provided some GREAT info. I'm going to copy/paste it for my future reference. I now totally see the advantage of Wireless Access Points over my Eero mesh setup. That said, I have zero issues with what I have, so there is no need for me to even think about upgrading. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and advice my friend.

 

[98 svt]

I bought a $200 Arris T25 Modem, thinking it had a built in router. Now I'm stuck with it. Anyone need a new modem for $150 shipped.
I waited too long to try to return it.

 

[Stanley]

I got this one in 2017 ASUS AC3100 (RT-AC88U)

Right now it's in a closet upstairs and I get a wifi connection in my garage.

 

[cobracide]

\

I got this one in 2017 ASUS AC3100 (RT-AC88U)

Right now it's in a closet upstairs and I get a wifi connection in my garage.

View attachment 1739191

Exacty. i have the RT-AX88U and it encodes and decodes VPN flawlessly with 4 cpu cores. More features than i will ever need.

 

[Stanley]

\

Exacty. i have the RT-AX88U and it encodes and decodes VPN flawlessly with 4 cpu cores. More features than i will ever need.

What VPN do you use? I've been thinking about using one.