WiFi router ?s

[NT2C]

So reading NT2Cs thread on the cell booster made me think to ask about the wifi router I have.  I am a tech idiot when it comes to this stuff.

Our system always seems to lag and have performance issues.  I don't know where to I start, how to decide what to upgrade too, or even if I need to?  Maybe there's something I could do to the existing system that'd make it better instead of a replacement?

Help?

What router do you have, what square footage are you trying to cover, and what kind of and how many devices are you running on it?

Personally, I have a TPLink gaming router, but that's probably serious overkill for you. 

In the past, I've had good experience with Netgear, which has a wide range of options.  TPLink is a solid brand that also has a wide range of options.  It's really a matter of figuring out which option is right for your particular situation.  There are good routers for under $100 that will probably work great for you, depending on what you need.

I have the 7200 version of that and at this point in its life cycle, it's getting pretty old.  I'll probably be upgrading it soon and making this one an access point in the garage.

[NT2C]

Still working on this, and yes, I move slow on tech stuff most times...

Opinions on this router?  It's on sale at Costco.  I read the tech specs, but not sure if it has the MUMIMO thingy boss man was talking about.  Thanks for any insight.


https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/routers/rax50/


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A 6 stream is pretty minimal for my house and that's with just two adults.  You might want to consider bumping up to the AX6000 or AX11000 for better traffic flow, especially if you have kids.

[SCBrian]

Figure this is the best thread to drop this review in (thought there was another but I cant find it) as an alternate to a mesh setup. 
About a year ago, I decided to bring internet to my shed/workroom.  It's a 10x30ish metal building in the backyard.  Although I got some WiFi signal in the yard, the shed was a dead zone, being essentially a Faraday cage.  This also made it difficult to use a mesh setup. 
I went with a Powerline Ethernet adapter.  Essentially a setup that pushes the internet through the wiring of the house. 

The way the adapter works is you run a cat 5 from your router in the house, into an adapter that is plugged directly into the wall.  (No surge strip, etc).  You plug another adapter in where you want internet.  You hope everything works in your favor. There is no 'formula' for if it will work or not due to different house construction techniques and wiring.  Ideally you want to be on the same circuit, and less than a couple hundred feet away. 
In my situation, I had to jump circuits (Adapter "A" was in a bedroom on a bedroom circuit and "B" was out back on a circuit all it's own.) Still seems to work ok.  If everything connects, speed is determined by distance, noise on the circuit, and number of devices. in my situation, I have a fiber line into the house +/-1gig, and am pushing 170mbps currently in the shed. 

There are a number of adapters out there (and some security concerns with the older models). My shopping requirements were "Cheap-ish", "Decent Reviews", "Established company", "NO SLEEP MODE".  Other factors - it would 24/7 run a security camera, and be a hotspot for low end internet access (ie. non gaming, maybe some music streaming, etc ) 
The sleep mode is important since I needed it to function all the time and not lick into power saving. 
 
The first one I tried had an end point that was "all in one".   That is it functioned as both an end point, and a wifi router.  It was a Netgear brand (NETGEAR PowerLINE 1000 Mbps WiFi, 802.11ac, 1 Gigabit Port. - was ~80$) It caused a good bit of grief with me as I kept having issues with the camera dropping out, etc.   Turns out, there was a 'sleep mode' in the hardware.  I turned the sleep mode off, and it seemed to function Ok, for a bit but then started getting incredibly hot.  It's just not designed for 24/7.  Returned to amazon and back to square one.

Next (and current) attempt landed me with a setup from TPLink (AV600 ~$30).  No wifi endpoint on this one, but decent reviews online.  I thought I had an old router laying around, but was mistaken and had to purchase a cheap one off Amazon.  Enter the Tenda N301 @ <20$. It allowed bridge mode with an incoming Ethernet signal.  In layman's terms, it played nice with my fiber modem, while getting a signal down the line. 
It's been working flawlessly for about a year now. 
Just like mentioning that as an alternative in a specific type of situation.
 

[NapalmMan67]

Still working on this, and yes, I move slow on tech stuff most times...

Opinions on this router?  It's on sale at Costco.  I read the tech specs, but not sure if it has the MUMIMO thingy boss man was talking about.  Thanks for any insight.


https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/routers/rax50/


.

A 6 stream is pretty minimal for my house and that's with just two adults.  You might want to consider bumping up to the AX6000 or AX11000 for better traffic flow, especially if you have kids.

Ok, more Greek speak to me, but I'll take your word on that.  It had a lot of good reviews that I saw, and was on sale for $129.00 at Costco. Only two of us in the house, 2 cell phones, a kindle and laptop- never all in use at once.

The search continues...


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[NT2C]

Still working on this, and yes, I move slow on tech stuff most times...

Opinions on this router?  It's on sale at Costco.  I read the tech specs, but not sure if it has the MUMIMO thingy boss man was talking about.  Thanks for any insight.


https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/routers/rax50/


.

A 6 stream is pretty minimal for my house and that's with just two adults.  You might want to consider bumping up to the AX6000 or AX11000 for better traffic flow, especially if you have kids.

Ok, more Greek speak to me, but I'll take your word on that.  It had a lot of good reviews that I saw, and was on sale for $129.00 at Costco. Only two of us in the house, 2 cell phones, a kindle and laptop- never all in use at once.

The search continues...


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Then that one will probably suffice.