Good Wifi routrer brand.

What brand of router you would trust more than another? I have to help find one for a relative. I find that my Google Wifi would fit well but it’s kinda expansive. The Linksys, D-Link, TP-Link seems the same to me. So could use some recommandations.

Thanks.

Conversation 29 comments

  • bharris

    11 November, 2018 - 10:49 pm

    <p>Budget &amp; needs are definitely factors. If they live in a one bedroom condo and have 3 devices, the $80 router at Office Depot may be fine. If they need to cover a larger area or have a lot of devices, spend the money and get something good. I have used an Asus AC5300 for about a year and it has worked flawlessly without a bunch of tweaking. Not cheap at around $380 but rock solid.</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    12 November, 2018 - 12:18 am

    <p>I like the eero's. The fact that it auto updates is a huge plus.</p>

    • Jeffsters

      15 November, 2018 - 3:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#365253">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>Read their terms and conditions and privacy policy CAREFULLY! There’s a reason they require you to provide PII info or they shut you down and it’s not security! Eeros is a data collection tool!</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    12 November, 2018 - 4:02 am

    <p>I am a big fan of the AVM Fritz!Box series. They also integrate VOIP and allow analogue or ISDN phones to be attached and used over VOIP.</p>

  • lecter

    12 November, 2018 - 8:31 am

    <p>I love the Linksys WRT range of routers…the WRT1900 seems to be about 130 bucks on Amazon. With its kid brother the WRT1200 I am able to have over 30ish wireless &amp; wired devices and it never skips a beat, they have great CPUs and RAM, overpowered, basically. All other routers are pretty much OK if you don't have more than 10 devices, but once you get past that mark, their processing issues show. </p>

  • Polycrastinator

    12 November, 2018 - 10:38 am

    <p>A single Google WiFi unit is $130, down to $100 or $90 if you can catch it on sale, and for many homes, a single unit is enough. If that's still too expensive, I'd go for the tried and tested TP-Link Archer C7, which is great bang for your buck (but also $80, so you can often get a single Google WiFi unit for barely more if you catch a sale).</p>

  • jmwoods301

    12 November, 2018 - 1:23 pm

    <p>Any AC router in your price range that OpenWRT firmware supports…</p><p><br></p><p>openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864_ac-wifi</p>

  • infloop

    Premium Member
    12 November, 2018 - 9:16 pm

    <p>It depends on the budget and the requirements.</p><p><br></p><p>Mesh systems like Google Wifi or Ubiquiti AmpliFi are an option if you don't want to wire everything up.</p><p><br></p><p>Otherwise, for the all-in-one consumer routers, the ones from brands like the ones you listed should be fine. I've also heard people liking the routers from Asus.</p><p><br></p><p>Depending on technical skill level, you could look into using third-party firmware for supported models like OpenWRT, Asuswrt-Merlin for Asus routers, etc.</p>

    • dragonqueen

      13 November, 2018 - 5:10 am

      <blockquote><a href="#365644"><em>In reply to infloop:</em></a><em> </em></blockquote><blockquote><em>THX for the info</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Tony Barrett

    13 November, 2018 - 6:59 am

    <p>I actually deployed Google's wifi mesh a few months ago, replacing a mish mash of a wifi router, access points and extenders that never really worked very well. Best thing I ever did. Expensive? Relatively. Cheap though considering literally zero management and problems ever since. Everything just 'works' now.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2018 - 7:26 am

    <p>I'm a fan of the Amplifi HD mesh system, but that sounds like it might be a little out of the price range if Google Wifi didn't fit. Amplifi has a new Amplifi Instant offering that starts at $99: <a href="https://www.amplifi.com/instant/&quot; target="_blank">https://www.amplifi.com/instant/</a></p><p><br></p><p>Setup is very easy with the mobile app. Monitoring is also easy. Will auto update if you want. Support is fantastic and very responsive.</p>

  • martinusv2

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 9:40 pm

    <p>Thanks for all the suggestions :)</p>

  • Bats

    14 November, 2018 - 9:52 pm

    <p>I have had the Google Wifi for over a year. You know what? I completely and totally forgot about it, until you mentioned it. I think that's a statement of how good the Google mesh system is. Anyway…..the Google Wifi is going on sale next week (Black Friday-Cyber Monday), I believe, for $250 or less. Word of advice (literally), ……Ebates.</p>

  • dcdevito

    15 November, 2018 - 8:09 am

    <p>I have a Google OnHub (their first router) along with 2 Google WiFi routers in mesh mode. They're mindlessly simple to set up and work with my unlocator DNS server setup without issue. It's the only time I've ever had reliable maintenance free wireless in my home. And the best part is they update themselves.</p><p><br></p><p>The only one issue I ran into was not being able to set up a proxy to avoid blackout local hockey games with my chromecast (chromecast DNS is hard coded), so I settled for Unlocator to handle it.</p>

  • tibbydudeza

    27 March, 2019 - 1:28 am

    <p>Most consumer stuff are all mediocre crap made in the lowest cost factory with hacked together firmware from an ODM that no longer supports it after a few months.</p><p><br></p><p>Ubiquiti – they are costly and a pain to configure but once they up and running you can just leave them be with no need to think about them.</p>

    • rvanallen

      Premium Member
      29 March, 2019 - 10:23 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415819">In reply to tibbydudeza:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, Ubiquiti&nbsp;UniFi is business grade. Support is excellent and product solid. Perhaps overkill for some homeowners use but recommended nonetheless. I come from a Tech background of some 30+ years so I enjoy the operations. Have installed in other homes as well. Never have to go back. It just works. Lots of YouTube resources. </p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        29 March, 2019 - 10:55 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#416373">In reply to rvanallen:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, we installed around 30 last year, plug it in, sync with the configuration server, job done.</p><p>Same for upgrades. Rolling out profiles to all devices or just a subset. The whole configruation is very easy and flexible – once you have the configuration server up and running.</p>

  • waethorn

    27 March, 2019 - 11:13 am

    <p>Next router I buy is going to be an x86 SBC with dual-LAN and wireless, and an unmanaged network switch. And I'll load it with Linux and configure it myself so that I know what's loaded on it, as well as be able to get software updates for the lifespan of the hardware.</p>

    • Piyer

      29 March, 2019 - 11:25 am

      <blockquote><a href="#415898"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a><em> I am also planning the same. Separate Router from Access Points. Keep the Router as simple as possible, no wi-fi etc, so minimal footprint.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Back-haul the access points through wired connection to the Router. The mesh etc is mainly for the wireless part, nothing to do with the Router.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>With Win 10 IoT, I am hoping to see a Routing/NAT capability, then with IoT enterprise version with 10 year updates and Microsoft Defender in place, the Router would be secure. With the new always connected ARM devices coming in the near future, this sort iof configuration would have a fail-over to cellular built-in the device</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • BigM72

    27 March, 2019 - 8:14 pm

    <p>I have netgear orbi.</p><p>But do they actually need mesh, depending on size of house/apartment, a single powerful router may be enough.</p>

  • JWadle

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2019 - 6:14 pm

    <p>Google Mesh is by far the best WiFi router I've ever owned (and I've had many). The extensibility of the mesh architecture combined with the Google Mesh app makes installation and ongoing monitoring a pleasure. How about testing the actual transfer speed to each device on your network with a single click in the app? Magical.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      31 March, 2019 - 6:56 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#417227">In reply to JWadle:</a></em></blockquote><p>Agreed. </p>

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