Time for a new wireless router: share your suggestions and experience here

[SpeedyChix]

All mac/apple household. pair of Airport Extremes in service now (5- & 7-years old).
Xfinity cable in an area with 32 channels, have a new cable modem ordered to replace current unit.

While I'm in network mode, started to look at replacing the AEs with a single unit like the Synology RT2600AC located centrally on the first floor or a minimal mesh setup (Netgear Orbi or AmpliFi).

Experience on any of these? Would you do same again, etc.

[NYCfixie]

1) Call XFinity and have them turn off internal WiFi on the device they supplied. It will stop people from stealing (i.e. using) your bandwidth. You know how you always see those "hotspots" that you can connect to as a customer, those are all people's ISP provided devices. Stop giving your bandwidth away for free.

2a) Google Wifi 3-pack. Easy, if not easier, to setup than Apple Airports. Great coverage. Great bandwidth. very small devices. Doesn't look bad either. Setup several for friends/family.

2b) Eero HomePack (3 devices). Highly recommended by colleagues (I work in technology - servers, network, computers, etc) as an alternative to Google. They also set them up for friends/family.

3) Did you really complete step 1? If not, call you ISP and have them turn OFF internal WiFi on the device they gave you.


P.S. I replaced my personal very, very, very old Airport Extreme with a Google WiFi. My wife and I live in a 750sqft. apartment so all we needed was 1 device.

[cny rider]

1) Call XFinity and have them turn off internal WiFi on the device they supplied. It will stop people from stealing (i.e. using) your bandwidth. You know how you always see those "hotspots" that you can connect to as a customer, those are all people's ISP provided devices. Stop giving your bandwidth away for free.

2a) Google Wifi 3-pack. Easy, if not easier, to setup than Apple Airports. Great coverage. Great bandwidth. very small devices. Doesn't look bad either. Setup several for friends/family.

2b) Eero HomePack (3 devices). Highly recommended by colleagues (I work in technology - servers, network, computers, etc) as an alternative to Google. They also set them up for friends/family.

3) Did you really complete step 1? If not, call you ISP and have them turn OFF internal WiFi on the device they gave you.


P.S. I replaced my personal very, very, very old Airport Extreme with a Google WiFi. My wife and I live in a 750sqft. apartment so all we needed was 1 device.

I don't know jack about modern technology, but we just got rid of our ancient Airport, and went with the Google 3 pack.
So simple to set up, even I couldn't screw it up. And it works flawlessly (about 3 months so far).

[SpeedyChix]

1) Call XFinity and have them turn off internal WiFi on the device they supplied. It will stop people from stealing (i.e. using) your bandwidth. You know how you always see those "hotspots" that you can connect to as a customer, those are all people's ISP provided devices. Stop giving your bandwidth away for free.

2a) Google Wifi 3-pack. Easy, if not easier, to setup than Apple Airports. Great coverage. Great bandwidth. very small devices. Doesn't look bad either. Setup several for friends/family.

2b) Eero HomePack (3 devices). Highly recommended by colleagues (I work in technology - servers, network, computers, etc) as an alternative to Google. They also set them up for friends/family.

3) Did you really complete step 1? If not, call you ISP and have them turn OFF internal WiFi on the device they gave you.


P.S. I replaced my personal very, very, very old Airport Extreme with a Google WiFi. My wife and I live in a 750sqft. apartment so all we needed was 1 device.

Don't use the xfinity gear. Have always bought our own cable modem w/o wifi (no router) and use a separate router (presently one of the Apple Extremes as a router/WAP)
Mesh with separate backhaul seems like it would be best?

Will look at eero and google.

Any insight to minimize bufferbloat? It's historically been bad.
The chipset in the Arris DOCSIS 3.1 may improve some of it. It's overkill for our current provisioned speed. It will be able to bond to all of all available channels.

Thanks

[SpeedyChix]

Any TP-Link Deco users here?

Ethernet backhaul isn't separate but reviews seem solid.
Was going to run ethernet from basement unit that will be router as well off the modem, ethernet to first floor unit and put the third unit upstairs on wi-fi.

[rec head]

I have had the Eero 3 pack since they came out. Super easy and great coverage on a 4 story building. When I got it it was the easiest mesh out there but it seems like others are catching up. If you need more than one access point mesh really seems like the way to go.

[Two]

Third the Eero. They just work. The Google WiFi also looks good, but they don't have the best track record as far as abandoning home products seemingly arbitrarily. Trust is huge for me -- whoever controls your router controls all your computer traffic. What they secure/protect/allow can have far reaching implications.

[Too Tall]

I'm with you on the Arris DOCSIS 3.1. Me happy.

[j44ke]

I have an Amplifi Alien mesh router plus one mesh point. There was one month or so where we were having difficulty negotiating network collisions between devices but either an Apple update or an Amplifi update (or both) solved it. And except for that month, everything has been solid. My wife does everything for work virtually - computer, video, phone system all go through the router - and we’ve had no problems. The router is GB compatible at least and whatever the future protocol is - WiFi6 I think - so should be good for a while. Our connection is less than a GB connection - 400mb/s or something. I thought it was expensive but now it seems like a good buy due to the stability.

[dashDustin]

I thought it was expensive but now it seems like a good buy due to the stability.

I feel the same about our Eero setup. Has been rock solid.

Went all through covid with wifey working from home, boys schooling from home, and all of the above doing workouts on the Mirror without any issues. We're setup with ATT Fiber. The one wired connection sees 900gb down, but all of the wireless devices are in the 500 range, which is still plenty good enough*. 2400 sq ft house with 1 main router and now 3 beacons instead of just 2. I haven't found any dead zones in my house, but we don't have basements here.

*I'm told ATT has a new router available that would help, but I don't really see a need to go that route just yet.