Upgrade Suggestions

[Sts610]

I currently have a horrible Zyxel Emg2926(free rental from my ISP) and the range is absolutely terrible.  The speeds are fine as I only have a 120Mb down and 30Mb up, that's all that's available in my area.  I am looking to have way more range as well as a constant connection.  At times the router goes down completely and after a factory reset (pushed by my ISP) it works for  a little while.  I have around 15 clients connected from various Google homes, phones, tablets, game consoles and a smart TV so I'm not looking for an extender as the router seems to be overtired.  I also have smart light switches and WiFi timers running off the router (which messed up my pool balancing as the router went down and did not send the signal to my timer to turn it off).  Basically I'm looking for something for a 2 story home with better range and more reliability for around 100 CAD if possible,  I'm going to try to hassle my ISP but might be better off spending my own money and negotiating a reduction on my bill to compensate for this 'free' rental.

 

Thanks for all your help!

[berberries]

An Asus AC68U second hand should run around that price, and if you can put it right in the center of the house it should be enough range

[Bombastinator]

So well over 15 connections.  That’s not overtired that’s run ragged.  8 is too many for older routers.  One option if you don’t want to go with an industrial mesh router ($) would be to set up zones.  Basically put up a whole other router system (or two) and attach all your light switches and “smart” (I hate that term) stuff to it instead.It’s a pita and has issues but it would make more connections.  Things get complicated quickly.