Router recommendation

[d_fitzs25]

I am looking for a router because my apartment next year does not supply them. I am probably the only person who will be using it with my desktop wired and around 4-5 devices being used on wifi at once at maximum. I am confused on what is good/needed in a router and do not want to spend too much money if I do not need to, but I also do not need the cheapest option. The current router I am looking at is the RAX50 but I'm not sure if this is too over the top or a good option. 

 

If you have any suggestions for a different router or different place I should post my question please let me know. 

[Sorenson]

I tend to go by the rule if it looks like an alien space ship its probably a bad router. I tried the top of the line asus router in my two story home and it was beat by a cheaper mesh wifi system. I would either go with the eero pro 6 tri band or a netgear orbi solution. The eero pro 6 tribune is nice since it supports wifi 6 and you can add the mesh extenders to it in the future if you move to a larger place.

 

https://eero.com/shop/eero-pro-6

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, d_fitzs25 said:

I am looking for a router because my apartment next year does not supply them. I am probably the only person who will be using it with my desktop wired and around 4-5 devices being used on wifi at once at maximum. I am confused on what is good/needed in a router and do not want to spend too much money if I do not need to, but I also do not need the cheapest option. The current router I am looking at is the RAX50 but I'm not sure if this is too over the top or a good option. 

 

If you have any suggestions for a different router or different place I should post my question please let me know. 

Rule of thumb. You want at least WiFi 5 (Wireless AC). The other thing is if you have a fast internet connection you need to ensure the router can provide those speeds. Many people get hung up on a router having Gigabit Ethernet ports, but not understanding that thats needed for any internet speeds above 100 Mbps. As a result they assume that any router that has Gigabit ports can do Gigabit internet, which is not the case. 

 

Budget wise TP Link is probably your best option. If you want to spend a little more, maybe ASUS only because most of their routers support AI Mesh, and if you end up having poor WiFi in your apartment, you can buy another ASUS router that supports AI mesh and DYI a mesh system. 

[d_fitzs25]

On 6/4/2021 at 6:37 AM, Donut417 said:

Rule of thumb. You want at least WiFi 5 (Wireless AC). The other thing is if you have a fast internet connection you need to ensure the router can provide those speeds. Many people get hung up on a router having Gigabit Ethernet ports, but not understanding that thats needed for any internet speeds above 100 Mbps. As a result they assume that any router that has Gigabit ports can do Gigabit internet, which is not the case. 

 

Budget wise TP Link is probably your best option. If you want to spend a little more, maybe ASUS only because most of their routers support AI Mesh, and if you end up having poor WiFi in your apartment, you can buy another ASUS router that supports AI mesh and DYI a mesh system. 

So would you recommend the RT-AX86U from ASUS, the vertical sitting router? The other person which replied recommended the Eero pro 6 which also looks like a good options however it only has one extra ethernet port which probably won't be a problem but could be. 

[d_fitzs25]

On 6/3/2021 at 11:10 PM, Sorenson said:

I tend to go by the rule if it looks like an alien space ship its probably a bad router. I tried the top of the line asus router in my two story home and it was beat by a cheaper mesh wifi system. I would either go with the eero pro 6 tri band or a netgear orbi solution. The eero pro 6 tribune is nice since it supports wifi 6 and you can add the mesh extenders to it in the future if you move to a larger place.

 

https://eero.com/shop/eero-pro-6

Do you think the router only having one extra ethernet port should be something I should worry about? I am planning, as of right now, to be using on my desktop with a wired connection but I could add more in the future. Because of this do you think another option would be good or are there decent ethernet splitters that I could buy later down the line which would solve that problem anyways?  

[Donut417]

9 hours ago, d_fitzs25 said:

So would you recommend the RT-AX86U from ASUS, the vertical sitting router? The other person which replied recommended the Eero pro 6 which also looks like a good options however it only has one extra ethernet port which probably won't be a problem but could be. 

The one thing about the ASUS router is it seems to only have two radios. 1x 2.4 Ghz and 1x 5Ghz. From my understanding of how AI mesh works, one band would have to act as dedicated backhaul. Hopefully someone will chime in if thats not the case. The ASUS router does however offer the normal 1 Gbps WAN, 4x 1Gbps LAN but also have a 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port. Depending on your internet speed that could be important. Comcast decided to move its Gigabit plan to 1.2 Gbps, so there is that. 

 

The Eero Pro 6 has a triple band design. Meaning one of the 5 Ghz radios is dedicated backhaul for any of the satellite units if you go that route. As far as a lack of LAN ports goes, thats what a Network Switch is for. 

 

If it were me, Id choose the ASUS product only because of the 2.5Gbps port. That could come in handy on both the LAN side for faster data transfers or the WAN side if I were to upgrade to faster service.