I've had an ASUS Dark Knight for a few years. I don't know if it's too much interference, too many "things" connecting to the network, or what, but we've been having a lot of trouble connecting to the network lately. I put an extender at the other end of the house, but it seemed to make the problem worse. I'm thinking of putting a second router at the other end of the house to share some load. I could go read Amazon reviews, but I figured you guys can tell me what's the "must have" router these days.

You may or may/not need new equipment.
You need to analyze your wifi network.
You could be having interference issues, attenuation issues, configuration issues, or even client issues.
There is software that can help you ~ some free and some not ~ MetaGeek, etc.
Also physical placement of the wireless AP can make a huge difference.
You can also disable the wifi part in a router and strategically place AP's in your house.
I know someone will come along and say xxxx(cough...Apple,etc) is great and I never had a problem ......
but I suggest getting a handle on the real problem first.
YMMV

I have had an Apple AirPort Extreme for 3-4 years and have had absolutely no trouble with it. I bought it refurbished on the Apple website.

Also consider the Time Capsule.

Mike

Both of the above ^^. Boom.

Just an FYI, Apple supposedly disbanded their Airport products network development team so the product line is likely going away and who knows how the future support will be. Basically, you'll be taking your chances on the Airport products at this point in time unless Apple changes it's strategy again.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/21...s-to-other-projects/

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
You may or may/not need new equipment.
You need to analyze your wifi network.
You could be having interference issues, attenuation issues, configuration issues, or even client issues.
There is software that can help you ~ some free and some not ~ MetaGeek, etc.
Also physical placement of the wireless AP can make a huge difference.
You can also disable the wifi part in a router and strategically place AP's in your house.
I know someone will come along and say xxxx(cough...Apple,etc) is great and I never had a problem ......
but I suggest getting a handle on the real problem first.
YMMV

Excellent advise (as usual). Analyze first. Only buy more hardware if warranted.

The recommendation to disable the WiFi output from your router is what I personally did in my home. I disabled it and installed a Ubiquiti AC WAP on the ceiling in the center of the house, and my WiFi signal is 5 bars regardless where I am in the house. Installing your router in the optimal location in your home may not be reasonable given all the connections running in and out of it, so installing a separate WAP, strategically placed, seems a far better solution. Sure solved all of my WiFi issues.

I had the same experience as you Dallas. My old TWC rented router was performing poorly, and the extender I installed only worked for a short time before it started acting up and made things worse.

From my post in this thread:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...570097024#9570097024

quote:

Originally posted by Brett B:
Yes I understand that part regarding signal strength. I am looking for a decent consumer grade solution since I have some physical limitations in my house that probably can't be covered by a single WiFi router.

How is this for a plan? Purchase this TP-Link AC1750 bundle:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

This gets me a Time Warner compatible cable modem with an AC1750 WiFi router to cover the main portion of the house. This will pay for itself within a year by removing the TWC rental all-in-one unit.

I add this TP-Link Access Point to the NE side of the house using the hard wired CAT6 that is already in place:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0XZ1TU?th=1

Will this setup enable me to have a single homogenous network with improved coverage area?

I went with the above approach and my WiFi now works better than I ever imagined. The Archer C7 by itself increased the coverage in my house from ~70% to ~90% and it was very easy to setup. I then installed the EAP225 Access Point (instead of the EAP245 in that above link) on the other side of the house where I had already run CAT6 cable. Setup on the AP was less intuitive but I was able to get it running just fine without having to call tech support. Both have the same network name and password so I now have one large homogeneous WiFi network. I set the Archer C7 to channel 1 and the AP to channel 11 and it works great. Perfect seamless transition when moving from one network device to the other as I move around the house. With the AP running I now have wifi coverage in my garage, deck, and most of the yard.

The AP requires you download and install a free controller software to a host computer that is on the network to set it up. Once that setup is complete though the host computer does not need to keep running for the AP to work. That software is a very useful tool that enables you to do quite a bit of network analysis yourself.

I had received good advice on here to just disable the TWC router WiFi and install a central single or multiple access points that were all the same device. I understand the reasoning behind it but the amount of wire routing, cutting, and refinishing work it would have required in my house to do so was extensive. I was also paying rental fees on the TWC router, so to get rid of it I would have had to purchase a router to run the multiple APs anyway. So the Archer C7 made sense and has done exactly what I needed.

A co-worker of mine showed me the network analyzer app on his android phone. That would have been great to help with wifi analysis and setup but I couldn't find a similar looking app for an Apple device.

If you have an Android phone or laptop, install farproc's WiFi Analyzer and find out what may be going on with your airspace.

Before anybody can make a reasonable recommendation, it would help to know how big is the home, how many floors, plus how many and what kinds of devices you're trying to support.

Recommend dual-band, in any event, and have the devices that can use 5GHz use it, so as to de-clutter 2.4GHz.

Sorry: Can't recommend a WiFi router. Don't use them. I let a router handle all the routing and WiFi is supplied by an Access Point. The AP I chose wouldn't be the best choice for Joe Average Homeowner, as it's designed with Enterprise deployments in mind, so it's a bit complicated.