Looking for router recommendations

[Fleurious]

Currently using an ASUS RT-AC66 that is getting long in the tooth and constantly dropping wifi. Just looking for something reliable and current.

Are there any standout routers in the $75-250 range, or lemons to avoid? My PC will stay hardwired so raw wireless throughput isn’t a concern.

Currently looking at the TP-Link Archer AXE75 as it is on sale for $199 but I don’t believe tri-band or 5/6ghz will be useful due to lack of range/penetration.

 

[Yougotonejob]

pull cables through wall + get a used ASUS and make a mesh. so you keep your old one as a mesh unit and get a newish router as your main.

 

[claes]

Personally I’d look at uniquiti or mitrok in that price range.

 

[Lost_Troll]

Yea, I would look at the new MikroTik L009 WiFi Router or the HAP-AX3. They have a phone APP that you can use to set them up, which is pretty easy now.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Currently using an ASUS RT-AC66 that is getting long in the tooth and constantly dropping wifi. Just looking for something reliable and current.

Are there any standout routers in the $75-250 range, or lemons to avoid? My PC will stay hardwired so raw wireless throughput isn’t a concern.

Currently looking at the TP-Link Archer AXE75 as it is on sale for $199 but I don’t believe tri-band or 5/6ghz will be useful due to lack of range/penetration.

I did a bit of looking around and figured I could maybe use my old Asus AC1900 with their AIMesh and setup the old router in the far corner of the house that gets slightly worse connection than anywhere else (also, I want to add a ring camera on the shed in the backyard so the AIMesh may be a useful tool to help strengthen the signal out back without having to pick up a range extender). With that in mind that limited me to finding another ASUS router. I found a AX82U for $179 - lots of folks saying solid coverage in large houses (of upwards of 3000sqft) so I just picked it up about 2 hours ago and finally got it setup just now. So far so good, no complaints.

I haven't setup the AIMesh yet, so I'm not sure how well that'll work. It'll probably be something I do over the long weekend.

Main reason I got a new router is like you, wife and kids have been lately that the connection for their devices keep dropping for about the last month (long story short, about a month back the router bugged out and was blocking all activity, I had to factory reset it and I guess it's been kind of intermittent with the wifi ever since).

The kids complained that for about 15 minutes they were without internet and now that it's back up (using same SSID and password) a handful of devices aren't auto connecting and they're begging me for the password. My daughter told me she wants me to write down the password for her....I laughed. I told her it's one of the things that gives me power over them! HAHAHAHAHA!

Also, I do like the ASUS cell app. I can quickly block internet connections on any device.

 

[eidairaman1]

pull cables through wall + get a used ASUS and make a mesh. so you keep your old one as a mesh unit and get a newish router as your main.

Yeah not always the case

 

[Fleurious]

Personally I’d look at uniquiti or mitrok in that price range.

Yea, I would look at the new MikroTik L009 WiFi Router or the HAP-AX3. They have a phone APP that you can use to set them up, which is pretty easy now.

I’ll need to look into those brands as i’ve never heard of either, is there anything about them that makes them stand out against Netgear/TPLink/Asus? The phone app is neat but i’d never use it, I prefer to set the router up once and be done with it.

 

[claes]

Somehow I misspelled ubiquiti…

They’re both business class/prosumer companies and generally provide more stability and better performance than consumer products.

 

[Kursah]

I run a mini PC as my pfSense and a Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Pro, and it is AMAZING compared to my old Asus. The Asus spent more time as an AP, I've had the pfsense box since 2016-ish, still runs great.

I agree with @claes UBNT is the way to go, easy to setup with the UniFi Controller software (this goes on your computer, server, laptop, cloud hosted, or a UniFi Cloud Key device, it can run all the time to monitor or set-it-and-forget-it for the AP and only run software for updates), reliable, and better performance than your standard consumer grade stuff. Even though its easy to setup, it is a little more effort than consumer grade stuff.

I haven't used it, but I've heard that some folks tend to prefer OPNSense over pfSense for home use. If you have an old PC with 2 nics, or get a cheap NIC card you can build a beast of a router...but most folks don't need that much router. The Asus is a decent enough router, and if its not crashing or inexplicably dropping packets/data, disable wifi on it, and get a real access point.

For folks that don't like UBNT's way of doing things, EnGenius is another option to consider. Though they too have devices that rely on a centralized software to manage them, iirc they still offer AP's that can be configured at the AP's IP address like your router is.

 

[hat]

You may be able to keep your current router. ASUS routers of that type are known for overheating issues. I had an RT-N66R that would show odd behavior until I drilled a hole in the top cover and stuck a case fan there. No more issues. If you don't use the USB port, you could even modify an old case fan by sacrificing any old USB cable and wiring the fan to USB and the port will power it.

 

[eidairaman1]

You may be able to keep your current router. ASUS routers of that type are known for overheating issues. I had an RT-N66R that would show odd behavior until I drilled a hole in the top cover and stuck a case fan there. No more issues. If you don't use the USB port, you could even modify an old case fan by sacrificing any old USB cable and wiring the fan to USB and the port will power it.

I had a asus unit die on me, replaced with netgear, no issues

 

[andersun9]

In the $75-250 range, there are several reliable routers worth considering. The TP-Link Archer AXE75 is a good choice, offering Wi-Fi 6 support and solid performance. If you don't need tri-band or 5/6GHz capabilities, you can explore routers like the TP-Link Archer A7 or the ASUS RT-AC86U, which offer excellent reliability and performance within your budget. When selecting a router, also consider the specific features you require, such as gigabit Ethernet ports, range, and ease of setup.