Wifi Router Recommendations?
 

The time has come to replace my old trusty TP-Link AC1750, since it does not effectively reach the far corners of my 2800sq/ft two-story house. Those of you who are tech-inclined, what routers are you running that give you good speeds at distance and through floors and walls? Would a mesh system be the way to go? Thanks!

Mesh would work, but hard-wired access points are more better. My setup:

Ubiquiti USG Router
Unifi 24 port POE switch
3x nanoHD access points
1x FlexHD access point

Rock-solid 5Ghz coverage, excellent 2.4Ghz coverage outside.

Keep in mind that while lots of routers are able to blast signal long distances, your client devices won't have the juice to transmit back. That's why multiple access points provide such a better experience. Mesh systems are easier to set up, but may have throughput limitations. Plus you're still stuck with whatever limited routing controls they let you have.

EDIT: If you are fine with the firmware and routing of your current device, you can just add additional access points and run cable from your current router.

Buy another AC1750 and use one as an access point. I've got an AC1750 as my router and my old Buffalo as an access point for better coverage. I also reflash them to mainline dd-wrt but that's definitely optional, I think the TP-Link software is a dd-wrt fork anyway.


Over the summer I played with the radio settings while working on the porch to see what worked best, which was a bonus of the full dd-wrt reflash with all the fun things to adjust.

Good advice, thanks. It sounds like wiring another access point is the way to go. I was trying to be lazy and not have to run wire!

I'm with dleavitt.
After going through many different brands, Asus, Motorola, D-link, Linksys. I can say, with the upmost confidence that Ubiquiti gear is far better than anything else on the market. I run their USG router with two Unify Pro APs(kinda overkill, but i have a lot of stupid smart bulbs and other smart crap around and outside my house). With how well cell phones switch networks to favor the best one i didn't see a mesh system being useful. But I can't not recommend it as i've never tried it.

At first i was a little weary about the Ubiquity software and how it would be a bit challenging even though i'm somewhat tech savvy, but honestly it's the easiest. It's so unbelievably simple. Everything just plugged in and worked right with almost no tweaking. Also the UI is awesome, you get to monitor so much.

I've been happy with my Amplifi setup. With the router on one side of the house, and two mesh points...............I get 100+ mb down everywhere in the house. Including the garage (opposite side of our oddly shaped house on a corner lot) and the patio outside.

Paired with an Arris SB8200 modem.

With dd-wrt you can make it a wireless repeater as well. I don't remember if the stock software allowed it, I guess you can check since you still have it :)

I haven't tried the wireless repeater mode, I was probably going to for my garage though since it's detached. But right now it's cold and snowy.