Best Router/Modems?

[CC268]

FWIW I have an AmpliFi system with a couple of extra access points ("mesh points") covering a sprawling two-story "house" and it's been flawless for a bit over a year (not long, but there you go). Absolutely painless to set up and manage. I was surprised at the coverage of the mesh, given the area I needed covered and what it has to penetrate.

Nauga,
meshy

Yea seems like a great system, although Orbi would be my first choice. I've decided for now I'm just going to rent the one we have for $10/month. But I think sometime down the road I'd like to update to something like that.

 

[sferguson524]

Lordy I didn’t think of the low end SonicWalls. We had a lot of problems with one in commercial service but it was mostly because it was old and overloaded. We use them for remote sites at people’s houses for nailed up IPSEC tunnels and they work fine. Forgot they can be had with WiFi built in now. They’re decent little firewalls.

I have one sitting in my garage that i'd be willing to part with cheap.. Missing the antennas (lost in a move)

 

[nauga]

Yea seems like a great system, although Orbi would be my first choice.

Orbi was one of the 3 I considered, I think the 3rd was Eero. I'll see if I kept my notes from when I chose the AmpliFi.

I just redid the network in a new apartment (1/1 apartment) using mostly Netgear, mostly new consumerware. It cost a lot less but with less capability and took a lot longer to set up than the Amplifi in a 5/5 house with mesh.

Nauga,

 

[CC268]

Orbi was one of the 3 I considered, I think the 3rd was Eero. I'll see if I kept my notes from when I chose the AmpliFi.

I just redid the network in a new apartment (1/1 apartment) using mostly Netgear, mostly new consumerware. It cost a lot less but with less capability and took a lot longer to set up than the Amplifi in a 5/5 house with mesh.

Nauga,

Yea the best options appear to be Orbi, AmpliFi, Google Mesh, Eero.

 

[denverpilot]

Yea the best options appear to be Orbi, AmpliFi, Google Mesh, Eero.

Looking at recent reviews and tests, the Linksys Velop nearly beats everything in overall throughput. The original version, not the new cheaper version that doesn’t have a dedicated backhaul radio.

I’m also fascinated, especially with my slow Internet speeds here in the boonies, meaning raw throughput doesn’t really matter much, by the Samsung System which includes Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth devices in every mesh node, and acts as a single Samsung SmartThings home automation hub, since I really haven’t done much yet in terms of home automation.

Theyre so very typically Samsung when it comes to networking devices... they don’t get the top ratings on home automation, and they’re not at the bottom either. Same with the WiFi networking, not the top, but not the bottom either. But currently pricing is very reasonable on them.

Speaking of Samsung, recently I noticed on the YouTube App on iOS that all of a sudden I have a new option in my “stream to” devices list, which already has a couple of nearly unused olde Apple TVs, a freebie app on the Amazon Fire Sticks that speaks “iOS compatibility” for both video and audio (can select two different devices in the list on iOS) and two older airport routers that have audio outputs... the many years old now Samsung SmartTV showed up on the list directly.

And it works. Very nicely I might add. The TV already had the ability to go to YouTube on its own, or we could stream YT content to it via either the old AppleTV or FireStick, but now it’s a direct device.

It doesn’t show up in other apps or Apple apps, so it’s a trick YT/Google is doing to make it show up in their app. Kinda nifty.

Been really happy with the FireTV sticks and DirectTV Now, even on crappy bandwidth that literally is slower than a full HDTV stream without compression. Have had the Now for about five months, and ironically it replaced a real DirectTV dish and Genie satellites setup.

Anyway... home automation... do I really need it... probably not. But it’s an interesting option to have all the radios needed built into the next WiFi setup. Hmm.

 

[baboss]

I went with the Velop, original version which I believe is tri-band and the 3rd band handles the backhaul. I’ve got 3 nodes using the wireless bakhaul, none wired to each other. My #1 node on the 2nd floor handles most everything on the 2 floors and even in the basement. 2nd node is on the outside screened porch so that node #3 in the steel sided barn about 90ft away can get a signal. Signal isn’t the best in the barn (understandedly) but it works well enough that my Echo Dot and webcam in the chicken coop out there function pretty well. They had some sheety firmware updates at first and got slammed on their support forums but things have stabilized nicely the last year, knock on wood.

Have more trouble with some of my SmartThings devices out in the barn but working on that. At least my SmartThings (Iris really) power plugs/open-close Sensor work out there to control the chicken door!

 

[denverpilot]

I was going to ask what in the world you needed an Echo Dot in a chicken coop for, but then I saw the automation part. LOL.

 

[baboss]

I was going to ask what in the world you needed an Echo Dot in a chicken coop for, but then I saw the automation part. LOL.

Bad phrasing on my part. Echo Dot is in the garage half of the building. Web cam is in the chicken coop (converted horse stall), which is on the barn side of the building.

 

[wsuffa]

Lordy I didn’t think of the low end SonicWalls. We had a lot of problems with one in commercial service but it was mostly because it was old and overloaded. We use them for remote sites at people’s houses for nailed up IPSEC tunnels and they work fine. Forgot they can be had with WiFi built in now. They’re decent little firewalls.

Sonicwall was better before Dell bought them. Now it's the "legendary" Dell support . And if one gets led into paying for their subscription support...$$$$