Current router recommendations please

AssaTM · 6 Mar 2019 at 19:20

Hello all,

I've been out of the "networking game" for a while now as my current router has served me well, but i'm looking to source a router for a friend that can have easily 10/20 devices at a time pulling data from it whether it be phones, laptops, computers, Xbox's etc that also needs to maintain it's strong signal to them throughout the house. He has a 300mb Virgin connection so compatibility should be fine but he is looking for a very future proofed, powerful router, i'm happy to install a custom OS etc on it as that's what I currently do with mine, I just don't know which ones are truly good/recommended and which ones just have a lot of unnecessary "buzz wordy" type stuff added on to up the price

Thank you for your help

bremen1874 · 6 Mar 2019 at 20:33

Budget? Size of house? Construction of house?

DIABLO · 6 Mar 2019 at 21:45

Has he got any Ethernet cable layed?

AssaTM · 6 Mar 2019 at 22:30

Budget is no more than £200, 2 story house, 3 bedroom, fairly standard. The only Ethernet he has laid is purely to the current SuperHub 3.0 he's using, the rest of the house will be connected wireless, thank you

DIABLO · 7 Mar 2019 at 19:41

A single device placed in the same location probably won't offer much of a improvement over what he currently is using as all devices have to conform to the same standards when it comes to transmit power. The best solution would be a a router paired with a WiFi access point placed in the middle of his house. But since that is not an option due to lack of Ethernet i would probably opt for a Mesh system based system but that is out of his price range.

Another option would be maybe to keep the SH and buy an access point and a pair of Powerline adapters and put a access point at the opposite corner of the house to the current SH where the signal is weak, but results are unpredictable because of the nature of the Powerline technology.

So even though you think you're out of the game, the game really hasn't moved forward when it comes to range it's even gone backwards in one respect as 5Ghz has less range then the old 2.4Ghz WiFi when there are obstructions.