Network Upgrade - Multiple Routers

[Seearbe]

With an eye on the January sales, I'm contemplating upgrading my network a bit as coverage across my house and garden remains a bit patchy in certain places on account of distance and some thick walls.

I currently have three Asus RT-AC86U routers - one at the front of the house acting as the mothership and connected to the internet (1GB FTTP getting 750 download and 920 upload (yep!)), one at the back of the house and one in an outbuilding at the end of the garden - both of which are wired into the main router with Cat 5e. All three are at ground floor level.

I'd like to get another router to go in the loft, again wired into main router. Getting a bit of height on things should help with wifi range and also gives me some additional connections options out of the way (e.g. adding in CCTV or NAS).

Looking at things around the £250 mark, is it worth going for something like the TUF-BE6500 (wifi 7) or might something like the RT-AX89X with a stupid number of antennas give better coverage? Honestly, I'm losing sight of what would provide genuine performance improvement vs all the marketing snake oil.

Should I upgrade the main router and put one of the RT-AC86U in the loft or stick the new one up there for range purposes?

Thanks!

 

[Seearbe]

Should have said that the satellite routers are configured in AP mode so I have a "seamless" wifi network.

What do you mean by proper router?

 

[Seearbe]

Well I can't say I've had any major issues with the Asus routers I do have and what I've set it up to do works, albeit not with quite the coverage I would have hoped. Not sure if that's because the routers aren't that good or I'm just unrealistic about the area it can cover.

Whilst I'm happy to go and do a bit of research, are there any recommendations for good quality access points that I could look into further?

Note that I also have wired devices connected to each of the routers too.

 

[Seearbe]

Ubiquiti APs, how many wired devices do you need at each location? Ubiquiti for a good reason dominates this sector.

Ah, thanks. Will take a look.

Main router will need 3 wired connections (2 satellite APs plus connection from wired hub), both AP routers currently have 2 wired connections each.