Absolute Best Wi-Fi Router Upgrade

[orgetorix]

It seems like my router (Netgear R8000) is finally on the way out and I need a replacement ASAP. I'd like everyone's opinion about what the best upgrade is, considering money not being a factor.

My main use, beyond casual web-browsing is streaming from my Plex server. I also do some gaming, but mostly single-player, so gaming lag isn't a consideration.

It's been a while, and the R8000 has been solid for a few years so I looked at Netgear's newest offerings and came up a bit confused.

They seem to offer an updated version of my router, the R8000P

as well as an R9000, which seems to offer 802.11ad, which I haven't heard of any support for:

Then there's the TP-Link Archer C2300, which I have heard good things about, but also that there is a newer version coming that I probably cannot hold out for:

Considering that I do not want to upgrade a router for upgrade's sake, which of these would you recommend?

I am open to other models as well.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[bill001g]

1st step is to look at your end equipment that is using these devices. Does no good to buy a router and then your end equipment can not use it...like 802.11ad for example.

The vast majority of devices have only 2 antenna at the most. This means the can only run 300 on 2.4 and 900 5g with 802.11ac. So a 1200 router would be fine and this is fairly low end device.

After that it depend what you end devices support. Things like 200mhz encoding on 2.4, mu-mimo etc all depend if your devices support it. Some features are not part of the official standards so companies like apple will never add the support.

You also have to be careful about the so called speed increase for tri band routers. It only gives you more speed if you balance your devices between the 2 5g radios. It does not do it by itself so you could have all your devices on 1 radio and the other unused.

802.11ad pretty much only works in the same room it has massive issue with even going through a closed door.

So in many cases your router choice will be for other features like VPN or NAS support. The wifi is on end devices tend to sacrifice the speed for portability and it is not likely they are going to add features like 4 antenna/feeds because of the size.

 

[kanewolf]

The "absolute best" might actually be a wired router plus a WIFI access point (or points). A Mikrotik HEX has some of the best performance for WIRED connectivity. If you have gigabit service and want to maximize it. A Ubiquiti edgerouter lite with Ubiquiti APs and the cloud key make one of the easiest to manage systems. There is no "absolute best"

 

[orgetorix]

Thanks to you both. I (sort of) understand the complexities involved. I guess I was just hoping for a "Buy X!" answer. i will take your suggestions under advisement and do so more research on my devices. Thanks again!