Best WIFI Router < $150

[zahleweh]

I have done my own research and was leaning toward the TP-Link AC2300 but also have heard good things on some ASUS, Netgear and Linksys. What model WIFI router for a large home that needs range for under $150? I have researched this in depth online but want to hear from the experts on here if you don't mind. Thanks!

 

[bill001g]

There is not clear answer to this because your house and your end device make far more difference than the differences between brands of routers.

Most the difference is in the software features. The radio/cpu chips in many routers with similar stats are exactly the same. You would have to really dig to find the chipset but there are really only 2 or 3 chip manufactures no matter the brand on the outside.

There are small difference in the transmit power between routers but when you look at real work installations these small difference tend to not be really significant. Again things like low power transmitters in your end device make far more difference in coverage.

As long as you stay with the better brand names you should not have any major issues. Only you can determine if things like VPN or firewall or nas support has value to you.

 

[zahleweh]

There is not clear answer to this because your house and your end device make far more difference than the differences between brands of routers.

Most the difference is in the software features. The radio/cpu chips in many routers with similar stats are exactly the same. You would have to really dig to find the chipset but there are really only 2 or 3 chip manufactures no matter the brand on the outside.

There are small difference in the transmit power between routers but when you look at real work installations these small difference tend to not be really significant. Again things like low power transmitters in your end device make far more difference in coverage.

As long as you stay with the better brand names you should not have any major issues. Only you can determine if things like VPN or firewall or nas support has value to you.

Sure it is a 3 level house with the router on the first floor opposite side of most houses. Typical colonial about 2800 sq ft with basement. We have a smart TV, 2 laptops, 3 mini ipads, 2 phones, 1 Samsung Chromebook. I don't need the features you laid out. I need a stable signal. I have a Nighthawk X6 and it drops signals to my Chromebook only intermittently and feel there is a compatibility issue. I would rather return the X6 and get something else. Thanks!

 

[bill001g]

With a multilevel house you really should really put a wifi source on each floor. You would connect a router acting as AP back to the main router with ethernet cables.

The disconnecting issue does not necessarily mean it is not enough signal. It can actually be too much signal from neighbors wifi interfering. If it drops the chromebook in the same room I would consider firmware update both on the chromebook and the router.

There really is no simple answer to this. This is why you see every router in end consumer reviews on amazon being claimed as the worst piece of junk or the best router ever. The nighthawk x6 when you look at profession reviews has ok numbers.

Although you may get someone that blindly says buy "routerxxxx" you have to question how they really can say it will fix your problem. It tends to be someone that it works good for them so it should work good for you. With wifi all kinds of strange thing happen, many times it ends up you try things until you find things that work.

I again would consider using a second inexpensive router running as a AP in a remote location to increase your coverage.

 

[RealBeast]

^ Totally agree with bill001g.

There is *no* single router that can cover your house, you will need to add at least one (perhaps 2 cheap routers configured as access points as suggested. If you cannot use Ethernet, which is best, then use AV2-1000 powerline adapters to connect the AP to the main router.

 

[vmfantom]

I have done my own research and was leaning toward the TP-Link AC2300 but also have heard good things on some ASUS, Netgear and Linksys. What model WIFI router for a large home that needs range for under $150? I have researched this in depth online but want to hear from the experts on here if you don't mind. Thanks!

W/r/t a wifi source on each floor without Ethernet cabling, and having a single router cover your whole house, this describes a workaround that was tested on a TP-Link C3150 which is pretty similar to the AC2300. As far as the R8000 goes, one downside to triband routers is that you generally don't know which radio chain is sending out which 5 Ghz frequency, and the lower 5 GHz band has much weaker transmit power than the upper band. Also, the R8000's FCC test report shows the little antennas have puny gain (1.47 to 1.76 dBi on 2.4 GHz and 2.08 to 2.2 dBi at the upper end of 5 GHz).

The DIR-880L is probably the lowest cost 802.11b/g/n/ac wifi router with close to 1,000 mW of transmit power, if you want to shave around $90 off your cost.

For TP-Link, the C2600 is comparable to the C3150, having 32 MB of flash storage and 512 MB of RAM, and the C3150 has 128 MB of flash stroage and 256 MB of RAM, both having a 1.4 GHz CPU (but one being Qualcomm and the other being Broadcom). SmallNetBuilder hasn't reviewed the C3150 or C2300 AFAIK but did review the C2600 and found it to hit up to 583 Mbps at 5 GHz, and anything close to 600 Mbps is the best in real world throughput you can hope for over-the-air with 802.11ac. (802.11ax will be better, but you'll need to wait for that.)