Best wireless router w/ AT&T Uverse?

[esakowski]

I've been unhappy with the performance and features of my Uverse for quite some time, and decided it's time to make a move and upgrade. However, upon doing some research it seems that the residential gateway included with Uverse is a pain to replace with another router. I know that it can be done, so my main question is what router would be the best option to purchase for what I'm looking to do. I'm willing to spend up to $250 on the router itself, and I'm also willing to purchase any adapter for my PC to get the most speed possible out of it. Here is some background on the devices I'm using in my home:

-Custom built PC used for online gaming.
-MacBook Pro.
-Xbox One, PS3, AppleTV.
-Several iPad's and iPhone's.

Range won't be an issue as I live in a smaller condo with only 2 levels. Running Ethernet really isn't an option since I don't own the place.

Also, does anyone have experience using a different router while still maintaining the ability to utilize Uverse wireless receivers? Am I able to still use the LAN ports on the Uverse router for the additional box that connects to the wireless receivers while still replacing the wireless functionality of it?

I know this is a few questions rolled into one...I would appreciate even a partial response.

 

[bill001g]

It depends what you want the new router for.

As you know it is close to impossible to get the ATT box out of the house. You can turn off the radio and set it to run in DMZ mode which will map all incoming sessions to the new router IP to allow you to get incoming sessions from the internet.

You can run your new router in 2 modes. You can run it like a normal router. This will give you any extra features like parental controls or firewalls etc. The part that will be tricky is if you do plug a pc into the lan port of the uverse box it will be able to get to the internet but not the other machines behind your new router....although those machines can reach machine on the uverse lan ports.

The other mode is to run in AP mode which pretty much uses the uverse router for all the features it has but uses the new router just for its radio and extra lan ports.

Which exact router you get will depend on what feature you need. The one with the most goodies are things like the Asus ac68u. tplink sells a similar 802.11ac router for a little cheaper. You of course would need to get 802.11ac for any device you can but it will run 802.11n

Still the only huge advantage to 802.11ac is transferring data INSIDE your house. Even the radios with the uverse box will be able to easily exceed the speed you can get to the internet. Buying a faster wireless router will likely make no difference in your speed to the internet.