If one wants to have a universal combo-device that fullfills all possible variations in a stable and consistent manner, one could have a look at the D-
Link DIR-895 L/R for example, which supports:
Bridge: Can be bridged to another router and bridged from. Puts the Router alongside the existing Router and bridges the modem, so the direct internet-connection is passed-through to the bridged router
AccessPoint: Just a plain AP, for example to be connected to an existing LAN | T1 | Cable Setup.
Relay: Remote Control equipment wirelessly, like Home automation of lights, doors, whatever ..
Router: Well, as a router .. Gigabit LAN and WPA-/WPA2- -PSK on 2.4GHz and 5GHz Bands
Extender: As a range extender to an existing Wireless Network ... (which i assume is what is wanted in this case?)
Wireless-Protocols: a/b/g/n/ac Tri-Band
MiMO: Well,
MiMO; essentially to connect to fixed installed Home-Automation-devices, PowerLine-Network, Alarm-Setups and to create a bridge between devices that share the same concept, but on different incompatible protocols, e.g.: WiMax | 4G | LTE to WLAN n/ac ..
DLNa: For simple casting of multimedia- -streams and -libraries from e.g. a PC to the TV
USB 2.0 and USB 3.0: To connect USB-Flash-Drives and/or HDD/SHDD/SSD for storage to be accessed over network, etc.
and much much more ...
It still is a refreshingly versatile and a very broad spread ability-wise device, which can be bought for a reasonable price regarding the full spectrum of features it offers. Reasonable is in the
300$ to 400$ range.
Only thing that might be a turn-off asides the price for the mere consumer is the 'gamish/hackish' design.
To have a universal device, to just function or on the other hand to get insight in nearly all technologies used from 1999 up to 2019 by practically setting them up, testing and using them this device is my recommendation.
Here is the link to the products initial release pdf from D-Link
If instead one wants to have the now typical range of products to be found in common retail stores, mostly in white or black and totally background-noise-becoming optics, in this case again from d-link, have a look at this product page:
Here is the link to an overview of the actual line setup of simple Bridges/Extenders/Routers/AP
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I showed these products off, to give you a starting point where to look for.
To name a few ...
D-Link is just one of a lode of manufacturers and (non-)arguably one of the better ones. Very versatile products with broad feature-ranges and long support for firmware-updates, as also steady performances.
TP-Link is the best choice if you have to be cost-effective for consumer-use, meaning: The products are tailored to specific use-cases and do those well, but they are not meant to be run non-stop on full-throttle. That grain of salt accepted, the devices are a definitive recommendation if you want to minimize cost.
Netgear can be considered the base of the top lines. The products are designed specifically to feature-sets that are optimized versions with more features than the ones TP-Links offers. These two manufacturers do not rely on each other when it comes to their line-setup, but often can be compared. Feature-wise Netgear devices do tend to rival D-Link Devices and Netgear loves to produce - every now and then - rare corner-cases-devices.
Linksys is so to say exchangeable with Netgear, in terms of product lines, but are generally more open to changes in the long-run, like publishing internals, that help Open-Source-Communities develop alternative FirmWare for some of their devices, up to releasing devices specific for such Open-Source-Use-Cases. Stability is decent and comparable to D-Link. The range of products is not as colorful as the palettes of D-Link or ASUS, but they can compete, are sometimes superior regarding the performance, but mostly not so feature-rich in comparison.
ASUS delivers devices for Geeks and those that like to go with the flow, the chimes of the times, in terms of hip actual design for gamers, consumers and small-office-home-office folks alike. The products do what they are advertised for and are relatively consistent in performance, although personally i would say they are best used in variable surroundings, like changing bandwidth and signal-strength needed, faster and more aggressive roaming wanted and for extra-load now and then. Feature-wise rich as D-Link and Netgear combined, but pressed into constantly newly released variants which build the cornerstones of feature-rich line-setup, able to do nearly everything needed from a given perspective. So broader in general than all others, while focus on specific positioning in the spectrum of needed and wanted features.
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Hope it helps. Thanks for reading.
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