Suggestions for Replacement Mesh WiFi Router System

[kbuhagiar]

Hello folks,

I'm fed up with my three-year-old Google Nest AC2200 Wifi mesh system. I have four nodes spread throughout the house, and one or more of them will drop out for a few minutes, or a few hours, on a daily basis. I'm convinced that it has something to do with flawed hardware/software updates pushed through from the Nest mothership, as sometimes the network will run flawlessly for a few weeks. And then - boom - back to the daily outages. My research online indicates that this is a common complaint with this generation of Nest mesh routers.

I'd like to hear from other mesh Wifi users about their experiences, pros/cons, and hopefully come up with a recommendation on not necessarily the latest and greatest but the most dependable system available.

Thanks in advance!

 

[larry4406]

Our Orbi 750 system has been rock solid since I deployed it during Covid.

I have a RBR750 router and 3 RBS750 satellites.

These are “old” and Orbi has newer offerings.

I would like to get a RBR850 router to take advantage of its higher speeds.

If I had to replace the system, I would still look into the Orbi.

 

[manwithtools]

We have the Eero system and it just works. We also have a complete Ring security system and the base station has Eero built in and it has celular Internet capability for backup to our main fiber connection.

 

[dcg9381]

I'd like to hear from other mesh Wifi users about their experiences, pros/cons, and hopefully come up with a recommendation on not necessarily the latest and greatest but the most dependable system available.

I use Unifi. Probably a little more expensive and a little more "power user", but I bought the whole ecosystem (network and cameras). If you really want to go nuts you can dive into any piece of the system via SSH and diagnose things.

Unifi has a super UI, I consider it to be the "iphone" of mesh wifi... For residential, you start with a Dream Router 7 ($300) and then can add mesh nodes to your hearts content. PC, Android, and Apple UIs all work great. Dead simple to add additional nodes, etc. I have "guest wifi" - no password, isolated, slowed down, lots of cool things you can do with it.

 

[kbuhagiar]

I'm eliminating the Unifi because, although it appears to be a great system with infinite options, I'm past my geek-out days with Internet devices. I'm more of a plug-and-play guy now; I'd rather spend hours in the garage with my cars, rather than fiddling with my tech devices.

I just read the following online:

"On March 25, the Federal Communications Commission issued a notice that the sale of new foreign-made routers will be banned going forward. Virtually every Wi-Fi router available for purchase in the US meets the FCC’s “foreign-made” criteria. As of April 22, Netgear and Eero are the only consumer routers that have received an exemption. All the other routers we recommend on our best list have previously received FCC approval, but there’s a risk that they won’t be able to receive software and firmware updates after Jan. 1, 2029".

So it looks like, for me anyway, the only two candidates are the Netgear Orbi and the Eero. And right now I'm leaning towards the Eero, mainy because of the cost difference. And I like the subdued profile on the individual nodes, but I can be swayed over to the Orbi if performance and reliability is substantially better.

Thoughts about the above mentioned FCC notice?
And more pros/cons on both the Orbi and the Eero, please.

Thanks!

 

[larry4406]

I’m far from a techie, but I set up our Orbi with ease.

Even connected an Ethernet cable to the Xfinity router so I could put it into bridge mode and let the Orbi handle all traffic.

Later added a new RBS750 satellite to the system. Had to update its firmware but that was it.

Point being, if I can do it, anyone can.