Amplifi Alien
ASUS AC-1300
ASUS AC1900
ASUS AX3000
Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000
EERO
Linksys WRT1900AC
Linksys WRT-32X
Motorola MG8702, DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem + Wi-Fi Router
Netgear WNDR4500-100PAS N900 Dual Band
TP-Link N300
TP-Link AC-1750
TP LInk 450
TPLink AX1800
I will go down the list see what appeals to me, and WHAT I CAN AFFORD!
I can't thank you all enough. I'll post further updates when I make the decision.
ping
For example: If you're into online gaming the ASUS AX3000 is a very good choice. The really great thing about ASUS is that if you discover you have wifi coverage issues in your home, you can buy another ASUS and easily mesh them together to improve the wifi coverage and speed. To do so, they simply need to both be ASUS mesh compatible. They do not have to be the exact same model.
The linksys wrt1900acs v2 is a great open source router that's customizable if you're so inclined, and with 1.9Gb speeds is also a good choice. Linksys (owned by Cisco) generally speaking does a good job with their hardware. I had Linksys that lasted over 10 years before the wifi quit working. I replaced it with the wifi router immediately below.
If your needs are much simpler such as basic web browsing, email, instant messaging and video streaming, a router like the TPLink AX1800 is a good budget choice. This is what I've had for about 3 years now. Rock-solid, easy to manage, covers my 2400SF townhome just fine (all three floors, I have it on the middle floor.)
Whatever your choice is, please make sure it supports WPA3 for wifi security.
Finally, not to influence your choice I'd simply add that were I looking to replace my current wifi router, I'd be looking very hard at the ASUS AX3000 and the Linksys WRT1900ACS v.2
Just my .02 (with inflation that's about $1.98 now I think...)
No brainer at $120
Easy to set up and improves quality of service. It is the non-techys high tech solution. I stand by Asus, but for you, this is better. Affordable and out of the box runs things the right way.
“good cpu, good amount of ram, and nice edit of the openwrt ui for beginners to use. It has cake pre installed and it will automatically run speedtests on their servers every once in a while and enter in the numbers into cake for you automatically. You can just set it up and let it do its thing and that’s really nice compared to installing openwrt + cake on a current router”
Cake optimizes how the router talks to the internet. I run something similar (fq_codel). It eliminates the “buffering” for netflix or other videos, optimizes VIOP (Telephone) etc. At $120 this thing is a steal.