Cheap ISP Routers that can be reflashed, reflashed, and/or merely setup as WAP (6GHz, 6E, Wi-Fi 7) 802.11be

[Bense]

Greetings,
I am working on setting up mesh Wi-Fi networks at older family members houses. A few years ago I spent more time than I care to admit sifting through various wireless router specifications on wikidevi (now techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com), looking for suitable candidates. I wound up selecting these Actiontec F2300 routers due to their ability to be configured as a WAP, and them having 4x4 MIMO streams of 802.11ac. I bought several of these and I paid no more than $25/each of them.

I placed a few of these on my father's property; 3 in his house, 2 in his detached workshop. It worked great and it gave him the ability to video call me from his Chromebook anywhere on his property.

These F2300s are getting somewhat dated, and I am looking to purchase additional devices that I can setup as WAPs at other family member's houses. Ideally, routers that have newer capabilities (6GHz 802.11ax 6E / 802.11be), but at the very least 802.11ac Wave2 and DFS channels. I cannot begin to emphasize the importance of cheap for this application.

 

[degrub]

Forget 6ghz and later. Really not needed by ordinary users and more applicable to short line of sight cases. For inexpensive stay with AC Wave2. If you have to use wifi for backhaul (wired ethernet is always strongly preferred), then look for a dedicated backhaul radio. 4x4 MIMO doesn't buy you much and should not be needed.
Most clients will be 2x2 for the radios anyway. You want as few APs as possible, perhaps with reduced transmit power to avoid overlaps. If there are special use cases, like gaming, then you want lowest latency which points to wired instead of wireless.