Time for a new router? Need some advice...

[Byte_Me]

Hello,

Been out of the game since I bought our current Netgear WNDR3700 who knows how long ago. When we moved into our new place 3ish years ago I added a D-Link DAP1650 range extender. We have Charter Spectrum cable running into the house. WiFi is primarily used for TV streaming, phone and laptop connectivity. The house is 2 story, router is on a wall upstairs in my office, mid house. Range extender is on the bottom floor in our bedroom to provide coverage there and onto the deck. Our desktop PC is LAN connected to router, we have two phones, two tvs, a desktop and two laptops connected WiFi.

Recently we've been having issues with the range extender connecting to the WiFi so went searching to replace that but in all the reading I'm doing claims are we can likely get a much bigger bump from potentially upgrading our router as well since it's pretty old.

Looking for advice on if I'll get that much improvement from a new router, if I should just look for a new range extender or if I should do both. Also - what hardware should I go with? I don't want to break the bank here but really do need wireless coverage downstairs and onto the deck soon!

Thanks!
Brian.

 

[umarmung]

What is your Internet connection and what is your budget?

Repeaters/extenders/boosters are generally a bad idea due to likely halving your throughput, creating interference and doing nothing good for your latency. They are also less manageable than other options.

In multifloor installations or large areas, Access Points over Ethernet is always ideal. In other words, if you can run an Ethernet cable to your bottom floor, that may make the most difference to your network experience in the long run.

If you cannot run a cable for some reason, there are other alternative options these days too.

 

[degrub]

if you have CAT6 in the walls, look into using MOCA 2 to extend your wired ethernet and/or wireless AP downstairs.