MU-MIMO or AC3200 ?

Hello all,

I have been running Apple Airport Extremes for some time and am quite fed-up with the lack of control and range issues. I have finally decided to update my home based network and am now considering the options below. For some notes, I have internet service that provides me 175+mbps download and 25+mbps upload. We are a decent size family with a lot of devices running on our network. The cable service comes into our basement and is plugged into a Motorola SB6141 which feeds a Ubiquiti ER-Lite for edge routing. The ERL then feeds a gigabit switch and has a direct gigabit run to my main wireless router (used as an ap).

Purchasing decision:
I am looking at two routers and want to pick the best one. The first is the TP-Link C2600 with MU-MIMO and the second is the DLink Dir-890l with AC3200. We have a fairly large home and have been using one Apple Airport extreme for wireless with an Airport Express to extend the network. The devices that access wi-fi are a mix of iPhones/Android phones, 2-3 laptops mac and pc, a desktop, and various miscellaneous wireless devices (nest, hue, etc).

I understand that MU-MIMO will work best with devices that can actually make use of it. My confusion is do I want to spend the extra on the C2600 or go with a great deal on the DLink 890...? I recently just added the ER-Lite to do edge routing so buying a wi-fi router puts me at $400+/- out of pocket...its not something I want to do often...so this solution will have to last a while.

I await some healthy discussion....thanks all.

Neither of these technologies are designed to extend range. Both are primarily designed to improve total bandwidth use.

MU-MIMO requires devices that support it and only helps for 5 GHz downlink (router to device). You need at least two MU devices to see any benefit. You get the optimum throughput gain with 3 MU devices.

"Tri-band" (actually tri-radio) routers work with all devices and work up and downlink. They use two 5 GHz radios so slower devices can be directed to one radio, faster devices to the other. The "Smart Connect" technology is supposed to automatically direct devices to the proper radio. But many devices don't like being told what to do and stubbornly stay on a radio that results in slowing down other devices on that radio.

The best way to get a robust wireless network, especially for 5 GHz, is with multiple APs, connected via Gigabit Ethernet. Tri-band routers aren't as good because the radios are physically co-located. You get better coverage and bandwidth use by spreading radios around.

Thanks for the response.
I am currently testing the apple devices with gigabit into both of them on separate channels.
The setup is Airport Extreme AC model - gigabit connection in bridge mode - running both 2.4ghz (channel 11) and 5ghz (channel 157). The airport express is running 2.4ghz (channel 1) and 5ghz (channel 52). The edge router is still a Ubiquiti ERLite. So far so good...the only thing I see myself actually upgrading is the express to a more robust AC access point....

Guess Amazon will be getting some returns on the TP-Link C2600 and maybe even the D-Link DIR890.......