Looking to buy a new router to complement my AC86U (for mesh system)

[bkselly]

I live in a 3 floor 1700 sqft home where the networking is on the top floor (I can't move the router to the middle floor)

I am looking to add a router to the bottom floor in a mesh set up so that my devices switch seamlessly between them

I have a 300 down/300 up FIOS connection and I stream 4K video and (rarely) play FPS multiplayer games

My main pain point with the currently router is that if I close the (wooden) door in the room it is in, and also close the (wooden) door in the room the laptop is in (all on the top floor), the speeds do drop significantly (on 5 GHz)

I don't know if a new router would be better about that particular issue, but I would like to make the new router my primary router on top floor (and demote the AC86U to the bottom floor as secondary)

Any recommendations on an ASUS router that meets my needs?

TY!

 

[Rocketboy235]

How many devices do you have on the network normally and how many of them are WiFi 6 capable? What is your budget?
I think getting another AC86U (can get a used one for pretty cheap) would be pretty good. I'm not sure if a newer router will fix your speed data rate issue with the wooden door closing. Maybe WiFi 6 routers would possibly help like the AX86U Pro. Is there a hallway on the top floor you can move the router to so closing the door won't impact it?

 

[degrub]

Pushing 5Ghz signal through a couple doors/walls or through a single floor/ceiling, the result is not going to change. Ordinary building materials will attenuate 5GHz signal power significantly and 6 GHz even more. 2.4 GHz will fare better. Changing or adding additional radios is not going to help that issue and can easily make it worse.

You may see a small gain by changing from AC class to AX class equipment. WIFI 7 (BE) won't help.

What are you trying to accomplish ?

 

[bbunge]

May be a great idea to just replace the AC86U as they are know to suddenly fail.

 

[Rocketboy235]

May be a great idea to just replace the AC86U as they are know to suddenly fail.

I always wonder if this is for the early year models of the AC86U or this goes for all year models? I remember hearing the reliability issues in regards to the 2018/2019 models coming from China(?) but the ones from Taiwan/Vietnam were more reliable? Not entirely sure if that is true but I remember seeing several people touting that.

I know my AC86U (bought used) I'm using had one ethernet port completely fail and the WAN port deteriorate to 100 mbps after using it for 1-2 years (forced me to use one of the regular LAN ports as a WAN now) though to be fair, I did not put it in easy environment to begin with so that may have taken its toll on the router . Trying to see how long it will last though! I bought are still going very strong though are EOL so I'm trying to move away from them.