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twill316

New Around Here
I am looking for advice on buying a new consumer router. I have currently a Netgear rax120. When it is working it works really well, but it reboots constantly. Have had it for about a year now and has done this since day one. There has been no fix/help from Netgear regarding this and seems to be an ongoing issue with other owners. I have gig speeds from Comcast and wire my gaming units, gaming laptop/pc, PS4, Xbox x, nivida shield, soon a PS5, and wifi smart home devices, lights, Alexa, and security cameras. I have been looking at the tp link ax11000 and such, but whatever I look into it seems there are issues. I just don't want to run into getting another device that randomly reboots or such, dropping my connection when in the middle of gaming or streaming, and can give me the speeds I get from my service provider. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I am looking for advice on buying a new consumer router. I have currently a Netgear rax120. When it is working it works really well, but it reboots constantly. Have had it for about a year now and has done this since day one. There has been no fix/help from Netgear regarding this and seems to be an ongoing issue with other owners. I have gig speeds from Comcast and wire my gaming units, gaming laptop/pc, PS4, Xbox x, nivida shield, soon a PS5, and wifi smart home devices, lights, Alexa, and security cameras. I have been looking at the tp link ax11000 and such, but whatever I look into it seems there are issues. I just don't want to run into getting another device that randomly reboots or such, dropping my connection when in the middle of gaming or streaming, and can give me the speeds I get from my service provider. Any advice would be appreciated.
Many of us use and recommend the Asus RT-AX86U (or the AX86S). It has had a few firmware issues over the months but the recent firmware has been reported to work better than ever. For a bit more there is an AX86U Pro that is offering even more features. And you can also use the very good Merlin firmware if you want even more features!
 
I am looking for advice on buying a new consumer router. I have currently a Netgear rax120. When it is working it works really well, but it reboots constantly. Have had it for about a year now and has done this since day one. There has been no fix/help from Netgear regarding this and seems to be an ongoing issue with other owners. I have gig speeds from Comcast and wire my gaming units, gaming laptop/pc, PS4, Xbox x, nivida shield, soon a PS5, and wifi smart home devices, lights, Alexa, and security cameras. I have been looking at the tp link ax11000 and such, but whatever I look into it seems there are issues. I just don't want to run into getting another device that randomly reboots or such, dropping my connection when in the middle of gaming or streaming, and can give me the speeds I get from my service provider. Any advice would be appreciated.
I would recommend against consumer grade and go with DIY router and a Access Point. Check out Qotom boxes from China on fleabay/amazon.

Mine is going strong for years now J1900, zero issues, blocks devices connected using their custom set DNS, even DoH from circumventing the one I set. Wireguard works great. Adblock, social media and microsoft domain blocking works great. I have fibre Internet and game allot on PC, a few PC's in the house and their is no lag from router to switch to PC. The drawback is it can be a steep learning curve depending on what router os you choose. I went with Opnsense. Also price is probably 50% more. If you want disposable, quick setup, fancy plastic box that costs a little less go with Asus. From your post it sounds like you have a lot of Ethernet so I assume you are using a switch as well.? I don't know the biggest number of ports you can get with Asus. I wish I knew what I know now 15 years ago. :)


Edit: wow that netgear machine is 300 dollars. The android app to manage it has a bunch of trackers and the permissions needed are heavy. Tisk tisk. You might be the product. lol
 

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I went with Opnsense.

DIY and pfSense/OPNSense require much higher level of networking knowledge. For average consumers with single AP needs AIO home router is better. There is always something better performing, but it comes with higher price and usually not as user friendly. If multiple APs are needed and Ethernet connections are available I would suggest UniFi or Omada, but I don't think this is the case. AIO router like AX86S or AX86U is good enough.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I think I will give the 86u pro a shot. After the advice given and some research, I find this may give me what I'm looking for.
Can definitely highly recommend the asus rt-ax86u,ive been running 2x in wired back haul for nearly 2y and apart from 1 or 2 not so good fw it's been the most consistent asus router I've owned to date,was a bit worried last month because I jst upgraded my isp 250mb to 1 gig but it's handled it like a champ
 
If a new vertical design router is what fits best the needs - RT-AX86U Pro is the way to go in 2023. It will be perhaps supported longer as well.
 

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