antdude
New Around Here
Hello.
I'm trying to fix my far away wifi issue that is weak, slow, unstable, and not connecting in the mostly one floor 4K sq. ft. home. Currently, I use an old Netgear R6300 v1 from 2012 or so. It works great in close by rooms, but not far away rooms like the kitchen, family, garage, laundry, guest, etc.
I tried two different wifi extenders (Linksys RE4000W N600 Dual-Band Wireless Range Extender and Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender (EX7000-100NAS; AC1900) -- both have updated stock firmwares) to match the old router's wifi two (regular + guest WAPs) SSIDs, but they were unstable, not connecting, slow, etc. Many times, I had to physically reboot the extenders to fix the issues. I already tried changing their channels to avoid conflicts with neighbors, Arlo's base stations, etc. but they didn't help much. I don't know if getting another extender again would help after two different ones over the years. Maybe I need a new wifi router (will a mesh type be better?) since it's old?
If it is time for a new wifi router, then here what I need for it:
1. A guest WAP for visitors to use my Internet and not touch my LAN stuff.
2. Latest technology and security, but it still needs to work with old wifi devices like WPA2-SPK, WEP (very rare though), etc.
3. Open source firmware support if alternative and future when official support is dropped.
4. Reach far away places (up to 30 meters away) in an mostly one floor home. Family rooms, kitchen, etc. that are weak and unstable.
5. Must be wireless only. No indoor wiring like network cables and power outlets.
6. Price doesn't matter. Any good ones from Best Buy, Costco, Amazon, Fry's Electronics, etc.?
7. Must not require an online account and apps to use and access the router/extender. Optional is OK. No phoning home too for privacy reasons.
8. Still need network ports for my devices like my decade old PCs with their network cables.
Any suggestions? Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon.
I'm trying to fix my far away wifi issue that is weak, slow, unstable, and not connecting in the mostly one floor 4K sq. ft. home. Currently, I use an old Netgear R6300 v1 from 2012 or so. It works great in close by rooms, but not far away rooms like the kitchen, family, garage, laundry, guest, etc.
I tried two different wifi extenders (Linksys RE4000W N600 Dual-Band Wireless Range Extender and Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender (EX7000-100NAS; AC1900) -- both have updated stock firmwares) to match the old router's wifi two (regular + guest WAPs) SSIDs, but they were unstable, not connecting, slow, etc. Many times, I had to physically reboot the extenders to fix the issues. I already tried changing their channels to avoid conflicts with neighbors, Arlo's base stations, etc. but they didn't help much. I don't know if getting another extender again would help after two different ones over the years. Maybe I need a new wifi router (will a mesh type be better?) since it's old?
If it is time for a new wifi router, then here what I need for it:
1. A guest WAP for visitors to use my Internet and not touch my LAN stuff.
2. Latest technology and security, but it still needs to work with old wifi devices like WPA2-SPK, WEP (very rare though), etc.
3. Open source firmware support if alternative and future when official support is dropped.
4. Reach far away places (up to 30 meters away) in an mostly one floor home. Family rooms, kitchen, etc. that are weak and unstable.
5. Must be wireless only. No indoor wiring like network cables and power outlets.
6. Price doesn't matter. Any good ones from Best Buy, Costco, Amazon, Fry's Electronics, etc.?
7. Must not require an online account and apps to use and access the router/extender. Optional is OK. No phoning home too for privacy reasons.
8. Still need network ports for my devices like my decade old PCs with their network cables.
Any suggestions? Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon.

Last edited: