Most Reliable Budget Wifi Router?

[cowface3]

Hello, and thanks ahead of time for any recommendations.

I have always had terrible luck with routers, so I've decided to take it to Anandtech this time. I need a router that will work in a studio for a max 100mbs Time Warner plan, so will likely get much less than 100mbs. It only needs coverage for the studio, so the primary importance here is that it is reliable and won't need to be restarted every few days like every other router I've owned.

Also looking to spend as little as possible while retaining the speeds and reliability that I need. Please help. I'm tired of getting bad routers.

- Cowface.

 

[jimbob200521]

I, like you, was having router decision issues a few months back. I settled on the Archer C7. It's not the newest, top of the line, 400 antenna model out there but it has served me well since I've had it and have not had to restart it one single time (baring any setting change, etc). If you aren't gaming and aren't trying to cover a 3 story house with one device, it's hard to go wrong with it. Are there better and newer routers out there? Yeah, but money talks and I'm not one to spend $300 on a top of the line router for features and extra coverage I don't need. $87 bucks will get you one and it's got it where it counts; it's a well rounded, solid performing, reliable router. What's not to like?

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-C7-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B00BUSDVBQ

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Asus rt-n12?

Cheap. Mine has been pretty reliable. The Asus firmware has some pretty nice features.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I used to use an Asus RT-N12/D1. Got it cheap off of Newegg. Note that it's only 10/100 and Wireless N300. But it does pretty well as a router, running the newest Shibby Tomato firmware. (I was using an Engenius ESR1200 AC1200 AP for wireless on my LAN. I need AC1200.)

I replaced both of those units a few months ago, with an Asus AC68R (same hardware as AC68U), running Tomato.

 

[brshoemak]

I also have a TP-Link Archer C7 and it's been rock solid for me with good wifi range and performance.

It's not the cheapest, but I would spend more for something that just works and I don't have to worry about. The only time it's been down was when i turned it off to rework my network cabling.

 

[kevnich2]

My vote for this nowadays is ubiquiti. For your case, either the edgerouter or the unifi security gateway. Both are very reliable and low priced. They're both more or less set it and forget it devices as far as reliability. Couple it with a unifi AP and you've got a nice reliable setup.

 

[smitbret]

I would echo what has been said here. Ultimately, the Ubiquiti solution has the most potential for being what you are describing but if you want to buy a one box system, spend 10 minutes on setup and just walk away from a fairly high powered router, the Archer C7 is hard to beat. Had one as the heart of my network for almost 3 years.

 

[cowface3]

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up getting the Archer C7. It was already one of the routers I was looking at. Happy holidays and a merry new year

 

[bigboxes]

I know you already bought your router. Just wanted to chime in for those that need something affordable. I bought a TP-Link TL-WR841N Wireless N300 router as a stop gap measure a year ago when I sent my fancy Asus router back to Asus for RMA replacement. It was not easy to set up. I don't remember all the specifics, but even though I have lots of experience installing and configuring routers and switches this one seem to give me a lot of grief. It took a lot of power cycling/rebooting just to get it to be recognized by my computers. But (and here's the "but") once I finally did get it set up and configured it ran without issues for that month that I needed it. Did I mention it's best feature? It was $20 on sale at Fry's. For $20 it was doing the job of handling four wired connections and two tablets/two smartphones. For $20 I can put up with a lot of hassle. Especially when it gave me no trouble once it was all set up.