ASUS - ZenWiFi ET9

I had old 5 x Asus routers in AP mode and all manually optimized channel setting for a long time until they started hanging I think due to the size of my network. Switched to 3 x Deco 11000 units. I had decent experience with older Deco in a condo we have. My goal with the 11000s was to start out as out of the box as possible. Over a month I slowly customized while trying to ensure all my cameras and user devices were stable. Before holiday I was full wired backhaul and most fancy stuff turned off but still I was facing issues. I decided I was going to return to Costco after holiday. At new years I saw Deco had a new firmware. I went for it cause I was not happy. The firmware resulted in worse reliability. Family switched to cellular and hot spotting. After looking at various options and still with the goal of keeping it simple, I went with 3 x Asus ZenWifi ET9 all in AP mode and wired backhaul - 1 per floor. It was much better but still not perfect. I like that the interface is familiar and there are tons of advanced configs. I have disabled some fancy features and I am mostly back to a happy setup. I am still using the AIMesh but have a couple Samsung Frame displays that are oddly challenging. I have more I can tweak. I probably should’ve gone with Unifi but I didn’t like their ceiling mount APs and the Asus have extra Ethernet ports and stand up. I am still far from an out of box solution.

Coverage was great and our devices were flying. I have a kid and need much more robust family safety protection though, so ended up returning Asus and getting a different set up.

First thing about a mesh system, any brand mesh router works better if it is back wired with a cat 6 or 6a Ethernet wire. (Using a cat 7 or cat 8 is a waste of money for the price difference.) Personally I have used two brands. Both have worked well. TP Link and Asus. I just returned by TP Link BE11000 from Costco which worked well. (Most box stores like Sam’s Club and Costco might have the same model number router, but there are differences. The Costco one has a 2.5 GB port for example). I had the TP Link AXE5300 before that which actually worked the best out of any mesh system I had. The reason I returned the TP Link is because of what I read about the potential TP Link ban in the United States. There are many reasons for this from geopolitical reasons to a possible backdoor that would allow hackers to use multiple US based routers to be used as a botnet. My main concern for returning it was if it was banned, there would be a chance there would not be any firmware updates. I could not find any firmware that I could flash onto it if that happened, (I checked OpenWrt, DD-WRT and a few others for alternative open source firmware.) i did not want to take that chance of losing out on that investment, if, the ban occurs. There is no guarantee it will happen. It was me being overly cautious. I was still within my 90 day return window and chose to return it. No one thing I want to be clear on, no brand mesh router is 100% secure, there are security issues that can happen and have happened with any of them. I decided to switch to Asus AIMesh routers for my home. I would have loved to keep WiFi 7, but the prices are higher than TP Link. (I got the TP Link routers on sale at Costco for $399, normally $499 for the price.) I would have loved to get a 3 pack of the Asus BT10, but that was way out of my budget. I ended up getting a three pack of the Asus ZeWiFi AXE7800. It is a 6e system. It works good enough for my home. With Asus there are more options that I like having. I have had some hiccups with it, but worked through them. (For example I have the AI Protection turn on with the malicious sites option turned off because it is too aggressive and there is no whitelist. AI Protection uses Trend Micro’s cybersecurity system at no extra charge. TP Link had a Home Shield Pro, but that is a monthly charge which I chose not to pay. A lot of other mesh routers have security but it comes with a paid subscription model. Part of the reason I chose Asus for no additional charge. I also liked Ubiquiti system the most, but was out of my budget. I would recommend that you check out dongknows.com. He reviews a lot of mesh routers and probably provides too much information. I also watched landpet on YouTube and used rtings.com ) Good luck. (Sorry for the long response. Too much coffee.)

I've used orbi 5ghz 4 nodes in 7500sqf home for years and worked great. I was able to use MOCA since the house got coaxial wired to all rooms. I've downsized and recently bought Asus axe7800 3-pack at bestbuy. Just grab 2 sets and you got a router and 5 nodes to mess around with.

You must have gotten a dud. Deco BE95 system. Simply amazing. Had it for 12 weeks now. Zero drops. 5800 sq ft home. ISP 6 Gig up and Down. Wired backhaul. 121 connected devices. Wired devices that can handle multi gig speeds - 6 GIG WiFi 7 - 2.5-4.3 GIG WiFi 6E - 1.8-2.4 GIG WiFi 6 - 1.1-1.6 GIG WiFi 5 - 600 mbps - 900 mbps WiFi 2.4 - 200-500 mbps The consistency, reliability and speed blow every simple competitor out of the water in my experience! Amazing system and have tried them all! Eero Max 7, Orbi 970s, Asus ZenWifi

I had a lot of issues with the google nest wifi- for the past year or so I have used an Asus ZenWifi which works better for me, and I do have usable network access from my shed which is about 100 Ft away from the house. My biggest issue is getting a signal past the walls/siding in our house- there is 'double' siding because the house originally had asbestos siding, and a former owner put vynil over it. I get by this with a small enclosure holding one node just out side the walls of the house.

I'd avoid TP-Link out of security concerns, Asus ZenWifi or Alta Labs AP's with the Route10 is the way I'd go.

I don't think any of the products out there have an upper bound limit you would run into. The only one I saw was ASUS ZenWiFi with a limit of 9+router, and that's still plenty for your setup. What made you think there were low maximum node limits?

To echo what plenty of others are saying, but also provide links to specific items to Do-It-Yourself and save money but still get good finished product. Assuming you have roof/attic access above the rooms and can run power to the attic: * buy bulk CAT6 cable, shielded twisted pair, not CCA (CCA stands for copper coated aluminum). [Get good shielded copper wire, like this](https://a.co/d/ijNWYa0). * buy a [crimper toolkit like this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GRX9DW) * watch a few youtubes on terminating Cat6 cable. * buy a mesh wifi system like Amazon Eero, tp-Link Deco, Asus Zen Wi-Fi, etc. [Here's a good article / review of mesh systems and what to look for](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-mesh-wifi-routers/) **NOTE:** mesh wifi is the consumer grade solution. If you can afford it, you're better off getting Wifi Access Points (APs) - the business grade solution - Ubiquiti is the best known of the AP options. Connection works similarly, with one key difference -- APs require power over ethernet (POE) instead of an electrical outlet / power supply. There are pros and cons of installing either Mesh or APs. * buy at least one [Unmanaged Ethernet Switch like this](https://a.co/d/88WLwNn) - this one is 8 port (1 connection in, 7 out). * You'll run an ethernet cable from your Comcast box to your wifi mesh router. Then you'll run a **long** ethernet cable down toward your L-corner dead zone. You'll plug that long ethernet cable to the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch. Then you'll run another ethernet cable from the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to one of your mesh wifi satellites. BAM! Good internet within reach of that mesh satellite. You'll need to estimate/experiment with how many satellites the system needs (get multiple people to watch netflix on iPads, and spread them along rooms close to the mesh satellite -- see how many people / how many rooms you can cover before you need to add another mesh wifi satellite). I did a low-key simplified version of this at my house. Reply here if you have questions / need help. # You can do this yourself.

Avoid tp-link and any other CCP networking equipment. Don't intentionally put stuff with backdoors in them just to save a few bucks. Unifi is great but it's expensive and you really should use it wired. If you're just looking for plug and play mesh Asus has good offerings. Their AI mesh system works well