NETGEAR - Nighthawk AX5 5-Stream AX4200 WiFi 6 Router (RAX42)

I have a 3,000sq two-story house and am currently running with a Nighthawk AX5 AX4200 WiFi Router(RAX42v2) that I bought last year. We have a decent spot right in the center of the house downstairs to place it and it covers everywhere just fine. YMMV but if you're just looking for general use, this might be a good fit for you.

With a descent router wireless is nearly as good as wired these days. I speak as someone who was once a 'wired network' purist for the same reasons as you, and also someone who works from home. A good router, set in a centralized place will probably be a cheaper and simpler solution than wiring everything together. I use one of those nighthawk routers with four antenna. Alternatively, doing data cabling runs throughout your house can be in DIY territory. It would be much cheaper than hiring a contractor and you could be done with it in about a day depending on how many rooms you want patched in and how much you care about wire enclosures being visible. Lots of people just put cable mounts in the corner near the ceiling and run them outside the wall.

With a descent router wireless is nearly as good as wired these days. I speak as someone who was once a 'wired network' purist for the same reasons as you, and also someone who works from home. A good router, set in a centralized place will probably be a cheaper and simpler solution than wiring everything together. I use one of those nighthawk routers with four antenna. Alternatively, doing data cabling runs throughout your house can be in DIY territory. It would be much cheaper than hiring a contractor and you could be done with it in about a day depending on how many rooms you want patched in and how much you care about wire enclosures being visible. Lots of people just put cable mounts in the corner near the ceiling and run them outside the wall.

Netgear nighthawk for 6. Using tplink easy mesh for 7 and been happy so far

Definitely 👍. I use a Netgear Nighthawk with WiFi 6.

Considering that you’re using a very old 802.11n-only device, an upgrade to a decent WiFi6 device will modernize you greatly. These can be very inexpensive. I picked up a used Netgear Nighthawk WiFi6 router for $30 and it covers my apartment perfectly, despite the 200 neighbors. Then, when the future arrives and it’s time to expand, I’d buy something new. WiFi7 prices are only going to fall faster and WiFi7 clients will become all that more common, so it will pay to wait. Network gear is one of those things that you can’t future-proof. The tech changes fast enough, and the prices change fast enough, and the client support lags enough to the point where it’s is more efficient to buy for today, and not for 24 months from now.

I agree. I have tried numerous Netgear products, going back to a PCMCIA card, and all of them have had problems. The last Nighthawk I had constantly resulted in "Connected, No internet" for too many devices.

They were all WiFi 6. I used a Nokia linksys Atlas, a TPLink one and a Netgear Nighthawk. Except for the Nokia (wifi5), none of them even came close to the signal penetration I got from the GLinet flint 2. 

Yeah their speeds are terrible man! I swapped out to a nighthawk router for $300 at Best Buy has been worth it

they are awesome on a deal, and netgear nighthawk are fantastic... not that thing you linked...

Depends on your situation. If you have DSL or Coaxial Cable. You are likely going to have lag spikes due to the medium of connection. "Shared" mediums and DSL is just old teetering on ancient technology this point. That aside, I had luck with my Netgear Nighthawk back in 2015. I used it all the way up to 2020 when I got a legitimate Firewall. (Fortigate 70F) If you wanna go full blown firewall Route, I don't mind helping. Otherwise maybe look at the Netgear. (P.S. I hated the Netgear Nighthawk Smart App. Just in case you end up going that route. It should also have a built in web interface to be able to go around the app. Not sure about the Netgear Mesh boxes that they have out there now.).