+30 votes
by (670 points)
My home network wifi is terrible. We have att fiber. I tried an extender and it was still bad. I have a hard wire to the dead zone. What would you recommend? House is 2500 square feet with dry wall. My home currently only has Alexa and myQ garage in it. I’m leaning towards ecobee for thermostat.  
My home network wifi is terrible.

22 Answers

+17 votes
by (770 points)
 
Best answer
Ubiquiti/ unifi, only one problem. its like smart home crack you keep buying more!  
by (3.2k points)
She doesnt come across as very network savvy. Not sure I would recommend unifi for her. even though It is going to be superior to the consumer grade mesh setup she will ultimately end up with.  
+15 votes
by (1.8k points)
I never use the ISP's router. My preference is for Netgear but Ubiquity are good too
+25 votes
by (2.2k points)
You are going to get recommendations of all major mesh systems. I will say that I love my Google wifi. Set and walk away. Great coverage is my 2300 square foot house with a concrete basement where the main unit is.  
+14 votes
by (1.7k points)
Do you use a separate WiFi router? Att WiFi built into their modem isn’t the greatest.  
by (670 points)
@cyprinoid i use their router. Do you have a recs for another router?  
+20 votes
by (750 points)
What @ieper said ^^ I have Google wifi in my 2600 sq ft home and it reaches almost all the way to my back fence about 120 feet away from my house
+19 votes
by (3.7k points)
I have AT&T fiber 1G service in a 3500 sqft house, two levels, with most of the footprint on the first floor. I have the wifi at the AT&T gateway disabled. I use Linksys Velop as whole home mesh and have Ethernet to most important rooms / areas. I Would not recommend Velop, I would recommend Netgear Orbi. A lot of what you can do will depend on your configuration and what you can wire. My work PC is wired and so is my Velop backhaul, upstairs Xbox (doubling as the cinema playing streaming TV), main TV which is Roku. I have two tri-band Velop nodes in the house. Would probably need 3rd if I didn't have a lot of stuff wired (house came with Cat5e cabling to each room).  
by (670 points)
@kali55 I’m new to this. Can I use any router and then add the orbi? Luckily I’m hardwired also with cat5 wires throughout the house but I like using my phone on wifi.  
by (3.7k points)
You would wire Orbi to your AT&T gateway and make sure to put the port your Orbi is wired to into DMZ Plus mode.  
by (670 points)
@kali55 thank you
by (1.9k points)
@hypnotist The way @kali55 told you is how I have mine. 3000 sq ft house, AT&T Fiber, Orbi with two satellites. Main unit plugged into AT&T router, their cable box plugged in to it also, nothing else. All other plug into Orbi and use Orbi Wi-Fi. Haven’t had a problem.  
+7 votes
by (1.3k points)
AMPLIFI HD
by (210 points)
@suppositious6574 +1 for Amplifi.  
+11 votes
by (4.9k points)
I like my Eero Pro mesh system.  
by (1.3k points)
@apprehensible I just got Eero pro as well. Router from spectrum was terrible in a 2800 sqft split level home. Eero was really quick to setup. Took longer to change all my devices to the new network but I have full speed in all rooms now and even out into the yard.  
+17 votes
by (450 points)
Get ubiquiti it has a great mgmt system called unifi
+16 votes
by (5.2k points)
If you can't run ethernet then get a mesh like orbi, but if you can unifi all the way
+7 votes
by (1.3k points)
2500 sqft is small. All you need is one single, good router. Netgear is ok, but thier support and warranty is crap. Get an Asus, even an older one as they still provide firmware updates and Merlin firmware is better that any firmware on ANY router. Orbi is crap, unifi is overkill for you.  
by (240 points)
I'd suggest T-Mobile/ASUS AC-1900 router reflashed with TomatoUSB by Shibby instead of Merlin. Maybe two routers if you need a good coverage on frontyard+backyard. The router periodically goes on sale for $50.  
by (240 points)
P. S. Just learned that Shibby project was abandoned, but someone forked it to become Fresh Tomato  
http://freshtomato.org/
+16 votes
by (1.6k points)
I am looking at switching ISP's. Theirs is a modem/router together. Can I disable the router part to use my own router?  
by (1.7k points)
@painting yes. It’s what I do with a linksys 3200acm
by (1.6k points)
@cyprinoid Thank you
+7 votes
by (780 points)
I have roughly the same size house. Google WiFi mesh set of 3 covers everything great.  
+9 votes
by (1.6k points)
Unifi ACLR wired access points with a 5m overlap. No compromise. We install TONNES of these around Melbourne and the result is ALWAYS trouble free awesome wifi.  
0 votes
by (4.5k points)
Another vote for unifi. I run a single AC pro and it covers 200 square meters without a problem.  
+25 votes
by (1.5k points)
Unifi ap. LR or pro either one is great
+17 votes
by (2.7k points)
If att will allow, get an arris DOCSUS 3. 1 cable modem, model sb8200. Then pick up an Orbi RBK53 mesh router. You can sometimes find the Orbi in the Costco store on sale. If you can’t swap the modem, disable the ATT router part and still get the Orbi. Also, turn on Orbi Armor, it’s a subscription you turn on inside the router. This is a whole house firewall, especially good for us smarthome users.  
+24 votes
by (4.1k points)
Unfi. Two access points should easily cover your house. Could probably get away with one.  
+14 votes
by (4.9k points)
My house is about the same size and I use a single Unifi AP mounted on the ceiling of the 2nd floor. I get full signal everywhere in the house, across the street at the neighbors, and a nearly full signal some doors down. No need for multiple APs unless you got lead lined walls. Think I paid about $120.  
by (2.4k points)
@cards I have installed several Access Points using UniFi use AC Pro. Install on 2Fl and covers all floors and basement and have coverage on the outside yard and patios
by (4.9k points)
@mastrianni that's the model I'm using.  
by (2.4k points)
@cards yeah I have installed them for all my family members and anyone that has WiFi issues
+5 votes
by (2.5k points)
Have you talked to anyone about wiring? Maybe the options aren’t too costly. Otherwise, yeah mesh is your best bet.  
+20 votes
by (370 points)
Use Eero, you can't go wrong with that.  
+20 votes
by (4.6k points)
A lot of people on here are using the wrong terms. There’s - modem (what connects ATT network to give you internet at your house) - router (gives out IP addresses) - Wireless access point (what your iPad connects to so you can get internet. Some devices are a combination of all 3. But terminology is important here. Sounds like you need better wireless access points from what I was able to gather from your issue.  
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