LINKSYS EA9500 AC5400 or Netgear Nighthawk X4S AC2600

[#1]

Good morning all.

I have been a plusnet customer for a good while and have always enjoyed the service. Recently however I have found the wifi connection to be poor. This is not due to the speed I am receiving, more to do with the new house distances and walls, and the number of devices connected I feel. Upgraded to the Hub one when the last contract was renewed but this strangely enough seems to have made the issue worse rather than better.

So I am now looking to change the router for a higher grade one. I am not an expert, more complete novice, on all things network so looking for some advice. As I dont have a seperate modem I am reasonably sure i need a VDSL,ADSL router/modem to replace the hub one. I have been looking at the above two routers. Not cheap but willing to pay to get the wifi coverage I want for the family. Any suggestions which one or are there others out there that will do a better job?

Both of the above can be found at Very (not where I will buy but easy for comparrison).

Cheers all, any advice will be much appreciated.

[#2]

There are various alternatives to trying to get a single router to cover a large house.  As you don't mention these you may not be aware of them.  

You could use a wireless/WiFi Range Extender (or several) which is a single unit that re-transmits the wireless signal.  These need to be strategically positioned so that they receive a strong-enough signal from the router and then pass it on to more remote parts of the building where the WiFi from the router is weak.

A Mesh WiFi system is similar but with multiple extenders that use a separate wireless channel to communicate with each other.  Too much traffic on the same wireless channel can compromise the speed so this is more efficient and potentially faster.

You could use an Access Point which is essentially a second router (without a modem) connected to the first by a long cable so it can have its own WiFi (and cable) network.  This is often the best solution for a remote location like an outbuilding.

Or you can use Homeplug/Powerline extenders where the signal between your router and the remote Access Point is transmitted over your mains wiring.  This requires a unit positioned next the to router as well as one or more remote access points.     

[#3]

Thanks for the reply ReedRichards.

I have tried the range extenders with not an awful amount of success. There were several issues, but the one that killed them for me was an oddity that when moving around the house you would loose connection and then have to manually reconnect, even though it should have been a smooth change from one to another. This unfortunately annoyed my wife to the point that the extenders had to go. I also already use the powerline adapters for the hard wired items like kids xbox and smart tv, but haven't had much luck with using wifi enabled powerline adapters.

The house itself is actually not that large but is heavily extended so there are a mix of single skin and double skin brick walls running through it so I think it may be creating issues with wifi coverage. I was thinking that a more powerful router with aerials may have a better result than the hub one. Cost wise the mesh systems seem to be more than the routers.

I did look at the router details and it seems that there are 4 hard wired items and 6 wifi items running in the house as a general rule which does not seem that many.

Really it is the range that is the issue and having had issues with the multiple device solutions (wifi extenders) I was hoping to be able to spend a bit of cash and get a single device that would increase the range. Point in question, my sons PS3 is around 7 meters away from the router (direct line) and works fine, but slow, however if you move to his window the wifi connection disappears completely from phones and they start searching for mobile connection.

Cheers

[#4]

Range is a two-way thing.  No matter how powerful/clever the router is, you still rely on the wireless transceiver in the device it is communicating with.  And if you have found some dead spots in your house they might well stay dead with whatever router you have, if it is located in the same place.  

A mesh system would probably be more expensive than a single router but it ought to do a better job.  If your wife wants internet connectivity in the manner of mobile phone connectivity (where you can move around and stay connected) then a mesh system should achieve that.  

[#5]

Ethernet is cheap and fast.

You could try ethernet connected access point(s)...