My Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 is reaching end of life, and I've been notified that it will no longer receive official support or firmware updates. I'm looking to replace it with something around $300 and am considering the TP-Link BE9700, eero Pro 6, Nighthawk RS300, Deco AXE5400, TP-Link BE3600, and Deco BE5000. I'm leaning toward a single router rather than a mesh system, but I'm unsure whether mesh would be worthwhile for a 1,700-square-foot home. The entire home is on one floor, and there aren't any additional Ethernet wall ports for wired access points. What would you recommend?
4 Answers
The layout matters more than the price. Since your home is one floor and has no other Ethernet ports, start with a quality standalone router in a central location. If coverage is poor, you can add a wireless mesh node later, although wired backhaul would generally perform better. From your list, the BE9700 or Deco XE75-class hardware would be reasonable options, but an older discounted model may already be fast enough for normal household use.
For a single-story home of that size, one good router should usually be enough if you can place it near the center. Mesh is more useful when there are dead zones, multiple floors, thick walls, or Ethernet cabling for wired nodes. I wouldn’t feel obligated to spend the entire $300 budget on a mesh kit.
Don’t assume the newest Wi-Fi standard will make a noticeable difference unless your internet plan and devices support it. A stable Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E router can still be plenty fast for a typical household, and spending less on a reliable model may be better than paying extra for features you won’t use.
You can keep using the existing router for now; end of support usually means it will stop receiving manufacturer firmware updates, not that it suddenly stops working. Installing third-party firmware such as Tomato or DD-WRT may be possible on some models, but compatibility varies and it can require technical setup. For security and ease of use, replacing it with a currently supported router is the safer long-term choice.
That makes sense. I’ve had my current router for about eight years, so I’m comfortable upgrading, but the number of choices has made it difficult to compare them.