which router?

[demiro]

Apologies, as I'm guessing this is likely a dumb question, but need a little advice. Home is ~2200 sq ft; three stories. I've been using cable company supplied wifi router with marginal results. The house is wired with cat5 though, so I am about to purchase a couple of routers (one for basement office and 2nd floor office at least).

Three questions: Is there a "router of choice" for this kind of application? I'm hoping something simple/cheap-ish works. Is there a way to have one united wifi password for multiple routers, rather than multiple unique signals in the house? Seems like Google wifi devices do this, but I'm not sure they are the right fit for my application. Finally, should I just get a top of the line router than will cover the whole house and be done with it?

Thank you in advance for any and all wisdom!

 

[rchunter]

Rather than multiple routers why not look into getting a ubiquiti access point.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Most wifi vendors offer products that support mesh or multiple WAP models.

Getting a top of the line router is useless if your cell phone can't punch a signal back to the router through all that mess.

I'd probably want an access point in roughly the middle of the floorplan, on the first and third floors. Ceiling mount is best if you can. Both should be wired back to the router, but if that's impossible you'll need to do the Mesh thing.

Ubiquiti is kind of the "Cadillac" option, and you won't find many people talking bad about it. I am perfectly happy with my TP-Link WAP, but I've got adequate coverage in the house, with a single WAP. If I were in the market to cover a large area, Ubiquiti's zero-handoff-roaming would be more than enough to make me spend the extra money.