In need of a good wireless router. advice please

looks like it is a snap to set up if you have Apple or Mac products. I do not.

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We have a large floor plan and a very well insulated house that has proved difficult in the past to get signal to all of the rooms

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well you'll need a router plus access points throughout the house

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Apparently it is a common issue that the IT world does a poor job of informing the consumer on.

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Probably because "Our router is just as good as anybody's" isn't as catchy of a sales pitch as "Blazing fast speeds and maximum distance!!!1" is.

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redundant and excessive wires in the attic.

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Bad news: if a router in a central location won't suffice, you're going to probably need more wires in the attic. If your current router is relatively new (4-5 years, wireless N), then it's not the problem- the space is! Now, if cable outlets are run throughout the house, a MoCa router/bridge will prevent you from needing to run more wires.

If you don't have coax run to areas where signals are weak, something like the Ubiquiti UniFi WAP is what you want. You place a small adapter near your current router, use 1 AC/wall plug there, then the ethernet cable leaving the small adapter will carry power to the actual Access Point (extender). The beauty here is that it only needs one cable, so the device can actually sit, unseen, in the attic. The bad is that you need a power outlet near the router + cable to the attic (or any other place you want to put an ethernet cable, but I'd imagine attic is most desirable)


The last option usually yields the worst results. It requires a router that's got a fair bit of throughput, because it cuts the available throughput in half. You basically have a device that "catches" and then "rebroadcasts" the wireless signal. My father uses a Netgear N600 router + wifi booster as explained above. Using a speed test, he gets 60mbps down on the main router. On the booster, he only gets 5mbps on his internet connection. I've never tested his local network actual throughput. It's much less reliable than a hardwire, so for TV watching (especially over wifi which is what it sounds like you'll be doing almost exclusively), the number of signal jumps and bandwidth may make it unusable/undesirable. But it may work for you. I've never tried, so I could very well be wrong. The options I've mentioned were done so from most--> least preferable if I were in your shoes. A MoCa bridge from your router through coax to a second MoCa adapter (either with wifi or with ethernet to be plugged into a new WAP) would be the way I would go.

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He needs wired AP(s)

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Agreed. He's got 3 solid methods of running them. For someone who seems to mention/complain of the wiring in his attic as excessive, piggy-backing on the coax could be a better option than running more wires, which he seems to be hesitant to do.

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Any suggestions on a good place to get gear at good prices on line?

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On any given day, Amazon is as good a bet as anything. If you want used/refurb, they're close to the king there, too. If you want to wait for a major sale or take advantage of a rebate, check out TigerDirect or NewEgg. To take the easy route, a [link=(www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004XXMUCQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1430631931&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX200_QL40&keywords=Ubiquiti&dpPl=1&dpID=213yEwekUlL&ref=plSrch)]pair of these[/link] + almost any router will do.