Best Router

I also want to support the pfSense project ;-)

I'm also thinking about supporting the local economy and buying an APU2 from PC Engines.

Their customer support was great. I owned the predecessor of the ALIX and when it broke, I ordered the ALIX.
I then tried the PSU of the ALIX at the old board and it still worked (but I wanted the new one anyway).
I told them about this and they sent another PSU for free, without me even asking for it.

And I do use external APs. Currently an Airport Express (not the latest revision). If I had a house or a bigger apartment, I'd go for Ubiquity.

 

Cisco....

 

I'm going to report that my Asus AC5300 has been completely solid for many months. But last fall I grabbed one for my son in Brooklyn, and one of the 5 GHz radios failed within 2 days. So back it went, another one arrived, and its 2.4 GHz radio failed after about 6 weeks. My son was annoyed and went to an Eero mesh system. The AC5300, after Asus repairs it, will go on craigslist. Two turkeys in a row! Not OK.

 

These days for most homes, I'd suggest "forget the router" and get a "mesh system" instead.

Numerous ones available.
Even Apple is now selling the Linksys Velop system...

 

Nowdays I agree with you, Fishrrman. When I wanted a new router for my son I thought about mesh but remembered that the last time I'd explored Eero (in 2016), I'd been unimpressed. So I didn't even check them out, which was a mistake. The current gen is pretty slick.

He did have to buy a switch for the base unit, but that wasn't a big deal.

I'm a convert, but because everything's working perfectly here, I won't do anything until the 5300 fails.