Router recommendations in 2022

alcappuccino
2022-10-23T16:07:19Z

Hello everyone, I'm going to move to a new apartment and doing full time home office while my wife is doing part home office, so I'm looking to improve my internet connectivity. I already plan to get the 400 mbps down fiber cable plan. So, I have to be honest that routers is one of those topics that I should know more than I should but don't, so I'm not sure what should I expect and the features I want or don't need.

Some time ago, I discovered and bookmarked the amazing website smallnetbuilder which at the time I thought, I would just trust his thorough reviews and choose the best router within my budget. Sadly, the website seems abandoned now, so I'm not sure if there is something new on the market or if the routers on his "Best" rank, are still valid options. By the way, I don't really game online.

My requirements are:

150€ budget, but willing to go to 200€ if really worth it;

Mesh compatibility, just in case I need it in the future;

Hopefully very low packet loss maybe 0-0.5%;

Compatibility/support with open source firmware;

Maybe VPN support (not sure, if worth it);

2.5Gb LAN ports would be nice for future-proofing, but I think this is not possible without going over the budget;

Something that I don't know and never heard about, but you would really recommend it to me :).

After a first glance, the Asus RT-AX58U looks nice. Just not sure about only having two 5GHz streams and no LAN port aggregation.

Bonus dumb question(s) (sorry): Will all the routers work with my ISP modem? Or is it normal to always check with the ISP first before buying?

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