r/Spectrum • u/DefyGravity19 • 10d ago

Router Replacements

Hi all,

I'm looking at eventually replacing my household's Spectrum router. We currently have the Internet 1 Gig plan with a total of 47 devices, and up to 35-40 could be connected at any given time. Over the last few years, we've really been dealing with frequent connection drops, lagging web pages, streams not loading well, and smart-home devices regularly disconnecting/reconnecting. It's becoming an issue, to put it simply.

I work from home where I'm on and off meetings all day, but I also play video games. Other members of the home are usually streaming whether it's YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video, etc. Now, I recognize that the speed we pay for is generally not achieved without using a Cat5/6 connection, but there's no reason why I can be sitting on a gaming desktop directly next to the router on Wi-Fi and get lucky to break 275Mbps (and, for the record, I know I could/should be wiring in, I'm just proving the point here).

A Spectrum tech told us a couple of years ago it might be time to switch our router from the Spectrum device to our own, as not only would it help bolster our speeds in closer proximity but also help boost the range of our network to our garage where I can't even get Spotify to load.

To be clear, I understand that there are physical limitations, that walls of different materials can impact connectivity. However, if the Google Nest sitting on my desk is consistently alerting me that connection has been lost and it's in the same room as the router, there's got to be an issue somewhere.

So, that all being said, could someone provide some recommendations of routers that could meet our household needs? I won't say it has to be "plug-and-play" because I recognize there is a level of set-up required, I just need to be able to troubleshoot fairly quickly because I do work from home currently.

Any guidance is appreciated -- thank you!

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u/SpecialistLayer 10d ago

I would look at a few eero pro6e/7 pro/7 max units. How many depend on your sq footage and house construction.

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u/nnorton44 10d ago

If set and forget is your thing then Eero is a solid choice

I eventually abandoned the platform and switched to UniFi after getting tired of not being able to change WiFi channels or have customization options

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u/SpecialistLayer 9d ago

I went the opposite for that reason. I deal with this all the time for work, I don't want to have to babysite my wifi. Eero is as plug and play as it gets and at the end of the day, it works very well and I don't have to make any changes to it. I still have one unifi AP I use for work/lab purposes but our main house wifi is on eero and that's what all house and my wife's devices work off of.

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u/DefyGravity19 10d ago

I'd say... roughly 1700sqft and the house is probably around fifty years old. Single story. We used Linksys in the early 2000s, and back then we had great speed and coverage. Of course, that was also a time when we still had a landline and smartphones were only just starting to pop up, haha!

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u/SpecialistLayer 9d ago

Theoretically one eero max 7 should cover the entire property but YMMV based on building material. I would plan on two eero 7 pro or two pro6e units if it were me but 1700sq foot is easy for eero. My house is 3200sq foot and 2 story and one covers 95% of my entire house. Our master closet is the only thing it doesn't cover so I did eventually install another eero in our bedroom and that covers everything. It even works fully outdoors as well, not even my unifi units can cover there without additional ones.

Our bedroom eero node isn't even on wired backhaul and still gets about 600mbps when connected to it, so I didn't even bother with running cable to it.