High Speed router recommendation.

[Formless]

I have to buy a new router. And as I look up reviews of many brands and models, I become more uncertain since some of these routers costs a lot.

What I'm looking for is a router that can provide as best of a connection to simultaneous 4K streaming and online gaming at the same time, wired or wireless, I don't mind the cables around the place.

My search lead me to a couple of models that on paper seem superb, but some of the customer reviews for these items sounds unfavorable.

Netgear Nighthawk X10. (It got tri band for wifi, but more importantly, 6 ethernet ports.)

D Link AC5300 DIR-895L/R ( An old model but seems to support a high range of speed, though just 4 ethernet ports)

Now which one would you recommend? Are there other models from other brands that can do just as good or better?

I know there are other brands like ASUS but they're not too common where I am so I'm reluctant to take the plunge and buy one, unless they're more reliable and less prone to being faulty.

Linksys is a no go as its not compatible with the service provider here, or I would've purchased it in a heartbeat.

Thank you in Advance.

[Vekseid]

How exactly is Linksys 'not compatible'? They blacklist the MAC address range at your modem or something?

4K video is ~2 Megabytes/second, generally. Wired, you'd be pressed to find something worse than Cat5e (6 times that), and most wireless you can find is even faster - though naturally you are sharing spectrum with everyone else.

That said, the reviews on that D-Link are definitely worrying. They don't make their own equipment, though, so you could try to hunt down who else uses the same electronics and check those reviews. I'm of two minds on the Netgear reviews... some people have bad luck, and those are the most likely to complain. Others aren't all that bright. So some amount of negativity needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

But for what you've described either of those routers is plenty overkill for your needs. As long as you find something with both wires and wireless, wire up your main gaming rig, you should be happy with any reliable router.

[AmberStarfire]

I'd say check with your ISP before buying one to make sure it's suitable (though it sounds like you already have). I know when we were going to buy one here (after our other one blew up), we decided to wait and talked to our ISP about it. They told us we literally couldn't buy and use one, and we needed one sent and configured by them or it wouldn't work. So we had to wait on them and when they sent one out, I'm fairly sure it was free. It sounds like your ISP probably does things differently but it might be worth checking about the brand you decide on before you buy it.

[Formless]

How exactly is Linksys 'not compatible'? They blacklist the MAC address range at your modem or something?

The technical answer for this question eludes me. The basic gist of it is when FTTP became available for the general public, most Linksys models just couldn't connect. Consumers plug it in and there's no internet signal. The ISP just finally made it part of their service contract to notify customers that if they plan on using Linksys, they do not hold any responsibility if they fail to connect.

I appreciate the feedback, thank you. I'll just set my sights on something less expensive and readily available.

I'd say check with your ISP before buying one to make sure it's suitable (though it sounds like you already have). I know when we were going to buy one here (after our other one blew up), we decided to wait and talked to our ISP about it. They told us we literally couldn't buy and use one, and we needed one sent and configured by them or it wouldn't work. So we had to wait on them and when they sent one out, I'm fairly sure it was free. It sounds like your ISP probably does things differently but it might be worth checking about the brand you decide on before you buy it.

It was the first thing I did. Most options are ok when I inquired. Just that specific brand isn't, and I just couldn't understand why.

[cincinnatus]

Speaking as someone who has managed a LAN at a small business (complete with multiple WLAN IP, two ISPs, and a rack of servers), be aware that beyond a certain point your router performance will be less important that your broadband connection.  If you purchase high end router, you'll want to pair with with a capable modem and decent plan.  That being said, a single 4K stream and a single game at the same time shouldn't stress most modern mid-range routers, in my experience.  Do put too much faith in what the box says...they want you to buy the biggest and shiniest.  Where the really high end ones will shine is with a large number of devices and multiple streams.  A large number of wifi devices, tied with a larger house, will be the most difficult.

Don't think that 6 ports versus 4 is sticking point.  Fast switches are cheap, and you can run single cables to switch somewhere to have more devices in one spot wired.  Know that wired will always give more reliable speed than wifi, for various reasons.

I have a Netgear router (R6400v2 aka AC1750), it's about 3 years old and is definitely middle of the road (was about $150 at the time, if I remember).  I don't have multiple 4k streams, but we do have two Chromecasts, two PCs, multiple laptops (especially now with work), a double handful of tablets and phones, a printer, two consoles, blueray, raspberry pi, nest thermostat, and a security camera.   We can watch multiple online streaming services, or (recently) multiple zoom meetings, with never a hiccup (as long as Comcast holds out).  My biggest problem is our broadband is only 5mps upstream, and the router can't fix that.

(On a humorous note, when I first saw one of the new routers with eight antennas, my brain said: "This router, when detecting interference, will use it's antennas as spider legs to relocate itself automatically)