I personally have had a great experience with the Xiaomi Redmi Router AC2100 which can be bought for about $40 shipped from aliexpress. The support in OpenWRT stable is very recent but I've been using it for about a year with no issues. The only downside is that the installation of OpenWRT is a bit tricky and the time to ship it from China is a bit long. Here's the OpenWRT installation page so you can read the install instructions before deciding:

https://openwrt.org/toh/xiaomi/xiaomi_redmi_router_ac2100

The range is pretty good. I use two of these on two different floors. One has ethernet to my modem and they are configured as a wifi bridge using 4-address mode (also known as WDS) instead of having an ethernet cable between the two floors. Here's how to configure WDS in case it's relevant:

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/atheroswds#luci

On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 6:37 PM Hilary Naylor <hnaylor@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi meshers,
I'm trying to help a friend with his home network. He has his Sonic router upstairs and someone has run a cable from it to his kitchen (I've tested the cable and it's good). He has a wifi extender placed in the middle of the upstairs but the wifi signal downstairs is very weak. He has mobility challenges, so he prefers to work downstairs. 
  My question is, what is the best device to plug into the kitchen ethernet cable that will deliver strong wifi to the downstairs area? I'm remembering back in the distant past there were Wireless Access Points made by Linksys that did that job. I don't see any around now. I'm also thinking about the routers used for the Sudomesh project that were configured to share some bandwidth publicly. I still have mine -- it is a MyNet N600. But it would need to be reconfigured for my friend's home network (it wouldn't be useful as part of the mesh being downstairs)? Have to admit I've forgotten everything I learned a few years ago about the mesh! :( 
  The bandwidth he's getting from Sonic is only 48 mbps. 
I'd appreciate any advice.
thanks
Hilary

---
Hilary Naylor, Ph.D.
Tech Team, Ashby Village

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