Hi,

Im curious to hear your thoughts about which router to choose:

Situation: 2 story + basement house. Verizon Fios comes in through the basement. I have an Ethernet cable running from the basement to the first floor. So, looking for 2-devices to provide full coverage including backyard/garage and front yard. I have some IOT devices (video doorbell, smart deadbolt (planned), security cameras, smart plugs, etc.) that I would like separate these from the network with computers, cell phones, and server. Nothing is PoE. Not sure if there is anything important I should know about Matter/Thread as I keep hearing about this new standard or how it works with regard to routers.

I have a Synology NAS for back ups and bulk multimedia. There is mini-computer which mostly runs plex. These are all networked with ethernet cable (6E). Ideally, I’d like to maximize my LAN speed for local streaming of media. Future proofing for higher gigabit speeds seems like a good idea (2.5Gbps?)

Some other features I’m interested in is adblocking (I’ve been playing with a GL.inet travel router which has ad blocking built in). I’d like to be able to use it as a VPN client occasionally through the router. I’m also interested in a subscription-free parental-control feature. I’ve heard that Synology ax6600 has some good options in that regard but is lacking in other software packages.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has any thoughts they’d like to share about your own experience. All these features are swimming around in my head and it’s hard to make sense of which features are high value. Thanks.