Reddit mentions of ASUS Dual-Band AC750 wireless router 733 Mbps with USB port (RT-AC51U)

Yea I'm connected with ethernet, and I actually had the modems replaced twice because of how garbage they were. Let me just tell you the whole story because I haven't told anyone else and i'm still irritated by it:

My first one worked fine for a while, but suddenly started giving me even shittier speeds and would stop working sometimes unless I restarted it. It was a modem/router all-in-one and I returned it for a modem only model and got my own $50 ASUS router from Amazon. I was on LAN still.

My second modem worked flawlessly but speeds were still shit and intermittent sometimes so I got lag in games sometimes, but it was bearable. Worked fine for 2 weeks and suddenly the intermittent issues got crazy. Youtube worked but my school portal didn't, facebook worked but Outlook didn't, Reddit worked but pornhub didn't etc... The problem fixed itself when I restarted the modem, but would come back later.

Instead of getting it replaced, I called for a Spectrum "technician" because I didn't really think the modem was the issue and maybe it was wiring idk. I say "technician" in quotes because they don't know jackshit in reality, or at least the one I got didn't know anything.

He walks in, we greet, I tell him what the issue was, and checks the modem with some tool he has. Tells me that the modem is working flawlessly, and then looks at my router and says that it's a really old router model, and he thinks that the router is the problem (he could see my PC is connected with ethernet mind you). I correct him by telling him I literally bought the router like 2 weeks ago, and it's a 2018 model according to the Amazon page.

He looks at me dumbfounded, then says he's going to check the wiring outside my apartments. He comes back in and says it's too dark to see anything.

The very next morning he did come in earlier than expected, but I was at the barber getting my hair cut so my roommates let the guy in. My roommate knows nothing about this type of stuff, and just relayed everything that happened to me. He told me that the spectrum guy checked outside and said nothing was wrong with the cabling, and that he replaced the modem and told him that router was actually the issue and that I should replace it. He said the issue was the router because it couldn't keep up with our 200 Mbps speed plan and that it was throttling my internet speed, causing intermittent issues. This is my router: https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-AC750-wireless-router-RT-AC51U/dp/B01LXYT7XB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Lo and behold it was the modem. While I still occasionally lag in online games, I don't get any major issues anymore and it's been 2 months. I'll look into buying my own modem because that might fix my current lag I guess. Sorry I just wrote an essay, I just wanted to rant about to someone. FUCK SPECTRUM.

I use ddwrt interchangeable with openwrt. https://openwrt.org You are correct though that none of those look like they will work with that. What I've actually looked into though is one of these https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-Performance-Compatible/dp/B073TSK26W

$20, and powered by 5v (USB if needed) and I can take it with me. Reviews look good. For a single device or on the go, it would be great. I have a lot of wired devices though, so if this came after my router, I'd have to have another network switch after it, and I might as well just use a different router. If you want to switch in for one hard wired device, plus a phone or a couple of wireless it would be fine. Not the high end hardware, but to lock in OpenVPN at the router, it seems perfect.

So then that circles me back to something like an Asus router. https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-N300-Technology-streaming-performing-RT-N12/dp/B00DWFPDNO

N12 has my 4 ports I'd need for hardwired devices, WLAN stuff is a little on the low end though. But probably better than that $20 mobile box while still being under $30.

Asus next bump up takes it all the way to $50 https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Band-Super-Fast-Gigabit-MU-MIMO-RT-ACRH13/dp/B01LXYT7XB

But, now hard wired is gigabit ports and dual band ac wireless. It's not a high end router, but it has openwrt support and would meet my needs. If you're doing tons of home media streaming, downloads, and gaming, you would just have to invest in something a lot more expensive. For most of us though, that would work great and is probably what I'll get once I replace my router.