I'm a telus internet subscriber, and we have the telus Actiontec v1000h router. From that router we have 1 desktop hardwired, 1 telus supplied wifi antenna that hooks up my second PVR, a couple of unmanaged 5 and 8 port switches, and in my basement, 1 Asus RT-N56U router.
My main issue is that I loose connectivity really often, like at least once a week I'll realize I have no internet on either wifi network or on hardwired devices. This sucks because I end up using a bunch of cellphone data while surfing on my phone. The solution is to unplug the actiontec router, leave it unplugged for at least five minutes, and then plug it back in. Everything seems to reset it self fine after that and things will work for another few days. I'm sure if I bitched to Telus, they'd give me a new router, but is that my best option?
My secondary, somewhat related issue is that I am running two wifi networks, and frankly neither one reaches everywhere very well. I do find most of the house is better served by the Asus router, but it doesn't reach to my garage, and I would like to it. My house and yard are not large (1800 square feet, two stories, yard is standard 120 feet deep, garage is only 30 feet from house). I hear newer routers have very good range (although I feel like I should reach this measly distance with current hardware), and I know there has been a lot of good feedback from the mesh wifi / managed wifi thread. We don't need blazing speed. If I can load a gallery from the chive or youtube I'm good to go.
So, 1) what's my best short term solution for a crappy telus router that drops internet regularly? and 2) If I was buying new hardware, how would you set up my network for ease of use and robustness?