I moved to a new home and I'm in the market for a new wireless router. It seems that the more I read and learn, the less I know. Lots of jargon, lots of promises, etc. My primary concern is getting a good signal throughout the entire house with a minimum of effort. (I.e., without flashing and configuring open-source firmware, hopefully without the need for repeaters, etc.). I'm willing to spend $$ on a new router, but only if it's really going to work.
I live in a modest-sized 3-floor house (two floors and a basement--total 2100 square feet, not including basement). My office is on the top floor, and I will use a wired connection there for maximum bandwidth, so I plan to put the wireless router there, despite the less-than-optimal location. While unpacking, I temporarily set up my current D-Link DIR-655 router on the main (middle) floor, and even with that router location, I get intermittent (i.e., unacceptable) wi-fi reception on my cell phone when I'm in the far area of the top floor.
I'd like to set up a router on the top floor, and have excellent throughput on the first floor, and passable throughput in the basement.
I have one television on the main floor that I'd like to use to stream movies (HD, not 4K). i will also have a family computer on the first floor. There are only two adults and a baby in the household, so I don't need the capability to have lot of devices accessing Wi-Fi at once. *Maybe* someone will be on the computer while another person is watching a movie, but that's about it.
I realize that wireless performance depends on many factors, including the layout of the home and other possibly interfering devices, but how do I choose the best router? From what I understand, an AC router will help me get higher speeds at greater distances, so I looked at some of the popular models. Lots of good reviews for the Netgear Nighthawk series on Amazon--I was leaning toward the AC1900 model--but Consumer Reports gave the Linksys AC2600 (E8500) better marks for "Far throughput".
Is there any reliable source for information on how routers perform in the kind of environment I'm describing? Are there significant differences in the performance of AC routers with similar specs? Given my needs, is there any reason to buy a more sophisticated or advanced model than the ones I've described here? Any specific feature I should look for? Should I just assume I'll need a repeater somewhere in the house?
Any advice is appreciated, oh gurus!