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My Airport Extreme provides automatic dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi with a top speed of 1.3Gbps. And it works just fine. It is extended with two Express and an older Extreme. Is there an advantage in replacing it with a new router? Which one or ones for 3000 square feet of house.
iMac 27", macOS 10.15
OK. Sounds like you may have an issue with what your ISP is delivering to you, and it may not be your Airport Extreme's fault.
I assume the ISP's receiver has an Ethernet port on it.
Plug your Mac directly into the Ethernet port (I am assuming you have an Ethernet port on your Mac, or a Thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet adapter; Or you have a friend or neighbor that has a laptop with the necessary Ethernet port or adapter).
Many ISP modems require that you power cycle them when you change the device they are plugged into, because they lock onto the first device they see after powering up and ignore any other devices.
Once you have that setup, run a speed test. Google "Internet Speed Test", and you will find several services. Try a couple so you have more than one report.
Because you have eliminated your Airport Extreme router in the mix, and it is just your computer (or a friends) and the ISP's modem, you should be able to get a fairly accurate of the internet speeds (uploads, download) as well as latency (ping test; hopefully under 100 milliseconds; 1/10 of a second).
And if you get results in the same ball part from multiple speed test services, you will have something you talk to your ISP about vs what they are charging your for a specific level of service.
For the size of your house, and that you are using multiple WiFi access points, then the next router you get should be a "Mesh" setup. But that does not need to today, if your existing setup is still working OK, with respect to the real internet speeds your ISP is offering you.
The advantage of a Mesh network is that it is easy to setup, you do not need to worry about how the devices talk to each other, etc... If you are currently using Ethernet between the main router and the satellite WiFi access points, there are Mesh systems that can use Ethernet, they just cost more as the units that let the Satellite units talk to each other via WiFi are less expensive (I use Ethernet to internet my device, so I got the more expensive eero unit).
One other thing to keep in mind. If your ISP is giving your gigabit speeds, not all WiFi will sustain Gigabit between you and your device. Many WiFi routers and access points will advertise a specific bandwidth, but they are just saying they can talk to 1 or 2 devices on the first 2.4GHz radio at speed X per device, and talk to 1 or 2 devices via the first 5GHz radio at speed Y per device, and if there is a 3rd radio, then 1 or 2 devices at speed Y per device on the 3rd radio. They add up the maximums of all those connections and say we can do 2600 megabits/second. But you would need 6 or more devices all maxing out their speeds to actually have the router move that much data. And to make it interesting, most of them have a single 1 gigabit Ethernet connection to the ISP's modem, so getting more than 1 gigabit via any ISP's modem is generally not possible, unless you get a more expensive ISP service, and a more expensive router (something with 10 gigabit Ethernet ports).
OK. Sounds like you may have an issue with what your ISP is delivering to you, and it may not be your Airport Extreme's fault.
I assume the ISP's receiver has an Ethernet port on it.
Plug your Mac directly into the Ethernet port (I am assuming you have an Ethernet port on your Mac, or a Thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet adapter; Or you have a friend or neighbor that has a laptop with the necessary Ethernet port or adapter).
Many ISP modems require that you power cycle them when you change the device they are plugged into, because they lock onto the first device they see after powering up and ignore any other devices.
Once you have that setup, run a speed test. Google "Internet Speed Test", and you will find several services. Try a couple so you have more than one report.
Because you have eliminated your Airport Extreme router in the mix, and it is just your computer (or a friends) and the ISP's modem, you should be able to get a fairly accurate of the internet speeds (uploads, download) as well as latency (ping test; hopefully under 100 milliseconds; 1/10 of a second).
And if you get results in the same ball part from multiple speed test services, you will have something you talk to your ISP about vs what they are charging your for a specific level of service.
For the size of your house, and that you are using multiple WiFi access points, then the next router you get should be a "Mesh" setup. But that does not need to today, if your existing setup is still working OK, with respect to the real internet speeds your ISP is offering you.
The advantage of a Mesh network is that it is easy to setup, you do not need to worry about how the devices talk to each other, etc... If you are currently using Ethernet between the main router and the satellite WiFi access points, there are Mesh systems that can use Ethernet, they just cost more as the units that let the Satellite units talk to each other via WiFi are less expensive (I use Ethernet to internet my device, so I got the more expensive eero unit).
One other thing to keep in mind. If your ISP is giving your gigabit speeds, not all WiFi will sustain Gigabit between you and your device. Many WiFi routers and access points will advertise a specific bandwidth, but they are just saying they can talk to 1 or 2 devices on the first 2.4GHz radio at speed X per device, and talk to 1 or 2 devices via the first 5GHz radio at speed Y per device, and if there is a 3rd radio, then 1 or 2 devices at speed Y per device on the 3rd radio. They add up the maximums of all those connections and say we can do 2600 megabits/second. But you would need 6 or more devices all maxing out their speeds to actually have the router move that much data. And to make it interesting, most of them have a single 1 gigabit Ethernet connection to the ISP's modem, so getting more than 1 gigabit via any ISP's modem is generally not possible, unless you get a more expensive ISP service, and a more expensive router (something with 10 gigabit Ethernet ports).
LTE is 4G cellular radio service. Is your ISP providing service via cellular radio?
I have Comcast as my ISP, and they are giving me 200+ megabits/second download speeds, and only 6 megabit/sec upload speeds.
I do not have any issues with bandwidth.
For that matter, my Airport Extremes did not have any bandwidth issues.
I switched to the eero mesh for 2 reasons.
NOTE: I'm not saying you should get an eero, but if you have a large space to cover, then a good mesh network would be good.
Actually, while I did tell my Sister to get a mesh, she got an Orbi, and is very happy with it. In her case, she needed to cover the house and a horse barn about 250 feet away (clear line of sight). I do not know how she placed the different units, but it is working for her.
Unless you have a small space to provide WiFi, I would suggest one of the various Mesh networking products.
https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/best-mesh-wireless-system/
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/
I replaced my 3 Airport Extremes with an eero mesh network. Note after I purchased the eero, Amazon acquired eero. While eero is a great mesh network, it is now also an Amazon product, if that affects your decision.
Range wise, I can stream Netflix about 250 feet from my front door, using my Macbook Pro. Move a few feet further away, and Netflix starts to get choppy and break up.
Non-video streaming. My iPhone can still access things like email, maps, etc... about 300 feet from front door (slow, but connected). The Macbook Pro can get about 350 feet away before it can no longer access lower bandwidth services.
Is this an improvement over your AP Extremes? As far as I can tell, (though my question is because I don't really know) my network functions very well, though there are issues with my internet provider and my 2nd generation Apple TV. The DS is very poor, jumping from near 1.0 mbps to 12 mbps. Needless to say, that impacts the Apple TV streaming. But the provider has routinely blamed my router. Says it's LTE service 5.8 GHz. I don't comprehend that as an issue. Or is it?
Bob, thanks very much for your obviously knowledgeable and patient help. My ISP, the only available for some strange reason, is provided by nearby microwave relay. That signal comes into an antenna on my property and then my cable into my house. My antenna has a small radio receiver on it that picks up the signal from the ISP nearby (half mile away) microwave broadcasting unit. I'll gladly jump at anything that will clearly help. But it has been impossible to determine what will. Neighbor has changed routers with no effect..
In installed a Netgear Orbi mesh system a year or so ago and have been very happy with it.
What router to replace Airport Extreme
