The Virgin Superhub 2ac is cutting out more frequently and I suspect is struggling to handle many devices. At my count, there's at least 11 devices that will be connected wirelessly (though probably not all at once - a realistic figure is likely to be 7-8). I used a wifi strength app which reported excellent strength throughout the house but I know from my usage that the further I go towards the back of the house (utility room and upstairs bathroom mainly) is where I'm likely to get poor signals for facetime and streaming from youtube or spotify.

I love the look of the Netgear Nighthawk series but there's about five differing models. When I lived with parents, I bought a Draytek router.

I'm after recommendations for something I can connect to my cable router (which will be modem only) and is reliable, with good wifi coverage. Things like QoS is important.

I've got a Netgear D6400 (it's got a built in VDSL modem, the equivalent router only model is the R6400) and it's been very reliable but I don't have the need to connect as many devices - at most I think it's been dealing with 5 - 6 but no problems there. Netgears web interface is good but it's hellishly slow to respond at times.
Have seen a few things saying Netgears consumer routers don't do IPv6 well or properly so if you need that maybe steer clear.

Well looking at google searches show Virgin Media aren't going to do "proper" IPV6 but "ds-lite" version, which I suspect means I don't need to worry about IPV6 support just yet.

This is why I really don't like WiFi.

There seems to be an unhealthy obsession with both manufacturers and consumers to do away with wires at the expense of network reliability even on devices that rarely move or are connected to other static hardwired devices, which to me is just crazy.

The only devices that use WiFi in my house are those that can't connect using wires like phones and iPads.

When I get the property renovated later in the year I'll be putting in a full ethernet network with multiple sockets in every room.

We use AVM Frit!Box routers, they also act as a telephone hub (DECT to VOIP, but it also has ISDN passthru and analogue in and out ports).

Very stable, but not that much to look at. Ours has a built in modem for up to 150mbps VDSL, ours is 4 years old, the newer models can do up to gigabit.

From all the routers I've tried, it is the only one to get acceptable wi-fi speeds through the house (Netgear managed around 25kbps in my office, the AVM gets at least the 50mbps for the DSL connection).

Solid, reliable and easy to configure.

How much mainstream support is there for the AVM, big_D? I no longer have the time to spend fiddling and fine-tuning settings like I used when I had very little in the way of responsibilities.

Looks like Asus have a released the RT-AC68U, a successor to what I was originally going to buy (the ac66u) a few years ago.

https://en.avm.de/

They are sold, literally, in their millions over here. They are pretty much the default router for most ISPs.

I bought my first two, back in 2002 and 2006, the last one came with my ISP.

We get regular security and feature updates on the device, even though it is now 5 years old.

The OS is well supported and exandable.

The gigabit model was announced in January, but looking at their website, it doesn't seem to have been released yet. The top models manage 300mbps currently.

I don't know whether they would suit you, but they are definitely worth a look, and they are a comms / networking company first and foremost.

My ISP (Zen internet) seem to be using the AVM Fritz!box 3490 as their default router these days so I doubt it's going to be too complicated to set up.
Don't have one so can't comment on usability myself though.

The nice thing about it being standard over here is that you just buy one, plug it into the DSL socket and it auto-provisions for you - no setting up at all for the Internet connection. You just have to give it an admin password.

If you use the standard (randomly generated) wifi password, there is even a QR code on the bottom of the device to automatically configure wifi on you smartphone (Android or Windows, AFAIK Apple still haven't built support for this into iOS, even after it being "standard" for nearly a decade).

Multiple sockets in every room? Christ what are you doing at home? I know you produce music etc but how many devices will you need plugged in?

When we have to re-do the wiring, that is one of the things I'll be doing as well... Multiple ports in each room.

You don't have to plug something into each socket, but if you put it on one wall and decide a couple of years later to put the computer / TV / appliance on another wall, you just repatch in "switch room", you don't need to trail cables all over the room.

I went for Mikrotik hEX router and wAP ac.
Reliability is beyond anything I've ever used plus it has incredible options and features.