Go with a modem with a 2.5Gbps port, Tanees. So that combo will do, but you can get a modem of a lower price with such a port. Good luck!

A quick run down

I have Xfinity 1250mbps plan w/their equipment. Sucks. The speeds no where near what I am paying for and need to upgrade.

My problem is the age of some of my devices. ie 1st gen Apple T.V. a 2012 MBP so wifi 6 isn’t an option on some of these things as they aren’t supported anymore.

My desire is to get the gigs I am paying for (or close to it), that also won’t leave devices dead in the water now, or in 3 years. Reverse that and I also don’t want to spend $400+ on modem and router that might be irrelevant in 2-3 years.

My thought was Asus rt-ax88u pro, paired w/ Motorola MB8611. Would there be a better choice I am overlooking for the above scenario?

You can’t use a gateway as an extender. Don’t try. Also, the process is quite technical, so maybe you need to do some reading first. This post will help.

I don’t offer one-on-one support, nor do we use your email address for anything per the privacy policy.

I understand, Trevor. Paying attention is the key. I spelled out “Wi-Fi 6” for a reason since that router also has a Wi-Fi 5 band.

Hi Dong – the pitfall of my incomplete understanding of this technology is that I’m forced to make certain assumptions (based on reviews and specification documents), which I’m attempting to verify here.
For example – the assumption you refer to above comes directly from your review of the RT-AX92U, (https://dongknows.com/asus-rt-ax92u-review/) where you state “Specifically, as a single router, current 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 clients can expect to connect at 2.4Gbps..”.
I was hoping you’d be able to help but I’m sorry to see I’m unable to get an answer to my basic question of whether a wi-fi 5 router (AC86U/AC88U) supports 160MHz channel bonding here. Thanks anyway for your reviews, they’ve been very helpful.

You’re making assumptions and picking and choosing the specs of the hardware. For example, the router is 4×4 so you need a 4×4 Wi-Fi 5 adapter to get the speed the specs suggest. The Intel card is 2×2. That’s just one example.

Hi Dong, thanks for the quick response – perhaps I’m not expressing myself correctly.
I appreciate that the speeds I am referring to are the ‘theoretical maximum’ or connection speeds that you quote in your router reviews (i.e. 866.7Mbps for 256-QAM, 2×2, 80MHz chnl width), & that applications often only see 1/3-1/2 of these in reality. I want to use the 160MHz chnl width to increase my (th. max) throughput to 1733Mbps, & if using wifi6 then also 1024-QAM modulation for further gains (to c 2400?).
To support this my NAS & workstation connect using 10GbE, and link agregation would allow the WiFi router to connect at 2Gbps (probably using a Netgear GS110MX 8-Port Gigabit Switch w/ 2x 10GbE Ports).
So I guess my question boils down to the issue of whether a wifi 5 router (i.e. AC86U/AC88U) can support a (2×2) link with 160MHz channel bonding to the AX210 card? I know that wifi 6 can, but wi-fi 5 support seems difficult to determine. Sorry if you’ve already answered this somewhere, I’m reading you’re excellent posts as fast as I can!

You won’t ever get sustained speeds over 1.5Gbps out of any existing Wi-Fi 6/E adapter, Trevor. It’s called Gig+ for a reason. So no combo will give you that. Also, you need routers with Multi-Gig ports, else the speed caps at 1Gbps.