Which Wi-Fi 7 router is best for five iPhones, five iPads, four TVs, and a Mac mini?

Just so you are aware, currently only the iPhone 16 models support Wi-Fi 7.

I also concur with Mr. Hoffman on Ubiquiti networking gear. FWIW, I replaced my aging Apple hardware with Ubiquiti UniFi about 5 years ago, and have never looked back, nor regretted my decision to do so. However, be aware, that UniFi is considered prosumer/business grade equipment; whereas, your Apple gear was, at best, consumer-grade.

The advantage of UniFi, much more control on what you can do with your network. The disadvantage is a bit more of a learning curve to get started.

There is no one best Wi-Fi 7 device. That because of differing requirements, differing installation environments, network bandwidth, building layouts and construction materials, and other such details.

Wi-Fi gear with mesh capabilities can help with network coverage issues without also running backhaul wiring, should those issues arise in your building and related configuration.

Local preference is Ubiquiti gear. Probably UniFi Express 7, or Dream Router 7, here. But that gear may well be more capable and more involved than what you need or want, here.

Tesserax wrote:

Just so you are aware, currently only the iPhone 16 models support Wi-Fi 7.

FWIW, here are the Wi-Fi specs for all recent Apple gear: Wi-Fi specifications for Apple devices - Apple Support

But at this juncture, I wouldn't usually install any older Wi-Fi versions anyway.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

Do you have one now? If yes, why do you feel you need to replace it? What issues are you having?

Per the OP, the existing Wi-Fi hardware is an ”old AirPort tower”, and “the younger persons in the household are beginning to compalin about speed”.

Having started with 110 baud AJ modems on dial-up, I can sympathize with bandwidth complaints.

Reality does inevitably expand to fill all available cores, memory, storage, and bandwidth.

The end of the AirPort line was this IEEE 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) model, and was a tower:

AirPort Extreme 802.11ac - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

The Ubiquiti gear I’m dealing with has replaced networks that had been built using the Time Capsule 11ac “tower” model; the equivalent to the 11ac AirPort tower. Those TCs were configured as access points, and got flaky.

And yeah, using an ISP router means the ISP owns that support, though the quality of that ISP support can vary. And the ISP gear is inevitably configured for price and for ease of ISP support, with everything else secondary or tertiary, if it even gets consideration.

Do you have one now? If yes, why do you feel you need to replace it? What issues are you having?

If your ISP will give you one for free witih the service, that's what I'd start with. I have an iPhone, an iPad, an MBP, an Apple TV, a FireTV stick and about 25 smart home devices connected to the equipment my ISP gave me. Admittedly, a somewhat different configuration. It all works with no issues.

If it doesn't work out, you're not out anything but time.

MrHoffman wrote:

Per the OP, the existing Wi-Fi hardware is an ”old AirPort tower”, and “the younger persons in the household are beginning to compalin about speed”.

Sometimes I read less carefully than I should.... Or I could blame the glasses.

And yeah, using an ISP router means the ISP owns that support, though the quality of that ISP support can vary. And the ISP gear is inevitably configured for price and for ease of ISP support, with everything else secondary or tertiary, if it even gets consideration.

But if it's free, it may still be worth trying. That was my biggest point. What is there to lose other than a bit of time? Of course, if the ISP wants to charge for it, that's different.

If you’re using 5G cellular as your ISP link (sometimes known as Jetpack, MiFi, or other names), you’ll want to check with them about options and alternatives. The ISP may have a specific router / gateway / firewall / NAT box model they support, which means you can avoid dealing with most of setting up a Wi-Fi network.

frederick d fromOH wrote:

Thank you MrHoffman - I will review those suggestions - My service is now 5G capable and my current Router is the old AirPort tower. It is doing a fair job but the younger persons in the household are beginning to compalin about speed. Thanks for your input.

PS: I have interpreted 5G as a 5G cellular network link there, though some previous discussions around here have used that nomenclature for 5 GHz Wi-Fi band. Which is not what 5G usually refers to. In typical use, 5G is usually a reference to a cellular network.

The presence and use of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz Wi-Fi bands are all entirely independent of the ISP network link.

Different router / firewall / NAT / gateway / Wi-Fi boxes have different hardware capabilities, but the ISP link doesn’t care about or even know which bands are in use for local Wi-Fi.

Excellent link ... thanks!