I thought a tip that I posted in Apple Discussions would be useful here…
With so many devices now depending on wifi it is no wonder people are experiencing problems when they replace a wifi router.
My solution is, during installation of the new router, to change the SSID and password to the same as the old one. I have found that all my Homekit devices seamlessly connect to the new router.
It is actually irritating that router manufacturers don’t provide this option as part of the set up of new routers. Also it should be much simpler to temporarily disable the 5Ghz band when pairing Homekit devices.
BTW - Over the past few years I have had to replace several routers that were provided by my ISP due to wifi failures. I ended up buying another brand of router for wifi/ethernet and just keep the ISP router (between modem & new router) for its 4G backup and phone service, with wifi turned off.
I was forced to do this for same reasons. The problem for me was that I had kept the old wifi on the default BT name “BTWholehome-XYZ”. When I got my shiny new Linksys system I didn’t want it to be called “BTWholeHome-XYZ” and was quite prepared to change all my devices to do this…but our wireless alarm system cannot be changed by the end user, so I have accepted that my Linksys is masquerading as a BTWholehome system.
The lesson learned is to chose a generic name for your SSID.
I use UniFi access point. Despite the relatively low cost of some of their gear, the management console treats your house like an enterprise, so when you add a new access point it’s trivial to set it up with the same settings as the existing access point(s).
UniFi also makes frequent upgrades to their firmware and has been on top of security fixes.
Only want to strongly endorse the Dan W.'s UniFi recommendation.
I started using their WAN Gateway and Ethernet hubs 5 years ago and over the course of time have now multiple hubs, router and their new Gateway / WiFi (“Dream Router”) and another second WiFi unit – essentially the entire home network is on their system and have replaced the prior FiOS and routine components.
The WiFi’s mesh easily – the router has been exceptionally reliable.