Now that our Starlink is up and working well I'm looking to add a different router and expand the wifi coverage inside (and possibly outside) the house.

2 story home, approx 2k sq ft per level.  Unfinished lower level, with full access to walls and joists for top level.  Starlink cable feeds into my mechanical room / hobby room in the lower level, essentially centrally located in the home.  Can run wiring wherever I need to.

We have a bunch of devices.  3 TV's w/ xbox each, 3 computers, 2-3 tablets, 4 or so smart phones, 3 or 4 Alexa devices, I'm putting together my NAS, smart thermostat, smart garage door opener, I'd like to add security cameras now that I have sufficient connectivity, etc.

Looking for suggestions on routers / wifi expansion devices.  Prior to the Starlink, I was using my ancient WRT-54G running aftermarket firmware.  A router on which I can run ExpressVPN is a bonus.

Questions on the stuff I don't know that I don't know?  Suggestions?  

I have less than 24hrs on my Orbi mesh install.  They have really sped up my whole ~2600 sq. foot house.  Easy install as well.

My wife says I don't do well with change.  

I'd go poke around SNBForums and form your own opinion.
IMHO, just about anything on the market now will have you better off.
Personally I run ASUS gear since it can be expanded into a mesh system (AIMesh).

https://amplifi.com/alien

I got this for my 2400sf single story and it is amazing

+1 on the Orbi system.

DD-WRT on a WRT-54G was pretty awesome.



In 2006.

Purchased a Linksys WRT3200ACM so I can put ExpressVPN on the router for the house.  So I'm moving from 2005 technology up to 2016 tech!  Woot!

im building a house, do I really need a "mesh" system?  Ive identified 3 locs to do coverage from, can I just get 3 of those ubiquity flying saucer AP dealios, all on different wifi channels, and all their ethernet wired to my firewall/router/dhcp server?  would my wireless clients then seamlessly switch back and forth to whatever AP is a good enough signal?

If the access points are all wired back to the network, no.  Mesh will wirelessly uplink to your network and extend coverage, though you will lose 50% throughput per wireless hop.