We've never gotten good service at our house. AOL dial-up was crap. Shaw has been crap ever since we moved to cable. It cuts out constantly. We've had outside boxes checked, our router replaced, etc.

We've also replaced our Wi-Fi router three times.

The problem is two-fold, and it pisses me off so much:

- Every single fucking Wi-Fi router we've gotten fucks up bad.
- The first router we had was some random Linksys router. It developed heat issues. It slowed the fuck down constantly, we had to replace it.
- The Asus one we had was a $200 router, and it had heating issues 3 months in. It would totally slow down to a crawl. Was like a copy of the first router, only 3x as expensive.
- The third (current) one we have is the Linksys WRT 1900AC. It was around $150 or so. Was supposed to be awesome. We're experiencing the same old shit with this one, except it doesn't overheat. It just randomly stops sending out a wifi signal, slows down to a crawl randomly, and does other weird shit. I've turned 5GHz off, it's configured properly, it's all up to date, auto updates are off, etc, everything set up properly. I've tried resetting it to factory default and re-setting it up, no luck.

The second half to the problem is... Shaw will cut out or slow down to a crawl randomly as well. I know when it's the router because I'll type in 196.168.1.1 and the router won't respond. If it's shaw, I can access 192.168.1.1 no problem. Although, I'm not sure if the router requires an internet connection to do that, I'll have to double-check.

Beyond my complaints above, I need two pieces of advice:

1) Is there a router you would recommend, that can handle 5 people. At peak times, it might have 7-8 devices running off of it (one tv streaming, 1 phone, 2 ipads, 2 computers, and maybe one or two other things).
2) How the fuck do I deal with an internet service provider who won't admit their service sucks dick? I can't pinpoint where the internet starts sucking balls (whether it's before it hits the house, or the box outside the house, or the Shaw box we were given).

We'll be switching to optic (Telus) soon, if Telus offers appropriate pricing. That'll hopefully cut out one weak link.

Well put a fan on the router, also always stand them up never lay them on the sides if possible.
Have you checks your walls outlets/power bars to make sure its not a power issue?

The routers do not require a Internet connection to connect to.

Depends on budget really and distance between devices and how many obstructions.

Telus won't be much better as there just renting lines from Bell, so if bell works in yoru area telus will.
though last I checked telus does not offer good enough speeds for 5 devices to seamlessly work.
They advertise a "up to x speed" which means you'll never get the full speed.

Shaw and rogers are one in the same and sadly given what you said if theres no wiring/power issues its
most likely on their end and even if they admit fault its not worth it to re-wire your area probably.
I guess you could check with your neighbors and document speeds through the day for a few weeks and
show them they are in fact in violation with your contract as your not getting the service your paying for.