Find the Fastest Wi-Fi Router for Your Needs
Your home’s Wi-Fi flows through your router. You need a router with good speed, bandwidth and range to power up your household and to make the most of your connectivity.
Determining if You Need a New Router
You may need to replace your router if you notice:
- Slowed internet connectivity, which may manifest as increased buffering during movies or slow speed as you browse the internet
- Irregular connectivity and notices on your devices that you don’t have an internet connection
- Trouble connecting your devices to the internet
- Your router overheating and being unable to power on again even after you reconnect it in a spot with better airflow
- Your router lights blinking or turning off
- Your router turning off and not being able to turn back on, even after you secure all the cables and connection wires
Speed
The best Wi-Fi router for your home will depend on the size of your home and your household’s internet-connectivity needs. A small home with only a few devices will need a different router than a large home with different household members who require heavy and simultaneous internet connectivity.
Older wireless G routers can broadcast up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps), which is probably enough speed if you only use the internet occasionally on a device or two. Wireless N routers are much faster, running at 900 Mbps, which is more than 16 times the speed of wireless G routers. Go with a wireless N router if your household has medium to heavy usage — typically three or more devices simultaneously downloading, gaming or streaming.
Frequency Bands
Routers come in three frequency bands: single, dual and triple band.
If you’re not gaming or don’t have the latest-model smartphone, a single-band router might be enough to meet your needs. Single-band routers broadcast through walls better than dual- or triple-band routers. But if you need support for gaming and smartphones, go with a dual-band router. Keep in mind, though, that it has a shorter broadcasting range than a single-band router does. Triple band is the highest-grade router and can handle several devices simultaneously gaming, streaming and downloading at once.
Range
You’ll also want to consider coverage issues. Wi-Fi coverage gets weaker as it moves away from its source. If rooms far away from your Wi-Fi have weak coverage or even dead spots, look into mesh Wi-Fi systems. Mesh Wi-Fi is a good choice for large homes of 3,000 square feet or more and multi-story homes. If you need better connectivity in any part of your home, you can just add a unit. The router is attached to your modem, and you plug smaller routers, called nodes, into outlets throughout your house.
Mesh Wi-Fi is sometimes — but not always — more expensive than other systems, and the nodes are usually designed to blend into your décor. Less-expensive alternatives to mesh Wi-Fi include:
- Wi-Fi Repeaters: Sometimes called Wi-Fi extenders, these increase the range of Wi-Fi and can potentially boost the signal in a room that’s a dead spot.
- Power Line Adapters: These pass an internet signal through electrical wiring. You connect one end to your ethernet cable near your router and plug in the other end to an outlet in the room you want the Wi-Fi. You’ll need good electrical wiring for this.
- Access Points: You may be able to turn an old router into an access point or Wi-Fi extender through cable.
Special Features
Some routers offer special features. Parental control is a popular option. Some routers allow you to restrict internet access to children based on time slots. Guest access is another useful feature. It allows you to give visitors access to your Wi-Fi while preventing access to your entire network or other devices.
Quality of service will let you prioritize Wi-Fi use among devices in a single household. This is an important feature if the whole household shares Wi-Fi. Quality of service will let you set your router to prioritize your computer so you can continue to work without spotty connectivity when your children start gaming. Or, if you’re a gamer, you can prioritize your gaming for a smooth experience that doesn’t falter as someone else streams a movie.
Security Issues
Your router can provide you with a layer of privacy and protection as you surf the internet. Wi-Fi protected access 2, or WPA2, provides reasonable protection against hackers, but a newer version, WPA3, offers even better defense against spying. WPA3 guards against even the most sophisticated hackers, defending online privacy in your network.
Wi-Fi Standards
Wi-Fi standards are set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E offer faster speeds and better capability, efficiency, performance and security than older versions. While your devices don’t need to support Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E capability, they’ll reap the benefits of improved service if they do.
Get the most out of your devices with the right router. Your router is the gatekeeper to your Wi-Fi.