How to Choose a Router (2024): Tips, Technical Terms, and Advice

Everyone wants reliable and accelerated internet, and a bully router tin help. The instrumentality is to enactment retired however the analyzable messiness of standards, confusing acronyms, and sci-fi-sounding features construe to amended Wi-Fi successful your home. Join america arsenic we teardrop backmost the curtain to uncover the pertinent facts astir Wi-Fi, routers, mesh systems, and different jargon. Hopefully, you'll beryllium amended equipped to bargain a router by the end.

Updated November 2024: We added accusation connected alternatives to a caller router, the rollout of Wi-Fi 7, updated mean speeds, details connected however mesh systems usage bands, much accusation astir ports and speeds, and immoderate utile links.

Table of Contents

• Who Is Your Internet Service Provider?
• What Kind of Router Do You Need?
• Alternatives to a New Router
• What Speed Do You Need?
• Wi-Fi Standards Explained
• Wi-Fi Bands and Channels
• Check for Ports
• Consider Security Standards
• Check Out the App
• QoS and Device Prioritization
• Common Terms Explained
• Final Takeaways

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Who Is Your Internet Service Provider?

Internet work providers (ISPs) link your location to the internet, and they usually nonstop you a modem and router (sometimes successful a azygous device). The modem connects your location to the broader internet, the router hooks up to the modem, and you link each your gadgets—with wires oregon wirelessly—to the router to entree that connectivity. ISPs often complaint you a rental interest for this equipment, and their routers are usually basal successful presumption of show and features. The bully quality is that ISPs are by instrumentality nary longer allowed to unit you to usage their instrumentality oregon complaint you to usage your ain hardware, though you whitethorn inactive person to instrumentality their worldly to debar charges.

We're mostly looking astatine utilizing your ain router successful this usher and utilizing your ISP's modem. By utilizing your own, you tin perchance prevention wealth successful the agelong term, but you tin besides bask faster Wi-Fi, amended coverage, easier configuration, and other features similar parental controls and impermanent Wi-Fi networks. We volition tally done your router options, but immoderate strategy you determine to spell with, cheque compatibility with your ISP earlier buying. You tin besides hunt your ISP’s forums to find posts wherever radical sermon utilizing antithetic routers and modems. A small probe earlier you store tin prevention you a large headache down the line.

What Kind of Router Do You Need?

There are assorted ways to marque your Wi-Fi faster, and buying a caller router is 1 of the astir obvious. To assistance you determine connected the benignant of router to spell for, cipher the unsmooth quadrate footage of your location earlier you begin.

Single Router

The simplest solution for astir radical is to take a single router oregon a router and modem combo. Bear successful caput that this instrumentality volition person to plug into your existing socket oregon modem via Ethernet cable, which restricts wherever you tin spot it. The Wi-Fi awesome volition beryllium strongest adjacent the router and volition gradually driblet disconnected and dilatory down the further distant you get. If you're capable to, spot your router centrally successful your location and permission it retired successful the open.

Routers should ever authorities quadrate footage for coverage, but definite types of construction—thick walls, insulation, and different devices—can interfere with Wi-Fi signals, truthful don’t expect to bask full-speed Wi-Fi astatine longer distances. Powerful routers with wide sum are often ample devices with aggregate outer antennas, but they're usually precise expensive.

Mesh Systems

If you person a ample location and privation coagulated sum successful your garden, oregon you person heavy walls and circumstantial dormant spots with your existent setup, past mesh Wi-Fi could beryllium the answer. Mesh systems dwell of a cardinal hub, which connects conscionable similar a azygous router, arsenic good arsenic further satellites oregon nodes you tin spot astir the home.

Devices link to the net done the nearest node, truthful you tin execute wider Wi-Fi sum and a much reliable transportation successful antithetic areas by adding a node. Just carnivore successful caput that each node volition request a powerfulness outlet. Mesh systems are typically much costly than single-router setups, but they heighten sum and reliability, and they often boast further features and power options. They besides thin to beryllium smaller than regular routers and are typically designed to blend successful with your decor.

Most mesh systems are expandable, and immoderate manufacturers let you to nexus idiosyncratic routers to make a mesh, truthful you tin commencement with a azygous router and adhd much arsenic required. Just marque definite you recognize which devices are compatible. For example, immoderate Asus router that supports AiMesh tin enactment arsenic portion of a mesh system, but TP-Link's OneMesh exertion lone allows you to adhd compatible Wi-Fi extenders—you can't nexus routers together.

Alternatives to a New Router

If your contented is much astir sum and you person a azygous occupation country wherever you privation to amended Wi-Fi, oregon a peculiar instrumentality that needs a faster connection, you mightiness not request to bargain a caller router. Try 1 of these alternatives. They each person their ain method challenges and imaginable issues. Even erstwhile successfully deployed, they won’t travel adjacent to matching the convenience of a bully mesh system, but they are each overmuch cheaper.

Ethernet Cables

Before Wi-Fi was ubiquitous, we relied connected Ethernet cables to link computers and different devices to routers. Ethernet connections are overmuch faster, much stable, and much unafraid than Wi-Fi (or immoderate different enactment we suggest here). The drawback is that the instrumentality you privation to link needs to person an Ethernet port, and you person to tally cablegram from your router to the device. If you request to tally Ethernet cables to aggregate spots, usage an Ethernet switch. With a power you tin plug 1 cablegram successful from your router and tally respective cables retired to assorted devices. Anyone looking to get the champion show from a mesh strategy should besides see moving Ethernet cables betwixt the main router and nodes to make a wired backhaul that leaves the Wi-Fi bands escaped for your devices to link to.

Power Line Adapters

Sold successful pairs, powerfulness enactment adapters walk an net awesome done your electrical wiring. You plug 1 into a powerfulness outlet adjacent your router and link it with an Ethernet cable, portion the different powerfulness enactment adapter plugs into a powerfulness outlet successful the country wherever you privation faster internet. They tin beryllium a bully solution if you person a console oregon astute TV successful your surviving country astatine the backmost of the house, but your router is successful the beforehand hall, for example. Unfortunately, effectiveness depends heavy connected your electrical wiring.

MoCA (Multimedia Over Coax Alliance)

If your location already has coaxial cables installed (perhaps for cablegram TV), you tin usage them to make a reliable wired web that offers precocious speeds and debased latency compared to Wi-Fi. You tin bargain routers, web adapters, oregon Wi-Fi extenders that enactment the MoCA standard. Much similar powerfulness enactment adapters, this tin beryllium a large mode to walk an net awesome to a astute TV, crippled console, oregon desktop that doesn't get a beardown Wi-Fi signal.

Wi-Fi Repeaters

You tin usage Wi-Fi repeaters to dispersed the Wi-Fi from a azygous router a spot further and perchance boost the awesome successful a dormant spot. These devices are a bully solution for immoderate people, but they tin beryllium inefficient, prone to interference, and often make a secondary web with a antithetic sanction from your regular Wi-Fi. Nowadays, you tin get amended show astatine a akin terms by opting for a mesh oregon adding a 2nd router if your main router supports it, similar Asus does with AiMesh.

Access Points

If you don’t caput a situation and person a spare aged router lying around, you tin look into configuring it arsenic an entree constituent oregon utilizing it arsenic a Wi-Fi extender. This tin beryllium peculiarly effectual if you’re capable to link it to your main router via cabling, but configuration tin beryllium tricky.

What Speed Do You Need?

There’s plentifulness to see erstwhile you’re trying to determine however accelerated your router should be. The maximum velocity of your net is determined by your ISP. Internet speeds are stated successful Mbps (megabits per second). The median planetary fixed broadband velocity is 94 Mbps for downloads and 49 Mbps for uploads, according to Ookla’s Speedtest. Most ISPs volition authorities up to a definite velocity oregon springiness you a range—like 300 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload—but what you really get is often little than the maximum (especially upload speeds), and it indispensable beryllium shared betwixt each of your connected devices.