How to Buy a Wireless Router

You only really notice them when they aren’t working right: wireless routers. These sometimes complicated, often frustrating devices allow sharing a broadband Internet connection among computers and gadgets, provide a way to create a network for sharing data between users and machines, and of course, give wireless connectivity for iPads, smartphones, media players and other types of technology hardware.

With so many wireless routers available on the market offering so many different features and advertised speeds, selecting the right router for a home or business can be challenging.

On top of the problem of just selecting a router is the complexity of Wi-Fi technology itself. Wi-Fi is a tricky beast and subject to so many varying factors and environmental fluctuations. If there are many other wireless routers in your proximity, you face potential signal interference, especially on the more crowded 2.4 GHz band, a frequency that wireless routers use to transmit and receive data. Certain building materials, multilevel homes, glass partitions and household devices that operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency like microwaves, baby monitors, and cordless phones can all degrade wireless performance.

Businesses often spend thousands of dollars to hire wireless networking professionals to perform site surveys to determine the best equipment and means to deploy a wireless network. It is small wonder that home and small business users who may not have these professionals at their disposal can feel frustrated about purchasing, setting up and maintaining a wireless router and their own wireless networks!

To add to the confusion, routers manufacturers now offer a new generation of wireless routers. These routers feature the latest 802.11x technology; 802.11ac—a step up from, 802.11n as it offers higher throughout speeds and better range. Sounds great, but does 802.11ac currently deliver any gains over 802.11n? Do you need a lesser expensive single-band router or a more expensive dual-band? Do you need to upgrade or purchase an 802.11n router? What benefits does 802.11n give? Does a higher-end router mean better Internet connectivity? What about IPv6—is it best to get a router that supports IPv6? These questions as well as factors like security, parental controls and extra features such as the ability to connect USB printers and external storage drives to a router for sharing in your personal network, are all considerations to weigh when deciding to purchase or upgrade a router.

It’s best to get familiar with what you in particular need from a wireless router before you shop rather than relying on anecdotal customer reviews on websites such as Amazon. While you can get a general feel for other customers’ experiences with a particular router, Wi-Fi is so fickle and performance can vary from one home to another. Just because someone had a terrific (or miserable) experience with a particular router does not necessarily mean you will have the same experience. Professional reviews in controlled environments, like those I perform in PCMag’s labs, are a better source for help in deliberating over which router to choose.

Here is a checklist and some information to help you in your search of the perfect router for your networking needs:

Do You Need A Wi-Fi Router?

A router directs network traffic—broken down into small pieces of data called packets. With home routers, this is traffic that flows between the Internet connection your ISP provides and your internal, home or small business network. A wireless router allows wireless devices (and wired devices) to connect to that Internet connection and to communicate with other devices on your home network.

Some people only work from one laptop or PC that may be directly connected to their cable or DSL modems. They may not have other users or devices in their home or office that also need Internet connectivity or sharing printers and files. If this applies to you and you have no need to deviate from a fixed location from which you do your Internet surfing or computing, then you can don’t need a wireless router.

However, with enticing gadgets like iPads, with gaming consoles, and with multiuser households and offices, most people these days want and can benefit from a wireless router. With a Wi-Fi router browsing the Internet from an upstairs bedroom, giving Internet access to a game console or set-top box like a Roku, or sharing pictures and streaming music and video to all of the devices in a home or office is possible. If you want the capability to do these tasks, then yes, you need a router.

What Type of Network User Are You?

A single home user who just wants to Web surf doesn’t need the same kind of router as a heavy-duty gamer, a multimedia enthusiast or a small business. A single-band router like the Almond is a basic, decent performer that would suit the needs of anyone looking for simple Wi-Fi connectivity and easy setup. Plus, it has the bonus of being the only touchscreen router currently on the market!

In contrast, Netgear’s N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR4000)  or Cisco Linksys’ E4200 v2 are excellent choices for those who want to perform bandwidth demanding tasks like high-definition video streaming or moving large files to and from NAS devices. Gamers, check out our Best Gaming Routers roundup for the best routers to enhance the gaming experience. However, routers such as the N750, are more expensive; the N750 has an average street price of $150. A good rule of thumb: the more expensive the router, the more features it will contain. Higher price, however, doesn’t necessarily mean better performance; in our testing, the E1200 performed just as well as pricier, more feature-rich routers.

Single Band or Dual Band?

While researching routers, you will inevitably stumble across the term “bands.” The 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are the frequencies in which wireless communications operate. 802.11 B and G devices use the 2.4 GHz band, while 802.11N can use either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band. A single-band, 2.4-GHz router—such as the $65 Asus RT-N11 EZ Wireless-N Router—is geared toward simple wireless networks. On the other hand, a dual-band router like the Western Digital My Net N900operates on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies. The 5 GHz band is less crowded then the 2.4 GHz band; less equipment runs on 5 GHz. That’s why it’s better equipped for throughput-intensive work within your home network such as gaming and file streaming. You will also get better internal network performance.

The one downside of 5 GHz is that it does not sustain signal at greater distances as well as the 2.4 GHz band. So, if you are looking for a dual-band router to take advantage of the 5 GHz bandwidth—you’ll want to factor in distance when placing the router in your home or office.

One other thing to consider when it comes to Wi-Fi bands? Some of your devices may only work with a given band. For a guide to which gadgets require what Wi-Fi, see, The Wi-Fi You Need for the Gadgets You Want.

300 Mbps, 450 Mbps, 900 Mbps…All Those Numbers!

When router shopping you will notice three digit numbers emblazoned on most routers’ packaging, indicating the speed of the router. A few years ago, 300 Mbps was the standard speed of most Wi-Fi routers. That meant that testing under the best circumstances, which means in what we call a “clean room” with no interference, the router can achieve up to 300 Mbps speeds. Currently, 450 Mbps or even 900 Mbps routers are being marketed. 900 Mbps is a touted speed of the latest dual band routers on the market like Netgear’s N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router which can transmit a potential 450 Mbps on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 450 + 450 = 900. Get it?

You however, will never see those speeds. Issues such as channel overlap and interference means a router in a typical home or office environment will never reach these theoretical speeds touted by vendors. When testing at PCMag, which has a real-world testing environment, if we see speeds close to half of what a vendor says a router is capable of, that’s excellent bandwidth!

Of course, fast router speeds don’t have anything to do with how fast your Internet connection is. A 300 Mbps router won’t make your Internet connection any faster than a 900 Mbps router. That speed is set by your ISP. What a faster speed router helps with is the performance of your internal network: streaming music and video, sharing files and so on.

Do I Need 802.11N?

802.11n is becoming the standard in wireless networking. If you are purchasing a new router, be it single or dual band—go with an 802.11n router. And not 802.11n draft, which is an older standard. 802.11n routers can run in “Mixed mode” so that non-802.11n wireless devices can connect as well.

What About 802.11ac?

There are a host of new routers on the market that are being advertised as 802.11ac routers. 802.11ac is the latest 802.11x wireless networking standard. 11ac can provide up to almost 1Gbps throughput under ideal conditions in supported dual-band routers or up to 500 Mbps on a single-band, increasing the limitation of up to 450 Mbps on a single-band of 802.11n. Furthermore, 11ac is designed to provide better range than 802.11n currently does on the 5Ghz band.

The tricky part of 11ac is that the standard is still in development. The Wi-Fi Alliance is an organization that tests to make sure that networking products sold to customers do what manufacturers say they are supposed to do. Once tested, the Wi-Fi Alliance allows vendors to sell products as Wi-Fi Alliance certified. Since 802.11ac is yet to be finalized (also called ratified or drafted) there are no products on the market that are certified.

That isn’t stopping vendors from releasing pre-draft 802.11ac routers. You may remember years ago, seeing 11n pre-draft routers on the market before 802.11 became standardized. The pre-draft 11n routers were far below performance levels of later 802.11n routers that came out once 802.11n was ratified.

The same thing is happening with 802.11ac. The 11ac routers we have tested, simply do not give much performance benefit over today’s 802.11n routers. This is not only because the standard is not finalized, but there aren’t compatible wireless adapters out yet that can handle 802.11ac.

Unless you are a hobbyist and want to tinker with 11ac, your best bet is to still go with an 802.11n router. The 802.11ac standard should be ratified later this year, and even then, it could be up to a year before we see products that can really leverage the power of 802.11ac.

If you just have to have a pre-draft 11ac router, the best we’ve tested so far in terms of performance and feature-set is the Buffalo AirStation AC1300/N900 Gigabit Dual Band WZR-D1800H.

What Type of Security?

Most of the newer routers support the highest level of security, WPA2. If in the market for a new routers, make sure it supports WPA2. If you have children you may want to consider a router with parental controls such as the D-Link Amplifi HD Media Router 2000 (DIR-827).

What’s My Comfort Level with Router Setup and Management?

Ironically, we find that the latest more expensive routers like the Netgear N900 or Linksys E4200, have the easiest setup. The best setup process we’ve tested so far is the one from the Cisco Linksys E4200 v2. It’s a fool-proof setup that requires nothing more than clicking a few instructions on screen.

If you are more of a guru, and on a tighter-budget, you can get away with cheaper routers that do not offer automated setup such as Asante’s SmartHub Smart Dual Band Wireless-N Router (AWRT-600N). Because these routers do not have as sophisticated software for deploying as more expensive routers, a little more networking know-how is required to setup and manage them.

Other Considerations

If you are looking for a router that you don’t want to upgrade anytime soon, consider going with one that supports IPv6. While conversion from IPv4 to IPv6 networking appears to still be some time coming, a router that supports IPv6 will help you keep your network intact when your ISP transitions over to IPv6 as well.

Some routers also offer extras such as SD card slots, (D-Link DIR-827, is an example) and USB ports for printer sharing and external drive sharing, including routers from Cisco, Belkin and Western Digital). If those are features you want in your network, look for routers that support those features.

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