How to choose the right router for your needs without breaking the bank
We all make mistakes, it’s how we learn how to live. But there are some mistakes that can be avoided by arming ourselves with knowledge. Buying the wrong device is a big problem that most beginners fall into because they don’t have enough knowledge about how this device works and what its features are. It’s not just a big problem because it will force them to replace it, but because it will also cost them extra money and waste their time. Routers are no exception. In this guide, we’ll tell you how to get the right router for your needs so that you don’t have to replace it after a short period of time using it.
The right router for your needs
There are many considerations to take into account when choosing the right router for your needs. Don’t just think about speed, and don’t fall for fancy, overpriced devices. You may get an expensive router that provides you with enough internet speed but fails to cover a large area inside and outside your home. So, to get the right router for your needs, you should avoid these mistakes when buying a new router .
Speed, price, and coverage aren’t the only questions you should ask yourself before buying a new router. You should also know what the most important features of a good router are that your device should have , and by that we mean the latest features that play a big role in improving your home internet connection experience. Think QoS, modern WPA3 security standards, multiple antennas, and the latest Wi-Fi standards like WiFi 6E or WiFi 7. This is just a quick overview of the most important features to look for to get the right router for your needs.
■ Firstly:Wireless coverage area
How to choose the right router
No matter how hard you try to choose the best place for the router in your home , inevitably many household appliances will cause Wi-Fi signal disruption . Wi-Fi signals pass through wooden barriers and walls better than through reinforced concrete walls. Many metal household appliances - such as microwaves, air conditioners, and refrigerators - cause significant interference and interference in Wi-Fi signals.
Fortunately, most modern routers operate in dual-band mode, meaning you can activate the router on both the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band. While the latter is better in terms of speed, the lower frequencies are better in terms of coverage area and their ability to bypass obstacles within your home.
So, to get the right router for your needs, make sure the device supports dual band at a minimum, and tri-band is even better. It’s also great if the router has an amplifier to distribute signals using modern networking technologies like MU-MIMO and OFDMA . These technologies work to maintain internet speeds while working in a crowded environment with a large number of devices connected to the network at the same time. The good news is that most routers that support WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 meet these requirements and support these features.
However, you shouldn’t pin all your hopes on a single router if you live in a very large house. Regardless of the quality of the router, the number of antennas it has, and the area it covers, all of them may fail to meet your needs while using the Internet in some rooms far from the signal source. You should also consider ways to get a strong WiFi signal around the house if you enjoy using the Internet outdoors and under the sun during the colder seasons.
What we want to say here is that regardless of having the right router for your needs, you may still need a multi-mesh system or some Wi-Fi range extenders because this is the only way to provide a large amount of wireless coverage inside and outside your home, especially if the area of the house is very large or you have lower or upper floors, where adjusting the router antennas will not help improve the signal in any way.
So, consider having a mesh network system as it comes in the form of a set of mesh nodes that are distributed throughout the house evenly and strategically to ensure wireless coverage in all corners of the house. Alternatively, you can buy a regular router but make sure it supports mesh networking, such as AiMesh devices from Asus or Intelligent Mesh devices from Lynksys etc.
■secondly:Internet speed
How to buy the right router
While higher internet speeds are a great feature in any case, don’t waste your money on a device that supports extremely high internet speeds as you can’t benefit from them in any way. I mean, what’s the point of having an expensive router that supports gigabit speeds even though your internet package only works at 300 Mbps.
Most WiFi 6 AX5400 routers are capable of delivering 574 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, while the 5GHz band can deliver speeds of up to 4800 Mbps. In most cases, you don’t need that much speed.
In fact, most families don’t need anything more than 200Mbps regardless of their internet usage. So, the AX1800 router is a good choice because it provides strong wireless coverage and more than enough internet speeds. So, don’t chase high speeds, and choose the router that suits your needs by focusing on other features that are more important than crazy speeds.
How to choose the right router and determine the best types
All routers come with a limited number of Ethernet ports . The advantage of wired ports is a great and invaluable feature, because it can eliminate the need to buy Wi-Fi extenders or more mesh nodes. For example, if you are trying to access the Internet in a room that is very far from the signal source, say on a computer, TV or laptop, then you can connect these devices to the router via Ethernet cable and eliminate the idea of connecting it via Wi-Fi.
It’s also a great way to leave extra Wi-Fi space for other devices in your home. Depending on how many computers or TVs you have in your home, it may be best to choose a router that fits your needs in terms of the number of Ethernet ports. Some routers come with up to 5 ports and sometimes more. This is a great feature that ensures smooth and fast connectivity for your devices that are far from the wireless signal source and get super fast internet speeds that are even better than a wireless connection.
■Fourthly:the games
Information and tips for choosing the perfect router that suits me
If you are a fan of competitive online video games, then you must make sure that the router is suitable for your needs. But what is the best router for gaming? Most of us may wonder. Well, a gaming router must have a QoS feature , also known as Quality of Service. The idea behind QoS is to give certain devices or certain services and applications priority to get most of the bandwidth on the network.
For example, if there are multiple devices trying to connect to your home network at the same time, then all of them get the bandwidth equally. But with QoS enabled and your gaming device given wired or wireless bandwidth priority, the router starts giving that device priority to send and receive data packets before other devices on the network.
Don’t worry, all the devices connected to the network will work very smoothly and you will have no problem connecting to the internet. But your gaming device gets a very important feature, which is that the router focuses on sending the required data to this device before any other device. Therefore, when purchasing the right router for your needs, make sure that it is a gaming router to get the hierarchy settings for the QoS settings in this router, as long as you are a fan of online multiplayer games.
Conclusion
Choosing the right router for your needs doesn’t just depend on high speeds. Indeed, this router can give you crazy speeds during internet speed tests on speed measuring sites. But when it comes to network performance, you may face many problems with instability, weak signal, and poor coverage. Therefore, to choose the right router for your needs, you should make sure of the quality of the device you are planning to buy and not make the highest speed a primary criterion when choosing.
