How to Choose the Best Wireless Router for Home?

When you are setting up a new home network or upgrading your previous network, it can be tough to choose which wireless router is the best for you because there are so many options available out there. An average consumer cannot pick the router that is best for him because there are many marketing terms used by manufacturers that he cannot understand, and there are so many options available. Here are some things that you need to consider when buying a wireless router:

How to Choose the Best Wireless Router for Home?

Dual-Band Support

When choosing a wireless router, make sure that it is at least dual-band because single-band routers are a thing of the past, and if the wireless router you are going to buy isn't a dual-band router, then it is not worth buying. Dual-band means that the router should broadcast the wireless signals on two different frequencies, out of which one of the frequencies is always 2.4 GHz which is compatible with older devices, and the other frequency is 5 GHz.

Both frequency bands have their own benefits. For example, the 2.4GHz band is compatible with older networking devices and has a huge coverage area. Still, it comes with a big shortcoming: the 2.4GHz is slow, meaning that the data transmission speed is slow. The other being network congestion, most of the wireless devices have 2.4GHz as the default frequency band, and there could be data congestion if you are in a flat or office building.

The 5GHz band has a lesser coverage area than the 2.4GHz, but it has a high data transmission speed, and there is no congestion on the 5GHz network. So, when choosing a wireless network, make sure that it has dual-band support.

Dedicated Smartphone App

Nowadays, almost every router comes with a dedicated smartphone app, and if the router you are choosing does not have a dedicated mobile app, then there is no point in buying such a router. Before the introduction of dedicated mobile apps for wireless routers, it was tedious to access the router and network settings because the users have to access the admin web interface through the default gateway address such as 192.168.254.254 or 192.168.10.1, and it was a long process that was also difficult for most users.

However, with the introduction of dedicated mobile apps, accessing the interface management is just a few touches away. It is easier to access the settings of both the router and wireless network. Just make sure that the router that you are choosing has a dedicated mobile app available for your convenience so you can access the settings and other features when you need to.

Consider the software and security features.

Always choose a router that gives you full control of everything that goes through the web router. There are routers available with advanced firmware that give you full control over everything, and they also come with special security features to protect your router.

Having full control over the router and internet is important, especially when you have kids in your home. You wouldn’t want them to be exposed to inappropriate information or content, so, with full control, you get built-in parental controls that can be useful.

Advanced Features

Most routers come with advanced features such as Firewall, VPN servers, and other security features that can protect the Wi-Fi networks and routers against viruses, malware, and outside attacks. These advanced features can be very beneficial for a wireless router because they can not only protect your router against viruses and hacking, but features such as VPN support are essential, and you can surf on the internet anonymously without anyone tracking your internet activity.

The Hardware of the Router

The hardware inside your wireless router matters as much as the software and other features. Routers are used nowadays for various purposes such as video streaming, file downloading, online gaming, music streaming, and various other activities. During all of these, a huge amount of data is transferred to and from the internet so, you need a wireless router that has a lot of processing power to handle all these tasks.

When picking a wireless router, make sure that it has at least a dual-core processor and a good amount of RAM. Anything above 128 MB should be fine, and the router will be able to process everything smoothly. Also, the router should be having at least one USB port, if not more.

Check out the speeds of the router.

When you are reading the specs of any wireless router, you will be given theoretical numbers measured with ideal networking equipment in specialized labs, which is not the case for any consumers. No consumer has either an ideal environment or ideal networking equipment to get those speeds.

So, before buying a web router, make sure that you read online reviews about the routers. You can read user reviews and specialist reviews to tell you about the real speeds that the router can achieve. The manufacturers want their products to look good, including theoretical speeds in specifications but don’t trust those numbers. Always read user reviews so that you know what you’re going to buy.

Price

The prices of wireless routers range from a very affordable price of $15 (Php750) to as high as $400-500 (Php20,000-Php25,000) but choosing a router that is either not able to fulfill your needs or that has so many extra features that you don’t need isn't a wise thing to do.

For an average consumer, both a cheap and high-end router is not a choice. Unless you absolutely need a high-end, top-tier router, spending on a very high-end router is not a good choice. On the other hand, you can easily find a good router that will fulfill all of your networking needs in the range of $100-200 (Php5,000-Php10,000).