How to Choose Wi-Fi Router in 2022 - Step by Step Guide
Table of Contents
How to choose the right router? This can be a difficult task. Check out the guide we prepared with tips, price research, and much more!
The router is essential to ensure the connectivity of your home or business. Thinking of buying a router? Here are some up-to-date tips on how to choose the right Wi-Fi router for you!
How to choose the router?
With the arrival of more and more connected devices, such as smart TVs, smartphones, and hybrid notebooks, the router has come to deserve special attention to meet our growing need for connectivity.
But not everyone needs the best router in the world, and it doesn’t even make sense to pay for features you’ll never use. Anyway, if you want to be able to watch Netflix while your child plays an online game of LOL, without gagging and crashes, a good router will make a difference in your life.
To answer you how to choose the right router, we are going to learn some important features that should be evaluated at the time of the router.
The first tip is: Take into account that soon new devices (like your fridge or your car) will start to consume your internet connection. Ever heard of the Internet of Things, or IoT? Well, it’s a new reality that has been arriving at great strides.
That is, the better the router, the more you can enjoy the benefits of these new technologies and interactions.
Router frequency
Currently, we can find at least two radio bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz).
The 2.4GHz router operates at a lower frequency, the same as microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices and cordless phones. Therefore, they are more susceptible to interference and failures. In addition, they have low penetration into walls and other structures. They are perfect for tasks that don’t require a lot of data exchange, like accessing social networks or watching a movie on Youtube.
The 5GHz router is ideal for those who enjoy streaming, or for places where several people will access different types of online content simultaneously.
If one or more devices will be running Netflix at the same time as a console is fully connected to Xbox Live, then a 5GHz router will allow for a satisfying experience.
If you already have an old router, and you don’t want to get rid of it, an idea is to reserve the newest router for games and streaming and leave the oldest one for ‘lighter’ accesses.
Internet protocols
This is a more technical topic, but an important one for you to buy a good router. Wireless networks use the 802.11 protocol to exchange data. 802.11ac is the most common to be found and has a speed of 5400Mbps.
You will come across 802.11ac routers with type codes AC1200, AC1750, AC3200, etc. This code indicates the maximum speed of the router; so the bigger it is, the better for you.
For example, while the AC1750 clocks in at 1300Mbps at 5GHz, the AC5400 clocks in at 2.1Gbps at 5GHz.
The latest protocol is 802.11ax (also known as Wi-Fi 6). It communicates with previous 802.11 protocols and offers even higher speed even at the lowest frequency (2.4GHz). There are still few models available with this technology, but it will soon become an industry standard.
Router Features
Wireless routers have a wide range of functionality. As always, the more functions, the more expensive it is.
But don’t get lost with features that almost no one uses, and focus on what really matters.
Choose a model with at least 4 Ethernet ports, so you can connect computers, notebooks, or even your smartTV. USB ports will allow you to network your printer or other devices.
Another important tip: pay attention to the antenna! choose models with removable antennas. First, because it is common for them to break, and if that happens, just buy another one (not a new wireless router). Some models allow you to change the standard antenna (which comes in the box) for a turbo antenna, which further improves the router signal. This will give your router a survival because by changing the antenna you have already upgraded it.
If you are thinking of filtering the types of content that the family has contact with, look for a router with access control ( parental control ); This allows you to monitor who is accessing your network, as well as restrict access to sites that are inappropriate for minors (adult content, betting sites, stores, etc). Or even limit the access time of certain devices, such as video games and smartphones. Sounds useful, doesn’t it?
Another cool feature is the guest network, which allows guests to access your internet, but not other devices on the same network (like printers, for example).
QoS ( Quality of Service ) allows you to classify which service should consume more (or less) internet. For example, QoS can be configured to give preference to Netflix content over Instagram. It’s the QoS that will allow your home-office work not to be interrupted because your child is eating up all your internet bandwidth with online games.
Regarding security, the ideal is for the router to support the WPS ( Wi-Fi Protected Setup ) standard, which is compatible with most devices. There are models with even more secure implementations, such as WPA2, suitable for companies and places with a large circulation of people.
Last but not least, buy a router that supports IPv6 technology. For now, the default is IPv4, but it has become limited and will soon be replaced by v6. Most routers support IPv6, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure your router doesn’t go out of date soon.
