Best-rated Computer Router for Multi Level Houses
Best Wi-Fi routers for 2022
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Having one of the best Wi-Fi routers in your firm is an essential piece of today's online life, and information technology's the simplest way to upgrade your domicile network. A new router can brand every laptop, smart Tv, game panel and doorbell camera in your dwelling house seem a lot faster.
Not merely can you go speedier Wi-Fi connections, but many of the latest routers have congenital-in network security, app-based settings interfaces and easy-to-use parental controls.
We've merely seen several new Wi-Fi routers unveiled at CES, including one whose antennas move to focus signals, and then be sure to read our roundup of the best dwelling Wi-Fi routers of CES 2022.
With so much of our lives spent online, from school and piece of work to gaming and streaming, there's no substitute for the top-notch performance that the best Wi-Fi routers offer.
- Got a larger dwelling? Check out the best mesh Wi-Fi systems
- Hither'due south how to make Wi-Fi faster
- Millions of routers may be vulnerable to hacker attack — what to do
That'south why we exam every i of the dozens of routers we've reviewed, to notice the models that fit your dwelling and needs with slap-up performance, long range, and a price you lot tin can beget. Here are the all-time Wi-Fi routers you tin buy today.
What are the best Wi-Fi routers?
Based on our in-depth testing, the best wireless router is the Asus RT-AX86U, a Wi-Fi 6 powerhouse that has the chops to power a whole home'due south worth of connected gear, providing pure ability for gaming and secure every gadget yous own. It's equal parts full general-use router, serious gaming gear and cybersecurity safeguard. And with a reasonable price, in that location's no surprise it'south our Editor'south Choice.
For a justifiably more expensive selection, the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) Wi-Fi 6 router blows the doors off of most competing routers. The newer wireless standard offers the best throughput we've ever seen, and will easily handle a whole house full of continued devices.
For larger homes, you demand coverage that reaches farther and extends to multiple floors equally needed, and that ways a mesh router. In our testing and evaluation, the Nest WiFi is the all-time mesh Wi-Fi solution you can purchase. It offers excellent functioning that blankets a whole house in signal, and information technology features a built-in Google Abode smart speaker for intuitive voice control.
But if price is no objection, then the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6e is the fastest mesh-router organisation we've ever seen, and ane of the fastest routers, period. Just be aware that its cost is well into four figures.
Best Wi-Fi routers right now
The Asus RT-AX86U is a Wi-Fi 6 powerhouse that delivers smashing speeds and killer gaming features, also every bit crawly customization options. With high-end performance and lifetime protection confronting intrusions and malware, information technology'south as well a great selection for securing your entire domicile network, providing long term protection without a subscription fee, and carrying a two-yr warranty.
Merely the existent draw of the Asus RT-AX86U is the performance, which approaches the the magical 1Gbps mark to provide speedy and effortless connectivity for all of your devices. With splendid range and great functioning — even through walls and between floors — the RT-AX86U is equal parts general-apply router and elite gaming router, and the collection of features and ports information technology offers are a steal compared to some of the top-performing gaming gear. Information technology fifty-fifty gets a nod as the runner up for best Wi-Fi router in the most recent Tom's Guide Awards. If you desire the best Wi-Fi 6 router for the whole household, the Asus RT-AX86U is it.
Read our total Asus RT-AX86U review .
With the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) Wi-Fi vi router, summit performance and enhanced security go hand in hand, combining throughput that smashes through the gigabit per second barrier with malware protection and Disney's Circumvolve app for blocking inappropriate content and managing family network use. And with splendid operation through walls and floors, the Nighthawk AX8 will work only every bit well in the real globe as in the lab.
It may exist expensive — well-nigh Wi-Fi half-dozen routers are — only the RAX80 offers easy setup and lets you configure the router exactly the fashion you want information technology. It's besides got a 90-human foot range, merely delivers ameliorate performance at distances of fifty feet, making it better suited to medium-sized homes. By near any measure, the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) is the Wi-Fi-vi router to get if you don't want to compromise on speed and safety.
Read our total Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) review .
There are several mesh Wi-Fi solutions on the marketplace, and while they'll all encompass your dwelling house in wireless indicate, our favorite has to be the Nest WiFi. Made by Google, the Nest WiFi is minor enough to hide out of sight and stylish enough that you won't need to. Merely the existent draw for the meaty mesh units is more than than simply splendid performance. Each mesh extension of the Nest WiFi system has a Google Home smart speaker built in, giving you ane of the all-time vox assistants throughout the house, along with powerful wireless signal.
The speedy Nest WiFi likewise delivers one of the easiest setup processes we've ever used, making it a snap to fix extensions effectually the business firm. Plus, information technology'll work with whatsoever older Google WiFi units you might ain. But the addition of Google Assistant really puts it over the top, providing an elegant way to add vocalization control throughout your home, and easy integration with a huge number of the best smart abode devices and all of the best Google Home compatible devices.
Read our total Nest WiFi review .
The beginning gaming router we've tested that features Wi-Fi 6, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is a gamer'due south delight, with speed that improves over longer range, depression latency and all the features that gamers look. Add together it all up and most other gaming routers are now second best.
The GT-AX11000 is large, with a gargantuan base, viii swiveling antennas, and massive ten.8Gbps maximum throughput. This wireless router has connectivity in droves, thank you to its tri-band design and four downstream Gigabit LAN ports, a unmarried 2.5G Base T Ethernet connectedness, and ii USB three.0 ports.
Built-in customization and gaming-oriented optimizations provide plenty of control, and you tin even pair information technology with other Asus routers for mesh networking to cover a larger abode. At $450, it is expensive, but this is the all-time wireless router for gamers wanting an edge online.
Read our full Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 review .
Netgear's Orbi WiFi 6E (model number RBKE963) is the fastest mesh-router organization on the planet — and also the most expensive. Merely if yous take coin to burn, a gigabit broadband connectedness from your Internet access provider and an enormous house, then this is probably the mesh system for you.
The Orbi WiFi 6E can comprehend upwardly to 9,000 square feet. Add together a third satellite and you can become to 12,000 square anxiety. At a distance of 15 feet, the router'southward half-dozen-Ghz channel delivered throughput of more than a gigabit per second, the offset mesh router to do so in our tests.
Each unit of measurement has 12 antennas and four Ethernet ports (one rated at 2.5 Gbps), and the arrangement creates channels on the 2.5, 5 and six-Ghz bands, plus a fourth 5-Ghz i for backhaul between units.
Netgear offers trial subscriptions to its Armor security software, which includes Bitdefender antivirus, and parental controls. You'll also take to pay for tech support later 90 days. Merely if you tin can afford to pay for this mesh system, yous won't mind.
Read our full Netgear Orbi WiFi 6E (RBKE963) review .
The TP-Link Archer C2300 has a deceptively mild-mannered design, but don't be fooled — information technology's one of the most powerful wireless routers you lot can buy, and offers the best range of any single router on this listing.
It's the reigning functioning champ, pumping out nearly a gigabit per second of data in our standard performance tests, and diggings through walls and ceilings with ease. Not only is the Archer C2300 the fastest router we've seen, but information technology's besides small, unobtrusive and total of loftier-end features.
The Archer C2300 comes with congenital-in optimization tools, like antivirus, QoS and parental controls that are ordinarily found on more than expensive competitors. At $120, information technology's less than half of what similarly performing competitors cost, and is backed by a ii year warranty. The TP-Link Archer C2300 is simply the best affordable Wi-Fi router you lot tin can purchase today.
Read our total TP-Link Archer C2300 review .
Wi-Fi 6 routers aren't cheap, just value is the proper name of the game for the TP-Link Archer AX6000 router, our favorite budget-friendly Wi-Fi 6 router. It may lag on performance and range but it offers Wi-Fi six speeds, for $100 less than competing Wi-Fi 6 models. Think of the Archer AX6000 every bit the affordable router for the first generation of Wi-Fi six devices.
With eight wired networking ports and the ability to pair two together to create a 2Gbps stream of information, TP-Link's Archer AX6000 router leads the fashion for Wi-Fi half-dozen routers that are just as good with wired devices as they are at Wi-Fi. Past adding in router-based security, the Archer AX6000 stands alone every bit one of the best routers yous can go, at a toll that'south hard to shell.
Read our full TP-Link Archer AX6000 review .
The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is the kickoff Wi-Fi 6e router to striking the market, and the results are mind-bravado. By adding the new 6-GHz band to the already impressive capabilities of Wi-Fi 6, the Nighthawk RAXE500 delivers category-leading functioning.
With an AXE11000 rating, the tri-band device more lives up to the hype by delivering nearly 2.5Gbps of real-earth data. Add this to the slick design and highly customizable configuration options, and the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 becomes 1 of the best wireless routers we've e'er reviewed.
Past adding admission to a slew of new data-delivering channels in the 6GHz spectrum, the tri-band Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 takes the lead equally the first high-operation Wi-Fi 6e router. It'south the sort of performance that earned information technology the Tom's Guide Award for best Wi-Fi router, fifty-fifty if it'south not a great fit for everyone. While it's all-time at close quarters and is i of the most expensive routers yous can purchase, the RAXE500 is worth every penny if you take the need for speed.
Read our full Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 review .
It might be priced like a high-performance or gaming router, but the Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 (RS400) delivers in a unlike (and peradventure more important) expanse: cybersecurity. The RS400 may evangelize solid functioning and enough range to comprehend most homes, but the existent value is protection, with a fistful of security features from Netgear and Bitdefender, including three years of protection from Bitdefender Total Security software.
The RS400 is built to safeguard your entire connected home, from your laptops and phones to a whole range of smart devices, from TVs to ovens, thermostats and doorbell cameras. With and then many devices on today's home network, you lot have to be more vigilant, as a single poorly secured gadget can open up you up to hackers and malware. The RS400 keeps your whole habitation safety, and is piece of cake to gear up and manage, too, making it our favorite cybersecurity router.
Read our full Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 (RS400) review .
The TP-Link Archer A7 is the best Wi-Fi router for those on a budget, delivering very proficient 802.11ac performance and a surprising number of features for less than most competing routers. The Archer A7 has great functioning for the cost — pushing through more data than most of the comparably priced routers nosotros've tested — and features four Gigabit LAN ports and a USB ii.0 port for connecting devices.
In addition to solid performance and features, the Archer A7 also has a very like shooting fish in a barrel setup process and useful parental controls, with an app that lets y'all monitor and control network use from anywhere. It may non exist loaded with customization tools, but it offers parental command and Quality of Service (QoS) software that ensures better than average performance. It's the all-time value Wi-Fi router we've tested.
Read our full TP-Link Archer A7 review .
The TP-Link Archer C5400X is the gaming router to trounce, with some of the best functioning you'll see in any single habitation networking device. It offers best-in-form tri-band performance, delivering 1Gbps over its two.4GHz band and 2.167Gbps over each of its ii 5GHz channels. Information technology also has impressive coverage, with more than 100-anxiety of superb coverage that will coating nigh homes in stiff, articulate Wi-Fi signal.
The spider-similar eight-antenna pattern and ruddy-on-black colour scheme are certain to turn heads, but the real selling point is the drove of optimization and security features that volition satisfy any power user. With excellent bandwidth-allocation controls to let you use the massive throughput equally you wish, this router puts incredible performance into the user'due south hands, for gaming or anything else.
Read our full TP-Link Archer C5400X review .
For a truly customizable router, nosotros recommend the Linksys EA8300 Max-Stream, which is non only a keen tri-band router, information technology'southward too loaded with tools to tweak and customize your router for optimal operation. The small blackness EA8300 Max-Stream can movement lots of data, though information technology will do best in smaller homes. Merely even with shorter range, it offers impressive performance for a router that sells for less than $200.
Whether you lot're allocating bandwidth to prioritize gaming or media streaming, or just setting upward parental controls, you tin automate many features, make manual adjustments on the fly, and monitor it — all from your desktop or smartphone. With so many ways to customize your router's performance, the Linksys EA8300 Max Stream is an like shooting fish in a barrel pick for the power user.
Read our full Linksys EA8300 Max Stream review .
Is it time to update your Wi-Fi router?
Perchance you're finding your current Wi-Fi coverage to experience slower than it used to, accept been dogged with spotty reception, or maybe y'all just need something that tin can amend handle the demands of an increasingly broad range of smart devices in the boilerplate dwelling house. If you've got any of the higher up irritations, a new router should fix these common problems.
It's likewise worth upgrading if you lot're using older hardware. If you still accept an old Wireless-N or Wireless-Air conditioning (retroactively renamed Wi-Fi iv and Wi-Fi v, respectively) router in your home, you should definitely think about getting something current. Not only will these newer standards offer faster connectivity, you'll come across other benefits, too. Your smartphone bombardment will terminal longer thanks to more efficient device management, and your continued home gadgets will all experience faster and snappier with the more than capable standards.
The other big reason to upgrade your router is if yous've been paying a monthly rental fee for a gateway device from your ISP. With boilerplate equipment rentals costing $ten-xv every calendar month, a new router can pay for itself in a affair of months, and offer better service and features, too! Just don't forget to pair information technology with one of the best cable modems to costless yourself entirely from the extra costs that often come with broadband internet packages.
How to choose the best Wi-Fi router for you
When it comes to choosing the best wireless router, it'due south piece of cake to become lost in the complication of networking jargon and obscure technology standards. Only all yous really demand to know is how to answer 2 primal questions: What speed exercise you need for your internet connection? And what sort of coverage do you need in your domicile?
Speeds and standards: The internet speed yous need for your router will generally be determined by the speed you get from your internet access provider and what speed is supported by your modem. For most people, a standard 802.11ac router volition handle all but the nearly impressive plans available, like Gigabit net plans that are only available in select cities. With average broadband speeds sitting right around 100 Mbps, well-nigh wireless Air-conditioning routers will be able to handle the task with ease.
The latest technology for routers is called Wi-Fi six (aka 802.11ax), which is a faster standard that's amend suited to the many devices constitute in homes today. Many Wi-Fi vi routers are bachelor, simply at that place'southward an even newer twist on this standard called Wi-Fi 6e that takes advantage of a newly opened part of the radio spectrum.
Wi-Fi 6e-enabled devices, such as laptops and phones, are still few and far between. Unless you're using a dozen devices at once, you likely won't see much do good from Wi-Fi 6e at this time. Run across our commodity What is Wi-Fi 6E: Routers, devices and how it's better than Wi-Fi half dozen to learn more.
Coverage range: The other part of the wireless equation is coverage area. A basic standalone router volition generally offering 50 to 100 anxiety of range, ably covering the majority of apartments and small-scale homes. If yous have a house of 3,000 square anxiety or more, notwithstanding, you will want to consider a mesh router, which uses multiple devices to provide Wi-Fi signal throughout a larger abode. These are specially helpful in multistory houses, or in homes with dead spots where the Wi-Fi signal drops out.
Ports: Though wireless connectivity is the chief thing you lot want from a Wi-Fi router, y'all'll as well want to think about wired connections. Ethernet offers faster connectivity for devices like game consoles and smart TVs that apply more bandwidth, and USB ports are handy for attaching a printer or storage to your network.
Input is another issue, especially is you live in an surface area with Gigabit speed cyberspace. With a Gig-speed connectedness, an older router tin be a bottle cervix, slowing down your entire dwelling house. Some routers can fifty-fifty aggregate two inputs for fifty-fifty faster connectivity.
Cost range: Electric current 802.11ac routers frequently sell for less than $100 for bones, dual-ring models. More expensive models range up to $300, but will offer wide coverage and faster speeds, while gaming-oriented routers with built-in optimization features volition oftentimes sell for more. New routers using the Wi-Fi 6 standard (previously known equally 802.11ax) often sell for $400 or more.
Keeping up on everything happening in the router world is difficult, so bank check out our helpful guides to the latest engineering, like What is a mesh Wi-Fi router, and do you need 1? Or get the latest advice on how to fix your router's security problems, from simple steps to avant-garde protections. From router security to in-depth explanations of Wi-Fi half-dozen and Wi-Fi 6e, we're always providing the latest info about the newest products and innovations.
- Keep your whole household secure with the all-time router VPN
How we test Wi-Fi routers
Nosotros examination every router we review to measure performance and range, in addition to hands-on use to evaluate the ease-of-setup and quality of settings and features.
Throughput describes how much information the router can move back and forth over its wireless connection. We measure this at a 5-pes distance without obstructions, so that we tin estimate the maximum corporeality of data that the router can motion. Higher throughput will serve you better in data-heavy uses, like streaming video, gaming, or connecting multiple users at once.
Range measures the furthest usable altitude for the router. Longer ranges are better for larger homes, where rooms are spread out at a altitude. Nosotros measure how much information a router can move at v, 50, 75 and 100 feet, and then that you can also choose the all-time model for smaller homes and apartments, where brusque-range performance may be the priority.
We also examination performance through walls and ceilings, to make up one's mind how well a router can provide signal in the Wi-Fi-dampening weather condition mutual to many buildings and homes.
For mesh routers, we perform additional testing to determine how well the mesh system does sending a signal through both the master router and through a satellite unit.
Cheque out all of our abode networking coverage:
Best mesh routers | All-time Wi-Fi 6 routers |Best gaming routers |Best Wi-Fi extenders | Best powerline extenders | Best cablevision modems
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-wifi-routers,review-2498.html
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