Five things you need to know before buying a new router

Since equipment costs are often hundreds of dollars per year, buying your own router is one of the best ways to save money on your Internet bill. But buy a router can quickly become confusing.

What does all jargon mean? How fast is fast enough? Is it worth spending extra for it? a multipoint mesh routeror for a version that supports the latest version of Wi-Fi, called Wi-Fi 7? And what about WiFi 6E routers adding access the ultra-wide 6GHz band?

Don’t feel overwhelmed. There are certainly a lot of specifications and technical nuances that come with wireless networking, but if you’re just looking for one reliable router you don’t have to think too much about it, choosing a good one isn’t as challenging as you might expect. Us complete router buying guide has a wealth of useful information, but for now here are five important basics to keep in mind before making a purchase. You can also use CNET’s free shopping extension to help you find the best price available.

You may not need a new router at all

Before you spend any money, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re getting the most out of the router you already have. Wi-Fi is tricky and it doesn’t take much to disrupt those wireless signals, so if your connection seems slower than necessary, it may not be your router’s fault.

There are lots of things you can do to help a router do its best, but the main takeaways are that you want it out in the open and above the floor. Storing it in a cupboard or on the back of a dusty shelf under your TV can keep the wires at bay, but you’ll also end up blocking the Wi-Fi signal strength. In that case, it might not make much sense to put a new router in the same spot.

In addition to physical obstacles such as furniture, be aware of large electronics such as appliances and televisions, as these can also interfere with the connection of a nearby router. Wi-Fi has trouble penetrating water, so if you have large aquariums in your home, consider placing the router somewhere where it won’t block the signal.

For minor adjustments to your signal, experiment with the angles of your router’s antennas. Straight up and down is best for horizontal coverage in a one-story home, but if you fold the antenna flat or at an angle you may be able to direct the signal upward. or down to help cover a basement or an upper floor. And if you just need an extra room’s worth of range from your router, you may be able to get the speed you need by a WiFi boosterwhich will cost you much less than if you immediately bought a new router.

Finally, it’s probably worth checking with your ISP to make sure you’re using the latest hardware. In many cases, if it has a newer one modem or gateway device available, it will be shipped to you for free. And hey, speaking of your ISP…

Your ISP sets the speed limit

Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how fast your router is. When you get data from the Internet, you can only do so as fast as your ISP’s plan allows. If you pay for download speeds of, say, 100 Mbps, that’s as fast as your router can go when you’re surfing the web or streaming video. Period.

That is an important limitation nowadays. In our own top speed tests, we see a growing number of routers that can run comfortably speeds of 1 gigabit per second or faster — but at the current average US fixed broadband speed with just over 250 Mbps (or less, if your ISP limits your connection), few of us can hope to surf the Internet that fast anytime soon.

That’s not to say that fast routers aren’t worth it. For example, you can still get those top speeds during local transfers – when you use the router to get files from one computer to another on your local network. Your ISP’s speeds don’t matter at all for such transfers, because you won’t be sending or receiving data outside your local home network.

Additionally, upgrading to a faster, more powerful router can help you get the most out of your home’s Internet connection, especially if you connect within range. So be sure to keep an eye on things our latest reviews as you shop around to get a good idea of ​​the specific routers that might best suit your home. We are constantly testing new models and updating our best lists with new test data.

Speed ​​ratings are basically bull

I have written about this beforebut it bears repeating: the speed ratings you see on the package and as you scroll through router listings while shopping online are virtually meaningless.

I’m talking about numbers like “AC1200” and “AX6000.” The letters there tell you which version of Wi-Fi the router supports: “AC” for Wi-Fi 5, or 802.11ac and “AX” for Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax. The numbers give you a rough idea of ​​the combined top download speeds of each of the router bands – typically 2.4 and 5GHz, and perhaps a second 5GHz band if we’re talking about a tri-band router, or 6GHz with Wi-Fi 6E routers .

The problem is that you can only connect to one of those bands at a time. When you add up their top speeds, the result is a very inflated figure that doesn’t reflect the speeds you’ll actually experience. If it’s a tri-band mesh router that uses that third band as a dedicated connection between the router and its extenders, then that band’s speeds won’t directly apply to your device connections at all.

To make matters worse, those top speeds on the box are actually theoretical maximums derived from manufacturers’ lab tests, which don’t take into account real-world factors like distance, physical obstacles, interference, or network congestion. Even at short distances, your actual connection will be a lot slower.

None of this stops manufacturers from using these speed ratings to describe how fast their products are. For example, that hypothetical AX6000 router might claim to support speeds of up to 6,000 megabits per second – which is nonsense. A router is only as fast as its fastest band. Don’t be misled.

Wi-Fi 7 is here, but Wi-Fi 6 is still fine for most people

Wi-Fi 7 is the newest, fastest version of Wi-Fi, but right now it’s overkill for most people. Wi-Fi 7 routers like Amazon’s Eero Max 7 ($600) and the Asus RT-BE96U ($660) have started rolling out this past year, but they are still way too expensive for me to recommend to most people.

Like Wi-Fi 6E routersWi-Fi 7 uses exclusive bandwidth in the 6GHz band which has recently been opened up for unlicensed use thanks to the Federal Communications Commission. Wi-Fi 7 doubles the channel size of the 6GHz band used by Wi-Fi 6E, from 160MHz to 320MHz – a bit like a two- to four-lane highway. A Wi-Fi 7 laptop could reach a “potential maximum” speed of 5.8 Gbps, which is much more than most Internet providers even offer.

For now, Wi-Fi 6 routers are still the better choice for all but the most connected homes. Wi-Fi 6 is pretty well established at this point, and all the phones, laptops and even peripherals like gaming consoles and media streamers released in recent years benefit from it. If you want these types of devices to get Wi-Fi 6 working in your home, you’ll need a Wi-Fi 6 router that manages your network.

The good news is that there are plenty of Wi-Fi 6 routers to choose from right now, including many that probably cost a lot less than you think. Wi-Fi 6 is backwards compatible, so a new Wi-Fi 6 router will still work with your existing, older Wi-Fi devices. It just won’t do much to speed them up, because those older devices won’t support the new features that make Wi-Fi 6 faster than before.

Wi-Fi 6E could still prove to be a difference-maker in the world of wireless connections, especially in large, dense environments where many people are trying to connect (think airports, malls, and stadiums). Still, it’s more of a business upgrade than a regular feature at this point, so there’s no need to rush to upgrade your home network.

Don’t forget the coverage

We tend to fixate on speeds when we talk about routers, but the truth is that in most cases there are really only two Wi-Fi speeds that matter: “fast enough” and “not fast enough.” After all, a high-speed connection in the same room as the router is great, but it means little if you can’t get a strong signal when you’re trying to stream a late-night Netflix binge in your bedroom on the other side. side of the house. This is especially true these days, when many people still stay at home and rely on their home network more than ever before.

That’s why for most people, the most meaningful step you can take for that home network is to upgrade from a standalone, single-point router to an expandable mesh system that uses multiple devices to better deliver a reliable, fast signal to your home. spread throughout the house. . Mesh systems like these don’t typically reach top speeds as fast as a single-point router, but they make up for this by delivering “fast enough” Wi-Fi to all corners of your home.

In recent years, upgrading to mesh has been an expensive proposition, with most options costing at least $300 or even $500. Then the pandemic hit and the popularity of mesh routers soared, which in turn led to manufacturers starting to introduce many new options, many of which cost significantly less than before.

Staying on top of these systems is one of my top priorities in Wi-Fi, so stay tuned my running list of the best mesh systems I’ve tested for my final recommendations.