Things to consider when in the market for a router
A router is the most important piece of hardware in a connected home, and it is also the one most people understand the least. The marketing does not help.
Most people buy a router the wrong way. They walk into a shop, or open a browser tab, see a number like Wi-Fi 6 or AX3000 or something with the word “gaming” on the box, pick the one that looks appropriately impressive, and go home. Three months later they are still dropping video calls from the kitchen.
A router is the most important piece of hardware in a connected home, and it is also the one most people understand the least. The marketing does not help. Speeds quoted on the box are theoretical maximums achieved under laboratory conditions that no actual home resembles. The right router for your situation depends on factors the packaging never mentions: the size and layout of your space, how many devices you run, what those devices actually need, and what your internet service provider is actually delivering to the wall.
Here is what to think about before you spend the money.
Start with your internet plan, not the router
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The most common router mistake is buying hardware that outperforms your internet subscription. A router cannot give you faster internet than your ISP provides. If your broadband plan delivers 100 Mbps, a router rated for 3,000 Mbps will deliver exactly 100 Mbps to every device in your home. The theoretical maximum of the router is irrelevant if the pipe coming into your house is narrower.
Before looking at routers, check what speed you are actually getting. Not what your plan promises: what you actually receive. Run a speed test at the wall, directly connected to your modem or ONT, with no router in the circuit. If your ISP promises 200 Mbps and you are getting 180, your connection is healthy and your router should not be the bottleneck. If you are getting 40, the problem may be with your line, your modem, or your ISP, and a new router will not fix it.
Once you know what you are working with, buying a router that comfortably handles your actual connection speed plus reasonable room for growth is sufficient. Paying for tri-band Wi-Fi 7 throughput when you have a 100 Mbps connection is spending money on headroom you cannot use.
Understand what the Wi-Fi generation numbers mean
Routers are now sold with Wi-Fi generation labels: Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7. These are not marketing names. They refer to specific technical standards (802.11ac, 802.11ax, and 802.11be respectively) and represent genuine differences in how the router handles multiple devices, manages congestion, and uses the radio spectrum.
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) is the previous generation. It works well and routers in this category are available at lower price points, but they lack some of the efficiency improvements that matter in homes with many connected devices. If you are buying new, there is little reason to choose Wi-Fi 5 over Wi-Fi 6 unless price is the primary constraint.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) introduced OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), a technology that allows the router to serve multiple devices simultaneously on the same channel rather than taking turns. In practical terms this means less congestion in homes with many devices: smartphones, laptops, smart TVs, tablets, security cameras, and smart home gadgets all competing for the same airwaves. If you have more than a dozen connected devices, the difference is noticeable. Wi-Fi 6 also improved battery efficiency for connected devices, which matters for phones and laptops.
Wi-Fi 6E extends Wi-Fi 6 into the 6 GHz frequency band, which was previously unlicensed for Wi-Fi use. The 6 GHz band is uncrowded because relatively few devices support it yet, which means reduced interference in dense environments like apartment buildings. If you live in a flat surrounded by dozens of competing networks, 6E can make a real difference. If you live in a house with few neighbours, the benefit is smaller.
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) is the newest standard, bringing Multi-Link Operation, which allows devices to use multiple frequency bands simultaneously for improved speed and reliability. It is currently at the premium end of the market. Unless you have specific high-bandwidth use cases and devices that support Wi-Fi 7, waiting for prices to fall is reasonable.
The practical advice: for most households in 2026, Wi-Fi 6 is the sensible baseline. Wi-Fi 6E is worth considering in dense urban environments. Wi-Fi 7 is a forward-looking purchase for users with genuine current need and the budget to match.
Frequency bands matter more than most people realise
Every router operates on radio frequency bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and on newer routers, 6 GHz. These bands have different characteristics that affect how you use them.
The 2.4 GHz band travels further and penetrates walls more effectively than 5 GHz. It is the band that reaches the bedroom at the far end of the house and passes through two brick walls to get there. But it is also the most congested band because it is shared with microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors, and the Wi-Fi networks of every neighbour within range. Speeds on 2.4 GHz top out at lower levels than 5 GHz.
The 5 GHz band is faster but shorter in range and less wall-penetrating. It is the band to use when your device is close to the router and you need maximum throughput, such as streaming 4K video from a smart TV in the same room as the router.
The 6 GHz band is uncrowded, fast, and short-range. It is for close-proximity, high-bandwidth use only.
A dual-band router offers 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. A tri-band router adds a second 5 GHz or a 6 GHz band, typically used to create a dedicated backhaul channel in mesh systems or to serve very high-demand devices. For most single-router setups, dual-band is adequate. Tri-band becomes relevant in mesh configurations or homes with sustained heavy bandwidth demand across many devices simultaneously.
Coverage area and the layout of your space
A router’s stated coverage area is as theoretical as its stated speeds. Real-world coverage depends on the construction of your building, the placement of the router, and the number and nature of obstructions between the router and your devices.
Concrete and brick walls attenuate Wi-Fi signals significantly. A modern concrete-framed home or apartment building absorbs more signal than a timber-framed house. A router that covers a 200-square-metre open floor plan comfortably may struggle to serve a 130-square-metre apartment across three rooms and a concrete corridor.
Vertical distance is a larger obstacle than horizontal distance. A router on the ground floor will have less effective coverage on the floor above than the distance alone would suggest, because the signal must penetrate the floor/ceiling structure at a steep angle through more material.
The practical implications are straightforward. A single router works well for flat layouts up to around 150 to 200 square metres with reasonable wall construction. Multi-storey homes, homes with thick walls, and homes larger than 200 square metres should consider either a router with strong external antennas and a high-gain chipset, or a mesh system.
Placement matters enormously. A router should sit in a central position, elevated off the ground, without being enclosed in a cabinet or placed behind a television. The single most common cause of poor Wi-Fi in an otherwise well-specified home is a router jammed into a corner behind a media unit because that is where the wall socket happened to be installed.
Single router versus mesh system
A mesh Wi-Fi system consists of a primary router and one or more satellite nodes placed throughout a home. All nodes communicate with each other to create a single network that devices connect to seamlessly as they move between rooms, without switching between networks or experiencing the dead zones that occur at the edge of a single router’s range.
Mesh systems are the right choice for homes over 150 to 200 square metres, multi-storey homes, homes with thick or complex wall structures, and any situation where a single router creates dead zones that cannot be solved by repositioning.
The trade-offs are cost and, in wireless mesh configurations, throughput. Wireless mesh nodes communicate with the primary router over a radio backhaul, which consumes some of the available bandwidth. If your mesh nodes use a dedicated backhaul band (tri-band systems reserve one band for node-to-node communication), the throughput penalty is small. If they use the same band as client devices (dual-band mesh), the throughput penalty can be significant, especially over multiple hops.
Wired backhaul eliminates the throughput penalty entirely. If your home has ethernet cabling between rooms, connecting mesh nodes via cable while serving clients wirelessly is the highest-performing configuration available at any price point.
Number of connected devices
A router’s real-world performance degrades as the number of connected devices increases, particularly under older Wi-Fi standards. Modern smart homes can easily accumulate 30, 40, or 50 connected devices: multiple smartphones and tablets per person, smart TVs, laptops, smart speakers, smart bulbs, thermostats, security cameras, washing machines, and refrigerators, each one maintaining a connection to the router even when idle.
Wi-Fi 6’s OFDMA and BSS Colouring technologies were specifically designed to address this. OFDMA allows simultaneous service to multiple devices, while BSS Colouring reduces interference between overlapping networks. If your home has more than 20 connected devices, Wi-Fi 6 is not a luxury. It is the minimum standard that handles that load gracefully.
When evaluating routers, look for the maximum number of simultaneous client connections the device supports. Budget routers with basic chipsets may begin to struggle above 20 to 25 clients. Mid-range and higher-end routers with OFDMA support handle 50 or more without significant degradation.
Wired connections: the ports matter
Wireless performance gets all the attention but wired ethernet remains faster, more stable, and more secure than Wi-Fi for any device that does not need to move. A desktop computer, a gaming console, a smart TV, a network-attached storage device, and a VoIP system all benefit from a wired connection.
Most home routers come with four ethernet LAN ports. For most households this is adequate. If you have more wired devices than ports, an unmanaged ethernet switch expands your wired capacity for a modest cost without affecting performance.
Pay attention to port speeds. Gigabit ethernet (1 Gbps) is the standard on mid-range and higher-end routers and is sufficient for most connections. Some newer routers include 2.5 Gbps ports, which are useful if your internet service delivers speeds above 1 Gbps, if you are building a home network to transfer large files between local devices at speed, or if you are connecting a multi-gigabit capable NAS.
If you have an internet connection delivering more than 1 Gbps, verify that the router’s WAN port (the port connecting to your modem or ONT) supports the speed you are paying for. A router with a 1 Gbps WAN port will cap your effective internet speed at 1 Gbps regardless of what your ISP delivers.
Security features
A router is the gateway through which every device in your home communicates with the internet and with each other. Its security posture matters more than most people consider at the point of purchase.
At a minimum, look for routers that support WPA3 encryption, the current standard for wireless security, alongside backward compatibility with WPA2 for older devices that do not yet support WPA3. WPA2 remains secure for most threat models but WPA3 provides meaningful improvements including protection against offline dictionary attacks on your Wi-Fi password.
Automatic firmware updates, either enabled by default or easily configured, are one of the most practically important security features a router can have. Vulnerabilities are discovered in router firmware regularly. A router whose manufacturer has stopped releasing updates is a router that will accumulate unpatched security holes over time. Check the manufacturer’s track record for update frequency and the length of the support period for a model before buying it.
Network segmentation is useful but often underused. The ability to create a separate guest network, and in more capable routers a separate IoT network, allows you to isolate smart home devices from the computers and phones you care most about protecting. A compromised smart bulb on an isolated IoT network cannot reach your laptop. On a single shared network, it potentially can.
Some routers include built-in DNS filtering or security subscription services that scan traffic for malware, phishing, and botnet activity. These are useful additions but should be evaluated on their merit as services rather than as a primary reason to choose a router.
The question of brand and software
Router hardware matters. Router software matters at least as much.
A router’s user interface, configuration options, parental controls, traffic monitoring, and quality of service settings are all determined by its software. A router with excellent hardware and poorly designed software is frustrating to configure and difficult to troubleshoot. A router with good hardware and a clean, well-maintained operating system is a pleasure to manage and grows in capability as the manufacturer releases updates.
The major consumer router brands, Asus, TP-Link, Netgear, and Eero (now Amazon), all produce capable hardware across price ranges. Their software quality and update cadences differ meaningfully. Asus’s Asuswrt platform is feature-rich and well-maintained. Eero’s app-driven interface is clean and simple but offers less granular control. TP-Link’s Deco and Archer lines offer good value and a reasonably maintained platform.
OpenWrt, an open-source router operating system, is available for a wide range of routers and provides the highest degree of configurability and community-maintained security updates for users comfortable with more advanced setup. If you are technically inclined and want maximum control over your network, OpenWrt-compatible hardware is worth considering.
Budget calibration
Router pricing spans an enormous range, from budget devices under $30 to flagship mesh systems approaching $1,000. The right price point depends on what you actually need.
For a small apartment or flat under 80 square metres with a single floor and a broadband connection under 500 Mbps, a mid-range Wi-Fi 6 dual-band router in the $60 to $120 range will serve you well.
For a medium-sized home between 100 and 200 square metres with a standard floor plan, a Wi-Fi 6 router with strong antenna design in the $120 to $200 range is appropriate.
For a larger home, a multi-storey property, or any situation with coverage challenges, a Wi-Fi 6 or 6E mesh system in the $200 to $400 range for a two-node kit is the right category.
For power users with very high-speed internet connections (above 1 Gbps), many connected devices, and specific performance requirements, the upper end of the market from $400 upwards offers features worth the premium. For most households, it does not.
The most expensive router on the market will not fix a slow ISP connection, a poorly positioned device, or a home with construction that attenuates signals heavily. Diagnosing the actual problem before buying the most expensive solution is always the better order of operations.
The one thing most people skip
After buying and setting up a new router, most people never revisit the configuration. They leave the default password unchanged, leave automatic updates off, leave the guest network disabled, and leave quality of service settings on their factory defaults.
Spending thirty minutes after setup to change the admin password to something strong, enable automatic firmware updates, create a separate guest or IoT network, and configure quality of service to prioritise video calls and streaming over background downloads is the highest-return investment you can make in your home network. It costs nothing beyond a small amount of time and substantially improves both performance and security.
The router is doing the most important job in your connected home. It deserves at least one careful afternoon.
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