UNITED STATES—Wireless routers are essential for accessing the internet. Most devices support wireless network functionality; through wireless routers, you can access the internet without using wires or cables. Wireless routers take access from a single network and then allow multiple users and devices to access the internet over a Wi-Fi network.
If you are looking to access the internet wirelessly in your home or office, or just looking to upgrade your existing WiFi router, then it can be a hard decision because there are so many router manufacturers available in the market including top names such as D-Link, TP-Link, ASUS, etc. There are a lot of different top-class wireless routers in the market due to which it can become a difficult decision to choose the right one. For this purpose, we will be discussing with you some of the features that you should look for in a WiFi router:
Wireless Protocol
Before you choose any WiFi router, you should look for the wireless protocol that it comes with. If you look at any router, you will find out that it has a specific wireless protocol. The most common wireless protocols that WiFi routers come with include 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac. Out of all these wireless protocols, the most commonly used and the fastest out of all these is the 802.11ac. If you want to connect and use multiple devices simultaneously, then you should go with the one that has 802.11ac wireless protocol.
Maximum Bandwidth
The next thing that you should look for in a WiFi router is the maximum bandwidth that it can handle. This number is closely associated with the router’s wireless protocol and this is one of the first things that you would notice on a box of a WiFi router. The maximum bandwidth is usually in Mbps and the higher the number, the better. This number denotes the full speed that the WiFi router can transmit from the connection to users.
Going for a WiFi router that has a higher bandwidth capacity is generally better. Choosing a router with a lower figure than your speed will result in slower speeds. For instance, if the maximum bandwidth of a WiFi router is 100 Mbps and you have a 150 Mbps connection, you will be getting only 100 Mbps. Therefore, you should choose a WiFi router with a higher number to accommodate faster connections.
Range
For a normal user, who just wants to surf the internet and scroll through social media peacefully in his room without the problem of weak signals, the range of WiFi routers matters a lot. Not everyone will sit beside or next to the WiFi router to use the internet. Most people like to use the internet from their room and enjoy their privacy.
A WiFi router having a weak range will result in slower, weaker, and poorer connection as you will move farther away from the router. You should choose a WiFi router with a range that can cover all the rooms in your house so you can enjoy the internet in peace. Routers with 802.11ac wireless protocol have a better range than others.
Dedicated Mobile Router App
Having a dedicated mobile router app is considered a compulsion and you should make sure that the router that you are choosing has a dedicated mobile router app available through which you will be able to make changes to the settings of the router. Not everyone is a tech-savvy person and familiar with the lengthy processes that one has to follow starting with finding out the default IP address, logging into the admin panel, and looking for settings.
A mobile router app makes everything easier, from setting up the wireless router to making changes to the settings, everything can be done just from a single app. Router manufacturers like TP-Link have dedicated mobile router apps like TPLinkWiFi that make it easier to manage the settings of the WiFi router.
Multiple Bands
Make sure that the wireless router that you are eyeing has the feature of multiple bands. Nowadays, dual-band or tri-band wireless routers have become very popular. These wireless routers have the ability to transmit signals in dual frequencies, i.e 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz which allows for better performance.
Quality of Service
QoS or Quality of Service is a relatively new feature that allows you to limit a specific type of traffic. This is a very useful feature that ensures that all users get equal bandwidth or if you want to allocate a higher bandwidth for a specific service such as torrent downloading, Netflix streaming, etc, you can do so. Not every WiFi router comes with this feature so, if you like this feature, make sure that you get a router that has this feature.
