Getting the wrong appliance can be a major hassle, not only because you need to replace it, but because of wasted time and money. A Wi-Fi router is much the same, with some models failing to provide the coverage, speed, or features you may need. There are a lot of factors that are difficult to account for when choosing your router, such as wall thickness and congestion from neighboring wireless connections. You’ll also want to plan ahead about which software features you want, because the biggest difference between the various brands is the software on offer.

Coverage area

Internet in every room of the house

Coverage is probably the easiest aspect to understand, with wireless signals losing a little bit of their strength every time they pass through another object. Certain objects cause greater signal degradation than others, like a brick wall compared to one made from wood and drywall. Other electrically noisy devices like a microwave oven or large HVAC equipment can also cause a lot of interference.

At a minimum, most routers operate in a dual-band mode with 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals. Lower frequencies pass through walls more easily, so the lower 2.4GHz signal is better for smart home tech like security cameras you may have outside. The problem is that 2.4GHz Wi-Fi isn’t all that fast in a modern context, so you don’t want to use it for everything.

To get the best signal from your router with higher frequencies like 5GHz, it’s a good idea to get one with a powerful amplifier as well as some modern features like OFDMA, beamforming, and 1024-QAM to help keep speeds high when congestion and interference can’t be avoided. Most mid-range to high-end Wi-Fi 6 routers support these features. Similarly, Wi-Fi 7 routers implement most of these features with a bit more wireless capacity to boot.

While a single router is simpler and cheaper than a mesh, due to power limits, some homes simply won’t have adequate coverage with a single router. If you know a single router won’t provide the coverage you need, a mesh system can give you plenty of coverage by leveraging multiple routers working together as a single network. If you’re not sure whether you’ll need a mesh, you can grab a router with mesh capabilities, such as AiMesh systems from Asus, Intelligent Mesh from Linksys, or even more open standards like OpenMesh now being included on some routers from TP-Link and others.

Internet speed

Don’t waste money on capacity you don’t need

You could go out and buy one of the fastest Wi-Fi 7 routers available, like the Archer BE800 from TP-Link or Eero Max 7, but unless you’ve got gigabit internet speeds or faster, you’re wasting a lot of money on speed you can’t use. If you’ve got a gigabit internet connection, anything faster than Wi-Fi 6 AX5400 (AX6000 if you have a lot of smart home tech) is keeping up without breaking a sweat. An AX5400 connection, for example, has a 2.4GHz capacity of up to 574Mbps and 5GHz is up to 4808Mbps. No single device is using all of this speed. Instead, the capacity is useful for connecting multiple devices at once.

That being said, you might expect a low-end Wi-Fi 6 AX1800 router to keep up with a gigabit connection thanks to its 1201Mbps of capacity at 5GHz, but more often than not, it won’t. While it’s technically fast enough, with congestion and interference, you’ll likely see speeds closer to 600Mbps. To be fair, there’s not much you can’t do at 600Mbps, but if you’re downloading large files, the extra capacity could be missed.

For most families, an internet connection of around 200Mbps should be plenty, and an AX1800 router with solid coverage should also be plenty. You want to overbuy a little bit to make sure you’re not leaving any speed on the table, but with modern Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 routers, most will be able to keep up with one of these slower connections.

Wired capacity

How many devices can you wire?

Many of us have our Wi-Fi routers located close to something that needs the internet, like a TV or a computer. These devices can often be plugged straight into the router using Ethernet. Wiring some of your internet devices to the router instead of using Wi-Fi more often than not leads to better performance as well as freeing up some wireless capacity for other devices. But what about devices further away? If you’ve got access to your basement or crawl space, running a few Ethernet cables across the house can be a great way to improve network performance. You can also use your Ethernet wiring to improve mesh Wi-Fi performance using a wired backhaul.

A lot of cheaper routers, and compact routers designed for mesh systems, have reduced the number of Ethernet ports to just two. For a lot of people who have no interest in Ethernet, it’s a good way to simplify and save money on production, but if you want to wire multiple devices on your network, it’s a hassle. Sure, you could wire in a switch, but that adds wires and increases the complexity of your network.

Pick a router with plenty of Ethernet ports for your needs, and wire as many devices as you can for the best performance. You can still get routers with four or more ports for Ethernet devices, with some offering even more. Some mesh routers even have models with multiple Ethernet ports.

VPN

Get the right VPN features

VPN support is quite common in modern routers, but there are a few things to consider to make sure you’re getting a good connection. First and foremost, routers will either support VPN Server, VPN Client, or both. VPN Server is a more traditional VPN feature, allowing you to connect to your home network while you’re on another connection. VPN Client, on the other hand, is the mode you would use to connect your home network to a VPN service, like Nord VPN.

VPN Client on most routers uses either OpenVPN or WireGuard. WireGuard is faster but is more taxing on the system’s CPU. If you’re trying to use a VPN frequently, you’ll want a router with a fast CPU to make sure performance keeps up. Alternatively, you could install a VPN client on your device, like your laptop, so you only use your VPN when you need it or when you’re away from home.

Gaming

Get a router with a good QoS

If a router is being described as a gaming router, it probably has Quality of Service (QoS) software. QoS is used to prioritize certain devices or services over others to keep your network running smoothly. If you have multiple devices trying to connect to the internet at once, for example, their packets are normally sent and received in the order the router gets them, but the QoS can be used to put packets from a higher priority machine, like a gaming PC, at the front of the line to keep pings low.

QoS implementation on routers can vary quite a bit, so finding one with a hierarchy like Asus and ROG gaming routers have, or categorization like UniFi AmpliFi routers is preferable. Some simpler QoS options will simply allow you to set higher-priority devices with bandwidth limitations.

Software works hand-in-hand with hardware, so you want to make sure you’re getting the full package before picking your router. If you pick a router simply for its speed but it lacks valuable software features, you could end up with fast speeds in a speed test app, but an inconsistent experience overall.