What Is the Best Router for a Two Story House
All-time Wi-Fi routers for 2022
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Having one of the best Wi-Fi routers in your house is an essential slice of today's online life, and it's the simplest way to upgrade your home network. A new router tin brand every laptop, smart TV, game console and doorbell photographic camera in your home seem a lot faster.
Not only can y'all get speedier Wi-Fi connections, merely many of the latest routers accept built-in network security, app-based settings interfaces and like shooting fish in a barrel-to-utilise parental controls.
We've just seen several new Wi-Fi routers unveiled at CES, including one whose antennas motility to focus signals, so be sure to read our roundup of the all-time home Wi-Fi routers of CES 2022.
With and then much of our lives spent online, from school and work to gaming and streaming, there'southward no substitute for the top-notch performance that the best Wi-Fi routers offer.
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That's why we test every one of the dozens of routers nosotros've reviewed, to find the models that fit your domicile and needs with bully performance, long range, and a cost you tin beget. Here are the best Wi-Fi routers you tin can 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 half-dozen powerhouse that has the chops to ability a whole dwelling'due south worth of connected gear, providing pure power for gaming and secure every gadget you own. It's equal parts general-use router, serious gaming gear and cybersecurity safeguard. And with a reasonable price, there's no surprise it's our Editor's Option.
For a justifiably more expensive selection, the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) Wi-Fi half-dozen router blows the doors off of about competing routers. The newer wireless standard offers the best throughput nosotros've ever seen, and will easily handle a whole house total of connected devices.
For larger homes, you need coverage that reaches farther and extends to multiple floors every bit needed, and that means a mesh router. In our testing and evaluation, the Nest WiFi is the best mesh Wi-Fi solution you can buy. It offers excellent operation that blankets a whole house in signal, and it features a built-in Google Home smart speaker for intuitive vox control.
But if price is no objection, then the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6e is the fastest mesh-router arrangement we've ever seen, and one of the fastest routers, period. Only be aware that its price is well into 4 figures.
Best Wi-Fi routers right now
The Asus RT-AX86U is a Wi-Fi half dozen powerhouse that delivers great speeds and killer gaming features, as well equally awesome customization options. With high-stop performance and lifetime protection against intrusions and malware, information technology'southward also a not bad option for securing your entire home network, providing long term protection without a subscription fee, and carrying a 2-year warranty.
Merely the real describe of the Asus RT-AX86U is the functioning, which approaches the the magical 1Gbps marker to provide speedy and effortless connectivity for all of your devices. With excellent range and great performance — even through walls and between floors — the RT-AX86U is equal parts full general-use router and elite gaming router, and the collection of features and ports it offers are a steal compared to some of the top-performing gaming gear. It even gets a nod as the runner up for best Wi-Fi router in the most recent Tom's Guide Awards. If you want the best Wi-Fi vi router for the whole household, the Asus RT-AX86U is information technology.
Read our full Asus RT-AX86U review .
With the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) Wi-Fi 6 router, tiptop performance and enhanced security get paw in hand, combining throughput that smashes through the gigabit per second barrier with malware protection and Disney's Circle app for blocking inappropriate content and managing family network apply. And with excellent functioning through walls and floors, the Nighthawk AX8 will piece of work just equally well in the real world equally in the lab.
It may be expensive — most Wi-Fi six routers are — simply the RAX80 offers easy setup and lets you configure the router exactly the manner y'all want it. Information technology's also got a 90-pes range, but delivers better performance at distances of 50 feet, making it ameliorate suited to medium-sized homes. By most any mensurate, the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) is the Wi-Fi-vi router to get if yous don't want to compromise on speed and safety.
Read our full Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80) review .
In that location are several mesh Wi-Fi solutions on the market place, and while they'll all cover your domicile in wireless signal, our favorite has to exist the Nest WiFi. Made by Google, the Nest WiFi is small enough to hide out of sight and stylish plenty that you lot won't need to. Merely the existent draw for the compact mesh units is more just excellent operation. Each mesh extension of the Nest WiFi system has a Google Habitation smart speaker built in, giving you one of the best vox assistants throughout the house, forth with powerful wireless signal.
The speedy Nest WiFi also delivers ane of the easiest setup processes we've ever used, making it a snap to fix up extensions around the firm. Plus, it'll work with whatsoever older Google WiFi units you might own. But the add-on of Google Assistant actually puts it over the tiptop, providing an elegant way to add voice control throughout your home, and like shooting fish in a barrel integration with a huge number of the best smart home devices and all of the all-time Google Habitation uniform devices.
Read our full Nest WiFi review .
The first gaming router we've tested that features Wi-Fi vi, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is a gamer'due south delight, with speed that improves over longer range, low latency and all the features that gamers wait. Add it all upwards and most other gaming routers are now second best.
The GT-AX11000 is large, with a gargantuan base, viii swiveling antennas, and massive 10.8Gbps maximum throughput. This wireless router has connectivity in droves, thanks to its tri-band design and four downstream Gigabit LAN ports, a single ii.5G Base T Ethernet connection, and two USB 3.0 ports.
Born customization and gaming-oriented optimizations provide enough of control, and you can even pair it with other Asus routers for mesh networking to comprehend a larger home. At $450, information technology is expensive, but this is the best wireless router for gamers wanting an border online.
Read our full Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 review .
Netgear'southward Orbi WiFi 6E (model number RBKE963) is the fastest mesh-router organisation on the planet — and too the near expensive. But if you accept money to burn, a gigabit broadband connection from your ISP and an enormous house, then this is probably the mesh system for you.
The Orbi WiFi 6E tin can cover upward to 9,000 foursquare feet. Add together a tertiary satellite and you tin can get to 12,000 square anxiety. At a distance of 15 feet, the router's 6-Ghz channel delivered throughput of more than a gigabit per second, the offset mesh router to do so in our tests.
Each unit has 12 antennas and four Ethernet ports (ane rated at 2.5 Gbps), and the system creates channels on the 2.5, 5 and half dozen-Ghz bands, plus a fourth five-Ghz one for backhaul between units.
Netgear offers trial subscriptions to its Armor security software, which includes Bitdefender antivirus, and parental controls. Y'all'll likewise have to pay for tech support after 90 days. Only if you can afford to pay for this mesh system, you won't mind.
Read our total Netgear Orbi WiFi 6E (RBKE963) review .
The TP-Link Archer C2300 has a deceptively balmy-mannered design, just don't be fooled — it's one of the well-nigh powerful wireless routers you lot can buy, and offers the best range of whatever single router on this list.
Information technology's the reigning operation champ, pumping out nearly a gigabit per second of data in our standard performance tests, and blasting through walls and ceilings with ease. Not merely is the Archer C2300 the fastest router we've seen, but information technology's also 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 normally found on more expensive competitors. At $120, it's less than one-half of what similarly performing competitors toll, and is backed by a 2 year warranty. The TP-Link Archer C2300 is merely the best affordable Wi-Fi router yous tin buy today.
Read our total TP-Link Archer C2300 review .
Wi-Fi six routers aren't inexpensive, but 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 simply it offers Wi-Fi 6 speeds, for $100 less than competing Wi-Fi vi models. Retrieve 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 power to pair two together to create a 2Gbps stream of data, TP-Link'due south Archer AX6000 router leads the manner for Wi-Fi 6 routers that are just every bit skilful with wired devices as they are at Wi-Fi. By adding in router-based security, the Archer AX6000 stands alone every bit one of the best routers yous can get, at a price that's difficult to beat out.
Read our total TP-Link Archer AX6000 review .
The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is the start Wi-Fi 6e router to hit the market place, and the results are mind-blowing. By calculation the new half-dozen-GHz band to the already impressive capabilities of Wi-Fi vi, the Nighthawk RAXE500 delivers category-leading performance.
With an AXE11000 rating, the tri-band device more lives up to the hype by delivering almost 2.5Gbps of real-earth data. Add together this to the slick design and highly customizable configuration options, and the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 becomes one of the best wireless routers nosotros've ever reviewed.
By adding access to a slew of new data-delivering channels in the 6GHz spectrum, the tri-ring Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 takes the lead every bit the first high-performance Wi-Fi 6e router. It's the sort of operation that earned it the Tom's Guide Award for all-time Wi-Fi router, even if it's non a great fit for everyone. While it'south best at close quarters and is one of the near expensive routers you tin buy, the RAXE500 is worth every penny if you have the demand for speed.
Read our full Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 review .
It might be priced like a high-operation or gaming router, but the Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 (RS400) delivers in a different (and perhaps more of import) area: cybersecurity. The RS400 may evangelize solid functioning and enough range to encompass nigh homes, but the real value is protection, with a fistful of security features from Netgear and Bitdefender, including three years of protection from Bitdefender Full Security software.
The RS400 is congenital to safeguard your entire connected habitation, from your laptops and phones to a whole range of smart devices, from TVs to ovens, thermostats and doorbell cameras. With and so many devices on today'south habitation network, y'all accept to be more vigilant, equally a single poorly secured gadget can open you upwardly to hackers and malware. The RS400 keeps your whole home safe, and is easy to gear up up and manage, likewise, 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 good 802.11ac performance and a surprising number of features for less than most competing routers. The Archer A7 has great operation for the price — pushing through more data than nigh of the comparably priced routers nosotros've tested — and features four Gigabit LAN ports and a USB ii.0 port for connecting devices.
In add-on to solid operation and features, the Archer A7 besides has a very like shooting fish in a barrel setup procedure and useful parental controls, with an app that lets yous monitor and control network use from anywhere. It may not be loaded with customization tools, merely information technology offers parental command and Quality of Service (QoS) software that ensures better than average operation. It'south the best value Wi-Fi router nosotros've tested.
Read our full TP-Link Archer A7 review .
The TP-Link Archer C5400X is the gaming router to beat out, with some of the best performance you lot'll see in any single domicile networking device. It offers best-in-class tri-band functioning, delivering 1Gbps over its 2.4GHz band and ii.167Gbps over each of its two 5GHz channels. It also has impressive coverage, with more than 100-feet of superb coverage that will blanket most homes in potent, clear Wi-Fi signal.
The spider-like viii-antenna design and red-on-blackness colour scheme are sure to plow heads, but the real selling betoken is the collection of optimization and security features that will satisfy whatsoever ability user. With excellent bandwidth-allocation controls to let you lot employ the massive throughput as you lot wish, this router puts incredible performance into the user's hands, for gaming or anything else.
Read our full TP-Link Archer C5400X review .
For a truly customizable router, we recommend the Linksys EA8300 Max-Stream, which is not merely a great tri-band router, it's as well loaded with tools to tweak and customize your router for optimal performance. The small-scale black EA8300 Max-Stream tin move lots of data, though it volition do all-time in smaller homes. But even with shorter range, information technology offers impressive performance for a router that sells for less than $200.
Whether yous're allocating bandwidth to prioritize gaming or media streaming, or simply setting up parental controls, you tin can automate many features, make manual adjustments on the wing, 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 piece of cake choice for the power user.
Read our total Linksys EA8300 Max Stream review .
Is it time to update your Wi-Fi router?
Maybe you're finding your current Wi-Fi coverage to feel slower than it used to, accept been indomitable with spotty reception, or maybe you just need something that tin can better handle the demands of an increasingly wide range of smart devices in the boilerplate home. If you lot've got any of the higher up irritations, a new router should fix these common issues.
It's besides worth upgrading if you're using older hardware. If you lot yet take an erstwhile Wireless-N or Wireless-AC (retroactively renamed Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi five, respectively) router in your home, yous should definitely think about getting something electric current. Not only will these newer standards offering faster connectivity, you'll see other benefits, as well. Your smartphone bombardment volition last longer cheers to more efficient device management, and your connected home gadgets will all feel faster and snappier with the more than capable standards.
The other large reason to upgrade your router is if you've been paying a monthly rental fee for a gateway device from your Internet service provider. With average equipment rentals costing $10-15 every month, a new router can pay for itself in a thing of months, and offering better service and features, besides! Just don't forget to pair it with i of the best cable modems to costless yourself entirely from the extra costs that oft come with broadband internet packages.
How to choose the best Wi-Fi router for you
When it comes to choosing the all-time wireless router, it's easy to go lost in the complexity of networking jargon and obscure technology standards. Only all you really demand to know is how to reply two key questions: What speed do you demand for your internet connection? And what sort of coverage do yous demand in your home?
Speeds and standards: The internet speed you need for your router volition generally exist determined past the speed yous get from your cyberspace service provider and what speed is supported by your modem. For nigh people, a standard 802.11ac router volition handle all but the most impressive plans available, similar Gigabit internet plans that are only bachelor in select cities. With average broadband speeds sitting right around 100 Mbps, most wireless Air conditioning routers will exist able to handle the job with ease.
The latest technology for routers is called Wi-Fi half dozen (aka 802.11ax), which is a faster standard that's meliorate suited to the many devices institute in homes today. Many Wi-Fi 6 routers are available, but there's an even newer twist on this standard called Wi-Fi 6e that takes reward 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 probable won't run into much benefit from Wi-Fi 6e at this time. See our article What is Wi-Fi 6E: Routers, devices and how it's improve than Wi-Fi 6 to learn more.
Coverage range: The other function of the wireless equation is coverage area. A basic standalone router volition generally offer 50 to 100 feet of range, ably covering the majority of apartments and minor homes. If you have a house of 3,000 square feet or more, however, you volition want to consider a mesh router, which uses multiple devices to provide Wi-Fi signal throughout a larger home. These are especially helpful in multistory houses, or in homes with dead spots where the Wi-Fi bespeak drops out.
Ports: Though wireless connectivity is the main thing you want from a Wi-Fi router, you'll also desire to recall nearly wired connections. Ethernet offers faster connectivity for devices similar game consoles and smart TVs that use more bandwidth, and USB ports are handy for attaching a printer or storage to your network.
Input is another issue, peculiarly is you live in an area with Gigabit speed internet. With a Gig-speed connectedness, an older router tin exist a bottle neck, slowing downwards your entire dwelling. Some routers tin can even aggregate two inputs for fifty-fifty faster connectivity.
Price range: Current 802.11ac routers often sell for less than $100 for basic, dual-band models. More expensive models range up to $300, but volition offer broad coverage and faster speeds, while gaming-oriented routers with built-in optimization features will frequently sell for more. New routers using the Wi-Fi six standard (previously known every bit 802.11ax) ofttimes sell for $400 or more.
Keeping upwardly on everything happening in the router earth is difficult, so check out our helpful guides to the latest technology, like What is a mesh Wi-Fi router, and exercise yous need one? Or get the latest advice on how to fix your router'due south security problems, from uncomplicated steps to advanced protections. From router security to in-depth explanations of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e, nosotros're always providing the latest info well-nigh the newest products and innovations.
- Keep your whole household secure with the all-time router VPN
How we examination Wi-Fi routers
We test 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 data the router tin can motion back and along over its wireless connection. Nosotros mensurate this at a five-pes distance without obstructions, so that we can gauge the maximum amount of information that the router can move. College throughput will serve you meliorate in data-heavy uses, like streaming video, gaming, or connecting multiple users at once.
Range measures the furthest usable distance for the router. Longer ranges are better for larger homes, where rooms are spread out at a altitude. We measure out how much data a router tin move at five, 50, 75 and 100 anxiety, so that y'all can also choose the all-time model for smaller homes and apartments, where short-range performance may exist the priority.
We also exam functioning through walls and ceilings, to decide how well a router can provide point in the Wi-Fi-dampening conditions common to many buildings and homes.
For mesh routers, we perform boosted testing to determine how well the mesh system does sending a signal through both the main router and through a satellite unit.
Bank check out all of our dwelling house networking coverage:
Best mesh routers | All-time Wi-Fi vi routers |All-time gaming routers |Best Wi-Fi extenders | Best powerline extenders | Best cable modems
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-wifi-routers,review-2498.html
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