How to choose the best router for your home

Internet is a necessity in every home these days. Most people learn, work, play, and get entertained on the internet. For a great internet connection, there are several devices that must be available and should have excellent quality. One of the most important gadgets for internet provision is the Wi-Fi router. However, how do you choose the best router for your home?

A router is a device that broadcasts the Wi-Fi signals to several devices in our home. Some routers also have exceptional wireless capabilities. You will find the best-wired routers with gigabit internet capabilities being able to connect to 8 or more wired devices.

For wireless routers, there are several features that define their suitability for your home. This makes it able to make your home a smart home for your family to enjoy.

What makes a good home router?

Number of bands

These days, there are several dual-band and tri-band routers available in the market that make it easy to use your smart devices. You will find that a dual-band or tri-band router will be able to support a number of devices and give you an internet performance befitting your home.

If you pick a single-band router, you are assured of lots of interference and congestion in your network. The single band router will also offer you sub-optimal internet speeds which will leave your devices suffering.

Therefore, if you choose a dual-band or tri-band router for your home, you will be sure that the devices will get access to great internet speeds.

Coverage

The range of your preferred router should help you to choose a good router for your home. You should choose a router that will offer you whole-home coverage and never settle for less.

There are several devices in the market each with different ranges. To get the best router for your home, you need to estimate the coverage required and then get a router that offers slightly more coverage than your required range.

To ensure good coverage, a good home router should have excellent antennas, mesh capabilities, Beamforming technology, and other technologies.

Number of devices

As each day passes, the number of smart devices keeps on increasing. 20 years ago we only had computers and laptops as the main devices requiring a Wi-Fi connection. These days, we have over a hundred smart devices available in the market today.

Devices such as the best smart thermostats for a home require continuous and stable Wi-Fi for their functioning. Other smart devices include smartphones, tablets, coffee makers, door locks, light bulbs, baby monitors, TVs, streaming devices, gaming consoles among others.

All these devices will get good coverage if you choose a home router that supports multiple devices. To achieve this the router can have advanced QoS, an excellent processor, Beamforming technologies, and other features.

Security features and parental controls

A good router will keep your data, users, and children safe when online. This will mean that you should strive to have a router that gives you privacy, security, and parental controls.

On privacy, there are several routers that have VPN capabilities or that work with private VPN providers that are available on the market today. You should strive to get a router that is compatible with your preferred VPN provider.

On security, your router should have the latest online security measures. These are as specified in the Wi-Fi standards. The router should also be able to update the firmware regularly to ensure that flaws seen in router technology are resolved as soon as possible.

Finally, on parental controls, you can strive to get a router that gives you control over what your children are accessing on the internet and when. This makes it easy for you to give them security and also ensure the device free times remain device-free time.

Mobile app for control and configuration

These days, control of several devices can be done online even remotely. This is also true for the best home routers. Having a good mobile app that is compatible with iOS and Android devices make it easy to ensure that you have maximum control over your network.

The mobile app can give your features on updating the firmware, monitoring the network usage, setting up parental controls, setting up Guest Wi-Fi, blocking a device on your network, changing the router settings, and many other features.

Therefore, it is an integral bit to have a mobile app for your router.

Internet speeds

Several routers can support different internet plans for your home. It is therefore imperative to ensure that the router you are picking supports internet speeds that is commensurate to your ISP plan.

Therefore, there is no need to get a router that will throttle your internet speeds. You can get a router that will support Gigabit plans if you have subscribed for a Gigabit plan.

In addition, several devices in your home have different internet needs. Devices like gaming or 4K streaming devices require faster download and upload speed as compare to browsing the internet. You should get a router that will give your devices the maximum support for their functioning.

Wi-Fi standards

These are several routers in the market today with different Wi-Fi standards. The current standards are Wi-Fi 6 (801.11AX) which was released in 2019. These standards define the Wi-Fi speeds, safety, number of devices, and other very important features in your router.

Depending on the devices that you have at your home, you may opt for a Wi-Fi 6 router with more speeds, connection to multiple devices, and better security features or get an 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) router for your home.

Compatibility with your modem or ONT device

Finally, you should strive to get a router that is compatible with your router or ONT device for fiber connections. This will ensure seamless internet supply for your home.

Most of the routers available in the market today will be compatible with most modems since the connection is via an Ethernet cable. However, as you are buying, just check if there are any caveats on compatibility.

Conclusion

As you choose the best router for your home, it is important to use the guide above for the best performance. We are sure that if you utilize the guide to the letter, you will get a device that will serve you now and in years to come. We did not talk about the cost since routers are available at different prices with different levels of performance.