Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E devices certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance must support WPA3, but it’s not exclusive to the new standard. You can find Wi-Fi 5 routers with WPA3 support, and some manufacturers are rolling it out onto older devices via firmware updates. It is also backward compatible. Most routers will offer a hybrid mode labeled WPA2/WPA3 to avoid issues as devices transition to the new standard.
No security standard is perfect, so you should make sure your router has automatic updates turned on and always install the latest security updates on any devices you own. If your router offers remote access, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), we advise disabling those features in the settings. Another feature to look for is a guest network, so you can hook guests up with Wi-Fi without giving them access to the rest of your network and all your connected devices.
Check Out the App
While older routers tend to have basic settings you can only access by entering the IP address into your browser and logging in, most new routers and mesh systems offer apps you can access on your phone. It’s worth taking a look at the interface to make sure it has all the features you want. We suggest reading our reviews and user reviews to get a feel for how well it works and to identify potential problems.
The latest mesh systems boast accessible apps that show all connected devices at a glance. You may find the option to pause the internet and create schedules, and the ability to organize devices into profiles. Many also include parental controls so you can block different types of potentially sensitive content and block or whitelist specific websites. Some companies charge extra for these perks, so keep an eye out. For example, you need an Eero Plus subscription ($10 per month or $100 for the year) to unlock parental controls on your Eero mesh system.
Consider the additional security features on offer. Many routers come bundled with built-in protection that will monitor your network in real time to detect malware, viruses, and other intrusions and block them from gaining access to your devices. Some can automatically block malicious websites, ransomware, adware, and phishing attempts, and even scan devices on your network to flag potential security issues. But these security features often require a subscription. For example, Netgear Armor, powered by Bitdefender, offers comprehensive security and costs $100 for a year.
While apps and additional security or parental control services can be convenient, it is also important to consider privacy. Some of these apps and services enable the providers to collect data about your browsing habits and devices. It’s important to read the privacy policies and consider whether you trust the company involved. Some routers from manufacturers like Asus and Synology don’t require you to create an account to configure and use them.
Device Prioritization
Quality of service (QoS) is an underappreciated feature worth looking into, particularly if you have a busy household with several people using the internet. Imagine a video call for work that gets choppy or disconnects because your kid starts streaming Netflix. Perhaps the movie you’re watching starts to buffer when your roommate begins downloading a game update.
With QoS, you can prioritize devices and sometimes services or activities. You might dictate that your work PC is the priority device, for example, ensuring it has the most bandwidth to reduce the risk of stuttering video calls. Some routers enable you to prioritize activities like gaming to minimize latency and ensure the smoothest possible experience.
Common Terms, Explained
There’s a lot of jargon you’ll run into when shopping for a router. Here’s a quick explanation of some of those technical terms.
The service set identifier is the name of your Wi-Fi network. By default, it might be the manufacturer’s name and some numbers or the Wi-Fi band, but you can always rename your network in the app or web interface for your router.
This pops up as a plus on many routers and other Wi-Fi-connected devices, but what does it mean? MU-MIMO stands for multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output. Routers sort incoming requests from devices into a single-file queue, but MU-MIMO enables them to split the available bandwidth into equal chunks. Now, instead of one long queue, you can have two, three, or four short queues and should get served faster. The maximum number of queues or users that can be served simultaneously in Wi-Fi 5 is four, but it increases to eight with Wi-Fi 6.
Each antenna in your router emits a Wi-Fi signal in all directions. Beam-forming is a way of focusing the Wi-Fi signal in one particular direction to improve the connection with a device. This can boost speeds, efficiency, and signal quality while simultaneously reducing errors and interference.
An exciting technology in Wi-Fi 6 that will serve multiple users with different bandwidth requirements simultaneously, OFDMA stands for orthogonal frequency-division multiple access. If you imagine individual Wi-Fi requests as packages on a truck, your router is currently sending out deliveries to a single point and then returning to do the next one. OFDMA lets it load up the truck with packages for multiple users, which is much more efficient.
This refers to the link between your main router and any nodes or access points you may have. For best performance, the link will be wired using Ethernet cables, but you can also have wireless backhaul that uses Wi-Fi. With mesh systems, for example, a tri-band system with one 2.4-GHz band and two 5-GHz bands might reserve one of its 5-GHz bands to send data from a node to the router and vice versa, which would be dedicated wireless backhaul.
Wi-Fi 7 offers a new feature called Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows Wi-Fi 7 devices to connect to Wi-Fi 7 routers on more than one band simultaneously. Being able to connect on 2.4-GHz, 5-GHz, and 6-GHz bands at once can increase speed, decrease latency, and enhance stability. Some of the latest Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems can also use MLO for the wireless backhaul.
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is a method to transmit and receive data in radio-frequency waves. The higher it is, the more information you can pack in. Wi-Fi 7 supports 4K-QAM, while Wi-Fi 6 supported 1,024-QAM, and Wi-Fi 5 was limited to 256-QAM.
Target Wake Time (TWT) is a power-saving feature designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices like sensors and switches that can schedule when they receive or send data, leaving them on standby in between so they don’t drain power or clog your network.
Final Takeaways
Your maximum internet connection speed is determined by your ISP, but routers that offer faster speeds still bring benefits for connections between devices on your home network.
Always check compatibility for any router, modem, or combination you are considering with your ISP.
Mesh systems can ensure greater coverage and more reliable performance than single routers, but they aren’t always better. Much depends on the size and construction of your home and your router placement.
The minimum specs we recommend are Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11 ax) support and WPA2 security, but consider Wi-Fi 6E and WPA3 security or Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11 be) if you can afford it.
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