Ready for a Router Upgrade? Don't Buy Until You Read This Wi-Fi Guide

CNET

6 days ago

Picking out a Wi-Fi router can be one of the most challenging parts of setting up home internet, but don't let that scare you away from finding the best router for your house. Retailers often exaggerate the speeds routers can offer, and continual developments in Wi-Fi technology, such as the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology, complicate the process. A good router is an investment: They don't come cheap, and we all want to make sure we're getting the best use of our internet for the money we spend on it.
Whether you've finally decided to stop renting your router from your ISP or you want to upgrade to a mesh router system, having some Wi-Fi basics under your belt is helpful when splurging on a good Wi-Fi router. In this primer, we'll cover the basics of Wi-Fi technology and how it relates to your router, how ISPs may limit your router's capabilities and everything else that goes into finding good equipment. Once you can make sense of some fundamentals, you'll have no problem finding the right router for your internet setup.
You can check out our complete router shopping guide for more thorough router shopping tips and recommendations on our favorite routers, mesh networks and Wi-Fi extenders.
So, what is Wi-Fi?
Let's start at the very beginning. Your router connects multiple computer networks together using Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi, or "wireless fidelity," refers to the family of wireless network protocols that allow your router to exchange data through radio waves.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers developed and released the first version of Wi-Fi in 1997 and classifies Wi-Fi within the 802 family of standards for local area networks. The IEEE's full code for Wi-Fi is 802.11, pronounced "eight-oh-two-dot-eleven" and that ".11" distinguishes Wi-Fi from other standards in the family, including Ethernet (802.3), Bluetooth (802.15.1) and Zigbee (802.15.4).
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Over the years, the IEEE has done quite a bit to certify new improvements to Wi-Fi and standardize them for widespread use. That's where those confusing letters that come after "802.11" come into play: Each of them denotes specific generations of Wi-Fi. For instance, the first widely used version of Wi-Fi was released in 1999 and called 802.11b; shortly after that came 802.11a, then 802.11g in 2003 and 802.11n in 2009. Wi-Fi 6, or 802.11ax, is the current-gen version of Wi-Fi that most devices use today.
If your eyes glazed over a bit just now, I've got some good news for you. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the nonprofit trade organization that holds the Wi-Fi trademark, finally realized that Wi-Fi labels had gotten too confusing for consumers.
When 802.11ax launched in 2019, the group decided to market the standard as "Wi-Fi 6" and retroactively refer to previous Wi-Fi generations similarly. The new standard makes it much easier to differentiate Wi-Fi labels:
802.11be : Wi-Fi 7
: Wi-Fi 7 802.11ax : Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E
: Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ac : Wi-Fi 5
: Wi-Fi 5 802.11n : Wi-Fi 4
: Wi-Fi 4 802.11g: Wi-Fi 3
Wi-Fi 7 is the latest version... but you probably don't need it yet
So what is Wi-Fi 7 and should you be worried about making sure your router uses it? In a nutshell, Wi-Fi 7 is faster and better at connecting lots of devices and users, with access to several wider frequency bands at once. Whereas Wi-Fi 6 and 6E also allowed access to multiple bands, devices were limited to one band at a time. Wi-Fi 7 reduces latency, increases network capacity and supports faster speeds.
The only catch is that to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7, you'll need a Wi-Fi 7 router and a Wi-Fi 7-capable device. Wi-Fi 7 is backward compatible, so you can use your current devices with a Wi-Fi 7 router just fine -- but you won't get the full experience. New routers supporting the standard are already starting to pop up on store shelves, but they're expensive. Though more and more devices are equipped with Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, including Apple's iPhone 16, they're still relatively rare -- for now.
Consider your speed: Household speeds vs. router speeds
Now that you know how some of the Wi-Fi technology on your router works, it's time to pay attention to speeds.
The best place to start is figuring out how much speed your household actually needs. You can do this by first figuring out how much speed you're currently getting, with a simple speed test -- Orb and Ookla are some of our favorites. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, the same company that owns CNET.) Next, take stock of the devices and type of internet usage in your house. If you have a lot of gamers, streamers, remote workers or students in the house (not to mention the number of smart devices), you should consider a 1-gig or multigig tier.
When upgrading your router, consider the minimum speed recommendation for your household and make sure you're getting a router that can support those speeds -- but watch out for misleading marketing tactics.
Retailers are notorious for reporting the combined top speeds of your router's bands, misleading people into thinking they're buying equipment that supports 3,000 megabits per second when, in reality, that router most likely supports a fraction of that speed.
Also keep in mind that the internet speed advertised by an internet provider is the maximum speed of any device in your home. If you're buying a router with multigig capabilities but you don't have a multigig plan, you won't get those speeds unless you upgrade with your internet provider.
A note on Wi-Fi speeds vs. Ethernet speeds
It's important to note that your internet connection will almost always be faster with Ethernet than it is with Wi-Fi.
This is what it looks like when you connect a device to a router using Wi-Fi.
PhotoBecause Ethernet is a direct, wired connection, there's little-to-no obstruction between your router and your device. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, is a wireless connection to your router that relies on frequency bands instead of a cable.
In some cases, retailers will advertise speeds you can only get with a wired connection, making the typical speed for a Wi-Fi connection much slower than that advertised price.
What does that number in the router name mean?
Along with each manufacturer's internal naming schemes, most of today's routers will typically also come with designations like "AC1900" or "AC3150." The point is to give you a quick, comparative sense of which version of Wi-Fi each router supports ("AC" for Wi-Fi 5, "AX" for Wi-Fi 6 and so on), along with a rough sense of its speed capabilities.
I say "rough" because those numbers after the "AC" or "AX" part indicate the sum total of the maximum theoretical transfer rates across each of the router's bands. That's not useless information as you're comparing routers, but it's a bit misleading: The sum total will almost always be significantly higher than the fastest speeds you'll experience as a user.
"AC" tells you that this is a Wi-Fi 5 router, while "2600" refers to the combined theoretical max speeds of each of the router's bands. Your actual speed per device will be a lot lower.
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For instance, the D-Link DIR-867 is listed as an AC1750 router. It's a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 router with theoretical maximum transfer rates of 1,300Mbps on the 5GHz band and 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. Add those two numbers together and you get 1,750, hence the name AC1750.
The problem is that you can't actually add those bands together-- you can only connect to one at a time unless you're using a Wi-Fi 7 router with a Wi-Fi 7-capable device. That means the fastest speed you could theoretically get from the DIR-867 is 1,300Mbps, not 1,750Mbps. And I say "theoretically" because those top speeds are measured by the manufacturer in optimized lab conditions, not in real-world environments. When we tested the thing out, we measured max speeds of 163Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 802Mbps on the 5GHz band. Solid results for a budget-friendly router, but nowhere close to 1,750Mbps, even if you add them together.
Things get even more inflated once you start looking at tri-band routers that add in an extra 5GHz connection. For example, Asus now sells a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 gaming router in its ROG Rapture lineup with the designation "AX11000." The "AX" tells you it's a Wi-Fi 6 router, and the "11000" indicates the combined top speeds of each band -- 1,148Mbps at 2.4GHz, and 4,804Mbps on each of the two 5GHz bands.
That's a lot of concurrent bandwidth, but don't start thinking your computer, phone or gaming console will connect at anything close to 11,000Mbps. The fastest figure you'd ever possibly see from a single device is 4,804Mbps, and today's ISP connections are nowhere near that fast yet. In fact, the average internet speed in the US currently sits at 564Mbps, according to the latest data from OpenVault.
A mesh router network, like the one pictured here from TP-Link, can significantly improve connectivity around the house.What else should I look for when I shop for a new router?
You'll see all sorts of Wi-Fi jargon as you shop for a new router. Here's a rundown of the terms you'll see the most, and what they actually mean for your home.
Mesh: A mesh Wi-Fi network uses multiple access points to provide better coverage throughout large homes. Similar to Wi-Fi extenders, a mesh Wi-Fi system extends coverage throughout the house but with a smaller zone of coverage. Start with one that wires to your modem like a traditional router, then add satellite units around the house that act like repeaters for the signal. If you have a pesky back bedroom that struggles to stay connected, then move mesh routers up to the top of your list.
A mesh Wi-Fi network uses multiple access points to provide better coverage throughout large homes. Similar to Wi-Fi extenders, a mesh Wi-Fi system extends coverage throughout the house but with a smaller zone of coverage. Start with one that wires to your modem like a traditional router, then add satellite units around the house that act like repeaters for the signal. If you have a pesky back bedroom that struggles to stay connected, then move mesh routers up to the top of your list. MU-MIMO: Short for "multiuser, multiple-input, multiple-output" (and pronounced "multiuser-meem-oh"), MU-MIMO lets your router divide its signal between multiple streams. That, in turn, lets the router send data to multiple devices at once. MU-MIMO is optimal for households or spaces with a lot of devices and heavy internet use, as it optimizes your network. If the receiving device supports it, MU-MIMO also lets the router use multiple streams at once to send data to the device, which makes for faster transfers. Wi-Fi 6 routers can support up to eight streams (8x8), while Wi-Fi 7 routers can support up to 16.
Short for "multiuser, multiple-input, multiple-output" (and pronounced "multiuser-meem-oh"), MU-MIMO lets your router divide its signal between multiple streams. That, in turn, lets the router send data to multiple devices at once. MU-MIMO is optimal for households or spaces with a lot of devices and heavy internet use, as it optimizes your network. If the receiving device supports it, MU-MIMO also lets the router use multiple streams at once to send data to the device, which makes for faster transfers. Wi-Fi 6 routers can support up to eight streams (8x8), while Wi-Fi 7 routers can support up to 16. Band steering: Different brands have different names for the feature, but a growing number of routers will automatically move devices between frequency bands as their positions change within the range of the router. So, if you're using Wi-Fi to make a video call on your phone, and you're sitting in the living room near the router, it might automatically assign you to the 5GHz band, which is the speediest at close range. If you move into another part of the house during the call, the router might automatically "steer" your connection onto the 2.4GHz band, which offers a steadier connection at a distance.
Different brands have different names for the feature, but a growing number of routers will automatically move devices between frequency bands as their positions change within the range of the router. So, if you're using Wi-Fi to make a video call on your phone, and you're sitting in the living room near the router, it might automatically assign you to the 5GHz band, which is the speediest at close range. If you move into another part of the house during the call, the router might automatically "steer" your connection onto the 2.4GHz band, which offers a steadier connection at a distance. Beamforming: A basic router will broadcast its signal more or less equally in all directions, but with beamforming, the router can focus its signal in the specific directions of the devices that are trying to connect to it. That can help it reduce interference and maintain a better range.
A basic router will broadcast its signal more or less equally in all directions, but with beamforming, the router can focus its signal in the specific directions of the devices that are trying to connect to it. That can help it reduce interference and maintain a better range. Quality of service: Often abbreviated to QoS, quality of service is a feature that lets the router prioritize certain types of traffic above others. It's a common feature for gaming routers.
Beyond basics like those, router manufacturers are turning more and more to extras like simplified, app-based setup, integrations with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant, VPN support, better parental controls, and optional cybersecurity monitoring. All are worth considering if you think you'd put them to use in your home.