The Best Routers

[Julio Franco]

With the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, streaming boxes, and more, the need for a good wireless router that can handle multiple devices fighting for bandwidth is undeniable. We've gone through hundreds of expert reviews and long-term usage impressions from actual owners to bring you the best routers and wireless networking equipment in five categories.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/routers/

 

[3volv3d]

Looked into replacing my Asus Dark Knight N66 cable router as the ISP modem is annoying as. Was thinking about putting Tomato and other vegetables on it.
I did look at a netgear, but, with the N66, I can block times so easily from the Asus FW. Just highlight the blocks in hours of what I don't want people connected to like the wee hours of the morn.
I don't want to spend a fortune on an upgrade. It streams all over the house no issue. I hope it doesn't die. I don't think I would be happy unless I can do all I can now.
Other sites say it would make a great vegetable patch, the best in fact for tomato, but depends if you wanna muck around with Custom FW. DD/wrt, tomato, shibby, pfsense stuff. All down to pref innit. Some stuff, just causes issues, including your ISPs modem which causes issues with Port Forwarding.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I'm intrigued that there is no mention of the Netgear Nighthawk X10 – AD7200.... I know it's like $500 or so, but assumed it would at least get a mention in the enthusiast section...

Is it just that it's crazy overkill? Or is there a flaw with it...

 

[Nobina]

I'm intrigued that there is no mention of the Netgear Nighthawk X10 – AD7200.... I know it's like $500 or so, but assumed it would at least get a mention in the enthusiast section...

Is it just that it's crazy overkill? Or is there a flaw with it...

There's certanly a flaw with it, it costs $500.

 

[amghwk]

What about D-Link 880L, 885L, 890L?? No mention of them here....

 

[AccordXTC]

What about D-Link 880L, 885L, 890L?? No mention of them here....

It's Dead-Link, why would anyone want to mention them.

 

[Uncle Al]

Dang .... the last time I bought one (2 years ago) you could get a top of the line Router for under $200. Are doctors making them now?????

 

[Squid Surprise]

There's certanly a flaw with it, it costs $500.

Well yes.... But the enthusiast build generally disregards money.... There's already a $400 one mentioned... Curious what (if anything) an extra $100 gets you...

 

[dirtyferret]

Dang .... the last time I bought one (2 years ago) you could get a top of the line Router for under $200. Are doctors making them now?????

It's all marketing hype and brands paying for reviews. The vast majority of these reviewers should be ashamed of themselves pushing this overpriced crap.

The brand new "Model 5400" with aggressive gaming style is 3X faster then our previous Model 1750 as long as you ignore the following

A) you need to drop another $350 plus for the exact same router so you can operate them in bridge mode to get the maximum link speed which is still a percentage of the Marketing link speed since you can only connect to one radio on one band at a time.
B) the big numbers are meaningless as they are just adding more radio signal numbers together and you won't connect any better then your 1200-1750 AC router.
C) better link connection does not always mean better throughput
D) the range still sucks meaning your 5400 router will perform the same or better as an AC 1200 once you move ten feet away or put a wall in-between you and the router.
E) The vast majority of mobile clients are 2X2 1200 AC or lower
F) The eXtreme Gaming mode QoS and SUPER DUPER 4K HD QoS is actually the exact same QoS in all the other routers released for the past several years just with a new name.
G) a $5 Ethernet cable plus 100mbps port still gives you a more stable connection and a gigabit port & cable still outperform the wi-fi speed of the router plus give you a more stable connection.
H) A powerline adapter and an old router turned into an Access Point (real easy) outperforms all these $400+ mesh units.
I) It still won't make your 25-30 mbps "triple play" connection any faster.

P.S. Check out the Asus AC66 B1 router; exact same internal hardware as the Asus AC68U 1900 AC router but is sold as an AC1750 for marketing purposes. Uses the same dual core CPU as the Netgear 6400 (I own bot the netgear and AC 66U B1), USB 3.0 port, and smaller foot print. I find the Netgear routers rather big for the4 family living room.

Good article on the current state of routers and their marketing hype
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33077-goodbye-to-wi-fi-router-classes

 

[MoeJoe]

No Linksys Velop or EA9500.

- 100

 

[Julio Franco]

I'm intrigued that there is no mention of the Netgear Nighthawk X10 – AD7200.... I know it's like $500 or so, but assumed it would at least get a mention in the enthusiast section... Is it just that it's crazy overkill? Or is there a flaw with it...

If you read the note about our "overkill upgrade" (Linksys EA9500 AC5400 tri-band) similar things could be said about the Nighthawk X10. But more specifically about the Nighthawk, it carries two differentiating features very little people will be able to get advantage of: 60GHz 80211.ad (very short range wireless, not the next generation of Wi-Fi, requires clients that support it) and a 10Gbps LAN port, again with niche support. We also have heard loud complaints about the built-in Plex server hanging the router, though that's the kind of thing manufacturers eventually fix with updates. It's a very forward-looking router, but at the end of the day, not a better option for enthusiasts than our main pick which tends to be faster in regular situations.

Dang .... the last time I bought one (2 years ago) you could get a top of the line Router for under $200. Are doctors making them now?????

Our router pick for most people costs about $100, and it's damn good.

For others arguing there is a certain brand/model missing, if we were to mention all possible options, then we've made a terrible job narrowing things down for readers. Even then, we usually bring up a main overall category winner/pick and one or two alternatives if/as needed. @MoeJoe the EA9500 is there... for us Eero > Velop.

 

[Rhialto]

You can go read Tim's opinion on SmallNetBuilder, too often latest routers are overkill. AC1900 class should be enough for the vast majority. The RT-AC68U / RT-AC68P / RT-AC1900 / RT-AC1900P family is usually an excellent choice with Eric (RMerlin) doing firmware updates over ASUS ones. And you are always sure to get help too with so many owners. Discussions here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-rt-ac68p-rt-ac1900-rt-ac1900p.35759/

 

[Squid Surprise]

If you read the note about our "overkill upgrade" (Linksys EA9500 AC5400 tri-band) similar things could be said about the Nighthawk X10. But more specifically about the Nighthawk, it carries two differentiating features very little people will be able to get advantage of: 60GHz 80211.ad (very short range wireless, not the next generation of Wi-Fi, requires clients that support it) and a 10Gbps LAN port, again with niche support. We also have heard loud complaints about the built-in Plex server hanging the router, though that's the kind of thing manufacturers eventually fix with updates. It's a very forward-looking router, but at the end of the day, not a better option for enthusiasts than our main pick which tends to be faster in regular situations.

Ohhh... didn't know about the Plex server issue... have a "guy" who can get me one at a very steep discount and was wondering if I should go ahead with it... thanks for the info

 

[TrexABull]

I like how the Portal router is nowhere to be seen on this list xD

 

[MikeRex]

I'm intrigued that there is no mention of the Netgear Nighthawk X10 – AD7200.... I know it's like $500 or so, but assumed it would at least get a mention in the enthusiast section...

Is it just that it's crazy overkill? Or is there a flaw with it...

There's certanly a flaw with it, it costs $500.

Name another router with those specs and features. You often get what you pay for. Bigger problem is that you need devices that use that much speed. I added a USB adapter and get 1MB+ speeds.

 

[jjh76]

My recommendation for "enthusiasts" if you know what your doing would be to get something like a Mikrotik RB951 and pair it with a ubiquiti access point ac pro. Gives you a lot more flexability and bang for your buck.

 

[Antykain]

I own the ASUS RT-AC88U router, and it is quite an amazing router. I am using Asuswrt-Merlin custom firmware for the RT-AC88U which basically takes the firmware that is developed by ASUS and adds tweaks and customizations to it. Quite a number of ASUS routers are supported by the Asuswrt-Merlin custom firmware. http://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/

Anywho, the router itself.. while many of the features of this router I may never use, or not used yet, it's nice to know the options are there. This router has TONS of options to play with and tweak to your liking. The user interface is amazing and by far the best UI that I have used with a router. Purely subjective, of course. But anyone that has a fairly recent ASUS router probably would agree. In my home, we have 2 HD and one 4K UHD displays which each have a Chromecast hooked up to it (Chromecast Ultra on the 4K UHD). Add another 12+ other devices (Xbone/PS4, cellphones, tablets, cams, printer, etc) connected wirelessly, and 2 desktop gaming PC's connected via the LAN ports on the router. Never had an issue with the RT-AC88U keeping up with all these devices connected to it.. Simply put, I love this router. Never has skipped a beat since I installed it.

Yeah, I'm sure routers that cost less would be able to keep up with the task of supporting all the devices I have connected to the RT-AC88U. I just wanted to make sure I was somewhat 'future-proofed', I guess. lol.

 

[axiomatic13]

I am just not a fan of the combo Router+switch+wifi devices. The tech is moving too fast and I always feel like I am tossing out a good switch and router when the WIFI part needs updating. I buy Ubiquiti (buy whatever you want I like Ubiquiti) and they are quality product at a great price and I get the router, switch, and wifi devices separately so when one needs updating I just update that one device and its cheap and I dont have to trash the rest.

 

[Squuiid]

The Synology is by far the best consumer wireless router IMO.
Their software is miles ahead of the competition and this unit's hardware is almost a clone of the Netgear R7800.

 

[Makson]

A relative recently moved to a small unit and her router failed so I bought a Netgear D6 100. It failed to connect so I returned to the tech store and the router was exchanged. Discussing the possible problem of the failed modem the salesman told me that several faulty modems had been returned, and all Netgear modems were made in China by several different manufacturers using generic components,which were made in China.
What then is the point of testing for the best and worst modem when all are probably built using the generic Chinese components.
A network technician friend told me the best current modems are named Huawei, maybe with Chinese components supplied by the Telstra Corporation communications service supplier.....go figure!

 

[Squid Surprise]

A relative recently moved to a small unit and her router failed so I bought a Netgear D6 100. It failed to connect so I returned to the tech store and the router was exchanged. Discussing the possible problem of the failed modem the salesman told me that several faulty modems had been returned, and all Netgear modems were made in China by several different manufacturers using generic components,which were made in China.
What then is the point of testing for the best and worst modem when all are probably built using the generic Chinese components.
A network technician friend told me the best current modems are named Huawei, maybe with Chinese components supplied by the Telstra Corporation communications service supplier.....go figure!

Modem/Routers are almost always crappy... better off to get a dedicated modem - usually your ISP rents them for free anyways (well, free as in part of your monthly fees) and just get yourself a separate router...

 

[dirtyferret]

Looked into replacing my Asus Dark Knight N66 cable router as the ISP modem is annoying as. Was thinking about putting Tomato and other vegetables on it.
I did look at a netgear, but, with the N66, I can block times so easily from the Asus FW. Just highlight the blocks in hours of what I don't want people connected to like the wee hours of the morn.
I don't want to spend a fortune on an upgrade. It streams all over the house no issue. I hope it doesn't die. I don't think I would be happy unless I can do all I can now.
Other sites say it would make a great vegetable patch, the best in fact for tomato, but depends if you wanna muck around with Custom FW. DD/wrt, tomato, shibby, pfsense stuff. All down to pref innit. Some stuff, just causes issues, including your ISPs modem which causes issues with Port Forwarding.

Depending on what you stream, download and surf; the dark knight may out perform the AC88U for you. I've owned several Asus routers and at distance my dark knight range matches my Asus AC68U.

 

[Squid Surprise]

So I went ahead and got the Netgear Nighthawk X10 - AD7200.... $200 CAD from a guy who didn't want it any more....

So far, I've been VERY impressed - the range blows any other router away... can get internet all the way out in my back yard, and even at the neighbour's!

And the speed is pretty awesome... haven't had the Plex server crash anything yet... will see what happens... Probably not worth paying $500, but I will be getting a 10gbps device eventually and having ports for that is pretty nice...

 

[turismozilla]

Why would a router need to look like an F-117? Seriously, I just need the thing to connect me, I don't need it to look cool.

 

[Glennie]

Hey does anyone know if you can use some of these great looking routers with the new Australian NBN (national broadband network) service? Also, I wonder what's the best PCI wireless card, and I'm told it's best to have a long or high range antenna. G.