The choice of a router, first of all, should take into account the Wi-Fi standards that your phone, TV, tablet or laptop supports. Starting in 2014, mobile device manufacturers began to equip them with support for the latest 802.11ac standard. It delivers over the air three times faster than its predecessor 802.11n.
Any device with a Wi-Fi module supports several transmission standards. In the description of the functions of the device, they are indicated in one line: 802.11a / b / g / n / ac
The theoretical speed limit for devices supporting 802.11ac is 1300 Mbps. But theory, as usual, rarely converges with practice: the real speed is significantly lower and, among other things, depends on the number of antennas at the receiving device. So, smartphones have one antenna, and for them the limit is 200 Mbit / s. Tablets and laptops have two antennas, so the movie will “fly” on them at a higher speed if you pick it up from your home media storage or from the Internet with a Gigabit Ethernet connection. If you get a standard 100 Mbit / s from your provider, then you won't be able to overclock anymore. No argument, though, closer to 100 Mbps is much better than the measly 20 Mbps typical of 802.11n.
How to choose a router
For a router that supports 802.11ac and 802.11n to realize the high-speed capabilities of these standards, you will need a 1 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet connection to your ISP.
Range: how to break through walls?
Count the walls is the second thing to do when deciding which router to buy. Every obstacle in the signal path reduces its strength, especially reinforced concrete walls. In a room that is separated from a room with a router, a bathroom and another room, the signal will be very weak. What does weak mean? No, not just one strip instead of four. A weak signal carries less information to the receiving device, meaning your smartphone's download speed will be frustratingly slow despite the trendy 802.11ac.
For comfortable use of the Internet, in this case, it is better to install it via a router in the farthest rooms. You don't have to chase the advantages of the 802.11ac standard: near the router, 802.11n reception will be excellent. This solution can be more economical than buying one powerful router.
Having settled on the last option, choose a device with 3-4 detachable antennas. This will allow you to install more powerful antennas if the factory ones are not efficient enough.
Routers supporting 802.11ac and 802.11n are capable of transmitting signals in the 2.4 Hz and 5 Hz frequency ranges. The latter improves connection speed, but has a shorter range.
Additional functions of routers
By its main purpose, a Wi-Fi router is just a radio transmitter. However, its functions have stepped far beyond this simple task. Therefore, when weighing which router is better and how to choose a router, be sure to compare the additional functions of the models you like.
- USB ports
Allows you to connect a printer, scanner, external hard drive, media storage to the router and use them for all users connected to the router. If you do not have a cable Internet connection, you can connect a mobile Internet modem to the router.
- Download wizard and torrent client
Together with a connected external drive, they allow you to download files when the computer is turned off.
- Connecting to cloud storage
They can be used instead of an external drive.
- Remote access to home file storage
Collected the world's best collection of music and films? Enjoy them from anywhere in the world!
- Built-in firewall
Protects your computer from network threats.
- Parental control
Children don't like it when parents are in charge of their phones and computers.Which sites they shouldn't visit can be set in the router settings.
If you connect to the Internet using a dial-up connection (through a telephone cable), then you will need a router with ADSL support.
Now you know enough about how to choose a router, aka a router. Go to the "Routers" section of our store and choose a model that will sew your house with rays of kindness and positiveness :)
Helpful article: "How to set up a router: you have no idea how fun it is"
See the overview of TP-Link universal and reliable routers. They have proven themselves to be excellent in organizing wired and wireless Internet.
