How to choose your wifi router?

This is a question that deserves attention. Indeed, the choice of a router must take into account your own situation (single person, small business, institution, large company), but also the characteristics of the most efficient wifi routers. Here are summaries of the main criteria that should guide your choice of a better router.

The obsolescence of the wifi router

The average lifetime of a router is two years. If you have one since then, you must change it, and opt for a model with a similar lifespan.

The standards of Wifi technology change almost constantly. In 2009, the standard standard was IEEE 802.11 n. In 2013, it was obsolete, and it needed to have an IEEE 802.11 ac router, with a loading speed of 1 Gb per second. Since 2015, it is the AC MU-MIMO technology (multiple users with multiple inputs and outputs) that is able to provide a simultaneous Wi-Fi connection to several devices. In 2017, the 802.11ac standard is preferred. Make sure your wifi router has one of these latest standards. Enterprise router is a basic product for any business/enterprise.

Your situation and speed of wifi routers

If you want to take advantage of a functional device for your family, make sure your router has at least 4 Ethernet ports, and is compatible with the latest Wi-Fi standard : IEEE 802.11ac; with a configuration interface in French. 
Since 2015, router speeds have reached 1.7 Gb / second. A router configured according to the 802.11 ac standard reaches 1.3 Gb / second on the 5 GHz band. If you have to watch many videos and play many video games, or share multiple Gigabits of data, a router configured to these standards will be very useful.

The eSata port of the router

You will still not be able to transfer large amounts of data with a single Ethernet port. In fact, for the transfer of a single terabyte of files to 1 Gb / s, it will be necessary to wait more than 2 hours. But a wifi router equipped with an eSata hard disk allows you to reach speeds of sharing of 6 Gb / s, which is not nothing.

Applications for wireless network management

Some routers accept mobile network management applications. They allow you to control the settings of the wifi router from your smartphone or tablet.

The size of the antennas and the number of bands

The prominent antennas make it possible to better receive the connection signals than the simple antennas. The performance of the wifi router as for it depends in fact on the number of bandwidths. The single band router is naturally less efficient than the dual or triple band router . A 3-band router includes a 2.4 GHz channel and 2 5 GHz channels. This is the best option for families with more than 8 devices, or for small businesses.

4 wifi routers sold on Amazon

Here is our selection of routers often purchased from the Amazon online store.

Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 wifi router

Beyond its impressive design, this 3-band router has a bitrate of 3.2 Gbits that allows you to watch your streaming programs. Thanks to the Netgear nighthawk X6 AC3200's built-in BeamForming technology , you'll enjoy the connection even at a remote location in your home.

Linksys WRT1900ACS-EU Router

If you are looking for a well-designed and powerful router, this model will be very satisfying. The router has a memory of 512 Mb DDR3 RAM; as well as a very smooth double bandwidth and a very fast USB 3.0 port. Finally, the Linksys WRT1900ACS-EU router has 4 Ethernet ports and 4 antennas for a stable connection.

ASUS RT-AC51U

This model is one of the most competitive in terms of price, but also one of the most efficient. Indeed, its dual band integrates several types of network standards such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11 ac, or IEEE 802.11b. This device will allow you to reach 433 Mb, with 4 Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port.

TP-Link Archer C5 wifi router

This device offers a revolutionary design, for a stable connection and a good flow. The minimum bit rate is 300 Mbits, with a very easy integrated setting. You can create a stable home network, and control WiFi from a smartphone.

What are the differences between a switch and a router?

We usually confuse the switch and the router. However, the two devices do not work exactly the same way. The switch works on layer 2 of the OSI model, while the router works on the 3rd layer. The switch allows above all to communicate with computers on the same network, using the frames. The router looks at IP addresses, and shares Internet packets across the network.

An example to be more explicit: when you search on a search engine, you create a switch between the pc and your livebox. By cons, the operation of the livebox is associated with that of a wifi router, since many other devices can be connected to the latter, even if they are not present in the same space.

Some switches work much like routers. They use both the Mac address and the IP address to communicate with the network you have created. So these are switches that operate at the level of the third layer of the OSI model. In simple terms, a level 3 switch functions as a router and makes it possible to exchange information between PCs of different VLANs.