Best Router in 2021: Overview
Finding the best Wifi router for ourselves was not as important as today’s era where our homes are jam-packed with bandwidth starving devices like mobile, laptop, smart tv, streaming devices and many more. You need a good router that can handle your network bandwidth demand efficiently.
Most of the time we just take the router from our internet service provider without thinking much. However, a good quality router is essential to get a good speed, coverage, stable bandwidth & security protocol.
Even if you plan to buy a router, it is not an easy task. There are numerous variations and brands available in the market. This guide will help you find the best router for yourself. We tried to list all types of router for everybody. whether you are looking especially for a gaming router, mesh router for a big home, latest faster WiFi 6 router or a simple budget router.
Best performance router
Table of Contents
Top 5 Best Wifi router in 2021
Best WiFi Router in 2021 Overall Home router – NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart WiFi Router (R7000)
NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart WiFi Router (R7000) Wireless Speed (up to 1900 Mbps)
Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router is not just the most uniquely designed routers but high-performance delivery too. It has impressed us much on design, performance & price to make our choice for best router overall in 2021
1 GHz dual-core processor with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac wireless capability provides its exceptional performance router. Three antennas with Beamforming+ technologies ensure proper coverage in each corner of your house in up to 1800 sq ft of range. Beamforming+ sense where the connected devices are and enhance the signal in that particular area unlike most of the router that throws the signal equally.
It a dual-band router that can give speed up to 600 Mbps at 2.4 GHz and up to 1300 Mbps at 5 GHz. Netgear R7000 speed is not the best at 2.5 GHz but at 5 GHz it surely impressed us. QoS feature is very useful for demanding activities like video streaming or online gaming. You can manage upstream and downstream traffic. Basically it prioritizes internet data for real-time applications.
Netgear R7000 has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports for fast wired connection for your computer, game console and other devices. Two USB ports are a good addition for sharing storage drives or printers.
You may find it a little bulky and it has not the best speed at 2.4 GHz but overall it is a great package and made it a strong contender for our list.
Best WiFI Router in 2021 (Gaming): Asus ROG Rapture GT- AC5300
ASUS Gaming Router Tri-band WiFi (Up to 5334 Mbps) for VR & 4K streaming.
If you are a hardcore gamer and if you have not considered for a gaming router then having a high spec system configuration and fastest graphics card can not deliver online game performance as expected. While playing online games you need a network companion which can handle bandwidth demand efficiently. Asus ROG Rapture GT- AC5300 is specially designed features and specs for your true gaming experience.
Asus ROG AC5300 router is equipped with a 1.8GHz processor with 4×4 802.11ac MU-MIMO technology which provides blazing fast speed & MU-MIMO ( multi-user multi-input multi-output for best steaming, coverage & throughput.
It’s a Tri-Band with two 5GHz bands that each can attain up to 2167 Mbps speed and one 2.4 GHz band can attain a speed of up to 1000 Mbps. you can use one 5 GHz band exclusively for your game device and second 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz for other devices. A VPN fusion feature lets you enjoy gaming and VPN simultaneously.
Asus ROG AC5300 has eight Gigabit bit LAN port for superfast wired connection for computer, game device, and other devices. It can power you up for LAN party games. Out of 8 ports, two are optimized for gaming devices. Two USB ports can be used for sharing storage devices, printers or any other device. Ame boost technologies prioritize gaming packets for the best possible performance.
Asus ROG AC5300 is expensive, some may find it bulky, some may not like the design but it is an ultimate gaming companion that no one can deny. You do not need to look further for a gaming router.
Best WiFi Router in 2021 (Mesh): Netgear Orbi
NETGEAR Orbi Tri-band Whole Home Mesh WiFi System with 2.2Gbps speed (RBK23) Router & Extender.
The Mesh router has been very popular and the reason is very simple, a single tradition router unable to cover the whole corner of our house. Especially when the size of your house is medium to large. Mesh router can blanket your home in WiFi and it is strong & reliable enough for streaming, gaming or surfing needs.
You may consider buying a range extender to extend wifi coverage but it does not manage wifi signal smartly as a mesh router. If you have ever used a range booster or extender then you must have experienced unreliable and poor wifi performance. Mesh router is more expensive than a standard router and extender still it is a better choice if you need seamless connectivity.
Netgear Orbi has three-band out of that one is dedicated to communication between the main router & satellite. The other two bands are to provide maximum speed to connected devices.are for other devices. This unique feature set this mess router a level up from the competitor.
Netgear Orbi can be set up easily and can work with any internet service provider as it can work with DSL, Cable, Fiber and more. Orbi App lets you manage wifi setting, monitor speed and control your wifi anytime easily.
There are 3 ethernet ports available on the router and 4 ethernet ports are on the satellite where you can connect your ethernet enabled devices.
Netgear Orb is one of the best mesh routers available in the market right now.
Best WiFi Router in 2021 (Budget): TP-Link Archer A7
TP-Link AC1750 Smart WiFi Router – Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Internet Router for Home, Works with Alexa.
If you need an affordable router that is just perfect for the requirement. It is meant to get the work done. Sometimes we choose a router that has plenty of features that we do not use often. While putting any router in this list of the budget router, we ensure that it just not be cheap but offer value for money and delivers performance.
TP-Link Archer A7 is apt to be fit as a budget router. Although it is affordable, it still has all the quality of a good router. It is very suitable for most families. You can connect Up to 50 devices easily with stable wifi performance.
Dual-band router with 802.11ac technology for better wifi performance. 2.4 GHz band delivers throughput of 450 Mbps and 5 GHz band delivers 1300 Mbps with three antennas to provide WiFi coverage up to 2500 Sq Ft.
TP-Link Archer A7 has four Gigabit LAN ports for fast access to wired connected devices like laptops, computers, and gaming devices. One USB port can be used to share storage devices or printers etc.
This router has parental control and Quality of Service (QoS) as well which is great in this price range. A few features you may miss like Beamforming and MU-MIMO technology but 2 years warranty is great with this product.
TP-Link Archer A7 is certainly the best value budget router.
Best WiFi Router in 2021 (WiFI 6): TP-Link WiFi 6 AX3000
TP-Link WiFi 6 AX3000 Smart WiFi Router – 802.11ax Router, Gigabit, Dual Band.
New router technology is buzzing around for a while now, yes we are talking about WiFI 6 or 802.11ax technology. Most of the router still using 802.11ac wireless standard but now Wifi 6 has a new development in the router wireless networking standard.
Wifi 6 networking standard has much better performance, speed, connectivity & very less latency. Overall it provides more efficient WiFi performance. You can connect lots of devices and it can handle multiple connections at once.
Initially, wifi 6 standard router was very expensive but thanks to a few of the brands like TP-Link has made it affordable for all. TP-Link AX3000 model is one of the most affordable and one of the best available wifi 6 router.
An intel-powered dual-core processor-based router has dual-band which can attain incredible speed up to 3 Gbps. 5 GHz band can deliver speed up to 2402 Mbps and 2.4 GHz band can deliver 574 Mbps speed.
OFDMA technology enables lots of devices like smart home, IoT, Laptop, CCTV Camera, etc. connected at the same time without any lag in performance.TWT feature reduces connected device power consumption and improves battery life as well. Beamforming and new MU-MIMO add more power to this router.
TP-Link AX3000 is a new-gen wifi 6 router which has a lot to offer at a very affordable price.
Best WiFi Router in 2021: Things to consider while buying a WiFi router
There are few things we should consider while buying a WiFi router. We have already listed the best WiFi router in each category for your ready reference.
Coverage Range
You should look for the coverage range of the router. Each router has a specific coverage range. You need to be sure that what coverage rage would be sufficient for your home or office. You will find a range in sq ft commonly on all the router. In some router you may find signal antenna strength in dBi.
It starts with 5 dBi in general that reflects approx 500 Ft. range. You should look at the range as per you your home or office size and as per obstruction to signal like wall and other obstructions.
Brands
Router has generally three bands – Single band, Dual-Band & Tri-band. Single-band router is cheap but its speed is less than dual-band router. Single-band routers are basically for normal internet surfing, email, chat, etc. it is not very suitable for HD streaming, gaming, large file transfer, etc. Dual-Band router has one 2.4 GHz Band and one 5 GHz band. It is very good for all internet activities.
Tri-band router has a three-band one 2.4 GHz band and two 5 GHz band. Tri-band router is expensive too. You should consider dual-band router.
Wireless Standard Technology
While searching for the outer you must come across 801.11n, 801.11ac, 801.11ax. These all are wireless standard protocol, 801.11n now become an old standard. 801.11ax newest and fastest & efficient wireless standard but it is expensive right now and not very common.
To use 801.11ax your connected devices should support wifi 6 standard. Still, 801.11ac is good enough for every type of internet need.
Feature
There are few new-age router features you should look for like QoS, Beamforming, MIMO, Multi-antenna, etc.
Security
few security features have become essential nowadays like WPA2 encryption, parental control, VPN, Firewall, Guest network access, etc.
Router Type
There are two types of router available in the market one is standard router & the other is a mesh router. We all have used a standard router in our house or office. Mesh router is getting popular due to its seamless connectivity. If you have a large house or unusual layout & obstruction then you should consider buying a mesh router for better coverage.
Ports & Connectivity
routers should have multiple gigabit ethernet ports so that you can connect Ethernet-enabled devices. USB port is also required for sharing storage & printers etc.
Conclusion:
Hopefully, this post helps you find the best WiFi router in 2021 for yourself. We have made this list after extensive research & test to suggest one the best wifi router available in each category. We help you find the best wifi router as per your requirement & budget along with things to consider while buying a wifi router. You can even get an idea about the specs which you should look for in a wifi router so that it can cater to your actual needs.
Do let us know if this guide has helped you. You can leave your comment about your experience. Please like & share this post to help others.
