Router for home 2018

The USB port is used to connect an external hard drive. A minimal set of options is designed to manage it. But the user, using the built-in utilities for the router, autonomously can download files to the external drive by following links to them.

The best routers 2018 for the home

Choosing a budget router for the home, it is better to give preference to the model Netis WF2419E. With all its advantages, it has almost no disadvantages.

Due to the minimal competition in the mobile router market, it is difficult to single out one model. But the leader in terms of functionality/price ratio here is Huawei E5330.

What can't a modern person live without? Without water, food and… Internet. Having access to the World Wide Web, we search it for the necessary information, work, rest, communicate, learn, and discover new opportunities. And in order not to be tied to a specific place in the house or office, where there is a cable connection to the Internet, you need to use a Wi-Fi router.

Manufacturers offer different models, including those with a design. But the router must be reliable! This is the only way to ensure uninterrupted and continuous access to the Internet. Therefore, to make your life easier in the future, you need to choose the best Wi-Fi router available today in the stores. And we will help you in this.

Top 10 routers of 2018

Name	Wi-Fi Frequency	WAN speed	LAN port speed	LAN Ports	USB Ports	Price
Xiaomi Mi Wi-Fi mini	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz)	1167 Mbps	100Mbps	2	1	Check price
TP-LINK TL-WA901ND	802.11n (2.4 GHz)	300 Mbps	–	–	–	Check price
ASUS RT-N56U	802.11n (2.4/5 GHz)	300 Mbps	1000 Mbps	4	2	Check Price
Budget Models
TP-LINK TL-WR841N	802.11n (2.4 GHz)	300 Mbps	100 Mbps	4	–	Check price
D-link DIR-300/A/D1	802.11n	150 Mbps	100 Mbps	4	–	Check price
Netis WF2419E	802.11n (2.4 GHz)	300 Mbps	100 Mbps	4	–	Check price
Tenda N301	802.11n (2.4 GHz)	300 Mbps	100 Mbps	3	–	Check price
ZyXEL Keenetic Start	802.11n (2.4 GHz)	150 Mbps	100Mbps	4	–	Check price

Important criteria when choosing a router

Before you go to the store, you need to understand what parameters affect the quality of the router and make it the best solution for your home or office. Depending on the equipment, the familiar Wi-fi can be transformed.

• The type of WAN-port. In essence, this is a jack for the cable. It comes in 2 types: DSL with different subtypes to connect to the phone line and Ethernet – the standard twisted-pair cable of most urban Internet providers. In order not to make a mistake, it is advisable to clarify in advance with the provider what type of connection will be used, so you do not have to come up with emergency solutions when the plug does not fit in the socket.
• The type of LAN ports. There are two of them, too. The more budget-friendly Fast Ethernet option assumes a maximum transmission speed of 100 Mbps. In the vast majority of cases, this is quite enough, because the provider simply can not provide a higher speed. The more expensive option is Gigabit Ethernet. According to its name, it has a bandwidth of up to 1 Gbit/s.
• The number of LAN ports. Here everything is simpler. The more there are, the more equipment can be connected to the router at the same time with a cable to ensure maximum signal speed. The standard is considered 4 ports, but you can find more if you want.

• Wi-fi standards. The most relevant and budget-friendly for 2019 is still 802.11n, providing speeds up to 600 Mbps. The new generation of routers already uses the 802.11as version, which provides signal rates of up to 6.77 Gbps. The second option is more expensive and will be able to reach its potential only with demanding modern equipment.
• The number of Wi-fi bands. The 2.4 GHz frequency is enough for tablets and smartphones, office laptops. If you want to connect a TV and other devices that operate with "heavy" content, it is better to choose a router that also works in the 5 GHz range.
• Antennas. Protruding "horns" provide more signal coverage. If Wi-fi will be used in 1 room, you can choose a model without them. But you should also take into account that the more external antennas, the more stable and strong signal from the device.

Rating of the best routers for home

The most appropriate technique is not always the most expensive. To determine which is the best wi-fi router for your home, you must first decide for what purposes it will be used:

• For smartphones and tablets in a small apartment is often enough and budget models. In this case there is no point in overpaying for features that will never be used.
• Medium-level routers are needed if it is important that the signal covered a large enough area, for example, in a private home. Also, a more powerful router will speed up downloading large amounts of data for fans of movies and TV shows.
• The premium segment is specialized equipment, which is necessary for constant communication with a number of top gadgets in the house. These are the best routers for the home for 2018-2019, but before buying them, it is better to consult and listen to the opinion of experts.

Regular wet cleaning is necessary in every room, but not all types of flooring are equally well…

Keep in mind that more powerful equipment will be able to realize its full potential only with fine-tuning. Therefore, you should clarify the cost of installation and maintenance in advance when purchasing.

9 Tenda AC6

• Interesting design
• Possibility to place both on the table and on the wall
• Easy-to-follow setup wizard
• Parental control via app
• Signal support in 2.5 and 5 GHz bands
• Low price

It is not really clear how this happens, but… the development of little-known Chinese companies in the past couple of years, literally burst into the market of wireless routers and took a leading position there. The same "dark horse" continues our rating of Wi-Fi routers 2023 for an apartment or office – on the 9th place Tenda AC6.

Here everything is mature: simultaneous support of two frequency bands 2.4 and 5 GHz, throughput up to 1200 Mbit/s and good quality of coverage – a powerful HF transmitter with 30 dBm contributes to it.

Four removable antennas along the perimeter of the housing, combined with active Beamforming algorithms, form the radiation in the direction of the most distant consumers from the router – this is a "tryst" for a premium.

Adding pluses "to the karma" of this device cool russified setup interface – thanks to the developers.

If everything is so wonderful, then why only the 9th position? Yes because no one is interested in the maximum speed of the radio channel, if the service provider is limited to 100-megabit WAN-port – that's somehow forgotten…But for that price – just super.

8 Mikrotik HAP ac2

Mikrotik at the very beginning of the summer of this year began selling its new product under the policy "hAp" – routers for home use. It was very long awaited, because the previous model of the family has already been a pain for most administrators of work groups of small offices and branch networks – and here's trouble – the new gigabit Mikrotik hAp ac2 failed to meet all expectations – so only the 8th place.

There are many original technical and design solutions – you can not underestimate the efforts of the developers:

• Protective case coating;
• New dual-band antennas;
• 4-core processor from Qualcomm in conjunction with 128-256 MB RAM;
• A separate radio control chipset that supports MIMO up to 4×4 mode.

And the traditionally sophisticated RouterOS software offers a crazy range of options for interfacing with the backbone networks.

But there's a "dog in the hole" because of flaws in the software the speed over the air will hardly exceed 500 Mbps even at 5 GHz, and at a market price of more than $50 no chips will cover such a gaffe.

Router for games

Asus GT-AC5300

The Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 is a design based on the RT-AC5300. That's where the similarities end. The router is much more efficient than its predecessor (quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM).

The manufacturer classifies the GT-AC5300 as router for gaming. Three radio systems with a total bandwidth of 5300 Mbps are responsible for Wi-Fi service. Includes 8 LAN ports with aggregation capability (802.3ad).

Asus GT-AC5300 is equipped with features to prioritize and monitor network gaming traffic. With traditional features – support for 3G/4G modems, VPN server and 2 USB ports.

• LAN ports: 5 or more.
• LAN port speed: 10/100/1000 Mbps
• WAN port speed: 10/100/1000 Mbps
• Wi-Fi network standard: 802.11 a, 802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n, 802.11 ac
• Wi-Fi Speed: 2167, 1000Mbps
• Working Frequency: 2.4, 5 GHz
• Media maintenance: Yes
• Print server function: yes

Netgear Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500

Unveiled in January 2018 at CES, the Netgear XR500 is another solution designed not only for the home user, but primarily as a router for gaming..

If you remember the Netgear Genie router's configuration interface, you can forget it when you upgrade to the XR500. Netgear's latest solution was equipped with the innovative DumaOS router management system. The system focuses on traffic prioritization, security, and network monitoring. Inside is a 4-port LAN switch, 2 systems 2.4 GHz – 800 Mbps and 5 GHz – 1733 Mbps and 2 USB 3.0 ports.

Very efficient and fast routers for home

D-Link DIR-895L.

Do you think that this is the D-Link DIR-890L? No! But the attentive eye will notice similarities with the model announced three years ago. D-Link DIR-895L is a powerful router, which was equipped with 8 external antennas and provides Wi-Fi data transfer speeds of 5300 Mbps.

This is possible thanks to 3 radio systems and support for the 802.11ac Wave2 standard. Optimal connection with devices is facilitated by the SmartConnect function. Users will certainly appreciate the opportunity to run alternative software DD-WRT on DIR-895L. Two USB-ports make it easy to share a printer or media.

• LAN ports: 4 pcs.
• LAN port speed: 10/100/1000 Mbps
• WAN Port Speed: 10/100/1000 Mbps
• Wi-Fi network standard: 802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n, 802.11 ac
• Wi-Fi speed: 5334, 2167, 1000Mbps
• Operating frequency: 2.4, 5 GHz
• Media service: yes
• Print server function: yes

TP-Link Archer C5400

TP-Link's fast Wi-Fi network is an offering in the form of the AC Archer C5400 router . The device supports the 802.11 ac Wave2 standard and offers a Wi-Fi network bandwidth of 5300 Mbps.

The user has at his disposal 4 LAN sockets and 2 USB ports for storage media or MFPs. The router can be configured using the TP-Link Tether mobile app.

The advantage of the Archer is the additional package TP-Link HomeCare, which is a comprehensive antivirus protection, parental control and traffic prioritization. It is ideal as a powerful router for a room or a small apartment.

What Wi-Fi router to buy

Our rating of the best models of Wi-Fi routers, selected in the top 10, is aimed at all categories of buyers. Budget solutions are best suited for users with a modest budget and those who need to distribute the Internet to only 2-3 devices. The more expensive models are optimal for a large home network. Keenetic Giga level solutions, in turn, are aimed at corporate users working in the office.

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ASUS RT-AC66U

An elegant gadget with an unusual surface texture: it is made in the form of a cube pattern. On the front there are several LED-indicators that signal the state of connection. It was included in the router rating for the house thanks to support for the modern AC standard, which boasts incredible characteristics – up to 1.3 Gbps. Of course, in reality it's very difficult to achieve such an indicator, so the usual speed is about 900 Mbit/sec.

The device provides signal transmission even through several concrete walls with virtually no degradation.

Xiaomi Mi Router Pro R3P

Another representative of the brand Xiaomi, which impresses with a solid and powerful functionality. It can handle all frequencies, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, simultaneous work in two bands (2.4 and 5) and the speed of each of the four LAN ports up to 1 gigabyte per second.

Four antennas and the MT7621A MIPS processor are responsible for the excellent signal transmission. The RAM capacity is also impressive with 512 Mbytes.

The home router is enclosed in an aluminum case with plastic grates on the sides that act as passive cooling. On the back side, there are USB 3.0 connectors for the power adapter, etc. This is one of the best routers Xiaomi, which is configured in two ways: through the application Xiaomi MiWiFi App or to configure the router using the browser.

Cost from 8 thousand rubles

The top three quality and most expensive devices are represented by the following models: MikroTik hAP AC, Apple AirPort Express MC414RS and ASUS RT-AC88U. Devices in this class have a modern communications standard 802.11ac (except for the Apple device) and are able to work effectively with the frequency range of 2.4 and 5 GHz.

1- MikroTik hAP AC.

The first position of the top devices is headed by the Latvian MikroTik hAP AC. Its technical part includes the following elements: processor Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 with a clock frequency of 720 MHz, 128 MB RAM and a flash drive capacity of 16 MB.

Thanks to the high power of the working devices, the router can effectively cope with the transfer of large streams of information, providing the user with the necessary speed and performance.

• The maximum speed of wifi connection is 1750 Mbps;
• transmitting power – 29 dBM;
• Indoor range – 300 m;
• number of LAN ports – 5 pcs;
• port performance – 1000 Mbit/s;
• weight – 500 g;
• dimensions HxWxDG – 2,9×11,3×13,8 cm

• small size;
• high quality of communication;
• wide functionality;
• easy to configure as standard;
• low power consumption;
• large coverage area.

You can buy the most popular router from the highest price category for 6.0 to 12.2 thousand rubles.

2. Apple AirPort Express MC414RS.

The second line of the rating belongs to the device AirPort Express MC414RS from the famous manufacturer Apple. This device is capable of stable functioning in two wifi bands.

Thanks to the AirPlay utility, it is possible to listen to audio data and control the work of the router through any gadget that has the IOS system.

Conclusion

Today, people can no longer imagine their lives without constant access to the World Wide Web, so a good router is an important and integral part of the modern home or apartment. It is up to the buyer to decide which type of wireless device is best suited for a particular situation, and to make the right choice in favor of a particular wifi module will help him Internet-resource Marka.guru. The specialists of this portal have done painstaking work and have made ratings of the best routers for home use taking into account their brands, technical characteristics and cost indicators.

Our ratings are based on reviews and ratings of real customers, which users leave on the largest marketplace (Yandex.Market, Ozon, WildBerries, and others)

The information is for informational purposes only and is not a guide to action. The editors reserve the right to add, remove, or rank items at their subjective discretion.

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