Nowadays, the internet abounds with high-end best technology router each with great features to choose from. However, if it is your first time to shop for a Wi-Fi router for home use, you definitely don’t want to disappoint your loved ones. If this the case with you then, you are going to find the following guide to shopping for home Wi-Fi router very resourceful.
Factors to Consider While Looking for Home WiFi Router
1. The size of your home
This is one of the most important factor that should first come to priority whenever you want buy a home wireless router. The first question that you should always ask is whether the device will be able to deliver good signal quality in the entire home. If you own a big house, it’s obvious that you’ll need a Wi-Fi router with a great range to broadcast strong signals in your entire home. Having mentioned this therefore, in order to ensure better connectivity in your entire home, it is advisable to go for a Wireless AC routers that comes with powerful wireless connectivity and ability to broadcast strong signal strength even on furthest end.
2. The wireless security
As much as you may want to connect your loved ones to the internet, you should be worried about protecting them while streaming, surfing or gaming on the network. The most important factors that you should look into is whether a third party can bypass the security check and access your network to steal or infects files from your loved ones. To be on the safe side, your choice for wireless router should be able to support WPA2. This should also be replicated to other devices that you intend to connect through this network. Furthermore, you also need to check whether the Wi-Fi router support advanced security features such as ability to block specific sites and unwanted users, parental control or ability to spy what other people are doing in the network.
3. The number of bands you need
Unlike in the past where you could only find dual-band, nowadays you can also find tri-band wireless router. This simply means that you can create three different wireless network to connect more devices and ease congestion. If you have a large family or live with friends with multiple of device to connect, the dual-band will be the best option divide the network to two. However, if you own a very big home and feel the dual-band wireless networks are congested, you may consider the tri-band wireless router to further split the network to increase speed and further ease congestion.
4. Determine your need/tasks for home Wi-Fi
Determine the family needs and also what you intend to do with the network. If you own a small home office and have multiple computers and devices to connect, you can opt to consider going for a wireless router with several gigabits LAN ports that will allow device connection through the Ethernet port. Furthermore, if you would love to connect several printers, it is advisable to consider a wireless router with USB 2.0 that allows for easy sharing of printing devices. If you loved ones prefer to use the network for online gaming, a wireless router with a powerful processor and RAM will be the best selection for speed and multitasking.
5. Management of the wireless network
One of the most common issue with many wireless router is the inability to register strong wireless connection in all places at home. This can even be very complicated to manage more so if the wireless router can’t identify weak spots and there nothing that can be done to focus the signal strength in such places. Well, the good thing about modern wireless router is the “smart” wireless management function that identifies dead spots at home and automatically target these places by driving signals to reach these places.
6. The QoS (Quality of Service) of the wireless router
This the ability of the wireless router to prioritize the wireless network depending on what you are doing. For instance, if you rely on home network to communicate through skype or other platform and someone from your family starts streaming or downloading heavy files, QoS will optimize communication function to ensure the will be no interruptions. This can also be implicated on other application such as streaming live TV or gaming such that there will be no stutters simply because of heavy use of network.
7. The USB port technology
This also another feature that you should always have in mind whenever you want to buy a home wireless router and you are looking to transfer information or want to store or share media through wireless network. The best choice for home use will be the one that comes with USB port to allow you to share media with our loved ones. However, you also need to check the type of technology for the USB i.e. whether USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 with the latter being the best consideration for speed transfer and sharing of media.
8. The speed of the wireless router
You should be in the best position to interpret the speed information that is provided for the wireless router. This is because many manufacturers will give wireless speed information without considering other factors such as home appliances, wall barriers and furniture that affects internet speed. However, if you are searching for the best wireless router for home use that will enable you to stream HD live TV and online gaming without stutters, wireless routers from manufactures complying to 802.11ac specification will always assure you great internet speed.
Conclusion
In conclusion to all these, if you are looking to buy a wireless router the most important thing that you need to consider is the size of your home and the number of devices that you will be connected to the wireless network. These factors will enable you to know the internet speed that you will need to ensure the signal strength is broadcasted all over your home. Lastly, ensure the network is secured from third party interference that may not only harm you, but also your loved ones.