Advice for Those Considering a New Router

Feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of selecting a new router? If you want to shop with assurance, consider the following advice. A new Wi-Fi router may be in order if you want increased throughput from your home network. Upgrade buying, though, can quickly become overwhelming. When will someone explain all this jargon? To what extent is rapidity necessary? Please don’t panic. Of course, there are a lot of technical details and specifications to consider when setting up a wireless network, but if all you want is a solid router that will do its job without requiring too much attention, finding one is easier than you might think. You can find a lot more specifics in our comprehensive router buying guide, but in the meanwhile, here are some fundamentals to consider before you make a final decision for the best wifi router for 1 bedroom apartment.

A new router may not be necessary

Make sure you’re making the most of the equipment you already have before shelling out more cash. The instability and ease with which wireless signals can be disrupted means that it may not be your router’s fault if your Wi-Fi connection appears slower than necessary. There are several ways to improve a router’s performance, but the two most important are placing it in a visible location and keeping it off the ground.

Tucking the device away in a dark corner of a cupboard or even on the top of a dusty bookshelf beneath the TV may keep the cords out of sight, but it will also reduce the range of your Wi-Fi connection. In that instance, you may not see much improvement by replacing the router in the same location. Stay updated for physical impediments like furniture, as well as large equipment like appliances and TVs, as they may disrupt the signal from a nearby router. Wi-Fi has difficulty penetrating moisture, so when you have a large aquarium in your home, you may want to relocate the router.

The cap on your Internet connection speed is determined by your service provider

Remember that the speed at which you can download data from the internet will be limited by your internet service provider’s plan, regardless of how fast your router may be. If your router can only download at the rate that you’re paying for, say 100 Mbps, then your browsing experience will be severely hampered. When transferring data locally, between computers on the same network, you will always be able to benefit from the full potential of your router. Since you aren’t transmitting data outside of your home network, the transfer speeds of your Internet service provider (ISP) are irrelevant.

Acceleration claims are largely fabricated

If you did not catch it the first time, allow me to repeat something that I have previously discussed: The speeds that are stated on the boxes of routers and in online listings have very little to do with the performance of the routers themselves. Sadly, you can only connect to a single band at a time even if you try to do so simultaneously. When you add together their top speeds, you get an absurdly high number that has little to do with the speeds you’ll be traveling at. If the third band of a tri-band mesh router is used primarily for communication between devices and their extenders, then the device connections on your network will not benefit from the full bandwidth of that band.

Don’t ignore insurance

In conversations about routers, we frequently become preoccupied with the subject of speed, but in truth, there are only two Wi-Fi rates that truly matter: “fast enough” and “not fast enough.” It’s great to have blazing-fast connections in the same room as the router, but that won’t do you much good if you can’t get a reliable connection in your bedroom when you’re trying to watch a marathon on Netflix at midnight. This is especially true in the present day and age when a large number of people prefer to forgo going out in favor of staying at home and placing a significant amount of reliance on their networks.

The most significant change you can make to your home network is to switch from a network link to an expanded mesh system that employs many devices to distribute a fast, stable signal throughout the house. This is because switching from a network link to an expanded mesh system is the most common choice among most people. Even though the maximum speeds of a mesh network are frequently slower than those of a single-point router, these networks more than makeup for this shortcoming by delivering Wi-Fi that is “fast enough” for all sections of your home.