How To Choose A Router

Waking up from bed to going to sleep, a modern technology named wireless router, we use every aspect of our life in this modern era. We are becoming interconnected with every device in our home or office that we use every day. We connect devices like phone, PC, tablet, smart TV, and numerous gadgets with a wireless router.

To have a stable connection with your devices, you need to have a good router to do your jobs without facing any problems. People are now working from home instead of going outside. So you need to have a quality router to run your devices smoothly and efficiently. But do you know how to choose a router?

Types Of Router

Different types of routers are available in the market. First, you need to know your device capability with a particular router to choose a specific type of router. Some common types of routers are given below:

Wired Router: Wired routers are mainly connected through wire or cable. You can see them in a small college, bank, or office where a Laptop or PC is connected to the internet using Ethernet cable. It is also called a broadband router. If you want to connect your phone to a wired network, you can use VOIP (voice-over IP technology) to connect it.
Wireless Router: Wireless routers connect directly to a modem via a cable similar to wired routers. They create a wireless signal in your home or office receiving Internet data packets. You don’t have to rely on wire or cable to connect them to your device because the name itself tells you that you can connect your mobile phone, pc, and other devices through a wireless signal.
Edge Router: Edge router is a router that situates at the border of the ISP network. Edge router shares Internet data packets among networks, but it will not share data packets within a network.
Core Router: A core router mainly shares Internet data packets within a network. But it does not share data packets between numerous networks. You can use this type of router in telecommunication interfaces and core internet to provide the highest speed. It can also send IP packets at maximum speed.
Virtual Router: A virtual router is an abstract object that helps share a computer network through the virtual internet. It is mainly designed to help you when your primary and physical routers are failed or disabled to distribute Internet data packets. It is also named the virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP) for providing automatic assignment of internet data packets in a group. It mainly takes several routers in a group to share a virtual IP address.

Note: Needless to say that you know pretty well about different types of a router, which will let you purchase the right one according to your needs.

If you are an employee of a company, you may sometimes face problems sending files or documents because of unstable internet issues. Many people do not consider or neglect some things that may cause problems in the future when you use a router. There are some essential factors you need to consider before buying a router that can fulfill your requirements.

Single or Dual-Band: There are two types of routers: one is a single-band, and another is dual-band. Single-band router works either 2.4 GHz frequency or 5 GHz frequency. But dual-band router works both 2.4 GHz frequency and 5 GHz frequency.

The lifespan of a router: If you are a heavy user and always use a Wi-Fi connection for multiple tasks, your router may naturally reduce its speed, and the performance will not be up to the mark. If you are using a router for several years and facing issues or a dip in your network’s reliability, you should buy a new router to get the performance and speed.

Actual speed: Most manufacturing companies will not show you the router’s actual speed on the packages. They use many technical terms on the router box to show theoretical numbers, which may not be easy to understand for users. You can go through some customers’ reviews to have a more precise idea of whether you should buy it or not.

USB connectivity: A router should have a good USB port to connect different devices without properly facing any issues. You can connect your router with HDD or flash storage or printer to share data with any device on the network. If you do not use printers or other devices that don’t have wireless support, you don’t have to worry about USB ports.

Design & Price: The design and size of Wi-Fi routers should be compatible enough to position them in a proper place so that you can increase network coverage. You can buy additional power-line adapters to increase network coverage. Don’t buy any poor-quality router that can’t give excellent service. You should invest some money as you will use it for a couple of years.

Note: The above section has been demonstrated the features you need to consider before buying your router. You can now go for the best VPN router for home, office, and other purposes where you need it.

Benefits Of Router

Though we have already discussed some key features of routers that you should consider before buying it, you can look at some advantages you will receive for using routers.

Gateway: A router works as a default gateway to contact another host on a different network. It helps you to send necessary data with a dynamically generated map of the surrounding until the data reaches its destination.

Multiple Devices: Router enables you to connect your various devices like PC, laptops, smartphones, and other smart gadgets within a single network. You can also connect the devices without using cable or wires by using a Wi-Fi router.

Longer and Better Range: Routers provide you a longer and better range through its extended radio frequencies. So you can use the internet no matter where you are at home without having to worry about any weak signal or low coverage.

More Secure: Though all of your devices using the same network, routers allow you to use different IPs to have different IPs in different devices. It helps you to have reasonable security issues. So hackers will not be able to hack your devices at the same time.

User-Friendly Interface: Most of the routers are designed with user-friendly capability. So users can customize and change the functions based on precisely what they need.

Note: We’ve described the benefits of the router in the above section. If you would like to know more about the router’s benefits, you can check our previously published article.

Frequently Asked Question

Will a better router increase Internet speed?

Ans: A better router must have a minimum speed of 1000Mbps and 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. Some routers are made with the latest fiber optic cables, which can give up to 100Gbps speeds. If your ISP who can provide you up to 100Gbps speeds and your router is incapable of allowing the speeds, then you should buy a better router to get the maximum speed.

How long should a router last?

Ans: Most of the routers last at least three to four years. You can use your router unless the latest version gives new functions, speed up technology, more extended range, and high security/encryption. As electronics sometimes wear out early, you can change your router when you see that your router does not give a standard level performance.

Does router affect Internet speed?

Ans: Using a router for a long time may decrease internet speed. Check your USB cable line by connecting the PC to see the actual speed. If you see it is faster than before, you should change your router to receive maximum speed.

Do Wi-Fi boosters increase Internet speed?

Ans: Wi-Fi boosters mainly help you increase the range of the signal from a Wireless Access Point, which connects to a router. If your router has a poor signal to download large files, you can tell the ISP to increase packets. But if you good signal, it will not help you to increase internet speed.

Conclusion

Wi-Fi router, a single small device can manage and connect lots of devices. To have a pleasant experience, you should do some study before purchasing a router.

Hopefully, now you have gained enough knowledge to buy a router that can fulfill your needs. So once you find the right router for yourself, buy it and enjoy using the internet through a router.