Materials like drywall and plaster will interfere with your router’s performance even uninsulated doors and floors can cause signal degradation. Regardless of which router type you choose, getting a good WiFi connection can be as much art as it is science. One unit connects directly to your modem, then communicates wirelessly with the other two, creating a large “mesh” network to spread WiFi around your home more effectively. These are composed of multiple units (you’ll usually find three in a pack) that you place strategically around your home, where you need a good internet connection the most. Depending on several factors, including the size of your home and the building materials used, a single-unit wireless router may or may not be sufficient to spread WiFi into every nook and cranny. You’re probably familiar with the first type, which you simply plug into your modem to create a WiFi network. There are two types of wireless routers in our ratings: traditional single-unit wireless routers and a newer type of router called a mesh router. Especially now, when you may need reliable WiFi practically every waking hour of the day. The router can be a standalone device that plugs into your modem or may be combined with the modem itself into a single device.īut if your existing router is too slow, or its wireless range is too short to reach important places in your home, you may want a new one.
Your ISP may already provide you with a wireless router as part of your internet package. If you don’t want to be tied down, a reliable wireless router is a critical piece of your home’s infrastructure, making it all the more important to find the right one for your needs. Wired connections are typically faster than WiFi, but they aren’t as convenient-unless you don’t mind stringing dozens of feet of Ethernet cable from the router in your living room to your bedroom Roku.
A router connects to the modem provided by your internet service provider (ISP) or the modem you already own, and wirelessly provides access to the internet via WiFi to devices in your home like your laptop, smart speaker, smartphone, and tablet.