The 5 Best Routers on the Market and How to Choose One

Getting a router for the home or office to fulfil your needs need not be difficult. With so many options on the market, it is easy to get overloaded with specification information. You’re more confused by trying to understand it all than when you started. 

There are many companies in the market that people need to become more familiar with besides the globally well-known TP-Link Wireless Router.

To help your search, we list five routers in five separate categories, which should cover what most people want and give you an idea of what you are getting within that category.  

With the new 6E protocol coming into play, the market has widened and, for many, especially gamers or streamers, offers the opportunity to upgrade to a cluster-free WiFi experience.

Quality of Service (QoS)

You should consider QoS; this directs your router to which connections or devices to prioritise. So as an example, if you are a gamer, it is imperative that when someone else in the house turns on Netflix or starts to download music or a movie, your router automatically prioritises your Xbox connection over your Smart TV, for example. 

So let’s get into it.

The 5 Best Routers on the Market

In this article, we will focus on five separate categories; otherwise, the title of the article should be – The 5 most expensive routers on the market. Let’s not go there.  

So we have:

• Best Overall Pick
• Best Upgrade Pick
• Best Budget Router
• Best Gaming Router
• Best Gaming Router with WiFi 6E

Best Overall Pick

TP-Link Archer AX50 AX3000

Source: Wireless1.com.au

You cannot keep a TP-Link Wireless Router out of any top five router articles in 2022. 

This router utilises WiFi 6, a significant upgrade from WiFi 5, giving you 3x more speed. This produces much more capacity and reduced congestion from previous WiFi standards. 

This model can reach up to 3 Gpbs giving you a lag-free 4K/HD gaming and streaming experience. 

If you are in a family home and everyone is using something simultaneously, this is one of the routers that can handle it. Through OFDMA technology, it helps to minimise congestion within a household. 

It is also compatible with all previous WiFi standards and devices and is easy to set up using a Tether app. 

Key Features

• WiFi 6 technology – Gives you 3x Faster Speeds
• Plus 4x Capacity
• And 75% Lower Latency in Comparison to WiFi 5
• Up to 3 Gbps for Faster Streaming than Other Models
• Connect More Devices than Ever Before

Using their Beamforming technology, you can cover a bigger house, and the garden area will still provide a buffer-free experience. For the price, this is a solid all-around good buy. 

Best Upgrade Pick

ASUS RT-AX86U

Source: Wireless1.com.au

With the AX86U, you get an easy-to-set-up router that provides a slick performance and gives you some serious speed. So for anyone looking for an upgrade and who is prepared to spend a few $’s for much better speeds and a smoother connection, this is your router.

The design is also positive, with a smooth black design with the three rotating antennas; you certainly won’t need to hide it, and it should fit nicely into any room. 

The router is fine for covering the home and the garden, as it still delivers stable speed throughout a decent coverage area. 

This is a great router choice if you have a household of gamers and streamers. It can comfortably handle four gamers or streamers continually, with no lag.   

It comes with helpful customisation options ensuring you low latency. 

• Multiple Ports
• Two USB 3.2s
• Other ports are 2.5-Gbps WAN or LAN Configurable

You are not short of options with this router either. If you need to tweak it, it’s simple enough.

You have top-level parental controls over traffic and network security. Inclusive of AiProtection Pro (Trend Micro), which keeps a watchful electronic eye for any malicious activity; without a subscription. 

The router has AiMesh support, meaning you can add other ASUS AiMesh routers to form a mesh network to expand your connectivity even further. 

Best Budget Router

TP-Link Archer AX20 AX1800 Dual-Band WiFi 6 Router

Source: Wireless1.com.au

The AX1800 is another TP-link wireless router that performs excellently over shorter distances, which is not particularly surprising as it is WiFi 6 enabled. 

As far as long distances are concerned, you will get slightly lower performance, but mid-range is more than reasonable for the price as some WiFi 6 routers do not perform as well as this.  

TP-Link’s OneMesh technology enables you to create a network if you interconnect with other mesh-enabled routers.  

You can put together an Archer AX20 router and a OneMesh-supported extender, and you’ll have a serious Mesh WiFi network on your hands. 

In most households, the AX1800 should be more than sufficient for your needs. However, for example, if you live in a 3-storey house, you may want to consider going down the OneMesh route to ensure everyone is getting coverage on all 3-storey’s simultaneously. 

To do this, look for The TP-Link RE505X extender.

Best Gaming Router

ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000

Source: Amazon.com

The ASUS ROG (Republic of Gaming) collaboration since 2006 has, without a doubt in the gaming community, been the most successful of all time, bar none. 

This beauty of a router comes with a very cool, chic, but mean-looking design with four antennas and loud RGB lighting that has GAMER all over it. 

Fast, unbroken WiFi is a given with this router, indoors and out, and it can handle simultaneous gaming sessions of four or even more without as much as a flinch. It has a simple feature to prioritise gaming over anything else in the household and even a mobile game mode.

You get simple port forwarding with dedicated gaming ports. 

The impressive spec is:

• 2 – 2.5-Gbps Ports (one is WAN/LAN plus a LAN)
• 4 Gigabit LANs
• A USB 3.2 GEN 1
• 1 USB 2.0

As standard with ASUS for years, the mobile app is superb, boasting plenty of features such as:

• Parental Control
• Band Splitting
• Guest Network Support
• Anti-Malware 

AirProtection Pro comes as free and for life, so there is no need to worry about add-ons and monthly payments. Another feature is Instant Guard, which is also free. This device secures your WiFi connection by automatically running a internetetsecurite VPN on the server of your home router. In addition, you are not sharing any information with a personvernpanettet VPN provider. 

Best Gaming Router With WiFi 6E

NETGEAR Nighthawk Tri-band RAXE500 

Source: Wireless1.com.au

With 6E, you are operating free of all other networks, which means no congestion issues around certain times of the day and guaranteed steady internet service. 6E comes with 200% more spectrum than the normal dual-band. 

This router is perfect for large busy homes running multiple games, Smart TVs and downloads simultaneously. With 4k and 8k bandwidths for streaming and AR/VR gaming, you won’t get better speeds from any other router. 

It has a monster processor: a 64-bit 1.8 GHz quad-core that can handle as many devices and applications as you can throw at it. 

With an astounding 12 WiFi streams, that’s where you get your seamless internet on every device. 

Key Features

• Faster Speed – Seamless WiFi up to 10.8GPS
• 6E Technology – Uses a 6GHz bandwidth 
• Stronger – Further – Gives you reliable coverage of around 325 m2
• Faster Gaming and Streaming – No lag on AR/VR gaming as it comes with 12 simultaneous WiFi Streams
• Multi-Gig Connections – 2.5G Ethernet Port – Four Additional GB Ethernet Ports
• Malware and Child Protection – Comes as Standard and Free

Conclusion

With vast competition in the marketplace, purchasing a new router can seem daunting, but if you follow the reasons behind the choices in this article, you won’t go wrong. We all have different needs and demands for routers, not just recreational activities. With more and more people working from home, it is essential to avoid lag and find the right router for you. Good luck!