Routers

 Choosing a router sometimes isn’t easy, and one of the main reasons why is assessing how one might be better than another. Another reason is how the one you choose will improve or enhance your home network. The Linksys EA7500 is a smart router that doesn’t look as flashy as others on the market, but is still outfitted with high-end performance and some future-proofing in mind.

 The newest feature for the OnHub Wireless Routers isn’t a Google feature at all. So what is it, where did it come from, and why does it make your connected digital home more useful than ever before?  

 Comparing a router to a muscle car probably wouldn’t seem like an apt analogy, but in the Nighthawk X8, Netgear has built a unit that is designed to roar with power. Outfitted with a variety of features and unique hardware connections, this is a router aimed at users who know their home networking situation and want to raise it to another level.

With the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard now over two years old, we are starting to see routers that push the technology to unbelievable levels. The AC1200 routers that were once so impressive seem pedestrian compared to the extreme performance of AC5300 routers. But who needs this kind of Wi-Fi speed? I tried out two of the fastest Wi-Fi routers on the planet—the ASUS RT-AC5300 and Netgear Nighthawk X8—to find out.

CES 2016 is less than half over, and D-Link is already basking in the glow of multiple Design and Engineering awards. Here’s a look at what the networking and Smart Home company has in store for this year and what those CES awards are all about.  

Want a gift that can noticeably improve everything from online gaming to browsing the web or even watching streaming video? A single device makes the experience of using virtually any gadget in today’s connected homes faster and more reliable. Choose a new 802.11ac Wi-Fi router and you can give the gift that everyone wants: the gift of better Wi-Fi.

“That doesn’t look like any router I’ve ever seen.”   That’s the general consensus I heard about the Almond+ when I showed it around. It’s a device that stands in for three types of things in your smart home: a powerful dual-band router, a long range wifi extender, and a smart home hub.   It arrived from Best Buy wrapped in brown packing paper and accompanied by a Securifi Door/Window Sensor, and a Peanut Smart plug. Also in the box were precisely two packing peanuts; I’m guessing the shipping budget was a bit tight, or those were rogue peanuts on the lam from a future Pixar film. Either way I got to researching the Almond+ and getting it setup. Here’s how it went.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Wi-Fi range extenders. If you ever wished you had a stronger, faster or more stable Wi-Fi connection when at the periphery of your router’s signal range then a Wi-Fi range extender may be just the solution you’ve been looking for. Today we’ll take a look at this category and three different models to give you an idea of what is available.

Routers take the cake when it comes to lengthy product names and here’s a prime example: Linksys just released its new EA8500 Max-Stream MU-MIMO Gigabit Smart Wi-Fi router. In this case, the extended name actually means something, because this router is literally packed with the latest technology. But from this point forward, I’m just going to call it the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream for short.

Shopping for a router can be intimidating. There are so many different feature and technologies you hear about but it can be tough to tell what they all mean with Wireless AC techology there is a handy classification system. Today I’ll take a look at an AC750 router and an AC1900 router to see how the classifications compare and what they mean to you when you’re shopping.