Routers

Wireless routers play an important role in how virtually all of your consumer electronics perform, but they’re often in the background and forgotten about. Not this year. In 2014, they became a big deal again, as the number of connected devices in homes exploded and a new Wi-Fi standard —802.11ac (or Gigabit Wi-Fi)— went mainstream. I’ve put together a list of five of the best Wi-Fi routers released in a year that saw many “firsts” and “bests” released.

When it comes to home and small office Wi-Fi networking, speed has always been important. But optimization is increasing becoming an even bigger deal. The Linksys ac3200 Tri-Band Smart Wi-Fi router is the latest model from this leader in wireless networking and this one combines speed with optimization, making it ideal for congested networks.

If a growing horde of smartphones, tablets, game consoles, laptops, smart appliances, connected cameras and video streamers is congesting your Wi-Fi network, Netgear has a solution. The Nighthawk X6 Tri-Band Wi-Fi router offers a total of 3.2Gbps over three Wi-Fi bands to maximize the wireless performance of each of those devices. I plugged one in to my home network and here’s how the stealthy looking, six-antenna router performed.

When your Wi-Fi network is set up properly and everything’s humming, life is good. But what happens when it’s time for a new router, or when you move out of your parents’ house to go to college or university and need to start from scratch with your own Wi-Fi network? Building a new wireless network —complete with printer access and storage— used to be a challenge, but these days you don’t need to be a systems administrator to do it. In fact, most router companies offer plug and play options that make setup and configuration a matter of minutes.

The Netgear Nighthawk X6 is the Wi-Fi router you stream gaming or video content, or you are competing with dozens of other devices for Wi-Fi bandwidth.

Recycling is always a good thing to do. It’s even better when you trade in old technology and get a rebate on new technology. Until May 1st, Best Buy is giving you a chance to do just that with router. Bring your old router to one of our stores and get $20 to apply to the purchase of one of the best new routers on the market. 

I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the new Linksys WRT 1900AC wireless router. It’s not just the buzz that’s built up since it wowed attendees at CES 2014 or the black and blue shout to the iconic Linksys WRT54G —the best-selling wireless router of all time. My own wireless network is at a crossroads. As high definition streaming video and a swarm of mobile devices combine with Wi-Fi dead zones to overpower what was once a pretty robust network, I was anxious to find out if the latest generation of Wi-Fi routers could provide the power to make things feel snappy once again. After swapping out my existing router for the Linksys WRT 1900AC review unit, I can say that thanks to the killer performance of this retro-styled rig, Wi-Fi Nirvana is once again within reach.

You’ve heard the rumours: Linksys is a releasing monster new Wi-Fi router. The most powerful to hit the market yet, featuring four antennas, a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 256MB of DDR3 RAM, Wi-Fi speed of up to 1,900 Mbps, eSATA and USB 3.0 ports, plus support for Linux and open source firmware. The highly anticipated Linksys WRT1900ac is expected to launch on April 10 and you can get it first at Best Buy! You can beat the rush and pre-order the hottest home router ever starting today. To tide you over, here’s a quick preview of what you can expect from the iconic black and blue beast —look for a review here in April.    

Summer may be around the corner, but you can’t always say the same thing about your Wi-Fi. And with the warm weather on its way, it’s time to think about getting a strong Wi-Fi signal into your backyard.