Nowadays, everyone in their house and office has got themselves a wireless router for their general day-to-day purpose and working efficiently in an environment; these help us eliminate the thick LAN cables required for each device separately. But all of the wireless routers are different from one another, so this is a deep dive on which wireless router is best for multiple devices.
LAN v/s WiFi
People often have confusion when it comes to ‘mode of internet connection’; there’s usually two of them out there, LAN or local area network, and WiFi or Wireless Fidelity, also known as Wireless Network. As the name suggests, LAN requires a long thick fiber cable that connects to your provider and helps you establish a network connection, whereas WiFi doesn’t need a cable to connect to your device. It connects ‘wireless,’ in older times. LAN usually had faster internet speed compared to WiFi. That is why people preferred it over WiFi, but nowadays, WiFi provides the same level of connection and speed even through our mobile phones, which you cannot connect to LAN due to the absence of an RJ-45 connector. To connect 192.168.254.254 you can avail this article as well.
So, in summary, WiFi is a better and reliable option than LAN, and you’ll require LAN only and only if you are the only one using an Internet connection and require the best bandwidth connection.
Things to Remember and Consider in 2021
Understanding different types of WiFi bands
These days, there are two types of WiFi bands, 2.4GHz, and 5Ghz, 5GHz operates at a higher frequency than of 5GHz and thus doesn’t offer a better range, and 2.4GHz is preferred since it is more viable in penetrating through walls, it has a lower speed, and thinner pipe with it’s the higher counterpart. Also, it has to struggle with other devices of the same frequency like microwave and ovens, Bluetooth devices, and your mobile phones.
Features implemented in a Router
A router is supposed to provide connection and features that help you ease with the issue and day-to-day workings with a regular router. While looking for a router, make sure it has four gigabit Ethernet ports, which you can use to connect your router to a desktop PC or a (Network Attached Storage) NAS drive while required in any case.
(NOTE: If you have a NAS drive, we suggest you seriously consider a router with an ethernet port, as it will benefit you in the long term as most of the NAS drive are known to work better on a LAN connection)
LAN can also help you with a local file transfer from one device to another, given it supports link aggregation.
Look if your router has a USB connection; it will allow you to connect a printer or a USB to the router and share files or print files from multiple devices using the connected printer, given the devices that have permission.
Pricing of a Router
When you are buying a router, the most crucial thing will be price, if it can fit in your budget or your budget can accommodate your needs. A budget-oriented router can be anywhere from ₹1000 to ₹4000, but that will restrict you from many perks that you require, and if you need one with better streaming capabilities, you are looking for anywhere from ₹4500 to ₹7000. If you need all the bells and whistles with no restriction, you’d be around ₹8000+. All of this depends on you.
Extension of Wireless Signal
No matter which router you pick, depending on your house, there could be dead zones where a WiFi signal cannot reach, here you can use an extender from the same manufacturer to extend your connection to the dead zone, in case you are required.
Which Router to choose?
Tenda AC10 AC1200 Wireless Smart Dual-Band Gigabit WiFi Router
This router stands right in the middle; it might not be the best in the class. Still, for a regular family of four members, it does the job amazingly. It has MU-MIMO protocol, which stands for Multiple User-Multiple In and Multiple Out, which is best implemented when connecting multiple users to an internet connection.
Mi Smart Router 4C with app
If you plan on going with the budget, we have the best solution for you. It comes at a price of ₹1000 and has the right sets of features to help you accommodate your daily web needs. It has an internet speed of 300Mbps, though lower than the first one, it provides rich features to look over the rate. It has an inbuilt app control to take cover for social media or gaming applications. It also has QoS (Quality of Service) to allocate bandwidth as per activity requirements.
TP-Link Archer C80 AC1900
This router gets its pricing to speed in just the right spot, coming at a price range of ₹4600 and providing 1.3Gbps. It already has MU-MIMO that will help you with multiple devices, and it also has a 1.2GHz CPU for fast computing and powerful data efficiency. It is transmitting and receiving data on three streams to pair flawlessly with your 3×3 clients. Advanced features like Parental Controls, Guest Network, and Access Control provide individualized tools for network management.
Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300
If you are looking for a no-noice experience, this one will do the job for you, priced over ₹24000. This thing is no joke. Made specifically for gaming, this helps you in VR and streaming 4K content with ease. It has Unrivaled quad-core processing power for ultimate network performance. ROG Gaming Center, an app designed by ASUS for their products, keeps tabs on all the important gaming stuff, such as lag, traffic stats, and device connections.
Google Nest WiFi Router
This is an unusual entry in this section as most of them were one single router panning over the whole area. In contrast, Google provides three or more routers altogether, with one being the master router, that can be placed at various locations of your house and can be adjusted accordingly, like in an office, if you only need to work on an office suite, dip the speed, and other room where a 4K VR session is taking place, you can use the higher rate, a pack of 4 comes at a price range of ₹26000. It can be considered a viable option for large houses.
Conclusion/Summary
We hope this article has helped you understand a LAN and a router better and which router to choose. Which would be perfect or which one to stay away from? Many things that are to be considered are thoroughly mentioned. You might not find a better alternative or few tweaks other than routers or other routers with a slight price difference than the one presented here.