How to know if the router that your operator gives you is good or bad
All operators give us a router when we sign up for a fiber service with them. These devices are usually, in most cases, quite good. Depending on the operator we choose, we will have a router at home from one manufacturer or another, since all operators have their own. If you want to know if the router that your operator has given you is good or bad, We give you some information that you can check to get rid of doubts.
As you will see just below, there are a series of parameters or characteristics of the router that we can look at to discover the quality of our device. Sometimes the operators install different equipment, so it is important that you look instructions or user manual of yours to be able to observe the key points that you will see below.
What kind of WiFi do you offer
This is the first point where we must repair to know if the router that our operator has given us is good or not. Most routers installed by operators today are compatible with dual band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. This is very important, because if your router has only one band, it is most likely that the connection will be saturated and you will suffer speed drops or even cuts.
The 2.4 GHz band offers a lower speed than the 5 GHz band, although it offers a shorter range. It is important that we know how to differentiate between both bands when connecting according to which devices to our router. However, some operators are already installing routers that are compatible with WiFi 6 which offers even better performance. Of course, to be able to use this it is essential that our device is compatible. In this sense, the least that can be asked of a router today is that it be compatible with dual band.
What ports does it have on the back?
All routers have a series of ports on the back. The presence or quality of these will depend on the manufacturer and the model we have at home, but there are a number of minimums that are common for these devices. We must bear in mind that the cable connection is the only way we have to take advantage of the connection that we have contracted 100%, otherwise there will always be losses.
As we say, most of the routers that operators usually install have in the back two to four Ethernet ports, allowing these connection speeds of up to 1 Gbps. Anything less than this speed can make it worthwhile for you to change your router, although it will also depend on the connection you have contracted. Some companies are already providing routers with one or more ports that support speeds of up to 10 Gbps, but the same thing happens with WiFi 6: not all equipment is compatible.
In addition to the Ethernet ports, your router may also have some USB ports, much more useful than it may seem at first. These ports can be 2.0 or 3.0 depending on how modern or old your router is, and we can use them, for example, to connect a hard drive and share the data on it over the network. Other models also even include a slot to insert an SD card, although there are usually not many of them.
WiFi signal coverage and latency
One of the fundamental points in terms of the quality of the router is what we are going to find in the WiFi coverage that it is capable of giving us. All routers have a series of antennas (whether internal or external) that are responsible for sending the WiFi signal to our entire home. At this point, the dual band that we mentioned earlier also has a lot to do with it, since the 2.4 GHz band has a greater range while the 5 GHz band offers a higher connection speed.
Before noticing the quality and number of antennas of our device, we must stop and also pay attention to the position of our router, since the quality of the signal in the most remote areas of our device will largely depend on it. home. If your router does not correctly provide coverage to these more remote areas, you can change it for a new one, or choose to install it at home WiFi signal boosters or a mesh network.
Latency is another factor to take into account.. We can see this more easily if we like to play online, since that is where it affects the most. As a general rule, if we have our console or our computer connected by cable we should not have too much latency, although things change if we connect the equipment by WiFi. Too high latency can be terrible for a player, and this can be perfectly the responsibility of our router.
Level of security and customization
The level of security offered by our router is another key point to keep in mind. Today there are programs that are capable of generating the passwords that these devices have by default, which makes them the target of many undesirables. In addition, depending on the model that our operator installs for us, it may happen that we find ourselves with a device that has very few customization options.
Some more modern models allow us to configure more interesting options. One of the most interesting options that your router should have is the possibility of create a guest network. Thanks to this network you can allow visitors to connect to your WiFi, but without being able to access the rest of the network’s equipment. In addition, the most modern allow us to create priorities so that certain teams always have a better connection than the rest.
user interface
You may have never accessed the user interface of your router (the one you access by typing 192.168.1.1), but it is also another very important detail to take into account. Most of these usually have a very simple and functional lookbut it does its job. However, not all of these usually allow the same functions and have the same ease of use.
This interface should allow us to do a minimum number of things, both at a basic level and at an advanced level. In fact, most routers installed by operators have a section dedicated to advanced settings, and which usually contains parameters for users who like to have full control over the router. This point may be less important than the previous ones, but it is certainly one to keep in mind.
