Fast internet, video streaming, online games or home office: A WLAN router makes this possible for every device at home. Therefore, its speed and equipment should match the home network. This guide explains how to find the right wireless router.
A WLAN router connects PCs, notebooks and smartphones to the Internet – and all other devices at home that require online access. It ensures that each of you gets the best download, surfing and streaming speed. In addition, the WLAN router should guarantee that all devices always have a stable Internet connection – the PC in the office and the smartphone in the children’s room as well as the notebook on the balcony or the Smart TV in the living room.
Which WLAN router best meets these requirements depends mainly on how fast the Internet connection at home is, how many and which devices go online via it, and how large the area is that your WLAN should cover.
Due to the large range of WLAN routers, there is the right model for every requirement: Router manufacturers such as AVM, Asus, Netgear and TP-Link offer many devices with different WLAN performance and equipment – from WLAN routers for small home networks or use on the go via routers that optimally support video streaming for the whole family, to top-speed models with many connections that are perfect for online gamers.
Choosing a router starts with a fundamental decision: should the model have an internet modem built in or not. WLAN routers with modems are available for all types of Internet – VDSL, cable and fiber optics. A modem WLAN router covers most of the requirements for the network at home in one device: It provides online access, connects the devices in the home network to the Internet and to each other via WLAN and Ethernet cable. It also serves primarily as a telephone system and, depending on the equipment, offers connections for ISDN and analogue telephones as well as fax machines. It often also has a DECT base station for cordless phones. A new WLAN router with modem is particularly worthwhile
A router without a modem is recommended if you need faster WiFi – for example, because there are more devices in the network at home or you want a higher speed for fast downloads or simultaneous video streaming with smart TV, tablet and smartphone. If you relocate work to the home office and are therefore dependent on a stable WiFi connection or a better WiFi range, buying a new WiFi router is also recommended.
A WLAN router without a modem can be connected to the existing Internet modem or the Internet router of the provider using an Ethernet cable. It forwards the online access to the devices in the home network via its WLAN and its LAN connections and transmits their data back to the provider modem or router.
A new WLAN router with or without a modem is also worthwhile if it takes on additional tasks in the home network: Most WLAN routers can be used as network storage and make the purchase of a NAS system superfluous: they have one or more USB sockets, to which you can connect a USB stick or a USB hard drive. All devices connected to the router can access the stored files – this makes file exchange in the home network particularly easy and more secure than via cloud storage.
The new WLAN router can also speed up the connection via Ethernet cable: some models offer LAN connections with 2.5 Gbit or even 10 Gbit speeds. This makes the WLAN router the ideal counterpart for a fast NAS system with 2.5 Gbit LAN or a current gaming notebook that can handle this Ethernet speed.
What is the best wireless router for Telekom, Vodafone or O2?
Many Internet providers also offer WLAN routers: Telekom, Vodafone, O2 and 1&1 rent them out for the duration of the online tariff or make them available free of charge. However, these models are often not fully equipped or lack certain functions. On top of that, there are only a few routers to choose from with each provider, so you rarely find a device that fits your home network perfectly.
But you can do without the provider offers: In Germany it is required by law that every Internet customer can use their own router, provided the model fits the selected connection type – the so-called router freedom. Enter the access data for the paid Internet tariff in the router menu and then go online.
Having your own router has many advantages: you choose the model whose performance and features match your home network. In addition, you can keep it if you change providers and also use it with the new Internet tariff for the same type of connection.
There are WLAN routers with a modem for every connection technology: Current models for a VDSL connection should support supervectoring. They are therefore suitable for online access with a download rate of up to 300 Mbit/s. For a cable connection, the modem router should be able to use the DOCSIS 3.1 standard. With a fiber optic connection, there are two types of connection, AON and GPON: The fiber optic modem in the router must therefore understand the technology for the respective connection at home.
How fast does a wireless router need to be?
The manufacturers usually indicate the speed of a WLAN router in Mbit per second, either separately for the individual frequencies or as a sum. A designation such as AX3000 or AX6000 is also often used to indicate the speed: It stands for the added speed across all frequencies that the router supports – for example 3000 Mbit/s or 6000 Mbit/s. These values indicate the performance of the built-in hardware and are calculated from the WLAN standard and the number of data streams that the router can send and receive, among other things.
These speeds are irrelevant in practice: No WLAN router can reach them, as their actual speed depends on numerous other factors: For example, on the devices that are to be connected to it, since the slowest device determines this in a WLAN transmission possible pace. It also depends on the environment in which the connection takes place: The closer the connected device is to the WLAN router and the less the radio connection is disturbed by walls, ceilings or walls, the higher the speed.
Based on this information, however, the performance of different WLAN routers can be easily compared: A model with a higher speed value is very likely faster in real use than one with a lower one.
A wireless router that uses the new Wi-Fi 6 standard – also known as 802.11ax – guarantees high speed. It offers the highest transfer rates and the best conditions for WLANs with many Wi-Fi 6 devices. Since many smartphones and notebooks already support it, these advantages can be used immediately and become all the more important the more Wi-Fi 6 devices are in the WLAN. But older devices can also connect to a Wi-Fi 6 router without any problems, because the new standard is compatible with earlier versions such as Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n).
Within a standard, wireless router speeds are differentiated by the parallel data connections (MIMO streams) and channel width they can deploy over each wireless frequency—the more streams and larger channels, the faster the speed. The number of data streams is usually referred to as 2×2 or 4×4 if the router can establish two or four data connections at the same time. Depending on the router model, the transmission channels include 20 to 40 MHz for the 2.4 GHz frequency and 80 MHz to 160 MHz for the 5 GHz frequency.
This information is important, for example, if the WLAN router is to set up the fastest possible connection to a specific device – such as the work notebook or the gaming PC: The best speed comes about when the information on streams and channel width for the router and peer match.
Most WiFi routers with four or more streams are capable of the MU-MIMO (Multi-User-MIMO) function: It accelerates the WiFi speed in a network with many devices, provided they also support MU-MIMO.
WLAN routers with tri-band technology are recommended for large home networks or high speeds: You can quickly exchange data with a particularly large number of devices because they set up three separate WLAN networks.
What is the range of a WiFi router?
Most manufacturers of wireless routers do not specify the range: This is understandable, because just like the speed, the actual range depends very much on the conditions under which the router is working.
Basically, current routers offer several ways to improve the WLAN range: Almost all, for example, use two radio frequencies – 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. They generally achieve a higher speed via the 5 GHz frequency, and a better range via the 2.4 GHz frequency. Accordingly, certain WLAN devices in the home network can be connected to the router using the appropriate frequency. If the WLAN router can handle the band steering function, it takes over this task automatically: It then uses only one WLAN name with a password for both frequencies and can thus redirect connected devices to the frequency on which they currently have the best connection to the get routers.
The range of a WiFi router can also be easily extended if it supports mesh: Then it connects to devices from the same manufacturer, such as an additional WiFi router, a WiFi repeater or a WiFi powerline adapter to form a larger, shared network . The advantage: All settings that are made in the WLAN router’s menu automatically apply to the other WLAN stations. On top of that, with the AP-Steering (Access-Point-Steering) function, they ensure that mobile devices such as notebooks and smartphones are always connected to the optimal WLAN station. If a WiFi station goes down, other mesh devices step in to keep the WiFi connected.
Whether the antennas of a WLAN router are built in or on the outside of the housing is irrelevant for speed and range. It is more important for a stable and fast connection to place the WLAN router optimally: It should be in the center of the area that your WLAN should reach, and not behind furniture, on a shelf or on the floor.
What is a wireless router on the go?
With a mobile WLAN router, several devices can be connected to the Internet while on the move – for example in a hotel, holiday apartment or on a campsite. The router establishes the online connection via mobile communications – for example LTE or 5G. It has a slot for a SIM card.
He sets up a WLAN network for the devices on site, via which they can access the Internet. The number of WiFi devices that can connect to the mobile router depends on the model – usually ten to 15.
Most mobile WiFi routers have a battery, so they can be used anywhere. It can be charged via a USB port. Compared to the WLAN hotspot of a smartphone, the devices not only have a mostly better battery life, but also offer a higher speed.
Conclusion
WLAN routers are essential devices in the network. Whether for streaming, gambling or exchanging data. The inexpensive devices that providers bundle with their accesses are often good, but little more. If you want higher requirements, for example because many devices have to be connected to the web at the same time, then you should think about an upgrade.
We show even more about the topic of network and WLAN in our WLAN theme world. There we test, among other things, WLAN mesh systems as well as those with WiFi-6 . If you just want to increase your WLAN, we recommend taking a look at our guide to all current Fritz repeaters .
