Whether it is because the connected devices in the house increase because we are more the ones who live there or because there are areas where the Wi-Fi does not arrive as well as we would like, there are times when we consider whether the ‘router’ installed the telephone company satisfactorily fulfills its mission. It matters little that we improve our rate with more ‘mega’ up and down: if we do not have a machine powerful enough to cover all corners of our home and bring internet to all smartphones, tablets and other devices, not it will be useless. That is why we often consider buying a new router. Undoubtedly, a highly recommended option, as long as we know what aspects we need to improve.
The first thing we must keep in mind is what our needs are. Calculate how many people can be connected at the same time, what is their use of the internet, what kind of devices they usually use … It is important to evaluate all these factors in order to be successful in the purchase. Depending on the same, we will have to look for a ‘router’ with some features or others.
Choose the Best Router
One of the main features that we have to take into account is if the router has the MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) technology so that we can obtain a better performance of our wireless network since allows the ‘router’ to communicate at the same time with several devices. A detail to keep in mind is that this technology is only accessible for those devices that support the WiFi protocol 802.11 ac, which is common in the models that went on the market in recent years.
It is precisely this other benefit to take into account: whether or not it has this standard. To make us an idea, with a ‘router’ with this equipment, in addition to MU-MIMO 3×3, the speed of transmission with the ‘smartphone’ or the computer with which we connect will be 1,300 Mbps.
You must bear in mind that in 2019 a new version of the wireless connection will be added, the 802.11 ax that will be known as Wifi 6, since the nomenclatures will change. In addition, a new security protocol will arrive, the WPA3 that will come to replace the WPA2 that came out in 2004, and that has already been shown to be absolutely vulnerable. That is why, if you are thinking about making an important investment in a new router, a good option will be to wait for the arrival of this new wireless network standard and the new protocol to keep the Internet connection safe.
Also, whenever we can afford it based on our budget, the ideal is for the router to have Beamforming technology . Among other things, this is responsible for analyzing the signal returned by the connected devices to detect possible interference and increase the intensity of the signal in that direction, so there are no problems. In addition, if the ‘router’ that we are going to buy incorporates a good QoS (Quality of Service) system, better than better, since it gives priority to certain connections so that they can operate at full capacity.
Depending on our needs, we may want to add some other details such as having different LAN ports, with USB inputs, with memory card reader or ports for SSDs. With this we can share content in ‘streaming’ between all connected devices, we can establish a system to make a backup automatically, or simply use it to connect a printer and send documents to print from a computer or a phone