How to buy a router or mesh system

I’m not going to sit here and simply tell you to buy a Wi-Fi 7 router. Yes, if you do choose a new router or mesh system, it should be based on Wi-Fi 7, even if you don’t have compatible Wi-Fi 7 devices.

Don’t take a peek at Wi-Fi 6E. Don’t even think about Wi-Fi 6. They’re old news.

What I will tell you is that there are more things to consider than the Wi-Fi type when you’re ready to upgrade. You need to:

Count up your devices

Consider your internet connection

Be willing to spend at least seven years with your purchase, so make it count

Let’s take a look at what you should look for when shopping for a new router or mesh system to purchase as your own.

Before we begin

Before we dive into the cold, murky waters of buying a router or mesh system, consider why you don’t want to use the equipment that your internet provider currently offers. I have some questions you should consider:

Is it garbage, and you want something better?

Are you looking to cut your monthly internet cost?

Do you want full control of your home network?

Do you have privacy concerns when it comes to renting?

Most users don’t want to pay a monthly fee for outdated equipment, so we generally cater our Wi-Fi buying guides to people who answer the first two questions.

Now, let’s take a look at some pros and cons of buying versus renting.

The pros and cons of owning and renting

Most of us think of a router or mesh system as an internet connection.

It is, and it isn’t.

Technically, the internet stops at your provider’s modem or fiber optical network terminal (ONT)—the provider’s “edge” device that resides in homes. Your provider’s own wide-area network (WAN) connects to other wide-area networks to make the web of global connectivity we depend on each day.

Meanwhile, the only purpose of a router or mesh system is to share a single connection provided by the modem or ONT with the many wired and wireless devices you own. The router creates your local-area network (LAN), which is not part of the Internet.

However, the router’s WAN port dictates how much speed your local network can pull from a modem or fiber ONT, no matter how much (or how little) bandwidth your internet connection allows.

Take a look at how the WAN port can be a bottleneck or overkill:

Here’s a chart to give you an idea of what a router’s WAN port can handle so that you can choose the right model based on your internet connection’s max speed:

Out of all the routers I’ve tested, I’ve seen the 5 Gigabit Ethernet port used for internet only once. Here’s what I usually see across the board:

Normally, the fastest port is used for internet (WAN) and one other wired network connection (LAN), while all the other wired connections (LAN) typically use the slower port.

A special router for fiber shouldn’t be needed

I can’t speak for every home fiber internet provider, but most now offer an Eero mesh system, so that tells me you shouldn’t need a router with a fiber input port (S/PDIF). The Nokia fiber ONT installed in my home has a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port for the home network, so we can assume that the same design applies in most home installations. The best thing to do is to look at the unused ports on your fiber ONT to see what you need on the router side.

Routers and mesh systems support more devices than you’ll ever own—even the cheaper models. And believe it or not, you probably have more internet-connected devices than you realize. I can open my mesh system app and see 35–45 devices actively using the internet right now. I also live in a home of six people, so you may see more or fewer devices connected at one time.

The thing to keep in mind is that routers and mesh systems can only communicate with a specific number of devices in any given second. I like to use the Lunch Lady analogy: if she has two arms, then she can serve one child at a time. If she has four arms, she can serve two children at a time. Get it? All the other kids must wait for their turn, causing a delay in when they get served.

The multi-armed Lunch Lady is why I harp on the stream count.

Streams

I talk about streams in my reviews and roundups for this very reason: because they’re important to know.

Most of the modern Wi-Fi devices you own include four antennas: two for transmit (Tx) and two for receive (Rx). I typically show this as a 2×2 configuration.

So, let’s look at a single Wi-Fi direction and how the stream count translates. The numbers shown below are based on a router’s 5 GHz radio with an 8×8 configuration:

As the table shows, the router’s 5 GHz radio can transmit to up to four devices at their designed speed in any given second, or it can transmit up to eight devices at half their speed. All the additional devices you have on the Wi-Fi network must wait in line, and that causes some latency.

Of course, there’s more going on with the speeds you get than the connection rate your Wi-Fi device is designed to handle. Things like channel width, overhead, interference, and distance play a huge part in your Wi-Fi speed.

Overall, the more streams a router has per band, the more devices it can handle in any given second. Now, let’s take a closer look at your device count and how much bandwidth you really need.

The number of radios and streams dictates the max throughput

The days of saying you need an X amount of speed for each person are kinda gone. I can safely say I personally own and use more devices than I care to count—the same goes for everyone else in the house who is eating up my snacks and leeching off my internet.

I like to split devices into “active” and “passive” groups, as they generally require different amounts of bandwidth. The more devices you have, the more total throughput you need. Product labels like BE19000 and AXE11000 tell you exactly how much throughput a router or mesh system has and the type of Wi-Fi it uses. Take a look at a few examples:

That all said, the higher the device count you have, the higher the total throughput you need to support those devices.

In all the years I’ve tested and reviewed routers and mesh systems, one thing is certainly clear: You get what you pay for. The higher the price, the higher the throughput. Some routers and systems include features like security and parental controls, while others lock them behind a paywall. You certainly don’t want to pay $600 for a router that requires subscriptions to get the most out of it when you can get a similar one with the same features for free.

Here are the features I keep my eye on when I’m evaluating routers and mesh systems:

• Security – All routers and mesh systems have a basic firewall by way of the NAT, but I look for things like an SPI firewall, malware prevention, and so on that don’t cost extra.
• Parental controls – The free tools vary across brands, but ideally, you want the ability to create profiles, assign and manage devices, apply content filters, and schedule internet downtimes.
• Gaming tools – If you’re going to market your product as a gaming router, it should have unique gaming tools—and I don’t mean rebranded ones, like Quality of Service and the speed test.
• VPN connectivity – Most routers and systems include an OpenVPN server for free, allowing you to pipe your connection through the router, even if you’re off the home network. Some have a free VPN client you can use to connect to the VPN service of your choosing.
• Media streaming – This feature requires a USB port (most routers have them). I look for the DLNA server, which allows any DLNA-compliant device (media streamers, game consoles, smart TVs, etc) to stream media from the USB stick.
• Printer sharing – This service is rare anymore, so finding it on a router or mesh system is a big plus. It essentially allows any device on your home network to access a printer connected to the router’s USB port.
• Mesh support – That’s a big “duh” with mesh systems, but I also keep an eye out for mesh support on standalone routers. ASUS uses proprietary technology, allowing you to pair multiple ASUS routers. TP-Link and others use the open-source EasyMesh, so you can pair any router to make a mesh network.

Compare your one-time cost against the provider’s rental fee

Part of your eyeball on cost includes comparing the retail price against your internet provider’s rental fee. Routers and mesh systems generally have a lifespan of seven years before manufacturers stop supporting them. Ideally, the system you choose should cost less than what you pay to internet providers over seven years. Let’s take a look at the Eero Pro 7, now offered by many internet providers:

That’s quite a difference, and I didn’t even factor in the Eero Plus subscription. But, as I mentioned earlier, your internet provider supplies upgrades and replacements at no extra cost, while upgrading or replacing equipment you buy comes out of your pocket.

Of course, you can’t compare pricing if your internet provider offers this system to use at no extra charge to you. That’s the way to go if you want to save money and don’t care about privacy and having full control over your home network.

Presumably, most of us rely on Wi-Fi. Again, it’s not the internet—it just replaces Ethernet. Wi-Fi isn’t the most reliable connection, so users like gamers often stick with Ethernet to get the best connection (this one does, anyway). Most standalone routers have four LAN ports, while I’ve seen some models with eight.

Mesh systems typically aren’t quite as Ethernet-loaded, so if you rely heavily on wired connections, you may want to shop for one of the larger systems (size totally matters) with a few extra ports or invest in an Ethernet switch. One Ethernet port should match the speed of the WAN one.

Related resources

• Best Wi-Fi 7 routers
• Best Routers of All Routers
• The Fastest Routers We’ve Tested
• Best Long-Range Routers
• Best gaming routers