Sure, you’ll spend a lot more if you want the latest Wi-Fi 6 features or need to cover an extremely large home, but for many people these features are overkill, and if all you need is a router that can keep up with 4K streaming in your apartment, condo, or small bungalow, there are lot of solid and reliable options available that provide more than enough performance for all but the busiest families. In fact, even if you need to cover a larger home, some of these budget routers can double as Wi-Fi extenders, and any router can be used as a wireless access point if you’re willing to run network cabling or use a Powerline network adapter, and all of these are affordable enough that you could buy two or three for less than the price of a single long-range router or mesh Wi-Fi network system. The Archer A7 is built with three antennas for long-range coverage of up to 2,500 square feet and provides stable Wi-Fi performance for more than 50 devices with 802.11ac connections or older. Its built-in CPU ensures stable wireless connectivity using its 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and its four Gigabit LAN ports for direct wired connections are ideal for gamers needing even higher speeds. Two USB 2.0 ports make it easy for your home network to share printers, files, and other media with multiple devices whether you’re at home or away. Sporting a dual-band Wi-Fi radio, the Eero offers both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, with wireless speeds of up to 550Mbps. A single Eero unit can easily cover 1,500 square feet by itself, but if that ends up not being enough you can easily add more units later on to expand your coverage to up to 5,000 square feet without having to worry about replacing your original router. It’s also really easy to set up, thanks to the Eero smartphone app that’s available for both iOS and Android devices, and offers parental controls and malware protection, and even VPN and password management tools, although you’ll need to pay for an Eero Secure subscription for some of these features. The AC1200R covers up to 2,000 square feet of space using its dual-band frequencies with beamforming, which focuses stronger signals to your devices that need it most. A full set of access controls gives you the power to manage up to 20 Wi-Fi devices on your network, keep out untrusted connections, turn off router lights during the night if they’re too bright, and restrict access at certain time periods for kids or adults. It’s compatible with any modem and Internet service provider with an easy set up right out of the box that has you plugging it in, logging into it on your computer, and making connections immediately. With dual-band AC1200 speeds, this little workhorse can provide throughput of up to 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 867Mbps over 802.11ac on the 5GHz side, which makes it a solid choice for streaming 4K video with almost no buffering. The two fixed beamforming antennas also help to focus your signal for fast performance over a 1,000+ square foot home, but if you need even more speed, there are four Gigabit Ethernet ports so you can hardwire in a PC, game console, or set-top streaming box. In addition to the five network jacks, around back you’ll also find a USB 3.0 port for connecting a shared printer or hard drive, and a built-in DLNA server lets you easily share your media across your home network. Setting up the EA6350 is also a snap thanks to the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi app, which not only walks you through the initial setup, but allows you to manage and monitor your network even when you’re away from home. In fact, the gaming-optimized features that Portal’s designers baked in actually attracted the attention of well-known gaming hardware maker Razer, leading to a partnership between the two companies to tweak the Portal even further for maximum gaming performance. Nine internal antennas offer beamforming and MU-MIMO technology with solid dual-band AC2400 speeds, and since it supports mesh networking, you can add a second portal to blanket your home with up to 6,000 square feet of Wi-Fi coverage There are also four Gigabit Ethernet ports here so you can hardwire in your PC or console if you find the Wi-Fi performance still isn’t up to your needs, although you may not need to with the patented FastLanes and SmartLanes QoS technologies that ensure that your devices are using the best Wi-Fi channels and that your gaming traffic is always getting priority. The RT-AC66U also features dual-band 3x3 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology that lets you multitask with ease, from browsing the web to downloading files on its 2.4Ghz band or streaming HD movies and gaming online with its smooth 5GHz band. Its reliable firmware features and intuitive app navigation give you complete control to set advanced parental controls, use VPN services, manage network traffic and security, and pinpoint connection issues, all without turning your computer on, and its lightning-fast USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports make it easy to connect to wireless printers and access files using the AiCloud 2.0 feature so you can watch movies, listen to music, or view photos from a shared hard drive. There are four Ethernet ports on the back, and although you’ll be limited to fast Ethernet at 100Mbps speeds, that’s really not surprising at this price. This router isn’t really suited for higher-speed Internet connections anyway, so the only real limit will be on data transfer between your own PCs, but you can easily add a network hub or switch if you really need faster speeds on your LAN. The major downside is that with only a 2.4GHz band, it’s not an ideal choice if you have a lot of Wi-Fi devices in your home, as that frequency range can get pretty congested, but it should be more than fine for a single user or small family with one or two computers and a couple of smartphones, and even if you’re a smart home user, this can be a handy way to offload some of your internet of things devices from your main router by setting them up on their own dedicated Wi-Fi network. That said, the range is fairly limited as well, so it’s best suited for an apartment, condo, or a single floor of your home. However it’s affordable enough that you could buy an additional one if you needed more coverage, and in fact the RT-N12 can not only work as a router but can also be configured to function as a range extender, letting you add another one to get more coverage without the need to run an Ethernet cable to it. You can also configure it to broadcast four separate network SSIDs with different passwords to help control internet access, meaning you could use one SSID for yourself, one for your kids, and one for your guests, all with different levels of access, and you can even choose how much bandwidth each one is able to use. Plus it includes basic PPTP VPN support to let you securely connect to your home network when you’re away, which is a somewhat rare feature in a budget router. This should give you more than enough speed to stream 4K UHD video onto newer devices as long as they’re within a reasonable distance; like most budget routers this isn’t going to provide enough range for a large home, but it’s cheap enough that you can afford to add a Wi-Fi extender if you need to, or even just buy another one of these and connect it to your main router via Ethernet. Four Gigabit Ethernet ports let you hardwire in your devices that need more speed than the Wi-Fi offers, but you may not need to, considering that this model also offers advanced MU-MIMO technology on the 5GHz band that ensures that multiple devices can always get the fastest speeds possible.
What to Look for in a Budget Router
Coverage
Just because you’re not looking to spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice on coverage. While you probably won’t find a router under $100 that can span a large home, many can still provide over 2,000 square feet by themselves, while even some of the most inexpensive ones can also work as range extenders, allowing you to cover a large home simply by purchasing two or three units—often for less than the cost of a single long-range router.
Single- or Dual-Band
If you’re only looking to support one or two computers and a couple of smartphones, you can save a few bucks by going with a single-band router, which can still provide speeds of up to 300Mbps and usually offers decent range. If you’re a smart home user or a gamer, however, a dual-band 802.11ac router will be a much better buy.
Advanced Features
While additional technologies like MU-MIMO and beamforming were once the exclusive domain of more expensive routers, they’re becoming more common on budget routers, and if you have more than a few devices or a larger home, you’ll definitely notice the performance improvement if you can pick up a router that includes these features.
