Wi-Upgrade Wi-Fi?

With so many people working (and playing) from home these days, having a solid wireless home network is a must. But many previous-gen routers simply aren’t up to the task. While it may seem like you should leave well enough alone once a network is up and running, a lot has changed in terms of broadband service and home WiFi demands over the past few years.

If you have high-bandwidth requirements, such as 4K streaming, video conferencing, or game streaming, it’s probably time for an upgrade. There’s plenty of new networking technology to take advantage of, and the latest products have advanced by leaps and bounds both in terms of performance and features.

What’s the Latest WiFi Standard?

For the Winter 2022 edition of this guide, we list plenty of great next-generation WiFi 6 products, which have reset expectations for the performance that WiFi can deliver. Technically known as 802.11ax, it has been given the friendlier “WiFi 6” name to help consumers know what they’re getting, and frankly, we think it’s a great idea. It was hard enough for the average consumer to keep track of whether 802.11n or 802.11ac was faster, and while 802.11ax sounds cool and all, it doesn’t tell us much about performance.

And amazingly, WiFi 6 isn’t even the fastest standard out there… that title goes to WiFi 6E, which unlocks extra performance by using the 6GHz band (all previous WiFi standards used 2.4GHz or 5GHz). It’s a bit confusing that WiFi 6 doesn’t use 6GHz and only WiFi 6E does… so much for making sense! Note that the 6GHz band was probably supposed to be part of the WiFi 6 spec from the start, but regulators in various countries only recently approved its use in consumer applications, so everyone, including the Wi-Fi Alliance that develops new WiFi standards, was stuck waiting.

By the way, you’ll of course need a WiFi 6-enabled client to take advantage of this new tech, and if you’re a desktop PC user, you can upgrade to WiFi 6 with a PCIe-based adapter, which we list in this guide. There still aren’t options in the USB form factor (it requires too much power at this point), but for any gamers and content creators out there who want to finally take advantage of their Gigabit+ fiberoptic or cable service without buying a new PC with WiFi 6 built-in, you now can! Speaking of cable, we also list our top pick among cable modems in this guide, which is how you can get out of paying monthly rental fees, while taking advantage of true Gigabit broadband service!

What If I’m On a Budget?

There’s still a place for 802.11ac devices (now known as WiFi 5). For mainstream users, these still very-fast products will be more than sufficient… heck, consumers were happy with them for a decade! Given that most older client devices (i.e., any PCs, TVs, phones, or Smart Home devices that are more than a year old) still don’t use WiFi 6, the budget-conscious shopper is going to want to stick with 802.11ac.

What If I’m Tired of Dropping the Signal Across My Home?

If you have a medium to larger home (say, over 2000 sq. ft.), speed ratings won’t tell you all you need to know about network performance. This is when it’s time to think beyond a single router (or node) sitting on one side of your house, and move to multi-node “mesh” network!

A system like the Netgear Orbi pictured here will fill those dead spots faster than you can say “where’s my signal?!?” With that said, gamers and streamers living in apartments and small homes should probably go with a single high-powered router at the same pricepoint. You get more straight-line speed at the expense of range. And anyone who wants the best of all worlds can actually pair two Asus-branded routers using the innovative Asus AIMesh system to create a truly out-of-this-world mesh network that has extreme speed and extreme range!

One last thing: we utilize Amazon links throughout this guide, and your use of these links helps support future development of the guide!