Wireless Routers

WiFi Protected Setup (previously called WiFi Simple Config) is a network standard designed to ease the setup of security-enabled WiFi networks in the home. With it, you don't have to remember the username and password to connect a new device wirelessly, and it eliminates the need to give out your password to guests. WiFi Protected Setup supports methods (pushing a button, entering a PIN into a wizard-type application, Near Field Communication (NFC) Cards, and USB Flash Drives) that are familiar to most consumers to configure a network and enable WPA or WPA2 security.

A guest network is a wireless network separate from your home network. It allows visitors, friends, or family access to your Internet connection without giving them access to your network. With a guest network, you don't have to give them your home network password and potential access to your computers on the network. We report which, if any, network frequency band the router can set up a guest network on.

Parental Controls can block inappropriate and dangerous sites, restrict access by time, and category (adult, gaming, social media, etc.). Since it's enabled on the router, it can control every device on your home network.

Also called "Quality of Service" and typically abbreviated as QoS, it refers to being able to adjust the router to give more or less priority to different types of data moving across the network. For example, you can give higher priority to streaming video and online demanding games. In that case if someone is streaming a video and someone else is playing an online game, those computers will get more of the Internet bandwidth allocated to them. If someone else then needs to download a file, that download may go a bit slower, but the video and game won't be affected.

Whether or not the router includes an Ethernet cable in the box.

Router automatically downloads and installs of new firmware, and it could include performance or security updates without user intervention.

Router has a smartphone app for iOS and Android so you can set up the router from your smartphone.

Whether or not the router can be mounted on a wall.

The height of the router measured to the nearest tenth of an inch.

The width of the router measured to the nearest tenth of an inch.

The depth of the router measured to the nearest tenth of an inch.

The weight of the router measured to the nearest tenth of a pound.

The length in months of the manufacturer's standard warranty.

Support for 1000 Mb/s networking.

The total number of LAN ports on the router, LAN ports are the ones used to wire a computer to the router using an Ethernet cable.

Number of USB ports for printers, flash drives, or other peripherals.

A print server is a device that connects printers to other computers over a network. Many routers have built-in print servers. Typically you connect your printer to the USB port on the router and use a print utility to share it over the network wirelessly.