It seems Wi-Fi routers are getting updated faster than usual. We've gone from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7 in record time. But the truth is, it's kind of needed. Wi-Fi hasn't traditionally been the fastest technology when it comes to updates to the standards, and now all of these new versions are basically catching it up but also future-proofing it. And there are a ton of benefits in these new versions of Wi-Fi, especially Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. But with all of that, of course, comes the dilemma of how you choose the best Wi-Fi router for your needs without getting lost in all of those new standards. Now, if you're curious about all the differences between the various newer versions of Wi-Fi, I'll link to all the Dakota episodes, my explainer series here on the channel for each below. But for this video, I've compiled the best Wi-Fi routers out right now for various needs.
It's also Wi-Fi 7 enabled, which gives it a lot of benefits like using multiple bands—again, explainer below for more info on that. So, any Wi-Fi 7 device will benefit from that, and as a lot of devices are launching with Wi-Fi 7 now—not as much as have Wi-Fi 6 and 6E yet though, of course—it means it's more future-proofed. And because of all that, TP-Link claims a theoretical speed up to 11 Gbits per second.
Now,
the fact it's a mesh system means that you can choose how many nodes you want
based on the coverage that you need. You plug in one of them into your
internet, and then each node acts in the same way as the original in providing
all of those bands to any device near it. And the devices can intelligently and
seamlessly be switched between nodes as they move.
So,
The Deco B65 Pro has two 5 GB ethernet ports and one 2.5 GB port, which are all
faster than the standard 1 GB per second. Which means anything plugged into
these that can support the higher speeds, like a network-attached storage
system, etc., will work faster within the network. And since each node has
these three ethernet ports, that means you can plug a decent number of devices
into each one in the various locations that you put them. And you can use these
to run 5 Gbit per second ethernet between them all as well to provide a
super-fast wired backhaul of data between the nodes if you were so inclined.
The routers also look decent; they're minimalistic and blend in with furniture,
which is a huge plus to me. Also, The Deco app is one of the more intuitive and
nicer-looking apps for a router out right now, and you can use it to manage the
network easily on your phone. You can also use their Home Shield parental
controls feature through the app to block specific websites or even categories
of websites easily. And as for every router in this video, I'll leave the best
price that I can find on the router in the description below.
Now,
if you don't necessarily need Wi-Fi 7, you don't really care too much about
future-proofing your setup, we have another option from TP-Link as a best value
choice for getting Wi-Fi 6E, which is honestly the lowest standard I might go
for as these routers have come down a lot in price already thanks to Wi-Fi 7
being out. And there are a lot of devices that support 6E at this point too,
which again you can check out a full explainer in the description. But one of the
major benefits is that it adds a much faster band, which is super useful to
have. So, this is the TP-Link Deco XE70 Pro, similar to The Deco B65 Pro. It is
a tri-band router with 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz built-in, but it takes away
some of the newer Wi-Fi 7 benefits that I mentioned again in that video below.
But because of that, it is less expensive than the B65 Pro, and it still
supports 6E, which might be enough for most people anyway. And for this one,
TP-Link claims 4.9 Gbps per second theoretical speeds.
It's
also a mesh system, so you can choose how many nodes you need for your use
case, and like all mesh systems, including both the TP-Link systems mentioned
so far, you can also add nodes as needed later super easily. According to
TP-Link, each node gives you 2900 ft of coverage, two nodes will give you 5500,
and three nodes will give you 7200. Also, each node has a 2.5 Gbit ethernet
port, so you can use it with a multi-gig speed network and devices that support
speeds that high, and it has two 1 Gbit per second ports, so you have a decent
amount of options to plug devices into each node wherever they might be. And
again, we have the same AI-driven mesh system to allow devices to seamlessly
switch between nodes as they move and even give the fast 6E speeds to devices
that can handle them just like on the B65 Pro. And we have that same solid app
and same unobtrusive design. Again, I'll leave a link to the best price I can
find on this router in the description below.
Now,
if you have a cable internet service provider, there's a good choice that not
only gives you the benefits of Wi-Fi 7 but it also can replace the modem—the
device that gets the internet from your ISP and brings it into your
home—compared to the router, which then takes that internet and projects it
over Wi-Fi inside your home. Now, a lot of times, the modem might even come
with a monthly fee for renting it, which by replacing it and giving it back to
the ISP, you can then save that. So, this is the AIS Surfboard G54. It has four
1 GB per second ethernet ports and even one 10 GB per second port, which you
can use to connect a NAS, for example, again that supports it, or even use it
for internet access if you switch away from Cable in the future. Now, this
compound unit is probably more useful to people who have a higher cable
internet speed to really see a lot of the benefits and is especially useful to
people who are fortunate enough to get 1 Gbit per second or higher speeds. But
it still will help speed things up on your network regardless and future-proof
you for a long time to come. It's a Wi-Fi 7-enabled quad-band router, and
because of that, it supports a theoretical 18 Gbit per second speed according
to AIS. It also automatically optimizes what devices get set up on which of the
quad bands based on what the devices are, and also has a simple app used for
setup and making changes to the network. But the biggest benefit here is really
that ability to get rid of your cable modem and save that monthly fee, which
could equal a decent amount of money over time. Now, again, I'll leave a link
below to the best price on this router that I can find.
Lastly,
we have the router that I might pick if you just want speed, and that's all you
care about. This is the Netgear Orbi RBK E962. They all have amazing names,
don't they? It's a Wi-Fi 6E router, but it's quad-band and so has a theoretical
speed of 10.8 Gbits per second according to Netgear, and is also a mesh network
just like the others. But one caveat I found is that you seem to be required to
buy a two-pack as far as I can tell, as the smallest size. The one-packs that
they sell don't work as routers—they only work if you already bought a two or a
three-pack to extend the network—and that's because the one-pack doesn't have
an internet port on it at all. Nonetheless, if you need the coverage, you can
get a two-pack, which Netgear claims will cover up to 6,000 square feet, and
the three-pack will cover up to 9,000 feet. It also has a 10 GB per second
ethernet port for the internet, really, which means you'll be future-proof for
a long time as 10 Gbits per second is still a ways away, I would say, but of
course, it'll also work with any ISP speeds that we have out right now until
then. Regardless, there is also a 2.5 GB per second ethernet port again for faster
connections like a NAS that would support that or even a wired backhaul between
the nodes, as well as three 1 Gbit per second ethernet ports. And each node has
all of these ports minus the 10 GB per second one for the satellites. The app
is also pretty solid and easy to use, and again, all of the routers that I
featured in this video, I will have links below to the best prices I can find,
and I'll try to keep those updated as best as I can. And there you go, the best
Wi-Fi routers out right now. Let me know what you guys think in the comments
below—I always appreciate hearing from you guys. And again, I will leave links
to all of my explainer videos for all the different Wi-Fi standards for anyone
who's really curious and wants to go down a rabbit hole.