Buying a router is a very tedious thing. Especially for the ones who are not great with technology, it is like a hell lot of headache to take. With the different up-gradation of technology, it has also been difficult for the technology enthusiast to choose the perfect router.
There are a lot of things that needs to be checked and understood before buying a router. You may also need to question yourself what is my ip address for my router. If that is not done perfectly then you end up with a router that is not supported and you have to suffer.
Here, in the next section, we are going to discuss the different things that you need to check if you have set out to buy a router. In this post, Worth of Blog is going to share 3 most important things to look before choosing a router for the internet connection. So get ready to dive into the post.
3 Things to look before choosing a router
1. Check the standards
The first and foremost thing to check in for a router is the standard that the router is based on. When you go to a shop to look for a router locate whether the router is a, b, g, n, or ac. The letters in the router converts to 802.11 followed by the letters, such as 802.11a, 802.11b and so on.
You might be thinking what are these numbers and what do they represent. The number is the protocols on which the routers works and the letters represent the generations. The more the latest generation, the more is the speed of the data transfer between the devices. That’s why this is one of the most important things to look before choosing a router.
- 11: this is the first standard that was set for the router. This uses the 204Hz band and offers a speed of 2Mbps. Considering the time when this was built, it is a very good speed. However, in that latest generation, this is nothing.
- 11a: this standard provides a speed of 54Mbps and uses the 5 GHz band.
- 11b: this is the first Wi-Fi standard that is used by consumers. This uses the 2.4 Hz bans and provides a speed of 54Mbps.
- 11g: This standard supports multimedia and increases the quality of service for its user.
- 11n: This helps the router to provide a speed as high a 100Mbps. It is the combination of all the previous standards.
- 11ac: this is the latest version that offers a speed as great as 1.3Gbps and uses the 5 GHz range.
Hence, the advanced generations give you the highest data transfer rate and should be the one to consider. However, the price of the router also increases as the standards increases. Hence, if you are budget orientated, you can ignore the latest version and choose the second last one.
However, don’t choose the standard that is way too old because the ISP that you might be choosing to provides you with the internet have upgraded and do not provide data in the low standard devices. The 802.11b routers are not available in the market and if you are still using it then you should consider changing it because there are certain security issues with that standard. You are risking your computers and risking what is my ip address for my router.
2. The right band
The routers work on two bands, the 2.4Hz band or 5GHz band. The wireless routers work on either of the two bands. The 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g standard work on the 2.4Hz band. The 802.11n works on both the 2.4Hz band and 5GHz band. The router that works on the 2.4Hz band is commonly referred to as the single band whereas the standard that works on the 5GHz band is referred to as the double band. Thus right band is among the important things to look before choose a router. Let’s get into the details of the two bands:
- 4Hz band: These routers work on the 2.4Hz band spectrum. This is the busiest spectrum to choose for the transmission. This spectrum is susceptible to noises and can infiltrate the transmission. If there are more routers near you, you are most likely to get noises. And because of the interference, the data which you requested will not be delivered in the right way. This is the biggest disadvantage of these routers. However, one thing that makes the spectrum so popular is the fact that this spectrum range supports a lot more devices then the 5GHz band.
- 5GHz band: This band uses the 5GHz spectrum to make the communication between the devices possible. Because of the higher bandwidth, this spectrum is very less susceptible to inferences. It is less cluttered as compared to the 2.4GHz spectrum and hence the advantages. However, this spectrum has short range than the 2.4GHz spectrum and is not that widely used. In addition to that, the hardware to incorporate this spectrum is a bit expansive.
- To decide which router band you should be using, you can look into the fact of your surroundings. If the number of the router in your area is too many then you are better to choose the 5GHz spectrum band, because of the interference that all the router will cause. If the area you are in well to go with less number of routers then you can go for 2.4GHz spectrum.
3. Security
Security is another important things to look in case of choosing the perfect routers. Wireless router always has a risk for security issue. You don’t want someone to hack into your router and get access to the private services. There are three security layers that come in with your routers. They are WEP, WAP, and WAP2. And this is much important to consider while buying a router.
The WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy is the first set of security layer that is provided to your router. These prevent the outsides from looking into your router. However, with the technology and computing excellence, WEP was vulnerable to exploit and is the recommended to not be used anymore.
The WAP or WI-FI Protected Access used as a replacement to WEP. This is generally designed for the wireless networks. Some features are included in WAP to check for the packets and detect if some flaws are found in the packets. If yes then it means an attack is performed.
To make the routers more secure the WPA2 has introduced which added more features to the router to prevent hacking and other malicious activities.
Conclusion
When you go to the router shop or the online store make sure that you take a note of this list to help yourself to choose the perfect router for you.