Best Wi-Fi routers 2020: Best wireless routers to shop this year
The Wi-Fi router you rent from your internet service provider is far from being your only choice — here are some of the best routers to consider right now.
Whitson Gordon
Whitson Gordon
If you want to take a more active role in managing your Wi-Fi network, Asus has one of the best routers in terms of its management interface — with extra features to make it worth your while. Apart from the usual parental controls, guest networking, and other basics, Asus’ RT-AC66U B1 also comes with Trend Micro’s AiProtection built-in to protect against malware, plus Asus’ AiMesh feature that lets you create a mesh network with other compatible Asus units.
If you’ve got a house full of smart home devices, internet-connected TVs, and other Wi-Fi devices beyond your laptop and phone, congestion could become an issue. Wi-Fi 6, the latest Wi-Fi standard on the market, aims to fix that. There's already an improved version called Wi-Fi 6E on the horizon, so I'd recommend waiting to upgrade, but if you need a new router now, Wi-Fi 6 devices can offer faster speeds, better handling of congestion and better battery life for phones and laptops on the network. TP-Link’s Archer A50 constitutes affordability for Wi-Fi 6 routers at this point. And while it isn’t the fastest Wi-Fi 6 router on the market, it’ll set you up for the future if your current router is busted and you need to upgrade right now.
If you need a new router now and you’re willing to pay a bit extra for more bandwidth, Asus’ RT-AX88U combines the new improvements in Wi-Fi 6 with everything that makes the brand's other routers great: a user-friendly interface, lots of features and super-fast speeds.
This is the cream of the crop — one of the fastest, congestion-busting-est routers you can buy right now, thanks to its combination of Wi-Fi 6 and those tri-band antennas. It's an investment — serious power users with a house full of wireless devices that need the fastest speeds possible should consider Netgear’s Nighthawk AX12, which packs an incredibly serious punch that'll last for some time.
There are a host of things that can impact your Wi-Fi speed, but if you live in a larger home, it's likely your Wi-Fi just isn't reaching far enough to the corners of the house. In those cases, a single router might not cut it, even if it's high-end — in which case you should try a mesh Wi-Fi system like Amazon’s Eero Pro. Instead of a single router, you get multiple units equipped with Wi-Fi 6 that intelligently communicate with each other to blanket the whole house in a seamless signal. Learn more about mesh Wi-Fi systems.
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