If you’re like me, you probably aren’t thinking about replacing your router until you see a buffering wheel while you’re trying to stream TV or your video meeting cuts out. There can be many causes of a faulty connection — your provider could be throttling your speeds, your plan might be too slow for all devices using it or your router may be in the wrong spot — but sometimes the culprit is simply outdated hardware.
As with any other piece of equipment, routers have a shelf life. They need to be able to keep up with all of the other devices you’re bringing into your home. In general, experts recommend swapping your router every five years at a minimum. Make that every two to three years if you use lots of smart home gadgets or if you make a regular habit of buying the latest laptops, phones and other primary Wi-Fi devices.
While it might seem convenient to use equipment offered by the provider, renting a router is an unnecessary expense, often adding hundreds of dollars a year to the service. Additionally, existing router owners may consider an upgrade to ensure they’re making the most of their plan. But choosing the right router can be a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot of jargon and specifications involved. How much speed and reach are required to cover every inch, anyway?
There are multipoint mesh routers, ones that support Wi-Fi 7 (the newest version) and Wi-Fi 6E routers that offer access to the ultrawide 6GHz band. The good news is, that we’ve done the work and have zeroed in on five key basics to help determine the ideal model.
You might not need a new router at all
Before spending any money, it’s a good idea to make sure that you get the most out of your existing router. Wi-Fi is finicky, and it doesn’t take much to disrupt those wireless signals, so if your connection seems slower than you need, it might not be your router’s fault.
Sometimes, a simple reboot is all your network needs, so start with the obvious and unplug both your router and your modem, then plug them both back in. Dave Coleman, a Wi-Fi expert, author and director of wireless networking in the office of the CTO at Extreme Networks, the company that ran the Wi-Fi at Super Bowl 55, also recommends rebooting the Wi-Fi drivers on your phone, laptop and other important client devices.
“It’s amazing how that’ll solve like 90% of the problems, because the drivers are the interface between the radio and the operating system, and they can get discombobulated,” Coleman says. “I know it sounds simple, but it’s the first troubleshooting thing people should do.”
It’s also a good idea to try bypassing the router altogether, which you can do by wiring your computer directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable. Is that hardwired level of online performance noticeably better than what you’re getting when you’re connected wirelessly at a short distance, in the same room as the router? That’s a clear sign that the router is falling short of your network’s potential.
If problems like those persist, try running some speed tests in various spots around your home using a few different devices — both your phone and your laptop, for instance. I like the Ookla speed test, which is fast, free, reliable and easy to use — you can run it in your browser by clicking here, or you can download Ookla’s speed-testing app to your Android or iOS device, or even to an Apple TV. (Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as CNET.) Whatever devices you use, those results should give you a clearer sense of whether the problem is tied to a specific client device or location in your home, or whether it’s a bigger issue affecting everything.
With the numbers giving you a better understanding of the status quo, making some quick tweaks can give you a nice speed boost. Try repositioning the router to a spot that’s more open and central within your home, preferably in a location that’s as high as possible. While you’re at it, adjusting the angle of the antennas might help boost the signal to specific spots around the house. It’s also a good idea to blast the ports in the back and the airflow vents with a can of compressed air to break through dust build-up — gunk like that can cause your router to overheat and its performance to dip.
None of that worked and your internet still stinks? Yeah, you probably need a new router.
Is it time to upgrade to the next generation of Wi-Fi?
Router technology and security are always improving, and we’ve seen some significant jumps in the past few years with the arrival of Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and in the past year, Wi-Fi 7. Generational advances like those leave yesterday’s routers in the dust, so it’s worth upgrading to a router that supports them as soon as it makes sense for you to do so — even if the one you’re using now is still getting the job done.
Outside of that, the mere fact that so many of us are spending so much more time at home these days makes the idea of upgrading your router even more compelling.
“People are running into problems where Mom’s trying to do a Zoom call, but it goes south, because the kids are upstairs streaming Netflix videos,” Coleman says. “That’s one sign that you might need to upgrade your Wi-Fi network.”
Upgrading to Wi-Fi 6, a newer generation of Wi-Fi that’s better suited for dense, crowded environments where you have lots of devices competing for bandwidth, is definitely one way to give your network a boost. And with the recent arrival of Wi-Fi 7, you can now find Wi-Fi 6 and 6E devices for significantly reduced prices.
Do you need a mesh router?
We tend to fixate on speeds when we talk about routers, but the truth is that there are really only two Wi-Fi speeds that matter in most cases: “fast enough” and “not fast enough.” After all, having a blazing-fast connection in the same room as the router is great, but it means little if you can’t get a strong signal when during a late-night Netflix binge in your bedroom on the other side of the house. That’s especially true these days, with lots of people still staying home and depending on their home networks more than ever before.
That’s why, for many people, the most meaningful move you can make for that home network is to upgrade from a stand-alone, single-point router to an expandable mesh system that uses multiple devices to spread a reliably speedy signal throughout your house. Mesh systems typically won’t hit top speeds that are quite as high as a single-point router, but they make up for it by delivering Wi-Fi that’s “fast enough” to all corners of your home.
Mesh routers have been around for several years now, but it’s only in the last year or two that we’ve seen decent options available for less than $300. Now, in 2025, you’ve got plenty of systems to choose from, with prices ranging from entry-level models that cost as little as $150 or less to top-of-the-line systems that cost as much as $1,000.
For my money, the best strategy for that spectrum of mesh options is to aim for the middle ground. Tri-band design, which adds in a second 5GHz band to serve as a dedicated backhaul channel for transmissions between the main router and its satellites, has been the biggest difference-maker in my tests, and it’s worth paying a little extra for it.
Speed ratings are basically bull
I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating, The speed ratings you’ll see on the packaging and scrolling through router listings are close to meaningless.
I’m talking about figures like “AC1200” and “AX6000.” The letters there tell you what version of Wi-Fi the router supports — “AC” for Wi-Fi 5, or 802.11ac and “AX” for Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax. The numbers provide a rough sense of the combined top download speeds of each of the router’s bands — typically 2.4 and 5GHz, and perhaps a second 5GHz band if we’re talking about a triband router, or 6GHz with Wi-Fi 6E routers.
The problem is that you can only connect to one of those bands at a time. When you add their top speeds together, the result is a highly inflated figure that doesn’t represent the speeds you’ll experience. If it’s a triband mesh router that uses that third band as a dedicated connection between the router and its extenders, then that band’s speeds don’t directly apply to your device connections.
To make matters worse, those top speeds on the box are theoretical maximums derived from lab-based manufacturer tests that don’t take real-world factors like distance, physical obstructions, interference or network congestion into account. Even at close range, your actual connection will be a lot slower.
None of that stops manufacturers from using those speed ratings to describe how fast their products are. For instance, that hypothetical AX6000 router might claim to support speeds of up to 6,000 megabits per second — which is nonsense. A router is only as fast as its fastest band. Don’t be fooled.
Your router can’t work miracles
One last point: It’s important to understand that your router doesn’t generate speed or bandwidth — it takes whatever bandwidth you’re paying for from your internet service provider and sends it out into your home so that wireless devices can connect. If that incoming bandwidth is limited to begin with, there’s really not much your router can do about it.
Eventually, improvements to things like satellite internet and continued 5G and fiber deployments should help bridge the bandwidth gap in parts of the country that lack access to high speeds. Until that happens, paying extra for an upgraded router is probably overkill.
“I wish there was an answer to say, ‘Yeah, you could upgrade your router, and that’ll solve your bandwidth problem on the ISP,'” Coleman says. “But the answer is not really.”
In a “small pipe” situation like that, Coleman’s recommendation is to focus on conserving your bandwidth — especially in the situation he described earlier, where Mom’s work calls are dropping due to the kids’ Netflix habits. His suggestion: Look for a router with good parental control settings.
“If you’re a parent, you can do time settings and firewall settings to restrict access of certain kinds of applications, as well as certain times when certain individuals could use it,” Coleman says. “My kids are grown now, but I used to do it back in the day!”
Before buying a new router, you should make sure any of your speed issues are actually being caused by hardware limitations. Try rebooting your router and clearing any other issues before spending money on an upgrade.
You can have the best router in the world, but at the end of the day, your internet speeds are still going to be limited by the plan you pay for. Don’t invest in the cutting-edge equipment if you’re not going to pay your internet service provider to take advantage of that high speed connection.
Read the full article here
