Since this is a more accurate way of describing a Wi-Fi router’s performance potential, we break it down this way in our Key Specs for recommended products. So AXE5400 really means it supports two streams on each band, providing about 600 Mbps (Megabits per second) at 2.4 GHz, 2400 Mbps at 5 GHz, and 2400 Mbps at 6 GHz, not 5400 Mbps to a single device across all three bands. AXE5400, for example, means Wi-Fi 6 (AX), Wi-Fi 6E (E) and 5400 Megabits per second maximum performance.īut measuring performance in aggregate like this doesn’t mean much because your Wi-Fi device can only connect to one band at a time. Wi-Fi manufacturers typically use big numbers, adding up the performance potential of the total number of streams a router supports across all its bands to come up with a number like AX3000 or AXE5400 to denote a product’s performance. Wi-Fi 6 routers support at least two streams per band, but four is typical for higher-performance models. A stream is basically a connection between a Wi-Fi router and a device it’s communicating with, and the more streams that link the two, the faster data can be transferred between them. Regardless of what standards a Wi-Fi router supports, the number of streams it provides per band determines the highest potential performance it can deliver to a Wi-Fi device. But some Wi-Fi 5 or 6 routers advertise themselves as “tri-band” because they provide one 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz networks, so be aware that a tri-band router doesn’t necessarily mean it supports Wi-Fi 6E. Note: a Wi-Fi 6E router is by definition “tri-band” (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz). (Most of our recommendations offer Wi-Fi 6E.) But if you want to be forward thinking and get a Wi-Fi router well suited for the smartphones, tablets, and streaming devices you’ll likely purchase over the next several years, then a Wi-Fi 6E router is the best choice. The standard is new enough that there aren’t a ton of Wi-Fi devices that support Wi-Fi 6E just yet (Wi-Fi 6E was only adopted in 2020). So while you want Wi-Fi 6, do you absolutely need Wi-Fi 6E? Arguably, no. Many (but not all) Wi-Fi 6 routers today also support Wi-Fi 6E. That said, 6 GHz offers the best performance of the three Wi-Fi bands, but the same laws of physics apply so it has the least range, too. This additional 6 GHz band is even wider than 5 GHz, opening up even more capacity and speed for Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Fi that operates on this new 6 GHz band is called Wi-Fi 6E (E for Extended). Thankfully, the Wi-Fi standard is backward-compatible with its predecessors, so you won’t have to worry about your existing devices not working with a new Wi-Fi router.įor decades, Wi-Fi networks could only operate on 2.4 or 5 GHz bands, but now there’s a third band available, at 6 GHz. It also does so with far less latency, or lag, especially important for online gaming or streaming 4K video versus browsing the Web or sending e-mail. Like Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 6 operates at both 2.4 and 5 GHz, but due to more efficient encoding and other technical enhancements, it can squeeze a lot more data into a Wi-Fi signal than its predecessors. If you’re buying a Wi-Fi router today, you'll want one that supports the most recent standard, Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax). Wi-Fi 4 operates in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, while Wi-Fi 5 operates only in the 5 GHz band. Had your current Wi-Fi router for more than a few years? It probably supports Wi-Fi 4 (also called 802.11n), which was introduced in 2008, and/or Wi-Fi 5 (also known as 802.11ac), which was introduced in 2014. What to Look for in a Wi-Fi Router Standards and Bands
As of this writing I have more than three dozen devices connected across multiple home Wi-Fi networks, ranging from PCs and Macs to smartphones and tablets, to cameras, smart home assistants, video games, and even a bathroom scale. As a former tech journalist, I first started working with some of the earliest standardized Wi-Fi products back before the dawn of the millennium. My most recent is Hacks for Alexa (Racehorse Press, 2019). I’ve also authored or co-authored several books.
#BEST WIRELESS ROUTER FOR APARTMENT PC#
I spend most of most of my time hip-deep in various kinds of tech, and over the years I’ve written for PC Mag, Small Business Computing, and Smart Computing, among others. Show more The Expert: For 30 years I’ve been an IT professional, personal tech consultant, and technology writer.
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