Factors to know if a router is good
It is always important to check that our devices are working well. But it is even more important when it comes to devices used to surf the web. One of them is the router and we must take it into account some factors to see if it’s really good or we should change it and buy a more advanced one.
See top speed
One of those factors is the maximum speed this allows. If you have an older router, you may not be able to get the speeds you can get with fiber today. For example, it might not have Gigabit Ethernet ports and you’ll be limited to a maximum of 100Mbps, meaning you won’t use the connection.
This is important to be able to connect devices and not be restricted. If the available bandwidth is not very high, you cannot surf normally, download videos or watch streaming videos in high quality from many devices at the same time without annoying interruptions.
Check the encryption type
Another important point is the type of encryption used for Wi-Fi networks. This provides security to prevent an intruder from exploiting a passkey and breaking into the network. Outdated encryption such as WEP or WPA should be avoided. Therefore, if your router uses this type of old-fashioned encryption, it is not a good device today.
Ideally you have WPA-3. It is the newest protocol and the one that best protects wireless networks. However, if you have at least WPA-2, it’s secure too, as long as you’ve updated it.
Ethernet ports
Ethernet ports allow you to connect wired devices instead of using the wireless network. The first thing to consider is the number of ports available. However, this is also not a crucial factor, although it may be important for some users who need to connect more devices.
You need to pay special attention to what speed these Ethernet ports support. Are gigabit ethernet or FastEthernet? In the first case, the maximum speed they can support is 1Gbps, while in the second case, it is limited to 100Mbps and you cannot properly use the contracted fiber rate.
test coverage
Of course the cover Knowing whether a router is good or not is another crucial factor. Does the WiFi connection reach other parts of the house well? You can try connecting from different points around the house and see if the incoming speed is good and if the signal drops drastically as you move away, or stays more or less the same.
If you find that the coverage is poor, you may need to purchase a different, more powerful router to allow other devices that are farther away to connect to the unit. This is important nowadays as we have more and more devices that we connect wirelessly.
In short, these steps that we have explained can help you know if your router is good. If you find something is wrong, you can always buy a new router. If you want to buy it and get more benefit from it, you can also see the use of the router’s USB ports.
