Premium Wireless Routers Review

Do I Need a Premium Wireless Router?

Apartments or smaller homes without numerous devices that are used for accessing HD entertainment or games will most often be satisfied with a standard 300 Mbps wireless n router. However, if you have a large home and want to be able to stream media to your TV and gaming devices or play more than one online game at a time, a premium wireless router is more suitable for your wireless needs.

Premium wireless routers can stream HD entertainment, share music, support multiple game players and provide responsive VoIP communications. They can also network your printer so you can print from any PC, and you can connect an external hard drive to the router to store images, entertainment and data files that can be accessible from any device on the network. These routers also include advanced security and give you the ability to let people use your internet while keeping your personal files secure.

In this review site, you will find side-by-side comparisons and detailed reviews of full-featured wireless routers for your home or small office. Learn more by reading articles about high-end Wi-Fi routers, or start with our reviews of the top-rated Cisco Linksys E4200, Netgear N600, and the AirPort Extreme by Apple.

At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™

 Premium Wireless Routers: What to Look For

Premium wireless routers are a step up from standard routers. They can provide consistent bandwidth across greater distances and have tools for networking printing and data sharing. We reviewed the best wireless routers on the market to find those that can provide dependable bandwidth and powerful security. The following are the criteria used to rate the top wireless routers available:

Specifications
When it comes to electronics, specs matter. We looked at whether the routers can provide 2.4 and 5 GHz bandwidths, how many LAN Ethernet ports and antennas they employ and many other specifications to determine which routers have the ability to provide the optimal bandwidth and device compatibility.

Capabilities
We looked at what each router can do. The best premium routers can stream multiple HD movies and games simultaneously as well as providing printer and storage access to other computers connected to the network. Many also provide useful features such as parental controls for families or policy support for small offices.

Security
To protect your bandwidth and personal information, the router must include supreme security. The routers with the best security include the basics such as WEP and WPA2 protection as well as media access control and an impenetrable firewall.

Help & Support
Nowadays, at least one person in a household can likely manage to install a router and add devices to a home network easily. However, if you need help it should be readily available through convenient methods such as telephone, instant chat and email. We also looked for routers that come with at least a one-year warranty and ample online support.

If you have been unhappy with your standard 2.4 GHz 300 Mbps router, you will definitely notice increased performance with a dual-band router. These premium wireless routers can deliver more throughout, have less problems with interference and can support more devices.

 
 
Electronics » Computers » Wireless Routers Review » Premium Wireless Routers Review
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Rank #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10
10-9  Excellent
8-6    Good
5-4    Average
3-2    Poor
1-0    Bad
Linksys E4200 Netgear N600 Apple AirPort Extreme Belkin N750 D-Link Xtreme N AirStation High Power N300 ASUS Gigabit Router Cisco Valet Plus SMC Barricade ZyXEL X550N
Linksys E4200 Netgear N600 Apple AirPort Extreme Belkin N750 D-Link Xtreme N AirStation High Power N300 ASUS Gigabit Router Cisco Valet Plus SMC Barricade ZyXEL X550N
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Lowest Price
Visit Linksys E4200
Visit Netgear N600 WNDR3700
Visit Apple AirPort Extreme
Visit Belkin N750 DB
Visit D-Link Xtreme N DIR-825
Visit AirStation High Power N300 WZR-300HP
Visit ASUS Gigabit Router RT-N16
Visit Cisco Valet Plus M20
Visit SMC Barricade SMCWBR14S-N2
Visit ZyXEL X550N NBG4615
Ratings
9.75
9.50
9.38
9.25
9.25
7.83
7.70
7.58
7.58
7.45
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
10.00
10.00
10.00
7.50
9.38
10.00
9.38
9.38
10.00
9.38
8.75
8.75
10.00
6.25
10.00
10.00
8.75
9.38
10.00
8.75
6.88
6.88
9.38
8.75
7.50
3.75
10.00
9.38
6.25
7.50
9.38
7.50
6.88
6.25
9.38
7.50
6.25
6.25
9.38
8.75
 
Features
Max Throughput (Mbps)* 750 600 750 750 600 300 300 300 300 300
802.11a/b/g/n
2.4 GHz
5 GHz
     
Simultaneous Dual Band
     
# of Gigabit Ethernet LAN Ports 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
# of Antennas 6 8 3 5 2 2 3 3 3 3
# of USB Ports 1 1 1 2 1 1 2   1  
Capabilities
Quality of Service (QoS)
Shared Printing
Shared Storage
Suitable for Large Multi-Level Homes
  
VPN Passthrough
 
Guest Networking
 
  
Parental Controls/ Policy Support
 
  
  
Website Filtering/Blocking
  
 
Streams HD Movies Easily
     
Supports Multiple Games Simultaneously
     
Security
NAT Firewall
SPI Firewall
 
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2)
Media Access Control Address Filtering
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
 
Support for RADIUS Authentication
 
 
   
Help & Support
Warranty (Years) 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 .25 2
Telephone
Chat
 
  
  
Email  
 
* Actual throughput rates vary greatly.