Best Affordable Wireless routers

What is that one awful thing that all of us dread? The thing that gets under our skin and
transforms us from serious, respectable human beings to angry little creatures? Yes, that’s right,
it’s slow internet connection.
Everyone hates slow loading websites, where you waste minutes looking at your screen with
your jaw locked and your veins popping in your head and you keep on asking yourself ‘What
have I done wrong to deserve this?’. All jokes aside, do you know that there is an actual
condition called the Hourglass Syndrome which showed that almost half of the subjects who had
to wait for the computer to catch up with them, had really high stress levels?
Yes, slow internet connection is evil. So, if your old router just doesn’t want to cooperate
anymore, maybe it’s time to have a look at better options.

As you know, the WiFi technology has evolved a lot the last decade, from the good ol’ 2.4GHz
band and 802.11n wireless networking standard to the now almost equally widespread, but
better 802.11ac standard. So, you have a large array of routers, with different shapes and
designs, with large coverage, high speeds and tons of features. But choosing the best router that
fits your needs can be exhausting.
In order to help you make the best choice, we have compiled a list of the the best routers on the
market (also, the most popular) and, in order to remain within the price range, AC1900 routers
and below are our main target.
Sure, there are awesome AC2600 routers (with 4×4 chipsets and MU-MIMO support) and even
amazing 3200ac tri-band routers (with 3×3 SU-MIMO support), but these technologies can not be
really used right now at full potential because there are no devices that can handle this type of
connections.
 1. NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

Read the full review

We talked quite a lot about NETGEAR Nighthawk, a really influential router, renowned around the
world as one of the best AC1900 routers to date. It features both high speed and great
performance and all these backed by quite an interesting design.
Design
NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 has a pleasant design, with sharp angles, a black matte finish and
even if it’s made entirely of plastic, the built is quite sturdy and of high quality.
Although inspired by the undetectable Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth plane, the NETGEAR
Nighthawk is a big router and will not go unnoticed (measuring 13.7×10.1×3.1 inches and
weighing 1.8 pounds). If you don’t have enough space to spare, the router can be wall mounted.
On the back of the router there are the three detachable fin-like antennas, along with a four
ETHERNET ports, a WAN port, a USB 2.0, the usual RESET, ON/OFF buttons and the Power
input port.
On the front of the Nighthawk you can find the status LEDs and an USB 3.0 port.

Performance
Performance-wise, the NETGEAR Nighthawk is quite capable, featuring physical link rates of up
to 600Mbps on 2.4GHz and 1300Mbps on 5GHz, thanks to the Broadcom BCM4709A0 WiFi
chipset, 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, 128 flash memory and 256MB RAM.
We tested the router and we got some great results. The router scored 430Mbps on the 5GHz
band and using 802.11ac technology at 15 feet and when tested at 100 feet it scored 300Mbps.
On the 2.4GHz band and at around 15 feet, we measured 110Mbps and at a long range (100
feet), it scored 60Mbps.
Thanks to the USB 3.0, we could use the NETGEAR Nighthawk as a reliable NAS. The writing
speed tops at around 40MBps and the reading speed reached a maximum of 60MBps.
Setup
Just like we said in the full review, the Nighthawk AC1900 features the NETGEAR Genie, which
is a somewhat simplified interface. It shows you the number of connected devices, the bands that
are active, if Parental Controls are enabled and more.
Although it could have been a bit more user friendly, the interface does manage to do its job
properly and offers almost an unparalleled amount of customization. Besides setting up the
router you can further configure it to your liking, especially thanks to features like the built-in VPN
server, Parental Controls, enhanced QoS and ReadyShare Vault.
Overall, the NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 is a very capable router. Sporting a great design,
high-end performance, great coverage and high speed, all make the Nighthawk AC1900 one of
the best routers on the market, even after so many years after its release.

2. ASUS RT-AC68U

Just like the NETGEAR Nighthawk, new routers are consistently being compared to the ASUS
RT-AC68U. And it doesn’t come as a surprise, ASUS RT-AC68U is a really fast router, with a
large coverage and stable signal. Considering the great performance and the price tag, the
ASUS RT-AC68U is maybe the best choice.
Design
The ASUS RT-AC68U features a sharp design, with a matte diamond pattern on front (it doesn’t
retain fingerprints) and a rubbery non-detachable base. The fact that the base of the router
cannot be removed means that the ASUS RT-AC68U can only be position in one position,
upwards.
Sure, it does take less space than the NETGEAR Nighthawk, but it would have been better to be
able to choose the position. From the top of the router, the three prominent antennas rise, adding
significantly more height to the router and at the same giving the RT-AC68U quite a menacing
look, even though it has a small footprint (measuring 6.0×8.0×6.3 inches and weighing 1.4
pounds).
On the front you can find an array of bright blue status LEDs for Power, Internet link, WiFi bands,
USB ports, WAN and LAN ports. The router also has 2 USB ports: a USB 2.0 and a USB 3.0.

Performance
Inside the case, the ASUS RT-AC68U has a Broadcom BCM4708A0 chipset (dual-core 800MHz
ARM Cortex A9), backed by 256MB DDR RAM and 128 flash memory. Thanks to this hardware,
the router reaches a maximum physical link rate of 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band and 600Mbps
on the 2.4GHz band (therefore the combined 1900Mbps).
Testing the ASUS RT-AC68U on the 5GHz band (802.11ac) and at 15 feet, the router reached a
maximum of 518Mbps. At 100 feet, it managed to reach 330Mbps.
When we tested the router on the older 2.4GHz band, the RT-AC68U scored 205Mbps at close
proximity (15 feet) and 170Mbps at 100 feet.
Later, we coupled the RT-AC68U with an external HDD through the USB 3.0 and we tested its
NAS capabilities. So, we measured 25MBps for reading and 15MBps for writing.
Setup
ASUS RT-AC68U has a rather stylish, clean and easy-to-use interface named the ASUS WRT.
The homepage displays different stats and allows for further configuration of the router (the basic
setup can be done in no time).
The RT-AC68U has a lot of features and to name a few, we got the QoS, AP isolation,
AiProtection, a solid IPv6 support, AiCloud, Parental Controls, full built-in VPN server (a feature
not many routers have nowadays) and a lot more.
Obviously, this is one of the best routers in this list, we put it against the NETGEAR Nighthawk and
got some pretty exciting, it has a solid, elegant built, great software, large coverage and high
speed, so, overall this is one of the top choice for AC1900 routers on the market.
 
3. LINKSYS WRT1900AC

LINKSYS WRT1900AC is a soul successor to one of the most popular routers in the world,
the LINKSYS WRT54G. We reviewed it some time before and although it didn’t feature innovative
ideas, it stands as a high-quality router, with one of the best WiFi performances and is packed
with a huge amount of features.
Design
Everything about its design screams nostalgia. It features a black and blue case, with four sturdy
antennas (which are removable and upgradeable) and thick rubber feet. Also, the router can be
wall-mounted (VESA compatible).
The WRT1900AC is not a small router, measuring 9.8×7.7×2 inches and weighing 2.1 pounds
and because of the way it’s designed it will stand out wherever you decide to put it (although
Nighthawk is bigger, it is easier to blend it with the furniture). But that’s the idea, the LINKSYS
WRT1900AC was created to stand proud and be the centre of attention, not to shy away from it.
The front of the router is home to an array of status LEDs: Power, Internet, 2.4GHz, 5Ghz,
eSATA, USB and Ethernet connections and the WPS.
On the back, there are the usual GIGABIT LAN and WAN ports, the WPS and RESET buttons,
one USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 which acts as an eSATA port, the ON/OFF button and the
Power socket.

Performance
The WRT1900AC is a three stream router (although it has four antennas) and it is capable of
delivering speeds of up to 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band and a maximum of 600 Mbps on 2.4GHz
band. This performance is possible thanks to the dual-core 1.3GHz Marvell 88F6820 CPU (some
reports suggest that the actual clocking is 1.6GHz, similarly to the newest WRT1900ACS), which
is backed by 512MB DDR3 RAM and 128MB flash storage.
We tested the LINKSYS WRT1900AC by pairing it with another WRT1900AC in bridge mode and
we got some good results.
On the 5GHz band (802.11ac) and at 10 feet, the router scored 518 Mbps and at 100 feet, we
measured approx 340 Mbps. On the 2.4GHz band and at 10 feet, the LINKSYS scored a
maximum of 171 Mbps and at 100 fee we measured 55Mbps.
Using the router as a NAS, through USB 3.0, we got 84 MBps for writing and around 103 MBps
for reading, making the WRT1900AC faster than some dedicated NAS servers.
Setup
LINKSYS WRT1900AC has an user friendly interface, setting up the router is pretty straight
forward and you will have it running in about 5 minutes.
The basic interface lacks in terms of features, the router being created for custom, third-party
Open Source firmwares, like Tomato, OpenWRT or DD-WRT, which can truly show the
capabilities of the WRT1900AC.
Still, there are some cool features, like the Network Map, the DLNA media server, FTP and SMB
servers, QoS, Parental Controls and more. But like said before, the router works best with Open
Source firmwares (just like the original LINKSYS WRT54G).
So, at the end of the day, the LINKSYS WRT AC1900 manages to deliver a premium experience,
with great coverage, fast speed and now a better price tag. If you’re a fan of the LINKSYS
WRT54G and want a premium router, the WRT1900AC is a must have.