Imagine that your spouse is standing in the bathroom corridor in front of their smart washing machine or maybe streaming yoga lessons on their smartphone and practicing stances. And you? You’re on the PS4 with 5 other highly-agitated adults, playing Warzone. Seemingly separate, you’re joined by one common thing: the use of wireless technology. One block in the pathway, two seconds of buffering, and you’ll hear angry noises right and left!
So to help you make smart choices for your home, to give you the possibilities of seamless HD streaming, signal strength, stable performance, and effortless game streams, I decided to introduce you to the best wifi router for multiple devices and streaming!
What to Consider When Buying a Router for Multiple Devices and Streaming?
Following are 05 features that you can find on your wireless routers to detect its performance excellence to handle multiple devices. Besides that, you will also find out the best tips and tricks to ensure optimal performance from the best routers!
01: Additional Features
Here are the notable features on WiFi systems that you need to look for besides the basics of high speed, wide coverage, and having multiple ports (for LAN, WAN, and USB).
02: MU-MIMO and Beamforming
When you are connecting multiple devices at once, you need to have a feature that will ensure that your devices are free from interfered or hindered signals. That’s when Multi-User – Multiple Input Multiple Output and beamforming help.
MU-MIMO accelerates data speed and lets you stream from multiple locations by improving data transmission and reducing wait time on the network connection. On the other hand, beamforming will reduce connection interruption, enhance unidirectional wireless signal and extend it.
03: QoS
The Quality of Service ensures that you get priority network traffic in some activities more than the others so that your office call over Skype gets more bandwidth over your child downloading Baby Shark songs. This is super helpful in handling multiple devices in your network.
04: CPU and RAM
A powerful processor that can transfer data without much of a CPU load. So opting for Tri-core/Quad-core processors and high RAM will let the devices run seamlessly.
05: Tips and Tricks
Safety tip: Instead of relying on WEP security standards that have fragile power, you should opt for routers marked with security of WPA2 or higher. This will protect your multiple devices simultaneously from unwanted access and malware.
Speed trick: Add another router and access point beside your existing one to reduce the load on your home network. If that doesn’t increase the speed, call your ISP provider to check on the bandwidth. And if that doesn’t help, save up and invest in a mesh system.
Different Kinds of Router for Multiple Devices
There are two different kinds of routers that we spoke of here, the Tri-band router and the Dual-band router. Both of them perform well with multiple devices. Let’s take a look at how they’re different.
You get two frequencies on dual-band routers: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. On the other hand, a tri-band router offers you an additional 5 GHz band.
This additional bandwidth cuts down on the congestion or interference from networks and gives you a higher speed, letting you include various devices with various frequencies in the network.
Since tri-band routers raise the bandwidth, handle systems with more ease and reduce wait time on them, you pay more for these.
What Do You Mean by WiFi 5?
When you think of wireless routers, the two things you foremost associate with them is speed and frequency, which in turn are determined by some standards set by IEEE.
Now, IEEE sets different WiFi standards by defining the number 802.11 with letters and other specifications. So a Wifi 5 is essentially 802.11ac.
If your router reads 802.11ac, it is WiFi 5 compliant and was made after 2014. Most homes have a WiFi 5 network.
What Do You Mean by Wi Fi 6?
Now, we’re jumping onto the new generation of WiFi networks, with an upgraded standard altogether called the 802.11ax.
This has better technologies than the WiFi 5 (obviously!) and is the best for crowded scenes like airports, super large restaurants, and stadiums, thanks to the 40% more peak data rates and 4X network efficiency.
Any router-marked WiFi 6 was released after 2019.
Mesh WiFi Router and Its Needs
You know that one friend who shared tiffin with everyone at school? Mesh routers are like that. They share the network across multiple devices by extending the coverage in your home.
Who needs something like that? You mean, who doesn’t! But if you have a 2/3-storied home with many inner walls, you definitely need a mesh router to let the WiFi surpass all the dead zones and reach your devices.
If you don’t have any such setting, even then, you could qualify for a mesh system. When you want the benefits of easy management of their WiFi across the home and across the smart devices when you’re not at home, the remote management through apps in a mesh system is Godsend. It can help anyone and everyone in need of rescue from the slow internet!
How to Install Your Router for Multiple Devices
Installing your router is more than plugging in this and that and seeing some symbols and green lights on the router. To properly install one, follow these steps:
- First, have your pick. This depends on how many devices you have. Do you need a standalone router or a mesh system? While mesh requires you to pay more, having a standalone router with an extender to increase coverage may also help if you’re looking for more coverage.
- Now, decide where you will be placing the router. Central space of your house with less obstruction is perfect. With a standalone router and extender, you will need some trial and testing before you find the right place. With a mesh system, you only need to install a node where the coverage is the weakest and place it anywhere it serves you best.
- Take your ethernet cable and connect it to the Internet/WAN port of the router. Now take the other end of the ethernet cable and connect it to the ethernet port of the modem.
- After this wired connection, turn on your modem. Plug your router into the wall socket and turn it on too.
- If it is a mesh system compatible with your phone, you can configure the rest from the App. If not, connect the LAN port of your computer with the ethernet cable and enter the address on the router in the browser, like 192.168.1.1. Then, set up your username and password.
- Use this SSID and password to connect the devices in question to your WiFi system, and you’re done!
Final Words
So you now know all about the best wifi router for multiple devices and streaming! If you ask me, you’ll find yourself raving about the GRYPHON AC3000 Mesh WiFi System for its excellent security, superior control, and granular-level personalization ability across the home network and the network resources.
And the close contender would be the TP-Link Archer AX6000 WiFi 6 Router as it features lesser wait time on each device, efficient use, and high coverage. An honorable mention goes to the TP-Link Archer AX10 WiFi 6 Router for its signal strength, speed, and reasonable budget!
For an upgraded home network system, you couldn’t ask for better options. But let us know if you found any home wifi router rivals!
