Intelligent Connection– Smart Connect directs clients to the less congested band and Airtime Fairness optimizes the time usage. Jill, a mesh system will be the best option. I agree that WiFi 6 will be overkill for now since most of your home devices I guess do not support wifi 6 anyway.

Earlier we gave an example of a tri-band router and explained that its AC3200 naming did not mean that it offers a wireless network at 3200 Mbps but three wireless networks, two of which work at a theoretical maximum of 1300 Mbps. You could assume that the top speed you get is 1300 Mbps, but that would be, again, false. This is because ALL manufacturers of networking equipment such as WiFi routers, don’t use real-life measuring environments, like people’s homes and apartments. They do their measurements in specialized labs so that they can claim the maximum possible speed. Here’s what they tend to do, to calculate the total maximum bandwidth: System Requirements : Microsoft ® Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Vista ®, XP ®, 2000, Mac OS ®, UNIX ®, or Linux ® When looking to buy a new WiFi router (or a complete mesh system) customers are faced with some technical jargon and specs that it’s hard to understand (unless they are tech-savvy people). Here is how the “ ACxxxx” specification was born. It means basically that the wifi device supports the 802.11ac standard and its sub-variations in wireless speeds represented by the 4 numbers after the “AC” part. As of Oct.2020 there are only a few smartphone models and laptops that support the new WiFi6 standard (e.g iPhone 11, Galaxy S10).

Thanks for the article. How do I know the range of the routers ? I live in 1500sq ft apartment where I am not much concerned about the speed but the range in all the rooms Smart Connect helps your router automatically switch each device's connection to the best available WiFi band while Airtime Fairness prevents older devices from slowing down your network. With both, everyone can enjoy a smoother, buffer-free WiFi experience. The original 802.11 standard has gone through multiple iterations and improvements such as 802.11b/g, 802.11n etc with the purpose of increasing wireless speeds and transmission efficiency among other improvements. Personalized Management–Advanced features like Parental Controls, Guest Network, and Access Control provide individualized toolsfor network management. Thanks for a great article, you do a great job breaking down everything. I feel very informed making a decision on the setup for my parent’s home based on this article.

I live in a 3000 Sq.Ft single story home. I had an ARRIS 6141 cable modem connected to a Netgear WNDR 3400 router. The Archer C9 supports IPv6, the next generation of Internet protocol, future-proofing the network you are setting up today. What speed AC do you recommen? AC1900, AC2200, or AC3000 Cable modem speed with router and at least with 2 LAN ports For my Laptops. The rest are wireless.

We have mentioned a lot the two frequency bands that AC WiFi routers operate, namely the 2.4Ghz and the 5Ghz bands. TP-Link Mesh means Deco units work together to form one unified network. Your phone or tablet automatically connects to the fastest Deco as you move through your home, creating a truly seamless WiFi experience. § dual-core processor ensures no interruption when simultaneously processing multiple wireless or wired tasks Everything considered, we are quite impressed by the TP-Link Archer C9 AC1900 Dual Band Wireless Router. It offers an impressive feature set considering the price positioning of the unit, competing with a significantly more expensive units. We were also very impressed with the level of build quality offered by the router.