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Buying Guide: Cheap Wireless Routers
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In a typical home, the Internet broadband router is, more often than not, the beating heart of the network. It lets your cable or DSL modem do its thing, protects you with a firewall, handles the numeric morass of external vs. internal network addressing, and even struggles valiantly to keep the kids safe from Internet predators. The best of them can cost $250 and up, so is it even worth considering the models that cost $150, $100, or even less? Definitely.
True, our Editors' Choices in this category are generally high-performance, all-doodads-enabled boxes like the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link WRT600N or the D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855). But that's 'cause we're geeks and like that kind of thing. Remember, many of these routers are powerful enough to be the center of an office network, not just a home setup. For some buyers, that's overkill. For home buyers looking to make value the top priority without sacrificing too much in the way of features, we've reviewed several good options recently.
The Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110) and the Linksys Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Router (WRT160N), for example, are both sub-$100 routers. And while they don't offer near the feature set of the WRT600N, they've got all the basics a home buyer is looking for: decent throughput, the ability to connect to both wireless-g and wireless-n, a firewall, parental controls, and even traffic smoothing for Internet gaming. Where they fall behind is in real high-performance Wireless-n throughput (above 200 Mbps), highly granular network and traffic settings, and such advanced features as enabling a multitude of back-end servers. Nothing most home users will miss.
And if high-speed throughput is what it's all about for you, you're still not out of options. Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR3300) costs about $100 or a little more but handles both 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz wireless-n with impressive throughput for its price point. Again, you'll sacrifice advanced features for the lower price tag, but all the basics are there. If an extra $50 bucks isn't a problem, you have even more choices, including the Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT310N), the SMC SMCWGBR14-N Barricade N, and the Trendnet 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Router. All of these offer a different mix of price versus features, however, so do your homework and read our reviews before buying. If the bargain router you're looking for isn't on this list, keep checking our site: We'll be reviewing more soon. Note, as always, that the notes presented here are capsules of the full reviews. To read more, click the links below.
Routers for $100 and under:
Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110)
The WRT110 comes at a very low price for a router that can talk to wireless-n clients. But because it has a slightly buggy install routine, slow performance, and little in the way of cutting-edge features, you'd probably be better off paying a bit more for something else.
Linksys Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Router (WRT160N)
Thanks to a great price for a true draft-n router, the Linksys WRT160N is a good choice, as long as your home networking needs aren't too advanced. For example, there are no Gigabit Ethernet or USB connections on this model.
Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR3300)
The WNDR3300 sells at a great price for a dual-band router, if all you need is a basic wireless setup and a good multimedia streamer. It offers good performance and has an easy initial install and nice QoS features. If you need high performance at long distances, this isn't the router for you, however; nor does it offer Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Routers in the $100–160 range:
Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT310N)
The WRT310N is the new look of Linksys home routers. Not only does it have a sleek new case, but the EasyLink Advisor setup and management software has gotten a facelift and upgraded features. The result is a pretty new home router at an attractive price, whose one large fault is that it runs at 2.4 GHz only.
SMC SMCWGBR14-N Barricade N
The nicely priced SMCWGBR14 Barricade N has a decent feature set and performs very well at long range. But it lacks 5-GHz capability and could use better throughput at the 20-foot-and-under range.
Trendnet 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Router
This is a decent router, with a good software package. But before you can get to the software, you've got to get past the frustrating installation wizard. While it does "n" only in the 2.4-GHz band, performance is adequate, and it's available at a good price, considering all the features it offers.