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Buying Guide: The Top Wireless Routers for the SOHO
There seems to be a never-ending supply of new Wi-Fi routers coming onto the market; choosing the right one can seem like an overwhelming task. The fact that your router is the heart of your network compounds the pressure. And, if the network you're buying for is a critical part of your business, well, that just makes it worse. Fortunately, we've tested the best (and worst) routers on the market, so you can buy with confidence.
The router you should choose depends on several factors, including the size of the area you are trying to cover with wireless signal, how many users will access the router, and whether you need additional features in addition to the router's basic functionality.
What extras should you consider? If you are running a business from home, you may need more security than the WPA2 encryption available in today's routers. VPN service is something to consider in these cases. Home office users also often make business calls using Skype or perhaps a videoconferencing service. In that case you will want to ensure that these calls get enough bandwidth to convey a professional image. So a router that has traffic optimization and QoS (Quality of Service) that will allow for prioritizing VoIP traffic over others type of traffic on the network is ideal for home office use.
Here we present you a round-up the best routers for home office entrepreneurs. These routers are among the highest-rated we've tested in the lab and listed are a few of the features that make them ideal for SOHO users and small business networks.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP
ZyXEL MWR102 Travel Router
$29.99 MSRP
Entrepreneurs are usually on the go, logging many miles during business trips. Small business users would be wise to invest in a portable router, such as ZyXEL's MWR102. Many hotel rooms, conference rooms, and even meeting halls, have one lone wired Internet connection. Or they offer Wi-Fi that is used by so many others it makes getting any work done nearly impossible. With the MWR102, you plug in a wired Internet connection and create a wireless hotspot on the fly for access only by your devices. Its tiny form factor makes it an extremely portable device, but it's still powerful and can operate as an access point or wireless bridge.
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Asus RT-AC66U Dual Band 3x3 802.11AC Gigabit Router
$189.99 MSRP
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The Asus RT-AC66U not only provides fast throughput speeding up performance of your network, but it also offers several small business-class features. Among them are full VPN support and the ability to create up to six guest networks. This is handy for a business that may frequently have clients on-site. You can give clients access to your Internet without accidently giving them access to data on the network.
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Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 Smart WiFi Router (R7000)
$199.99 MSRP
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Home office users should take a look at the Nighthawk. First, it's one of the few consumer routers to offer full VPN. With VPN you can access your home office and data from anywhere at any time, via a secured connection. Another small business-friendly feature the Nighthawk is a free customizable URL for creating a free FTP server—a great way to share and access data with collaborators or customers. Most business owners still need a capable printer; with the Nighthawk, you can use Netgear's ReadyShare printer feature for easy setup of wireless printing.
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Cisco RV110 Wireless-N VPN Firewall
$70, street
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Cisco's RV110 is a three-in-one device: It's a router, a VPN appliance, and a hardware firewall. Small or home offices with a few users connecting to the same wireless network would be interested in the RV110. The VPN capability provides remote access into the office network (and the resources on that network). The hardware firewall provides hardened security for your small business network against cyber threats and attacks. Finally, this future-proofed device is IPv6-ready. When IPv6 becomes more widespread, you won't have to worry whether your small office network router is compatible.
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