Comparing reviews of wireless routers
For this report, we found more than two dozen sources with up-to-date reviews of the latest wireless routers, a change from prior years when reviewers lagged behind the latest wireless-networking technology. One major exception is ConsumerReports.org; it hasn't tested wireless routers since 2007, and its report is filled with old models and outmoded technology.
Computer magazines and websites do a better job covering top wireless routers. The best ones test routers in home-like lab setups and/or real homes. SmallNetBuilder.com, a website dedicated to small networks, conducts superb comparison tests on the latest wireless routers, but its reviews can get very technical. CNET, PCMag.com and PC World (Australia) also test a lot of popular wireless routers, and their write-ups are easier to digest. A few reliable sources (MaximumPC.com, PC Authority (Australia) and Government Computer News) have rounded up some of the latest routers and tested them head-to-head to pick a winner. And although ConsumerReports.org has neglected wireless routers, its counterparts in other countries -- Which? magazine in the U.K. and Choice magazine in Australia -- both publish up-to-date wireless-router comparisons that include popular U.S. models.
Second-tier review sources (including the major computer magazines PC World, Laptop Magazine and Macworld) conduct solid tests on fewer wireless routers. For the final judgment, owner reviews at Amazon.com and Newegg.com are vital. Owners aren't experts, but some of these routers get hundreds of reviews -- and if dozens of people say a router has lousy range or won't hold a connection, you'll probably want to skip that router.
After six years, the 802.11n Wireless-N standard was finalized in 2009 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Nothing has changed about the technology -- if you own a Draft 802.11n router, it's the same as the final standard -- but older technologies like Wireless-G will begin to fade away. See our "What to Look For" section for more about wireless standards.
Watch out for so-called N150 or "N Lite" routers. Experts say these confusingly-named budget routers make you think you're getting 802.11n technology when you're not. "These are a marketing experiment aimed at luring unsuspecting shoppers who think they are buying something that will make their G devices work faster and/or go farther (they will do neither)," says SmallNetBuilder.com's Tim Higgins, who urges consumers not to buy them. "They are pitched as cheaper alternatives to real N routers, but in the end they aren't a good deal."
These wireless routers are not 802.11n-certified. They support only 150 megabits per second maximum data link -- half that of a real Wireless-N router. In The New York Times, Yardena Arar warns against the Belkin N150 (*Est. $40) and the Linksys WRT110 (*Est. $60). Higgins includes those on his "Do Not Buy" list, along with the Netgear WNR1000 (*Est. $70), D-Link DIR-600 (now the D-Link DIR-601 (*Est. $35)) and Linksys WRT120N (*Est. $50). That last one is "particularly bad, since it is named 'Wireless-N Home Router' with no mention in its marketing material of its 150 Mbps maximum 'speed," Higgins says.
