It's hardly surprising that sales of routers and mesh WiFi systems have soared in the last year or so. The 'new normal' has seen many of us working and studying at home, and making Zoom calls on a daily basis. And, of course, the long months of lockdown have meant that we're all spending more time than ever streaming music, video and playing games online.
And now, just as things seem to be settling down a little, there's another reason to think about buying a new router. For many years, our computers, routers and other devices have all used a WiFi standard known as 802.11ac. But, after a bit of a slow start, the latest version of WiFi has finally hit the mainstream. The technical term for this new standard is 802.11ax, although the companies that make routers and mesh systems have put their heads together and come up with the more user-friendly brand name of WiFi 6 (and, just to confuse matters even further, the older 802.11ac has retro-actively been renamed as WiFi 5).
WiFi 6 has actually been around for more than a year, but hardly anyone was using it until relatively recently, so a WiFi 6 router really wasn't an essential purchase. However, the latest Macs, iPhones and iPads are all now equipped with WiFi 6, as well as computers, smartphones and tablets from many other manufacturers too. So, with more and more devices now equipped with WiFi 6, it only makes sense to consider WiFi 6 when buying a new router. And, for larger homes that need more than a single conventional router, there are also new 'mesh WiFi' systems available that use WiFi 6 as well.
The benefits of WiFi 6 are obvious. It's seriously fast, with a theoretical top speed of 10Gbps, which is more than twice that of WiFi 5. However, WiFi 6 is also designed for the future, and the Internet Of Things (IoT), and includes features such as OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) that make routers much more efficient when transmitting data to lots of different devices at once. That includes your computers and mobile devices, of course, but also other types of smart devices, such as speakers, light bulbs and security cameras too.
Not everyone will need WiFi 6, though. You really don't need to spend £400 for a 10Gbps WiFi 6 router if your home broadband tops out at just 100Mbps. And, of course, you don't need a WiFi 6 router if - like me - you're still using older Macs and iOS devices that only have WiFi 5 (although WiFi 6 routers are still backwards-compatible with Macs and other devices that have WiFi 5). If you're on a budget and only need modest speeds from your home WiFi, then you can certainly save some money by sticking with an older WiFi 5 router. You can also opt for a less expensive 'dual-band' router that transmits on the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequency bands, or pay a little extra for a 'tri-band' router that adds an additional signal on the 5.0GHz band.
There's no doubt, though, that WiFi 6 is the new standard for the future, and prices are coming down all the time, so it's certainly worth considering WiFi 6 if you're thinking about a new router. With that in mind, we've rounded up a combination of affordable WiFi 5 routers, and more advanced WiFi 6 models that will meet the needs of all Mac users.
We've listed our favourite choices and explained why they're worth your consideration. But speaking more generally, what features should you be looking for in a router?
Speed vs capacity
Speed is always an important factor, of course, and it's certainly worth buying the fastest router you can afford without totally busting your budget. You don't need to get too obsessed about speed, though.
Bear in mind that home broadband services - particularly in the UK - tend to run at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mb/s) or less, so you really don't need to spend £300/$300+ on a top-of-the-range router specced at several gigabits per second. A router like that will just sit there twiddling its thumbs most of the time, waiting for your internet connection to keep up.
But there's a catch when figuring out how much speed you need from your router. Just as important as speed is capacity - the ability to stream data efficiently to several computers or other devices at the same time. That's especially important now that entire households are spending so much time indoors with several family members or flatmates all computing for bandwidth on Zoom, Netflix, Spotify and all those new streaming video services.
There are several factors that can affect the performance of a router when it's streaming data to lots of different devices simultaneously.
Cheaper routers tend to be 'dual-band' models, which means they actually transmit two Wi-Fi signals on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. However, more expensive models may offer 'tri-band' Wi-Fi, which adds a second 5GHz band. As you'd expect, having that extra frequency band available helps the router to stream data to lots of devices more efficiently, as each individual band gets less cluttered than it would on a comparable dual-band router.
It's also worth checking the spec sheet of any new router to see if it supports features such as 'beamforming' or MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output), which are specifically designed to improve performance when streaming data to several devices at the same time (when in doubt, just look for lots of big, pointy antennae sticking out all over the place).
And just as important as the router's hardware design is the app that each manufacturer provides with its routers. As well as helping you to set up the router, a good app will provide additional features, such as parental controls that allow you to keep an eye on your children's internet use, or additional security features to prevent evil hackers from gaining access to your home network and vital personal data.
Which Wi-Fi?
A big change has now come to Wi-Fi technology that it's worth knowing about. For the past few years, most routers have used a form of Wi-Fi technology known as 802.11ac - with many routers having model numbers like 'AC1500' written on the box, indicating that it's using 802.11ac Wi-Fi that is capable of running at 1500Mb/s.
However, we're now seeing devices that support the new 802.11ax standard for Wi-Fi. But, just to make things confusing, the marketing people at all the router companies have decided to call this new standard 'Wi-Fi 6' instead (which, admittedly, is easier to remember than 802.11ax).
New Wi-Fi 6 routers can be expensive, but they promise to earn their keep by providing incredible speeds - as much as 10 gigabits per second on faster models. More importantly, the new Wi-Fi 6 standard is specifically designed for the 'Internet of Things' - connected homes where dozens of devices are all online at the same time, including smart lights and speakers, as well as more conventional devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets.
It's still relatively early days for Wi-Fi 6, and unless you've bought yourself a new iPhone, iPad and Mac in the last year then you probably don't need a Wi-Fi 6 router right now. However, Wi-Fi 6 will become increasingly important in months and years to come, so it's worth thinking about if you've got a little extra cash to spend on a future-proof Wi-Fi 6 router for your home or office.
Mesh networking
No matter how fast your router is, there are many larger homes, and older buildings with thick walls that can block the signal, where a conventional router simply can't provide good Wi-Fi that reaches every single room.
If that's the case in your home then you might want to consider a 'mesh networking' system, which uses two or more routers that link together to create a wider and more reliable network. However, mesh routers are really a different category, so we cover those in a separate article for people that need them: pop over to Best mesh routers for Mac to browse our advice.
