When you’re in the market for a new wireless router, you are bombarded with numbers and specifications. Many routers have marketing gimmicks that claim higher speeds if you purchase both the router and wireless adapters from the same brand. There are also plenty of brand names to choose from: Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Belkin, and the list goes on. Your standard wireless router today is going to run on the 802.11g standard, although many are backward compatible with 802.11b. That’s the most important specification that you’ll look at, so finding the best Internet wireless router in a sea of them can be difficult to manage, but there are a couple tools at your disposal.

Basic to Advanced

With many avid networking specialists, the best Internet wireless routers are the ones that give them a lot of options. The ability to be flashed with third party firmware seems to be a significant option networking enthusiasts look for. Such options make setting up VPNs and tweaking speeds much easier and opens up new possibilities. The average consumer, however, can save a few bucks by going with a less expensive model with some of those options disabled. The best Internet wireless routers for the average consumer simply work without any hassle and can be set up within minutes.

Security features are also important to the best Internet wireless routers. The most recent standard is WPA2 (Wi-fi Protected Access 2), which was created to provide better security over its predecessor, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). You don’t have to set up any security features with your router, but it’s heavily recommended to at least enable some basic encryption and use passwords on your network. Also, a new standard, 802.11n, while not released yet, is nearing the final phases of testing. It will be an improvement over 802.11g, but the currently released 802.11n draft equipment does not offer significantly improved performance, so consumers would do well to stay away from such equipment until the standard is set in stone.

The best Internet wireless routers can be had for anywhere from fifty to one hundred dollars. Any less and you start to run into shoddy craftsmanship – any more, and you don’t gain a substantial amount of options for your dollars. Performance and option wise, you can squeeze a little more out if you pay a lot more, but most people can get a quality router for just $50 or so. Also, most wireless Internet router setup is the same, so you shouldn’t run into any trouble when you create your wireless network and connect all your computers to it.

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