Router Buying Guidance

acid1011 · September 10, 2017

I need to buy a router for Wi-Fi in home use.
A maximum of 3-4 devices will be connected at a time.
Need coverage for 3-4 medium sized rooms.

Also ill use a wireless adapter to connect to my pc which will be used for playing online games such as CS GO and Over watch.

Questions:

1.What are the criteria i should look for when buying a router?
2.Which wireless solution for pc should i go for? Should i get a USB dongle or those PCI cards with antennas?

Thank you

Mira Yurizaki · September 10, 2017

22 minutes ago, acid1011 said:

1.What are the criteria i should look for when buying a router?

First and foremost is the bandwidth and wireless standard the router supports. For example, if you only have 802.11n adapters, don't get an 802.11ac wireless router. Otherwise aim for 802.11ac, since it offers high bandwidth and is in the 5GHz spectrum which at the moment isn't typically crowded like the 2.4GHz spectrum that 802.11n runs in (though technically 802.11n can run in 5GHz, but a lot of routers don't support that).

I'd avoid getting extra features unless you think you really need it.

Quote

2.Which wireless solution for pc should i go for? Should i get a USB dongle or those PCI cards with antennas?

As long as the antenna can be moved around easily, it doesn't matter. If the antenna gets fixed close to the PC, the PC's case itself can block RF signals, which can degrade reception.

Another thing to consider is placement. Make sure you don't have sources of interference or objects that can block RF.

acid1011 · September 10, 2017

5 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

First and foremost is the bandwidth and wireless standard the router supports. For example, if you only have 802.11n adapters, don't get an 802.11ac wireless router. Otherwise aim for 802.11ac, since it offers high bandwidth and is in the 5GHz spectrum which at the moment isn't typically crowded like the 2.4GHz spectrum that 802.11n runs in (though technically 802.11n can run in 5GHz, but a lot of routers don't support that).

I dont know what most of this means have really minuscule idea about networking and stuff. Can you dumb it down for me?

Mira Yurizaki · September 10, 2017

4 hours ago, acid1011 said:

I dont know what most of this means have really minuscule idea about networking and stuff. Can you dumb it down for me?

All you need to know is

Bandwidth is how much total data the router can pass around. If it has a bandwidth of 1.3Gbps, then it can only manage up to a 1.3Gbps speed. So if you have a computer that's managing to use 1.3Gbps, nobody else will be able to talk over the network until the computer is done talking.
802.11n and 802.11ac are just things you have to match up.
2.4 GHz and 5GHz are also things you have to match up, but 802.11n usually only runs on 2.4GHz and 802.11ac only runs on 5GHz
2.4 GHz is crowded in the sense that many electronics, including non-wireless routers, use this spectrum. To the router and computer, it's like there's a crowd of people trying to talk to each other so it's harder for them to talk. 5GHz has less electronics on it so it's easier for them to talk.

acid1011 · September 12, 2017

On 9/10/2017 at 8:35 PM, M.Yurizaki said:

All you need to know is

Bandwidth is how much total data the router can pass around. If it has a bandwidth of 1.3Gbps, then it can only manage up to a 1.3Gbps speed. So if you have a computer that's managing to use 1.3Gbps, nobody else will be able to talk over the network until the computer is done talking.

802.11n and 802.11ac are just things you have to match up.

2.4 GHz and 5GHz are also things you have to match up, but 802.11n usually only runs on 2.4GHz and 802.11ac only runs on 5GHz

2.4 GHz is crowded in the sense that many electronics, including non-wireless routers, use this spectrum. To the router and computer, it's like there's a crowd of people trying to talk to each other so it's harder for them to talk. 5GHz has less electronics on it so it's easier for them to talk.

http://www.startech.com.bd/d-link-dir-816?sort=p.price&order=DESC&limit=100
Im looking at this. is this okay?