Best wireless router for gaming and hd streaming

Each individual's unique needs should be considered when deciding on chosen products. Go to Reviews. Watch our video reviews on. Home Security Home Security Reviews. SimpliSafe Google Nest Secure vs. What is Home Security Monitoring? Internet Reviews. Verizon Fios Spectrum vs. Mobile Reviews. Verizon T-Mobile vs. What Carriers Use Verizon's Network?

What Carriers Use Sprint's Network? Home » Internet Service. Best Wireless Routers for Streaming. Best overall. Bandwidth allocation control. App has limited controls. See on Amazon. Best mesh Wi-Fi. Cheaper than similar mesh systems. Google account required. Best for speed. Excellent range and speed. Best budget pick. Good range and solid speed. Only USB 2. Best for gaming. Ping stabilization option.

Speeds lag behind other routers. By Catherine McNally. Published on January 05, This is a high-speed, reliable Wi-Fi 6 router that boasts a handful of features for hard-core gamers.

Have younger gamers at home? It also provides good parental controls like content filters to block unsuitable material, with pre-set profiles for children of different ages. The Asus RT-AC is one of the best gaming routers — it has a collection of advanced features, making online and network gaming as lag and frustration free as possible.

This includes a straightforward yet powerful interface, as well as comprehensive QoS settings. The spider-like design is somewhat of an acquired taste, but the eight antennae serve a purpose since they can be used to direct the Wi-Fi signal throughout your home, providing this router with remarkable range. You should take a look at something like the Netgear Nighthawk XR Not only will this elite gaming router deliver a ridiculously fast 2.

The Asus RT-AC is a fantastic high-end gaming router that is filled with a bunch of striking features. This includes an incredibly simple yet powerful interface, on top of comprehensive QoS settings.

Brimming with the latest MU-MIMO support, which boosts speed when multiple devices are connected to the same network, this gaming router prides itself on its performance capabilities.

However, it justifies its price with crazy It comes with a good range of ports, as well as a nicely designed UI.

Get smart home reviews and ratings, video reviews, buying guides, prices and comparisons from CNET. First up is the first gaming router I'd recommend to most people, and a router I'd recommend to just about anybody, truth be told.

We liked that previous model for its fast, steady speeds, its impressive lineup of gamer-centric features and its strong finish in our latency tests.

Whenever I test a router, I end up logging at least different speed test results, including the ping time it takes for the router to send a signal to a remote server and receive a response.

Most routers do pretty well, save for the occasional spike. Latency spikes like those can be a killer when you're gaming online -- but fortunately, the RT-AX86U earned the lowest average ping time of any router I've ever tested, never spiking any higher than 25ms.

That's an outstanding result. Beyond managing lag, Asus also boasts an excellent router app and web control interface for easy setup, along with helpful features like a quality-of-service engine, a mobile boost mode for gaming on your phone and lots of other ways to optimize your connection. Plus, the design is gamer-friendly without being too over-the-top. If you want a gaming-minded wireless router upgrade but you're worried about buying more than you need, look no further -- this gaming router hits the sweet spot.

It held its own on the speedier 5GHz band, too, beating out several wireless routers that cost significantly more. Die-hards will likely want more features focused on their gaming experience and performance, but the DIR gaming router at least includes a quality of service engine to let you prioritize gaming traffic above other types of network traffic. That's enough for most -- especially if you don't want to break the bank on something fancier. Just note that it's getting difficult to find this model in stores, as stock seems to be running low.

We'll update this space once we find another affordable option that we like as much. In fact, the GT-AC was one of the top finishers in terms of average download speeds, latency and range. It offers the same excellent suite of gaming features as other gaming routers from Asus, including a customizable Quality of Service engine and game-and-platform-specific open NAT port-forwarding rules. If you're looking for a router with gaming-minded key features and design, but you're also interested in multipoint mesh networking, then take a look at the Amplifi HD Gamer's Edition from Ubiquiti.

It wasn't a standout in our lab-based top-speed tests, but with plug-in range extenders that are about as easy to use as it gets, it excels at spreading a stable, speedy Wi-Fi signal from room to room.

On top of that, the unique, attractive design doesn't take up an obnoxious amount of space -- and with a touchscreen on the front and LED lights around the base, you'll actually want it to sit out in the open, where the mesh router performs better. You'll also appreciate the app's easy-to-use features, including a dedicated low-latency mode that can help you tweak your connection and avoid lag on multiple devices. Along with seeing how today's gaming routers stacked up against one another, I wanted to get a sense of how they compared with the sort of standard routers that you might be tempted to upgrade from.

Given that a few of these gaming routers use next-gen Wi-Fi 6 technology, I made sure to test a few other Wi-Fi 6 routers, too. All told, that left us with more than a dozen routers to test. Here's the full list, from least to most expensive prices as of Jan. Testing routers is a tricky business. Wi-Fi connections are finicky, with lots of variables and key features that will affect your speeds. We do our best to account for those variables in our tests, but some factors are beyond our control -- and beyond your router's control, too.

For instance, your home's specific internet service provider connection is like a speed limit for your router. If you're paying for speeds of up to, say, 50 megabits per second, then your router won't transmit data from the cloud any faster than that.

The average ISP download speed in the US is somewhere around Mbps, while those living in areas with access to fiber connections might enjoy speeds of , or -- if they're really lucky -- even 1,Mbps. Read more : The best racing wheels and pedals for iRacing and your budget. The privilege of link aggregation delivers high speeds to streaming devices, leaving a seamless visual experience.

Large households with multiple TVs will find their match in this router. The link aggregation in Archer A20 brings the possibility of utilizing a multi-gigabit speed internet connection and reach top band speeds of Mbps on 2. It can cover large homes ranging from to sq ft. Archer A20 delivers fast data transfers within the home network with its USB 3. The presence of 4 LAN ports should leave you adequate room for wired high-speed connections to your TV or other streaming devices.

The perforated square black chassis measures 7. Weighing close to 1. A dual-core processor clocking at 1. The combination of MB Operating memory and MB flash storage is crucial for its ability to support simultaneous connections.

Tether application from TP-Link brings forward a user-intuitive design to keep things easier for the non-tech savvy personnel. From installations to remote monitoring, navigations within the app remain easy. Archer A20 brings free lifetime internet security through TP-Link Homecare to keep your network safe from viruses and other malicious contents.

Robust parental controls, efficient QoS, WMM are part of the application that brings more value to the router. The simultaneous Tri-band operation, and dual-link aggregation, backed up by a potent hardware combination at a competitive price, keeps the Archer A20 above its much faster Linksys E With an upgraded processor and an improved RAM capacity, Linksys brings the E router the ability to handle the latest wireless standards. A suitable choice for small business units like executive lounges and sports centers.

A high-speed fiber-optic connection of 1 Gbps will complement the high-speed capability of the Linksys router. Its ability to achieve speeds of Mbps on 2. The addition of a USB port falls right into place for small businesses to share printers within the network, although the choice of USB 2.

The vertical standing router comes with a shorter base and a hardly noticeable demeanor measuring 6. The shining black octagonal frame gives a premium feel to the chassis that holds 4 internal antennas. Linksys has a dual-core processor operating at 1. The initial configuration is performed through the web-based setup. It is rather simple enough, one might overlook the lack of a mobile app. The Parental Controls can be handy for blocking websites and limiting exposure.

In Deco X20 , TP-Link enhances both the operating and storage memory, which gives the mesh system its capacity to handle smart devices in automated homes. The two-pack routing unit comes with the strength of a strong processing unit, making it a perfect long-range router for a modern home. With a high-speed fiber optic internet connection , the device can rake up to Mbps on 2. The two-pack system brings the freedom of placing the satellite units to cover areas as large as sq ft.

Each unit comes with two ports, limiting the number of wired connections to a minimum. Nonetheless, the mesh system brings the ability to handle up to devices, including smart home gadgets.

The short cylindrical tower sports a minimalist white design that will fit into any household. Each unit stands 4. TP-Link puts together a quad-core processing unit that clocks at 1GHz. The synergy of MB RAM and MB storage is crucial to its ability to handle plenty of devices, including multiple instances of 4K streaming and online gaming. Each unit houses 4 amplified internal antennas. Deco application comes with the privilege of an auto-connection test that assists you in finding the optimal placement for your routing units.

A fairly simple installation process and the comfort of remote monitoring and control make this deco app a value addition.