Buying guide for Best gaming routers
It's not much fun to play when your game keeps freezing up or you constantly find yourself a step behind everyone else. You acted first, but it doesn't matter because by the time the signal gets to the game server, your character has already lost his last life and all of your possessions have been taken. You're going to have to start over from scratch. Again. This frustration has nothing to do with your skills. Your router just can't keep up with the heavy demands of online gaming.
A gaming router could turn things around. The best ones allow you to play at your full potential. You could become a champion, owning whatever world you set foot on.
Key considerations
What does a gaming router do?
The most basic routers are mail carriers. They take information (data packets) from one place and deliver it to another. A router communicates with other routers to determine the best route to take to deliver that information. It will send your data packet from point A to point B to point C. However, if there’s a problem at point B, your router will find an alternate route to get your data to point C.
Since online gaming can gobble up your bandwidth, and you can't afford to freeze up in a critical situation, gaming routers have special features that allow them to get a little more involved in deliveries. For instance, a gaming router can prioritize your gaming data packets to make sure they’re delivered and received promptly. It can keep an eye on every device on your home network and let you know when they’re hogging the network.
When you’re a gamer, the three crucial aspects of your internet connection are upload speed, download speed, and ping rate.
- Upload speed: This is how fast you can send data. Mostly, you’ll notice this when emailing large files. If you’re using video chat while gaming, however, having a slow upload speed could impact your real-time engagement with other players. Also, if you want to stream your session, you’ll need to be concerned with upload speeds. The absolute minimum needed for gaming is 1 Mbps (megabit per second).
- Download speed: This is how fast you can receive data – it’s important for downloading webpages and streaming videos. You will need a faster download speed than upload speed, but that works out fine because services provide much faster download speeds than upload speeds. The impact is felt in situations when more than one gamer is online or someone starts watching a movie while you’re playing. The absolute minimum needed for gaming is 3 Mbps.
- Ping rate: This is what's important in gaming. It is the delay you experience when you send a signal to the game server. If you're playing a first-person shooter game and you come face to face with an adversary, the victor won't be the most skilled player; it will be the one with the least delay (the lowest ping rate). For gaming, you'll want something under 150 ms (milliseconds), which equals 0.15 second.
Gaming router features
Gaming routers have many essential features in common, but different companies give them different names to make them sound more cutting edge or unique. The following are some key gaming router features to look for. Remember, not every gaming router will have all of these features, and some are either/or options. Ultimately, you’ll need to determine which features provide the best solution for your particular situation.
Beamforming
Beamforming is a technology that can significantly boost your WiFi signal using phase amplitude. It doesn't amplify the entire signal; it just increases signal strength at a designated location where the radiating waves from multiple antennas cross.
Design
Most gaming routers feature a sleek, dangerous, or futuristic design. If the look is important to you, find one that meets your aesthetic sensibilities. Just remember that a cool design doesn't translate to a better model.
Diagnostics
The best gaming routers can monitor usage over your entire home network. This information shows you what devices might be hogging up your bandwidth and allows you to make the necessary adjustments so you can have the best gaming experience.
Directional antennas
A directional antenna focuses your WiFi signal like water coming out of a hose instead of radiating out like ripples in a pond. It’s possible to achieve a greater range with this type of antenna, but it will only be in one direction.
Easy configuration
Some gaming routers require a complex setup that involves a bit of knowledge or experience to properly configure. If you aren’t comfortable with this, look for a router that’s easy to set up. Some offer push-button technology so the user doesn't need to have any experience or knowledge to get up and running.
Ethernet ports
These ports allow for a wired connection. A physical connection offers the greatest potential for speed.
Filters
Filters allow you to block players or servers that add to your lag time. Some may allow you to blacklist or whitelist specific individuals, while others work on more general conditions, such as distance.
Link aggregation
This technology allows you to combine multiple Ethernet connections into one link in order to boost your throughput.
Mesh router
A mesh router blankets your entire home by utilizing a series of satellite modules or nodes that have been strategically placed throughout your home to get rid of all the dead zones in your WiFi network.
Parental controls
If you want to create restrictions for accessing dangerous or inappropriate sites, you’ll need a gaming router with a parental control option.
Quality of Service
For the best gaming experience, look for a router utilizing Quality of Service (QoS) technology. This feature allows you to prioritize your bandwidth. In other words, you can keep what's important to you – gaming – from being put on the back burner when someone else begins a massive download.
Privacy and security
Anything you do online leaves you vulnerable to attacks. The best gaming routers make your network private and have protocols to help protect your personal information. But to be the most effective, you’ll need to take an active role and follow all the security instructions in your user's manual.
Gaming router prices
The price of gaming routers ranges from a simple, no-frills wireless router for $15 to a bells-and-whistles, top-shelf model with the ability to prioritize your bandwidth and decrease lag time for $450.
Around $70 to $180 is where you can find the best value. In that range, gaming routers offer some impressive features, but the price tag isn't out of reach. Be careful, however, because if you don't read the fine print, you could wind up with one that doesn't actually do what you thought it would do.
Once you go above $240, you'll likely find everything you need, but the higher price could cause you to balk.
Tips
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Be aware of game ratings, such as maturity, language, and violence levels.
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Never reveal any personal information to other players. A red flag should immediately go up if another gamer asks you for personal information.
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Downloading "cheats" is a good way to get a computer virus.
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Cyberbullying may happen during gameplay. During gameplay, children can be manipulated into doing things they normally would never do.
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It’s possible to become addicted to playing online games.
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The average gamer is 35 years old. Voice changers can allow adults to sound like children.
FAQ
Q. What is a DDoS attack?
A. Digital denial-of-service attack. During this type of attack, a server is targeted and flooded with unwanted traffic from a wide variety of sources until the network slows down or goes offline. Your IP address is all someone needs to make you a target. Some gaming routers come with additional security features to lessen the chance of a DDoS happening to you.
Q. What is a VPN?
A. A VPN is a virtual private network. It provides a secure connection between two private networks that need to communicate over the internet. This type of connection offers greatly increased security. In gaming applications, it may also help lower ping rate.
Q. The router I am renting from my internet service provider has more than enough speed. Why should I be worried?
A. The speed your router offers is finite. Every device you have running takes a nibble out of that speed. Often, it isn’t the actual speed that is a problem; it’s prioritizing which device gets the first bite. Your home router doesn't care if you’re gaming or watching an HD movie, but your gaming router has your back.
