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The 5 Best Routers For Verizon Fios Internet

wi-fi 6e routers

The 5 Best Routers For Verizon Fios Internet

Shopping for a Verizon Fios internet service router can be tough if you don’t know where to start. You have to consider a couple of things, like your home’s size and the features that best suit your personal network.

We did some sleuthing to find the best five routers for Verizon Fios Internet in the market. Here are our top picks based on features, coverage and compatibility with Verizon’s service.

  • Best Overall Router for Verizon Fios Internet: ASUS
  • Best Budget Router for Verizon Fios Internet: TP-Link
  • Best Mesh Router for Verizon Fios Internet:
  • Best Gaming Router for Verizon Fios Internet: Netgear
  • Best Premium Router for Verizon Fios Internet: TP-Link

Best Overall Router for Verizon Fios Internet: ASUS RT-AX3000

Connect Your Entire Home
ASUS Wi-Fi 6 Router (RT-AX3000)
$150.75
  • Maximum range: 3,000 sq. ft.
  • Next-gen Wi-Fi 6 technology
  • 575 Mbps on the 2. 4GHz band, and 2402 GHz on the 5GHz band
  • AiMesh technology lets you establish a stronger mesh Wi-Fi system
  • AiProtection Pro protects all the connected devices on your home network
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
03/10/2024 08:41 am GMT

Easily the best Wi-Fi 6 router, ASUS utilizes dual bands to deliver long-range coverage and optimal wireless speeds.

MU-MIMO is present to deliver consistent connections to multiple devices. The RT-AX3000 is also mesh-compatible, using ASUS’s AiMesh system to cover even larger homes.

WPA3 encryption means your connection is secure, a noted improvement over previous security protocols. Coverage is ideal for medium to larger homes, covering 3000 square feet with the base unit. This can be extended through the installation of mesh nodes.

The RT-AX3000 is also compatible with Alexa, allowing you to manage Wi-Fi settings through Amazon’s popular smart home assistant. Installing the RT-AX3000 is simple, with the ASUS Router app helping you integrate it into your home network.

For the price point and the feature set, RT-AX3000 is a fantastic router for anyone looking for a combination of speed and affordability.

Check out the ASUS on Amazon.

While it lacks some speed and amenities of its more expensive counterparts, the TP-Link provides a quality product that won’t break the bank.

TP-Link Archer AX10 packs a ton of features into a low-cost router. The AX10 can utilize its four antennae to provide optimal coverage across a wider area and boasts up to 1.2 Gbps speeds. The range isn’t ideal, only covering two to three bedrooms by TP-Link’s estimation. This is readily fixable, however, since it supports TP-Link’s OneMesh system.

Installation is manageable and relies upon TP-Link’s tether app to get the device up and running on any network. Companion apps like this are great because they can provide step-by-step instructions and useful metrics in an easily understood format.

Advanced features like Adaptive QoS and triple channel broadcast aren’t present, but it does support dual-band transmission. The AX-10 is Wi-Fi 6 enabled, meaning it supports 802.11ax and a plethora of older protocols for devices that can’t take advantage of the newest technology just yet.

Check out the TP-Link on Amazon.

One of the more expensive routers to integrate into a home network, the

provides feature parity with many of its competitors.

Mesh networks provide good quality connections and speeds across a whole home with the installation of satellites. The Deco Mesh allows up to 100 devices to establish simultaneous connections and supports transfer speeds of 1.1 Gbps on wireless. The three-pack allows for coverage of up to 5500 square feet, and additional nodes are available for purchase. As a budget mesh system, this presents good value and allows for a cost-effective alternative to covering the whole home with your wireless network.

Beamforming and quality of service by devices are present, and there is a robust suite of network controls to allow for locking down a child’s wireless device past a certain hour. Installation is done through the TP-Link Mesh app, allowing status updates for all installed mesh satellites on the network.

Check out the

on Amazon.

Best Gaming Router for Verizon Fios Internet: Netgear Nighthawk XR700

The Netgear is a router built for gamers and offers transfer speeds of up to 7.2 Gbps across 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.

Nothing is worse than a latency spike during an intense online gaming match. Usually, this was mitigated by using ethernet cabling directly to your console or PC. Still, modern gaming routers like Nighthawk XR700 provide quick connections with minimal lag and no fuss of routing cabling from the back of the router.

XR700 is a premium choice for those who take their games seriously. The ethernet ports also have an impressive transfer rate, providing up to 10 Gbps to those who choose to take advantage of them. Installation is provided through Netgear’s Nighthawk app, which also allows for administration, network metrics, and benchmarking of your connection.

Other features include geofencing or allowing for boundaries to be set to the nearest servers for lower latency, QoS based upon application, and metrics showing heatmaps for ping and other network utilities. Seven ethernet ports adorn the back of the router, allowing for hardwired connections if desired.

Check out the Netgear on Amazon.

For those who want the best-in-class, look no further than the TP-Link, a quad-band router that provides future-proofed connectivity without compromising speed or features.

The AXE16000 supports four separate bands beamformed through a four-bedroom home, allowing for blistering speeds of up to 4.8 Gbps. Wi-Fi 6 is supported, with 802.11ax allowing for backward compatibility for your older devices while allowing future devices to take full advantage of your Verizon Fios plan.

Support for mesh networking is present, utilizing TP-Link’s OneMesh technology. The back panel also houses 10 Gbps ethernet ports, allowing for speeds beyond usual ethernet support. Also present is TP-Link Homeshield, a network security suite that scans for threats, provides parental controls, and allows for the provisioning of Quality of Service for devices that require network priority.

While AXE16000 is well beyond the others on this list in terms of price, it has handy features that ensure your route will remain relevant for years.

Check out the TP-Link on Amazon.

How To Pick The Best Router: Step-By-Step

Picking the ideal router for your home network can be a difficult task. Having to consider what suits your needs does require a few criteria. Some factors to consider when choosing your router are as follows:

  • Price
  • Features
  • Area Coverage
  • Compatibility

Price

Routers come in various price points, ranging from under $100 to over $500 at retail. The good news is any router is undoubtedly capable of delivering wireless connectivity. Whether it can take full advantage of your service plan is another matter. Lower-cost units can certainly come packed to the brim with features, as seen by the Archer AX10.

Where a higher-cost unit may have an edge in being able to deliver connections at higher speeds. More expensive routers maximize performance and can connect to far more devices than their cheaper counterparts.

Features

What features do you value most in a router? The ability to install mesh nodes and cover more of your home? A router’s features and functions are important because they will act as the backbone of your entire home network. Antenna power, mesh compatibility, and ease of router installation are just some things to consider.

Cheaper or older devices might not be compatible with the latest standards, which is something to consider certainly. Dual-channel routers are also attractive, allowing users to utilize high speeds and greater coverage areas in the same network device.

Before choosing a router, research what suits the needs of your home network. If you have a lot of devices running concurrent connections, then a simpler device with basic support might not cut it.

Area Coverage

Homes and the area they encompass can be highly variable. If you have a larger home, for example, a lower power unit might not provide adequate coverage for utilizing your bandwidth. A router should service and be able to provide connections to your home rather than have hot and cold spots where the connection can waver.

With the advent of mesh networking in the home, this can be less of a consideration. But it is important to note that mesh networks, while an ideal solution for covering a wider area, can sometimes present a higher price point.

Compatibility

This is less of a consideration for modern routers, but it is still important to consider which devices your home internet service plan can fully support. While most modern routers are compatible with internet providers, it is important to check your vendor’s compatible device whitelist if available.

What to Know When Buying a Router

Ultimately, the choice of the router depends on what you need out of your home network. As previously mentioned, the price, features, area coverage, and compatibility should all be considerations. When shopping for a router, consider the design of your home network. You don’t need to be an IT guru to know your home needs. If you’re heavily into streaming movies and music, then picking a router with Quality of Service might be more important than delivering a wider area of coverage.

If you want strong connections and high speeds, it might be worth considering the implementation of a mesh network in your home. An avid gamer might not benefit from a device designed to save power in mobile devices and provide stable connections across a wider area. They would ideally seek to prioritize speed and minimize latency to give optimal performance across long gaming sessions.

Using a Router: What it’s Like

Routers serve as the backbone of any small network; without their implementation, there would be no means of wirelessly connecting through your provider’s modem. Installation on modern routers is relatively painless, with companion apps guiding you through all the steps necessary and running the requisite diagnostic tests to verify functionality.

Wireless routers make it so you can use your phone, tablet, console, or any other device that connects to the internet with your service plan. Usually, a name, or SSID, is given to the router, which allows you to search through all available local devices and find yours. From there, if you have a password, which it is strongly encouraged to do so, you connect via your credentials.

Modern routers are fast, much more so than older models. Wi-Fi connectivity, a massive boon for freeing up your devices from cumbersome cabling, could be a little spotty. There have been massive improvements in speed, availability, and ease of use.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is beamforming?

Beamforming is a network technique that allows for a wireless signal to be aimed directly at a device as opposed to wide dispersal across its coverage area. Beamforming is a recent development with Wi-Fi, being introduced with Wi-Fi 6.

It allows for more robust signal strength, which in the past could be compromised due to weak area coverage or interference. Wi-Fi 7 will fully leverage this technique, however, allowing for multiplexing in the home.

Is Wi-Fi 6 needed for a new router?

Regardless of your network’s needs, the committees which develop wireless standards will keep advancing the network technologies and techniques. Wi-Fi 6 is the new standard of wireless connectivity.

So any potential devices still running Wi-Fi 5 are certainly capable at the time of this writing but will be quickly outmoded in the next few years in terms of transmission speed, wireless availability, and the strength and quality of the connection.

 

Is a mesh network needed for smaller homes?

A mesh network’s intended purpose is to provide quality coverage across an area. Whether this benefits your home will be down to the presence of dead spots or weak signal propagation. Dead zones can and do happen in smaller homes and can usually be traced to the building materials, electromagnetic interference, or the presence of devices operating on the same frequency bands used by the network.

Mesh could be implemented in a smaller home, but it does come down to your home network needs and preferences. If your intended network design only requires coverage in specific rooms, and dead zones are present in areas where there isn’t a need for coverage, it might be wise to avoid it for the time being.

 

Would a wireless router or more hardwiring be preferred for a business?

Wireless routers can certainly be used in businesses, and have done so since Wi-Fi was introduced. Where the problem lies with implementing wireless in a business is making sure it is able to provide a quality connection to however many devices are intended to access the network.

Previously, this was done through repeaters, bridges, layer 3 switches, and various specialized and expensive network equipment like mesh networks. However, now you can go to any big box retailer and purchase a wireless router and mesh satellites that are adequate for connecting up to 100 devices while still maintaining a quality connection.

Is there a Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 7 is due very soon, estimated to be roughly a year out from debuting in emerging technologies. The benefits of this emerging standard are iterative upon 6 and 6E. They are focusing on reducing network latency, improving the strength of connections, allowing for more concurrent devices, and overall just being a massive boost to stability and bandwidth utilization.

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