Best and Most Powerful Travel Routers | Great Portable Options
Today, more and more devices are becoming smart…TVs, tablets, cars, phones and more. Smarter devices are more efficient than their classic counterparts. Internet connections are really important and essential for updates and maintenance. This is where wifi routers come in handy as they can really increase your internet speed.
The best wifi routers will enable you to access the internet via multiple devices simultaneously. For instance, you can make long distance VoIP calls from your smartphone, stream videos using your smartTV, access files stored in your PC via your tablet and more. There’s a lot of benefits of having a good Wi-Fi router. However, there are different types of routers hence should go through a wifi router review before making your order.
NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000
Best Portable Routers for Travel
NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000 Dual Band Wifi Router Review
Hardware Review
R7000’s impressive hardware makes it outstanding when ranking wifi routers available in today’s market. It comes with a Broadcom BCM4709 Wi-Fi chip which enables it to offer wireless speeds of up to 600Mbps. It also contains a TurboQAM which boosts stream speeds from 150Mbps to 200Mbps.
This magnificent wifi router has a dual-core CPU running at 1000MHz, USB 3.0, and 256MB DDR RAM and 128GB storage space.
Specs and design review
Generally, Nighthawk R7000 is a large router. Weighing about 1.6 pounds, it measures 1.97 by 11.22 by 7.26 inches in size. You can mount it on the wall or place it in a horizontal position. To prevent it from sliding or slipping, NetGear placed rubber feet on the router.
Product Diagram
Pros
- Offers an excellent range.
- Full VPN capability.
- Sleek and impressive design.
- Steady performance at 5GHz band throughput.
- Affordable and excellent to be used for home networking.
Cons
- Bulky.
- Takes time to apply settings.
- Its 2.4 GHz is a bit slower than that of its competitor.
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Types of Wi-Fi Routers
Single band and Dual band routers
Today’s wireless routers operate using two bands; 2.4GHz or 5GHz or both. Single band routers are the ones which operate only through the 2.4GHz. On the other hand, dual band routers are those which can transmit signals in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. In addition, for a router to be classified as a dual router, it’s capable of operating consistently under B, G and N modules with stable speed and good connection.
Type depending on generation
So far, there are three wifi router generations – B, G and N. The B modules were the first generation which were succeeded by G modules and later the N modules. According to wifi router review, users should always go for N modules as they are faster and more stable.
How to choose the best wireless router
Are you a home or heavy user?
Heavy duty gamers, business owners or multimedia fanatics will always go for Netgear’s Nighthawk router as it’s more powerful. However, if you are a homeowner, you should stick to classic single band routers.
Take a look at the band(s) offered
Most devices are compatible with 2.4GHz bands. Therefore, you should go for a 5GHz band router which is not only faster but also consistent.
Does it offer Ethernet ports?
Ethernet connection offers faster internet speeds than Wi-Fi connection. Therefore, you should go for a router which offers wired connectivity.
Security
If you are interested in controlling what users can access via your router, go for the one that has Access Controls. Today, most routers come with standard WEP security and WPA or WPA2.
CONCLUSION
Netgear’s R7000 is the second best router in today’s market. It supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands plus a full VPN feature. Even though its asking price can be high, its splendid features are totally worth it.