Netgear RangeMax Next Wireless N Router

If you're thinking of buying a wireless router for the home there are a number of things to consider. The first thing is 'am I going to use the wireless function'. Bizarrely many people have wireless routers and don't bother using the wireless component.

The second thing to think about is range. Consider the thickness of your walls, the material they're made from and the size of your home. One access point should cover an average 2 bedroom European-sized apartment or home with plenty of space to spare, but a U.S.-sized 4 bedroom home might need more than one device. The easiest way to link multiple routers together in one room is to use Ethernet over Power adapters, such as the Homeplug AV. These use your electrical wiring as network cables and are usually plug-in and go.

You should also think about the type of wireless networking you want. There are 3 main standards in use (there are others but I won't go into them here); B, G and N.

B was the first standard to be widely adopted for home networking and provides up to 11mbit/second. This is enough for basic Internet sharing, but don't expect to stream movies with this.

G is probably the most common standard in use and most 'G' routers support 'B' as well. 802.11G (to give the full name) supports up to 54mbit/second and is enough for streaming standard definition movies, music and for games consoles and Internet sharing. I have about 5 devices on my wireless 'G' network at home and find that generally things work fine, although I did have trouble with my Apple TV and HD content.

The newest standard, 'N' provides up to a mighty 248mbit/second, faster than most wired network connections in most homes. The actual standard hasn't been finalised so most routers and devices you see on the market will be 'Draft N'. This doesn't mean that there's any serious problems, but simply that the device is built for an earlier version of the standard. Future final 'N' standard devices should be compatible with Draft N devices but if you're unsure, check with your vendor. Draft N is ideal for HD streaming, working with large files and Internet connection sharing with large amounts of devices.

The final thing to look for in a router is the security settings for Wireless encryption. The original standard, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) has been broken and can be broken in seconds (see the video below). The followup WPA is fairly strong but you're best off with a WPA2 device. If you're buying a Netgear Rangemax NEXT router you're in luck: WPA2 should be available out of the box.