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The wireless router market has traditionally been occupied by Linksys and Netgear. These two companies make some of the best wireless routers that appear in the market today. Belkin has also recently become a big player- especially in the high speed consumer wireless router market and has some of the best home routers of 2013 offering for speed critical applications like video streaming and gaming.

The biggest categorization of wireless routers appear with respect to the wireless standards that they support. The LAN standards go by the name of 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n. This is also the order in which these standards launched. The later ones are faster and also more expensive. So 802.11n is faster than 802.11g which is faster than 802.11a which is again faster than 802.11b (802.11b did indeed come before 802.11a). The best routers of 2013 will most likely be the 802.11n routers because they support the highest transfer rates. However it should be noted that the 802.11n standard is not supported by a vast majority of devices currently so may not be the best investment for 2013. For the best routers in 2013 you can safely stick to the 802.11g versions also because for most typical application excluding very high speed gaming, the older versions are good enough. And if you have a budget constraint, you could also check out our list of best budget wireless routers.

Check out our list of best wireless routers, top rated by some of the best reviewers of wireless routers.

Browse All Top Wireless Routerss »

Asus RT-AC68U

Asus RT-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 Dual-Band Gigabit Router


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Asus RT-AC68U
Apple AirPort Extreme (2013)
Netgear Nighthawk R7000
D-Link DIR-868L
Asus DSL-N55U
Asus RT-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 Dual-Band Gigabit Router
Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station A1521 (ME918LL/A)
Netgear Nighthawk R7000 AC1900 Smart WiFi Router
D-Link DIR-868L AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router
Asus DSL-N55U Wireless Router
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Release Date
Sep 2013
Jun 2013
Sep 2013
Apr 2013
Mar 2013
Router Functionalities
Firewall, VPN Pass-Thru, DHCP Server, Wireless Access Point
Firewall, Wireless Access Point, DSL Modem
Firewall, VPN Pass-Thru, Wireless Access Point
Firewall, VPN Pass-Thru, Wireless Access Point
Firewall, Wireless Access Point, DSL Modem
Connectivity
Wireless
Wireless
Wireless
Wireless
Wireless, Wired
Included Adapter
Power adapter - External
Power adapter - External
Power adapter - External

Features powerful hardware, faster Wi-Fi technology, and useful features

Supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi, is easy to use, and offers solid performance

Relatively affordable for a top-notch home networking device

Offers fast data speeds, solid Wi-Fi coverage

Good interface, Reliable storage features

  • Rating Unavailable