Home Router Purchase considerations

A home broadband router is a broadband router with a smaller number of users, such as a 4LAN-port router, which allows 4 computers to surf the internet at the same time. If a home/dormitory/small office has multiple computers that need to be connected to the Internet at the same time, using a router to form a small local area network, sharing a broadband access account is a better choice. However, in the purchase of routers should pay attention to choose performance price more appropriate products, or perhaps because of the pursuit of the function and the price is too high to cause waste, or because the price is cheap but the quality of the router is too bad to affect the internet, causing endless trouble.

Based on the experience of using routers, when buying a home broadband router, first of all, to the desired brand of the router and its quality status, model, router prices and so have a certain understanding, in order to choose a trusted router brand. Now common in the market for home broadband Internet router brands include: Huawei Router, Tp-link router, Golden Wave router, Cisco router, Tengda router, d-link router and so on. With the help of the Internet, it is easy to understand the basic situation of the router, such as through the router brand, model and other keywords in the search engine for retrieval, to see the relevant reports and user comments, you can buy a router for decision-making reference. For example, if the "Huawei router" as a keyword in Baidu search engine for search, you can see a lot about Huawei Router quotes and other market information and Huawei router configuration methods, Huawei router use precautions. However, if the "Tp-link router" as a keyword search, in the search results of Baidu can see a lot of tp-link router quality complaints, such as "tp-link routers frequent drop-line problem", "tp-link the quality of the router is poor", " Tplink Router upgrade failed to do "and so on, in some related forums also have a lot of users to describe the quality of the router encountered problems, to these users complain more of the router brand, you should be careful.

When the initial selection of the brand of the router, the next step is to consider the function of the router, technical parameters and prices and other factors. According to the information on the online router purchasing guide, the following aspects can be summed up in the functions of the router.

1, router "gateway" type, or "Agent-type"

First, determine whether the selected router is a gateway type or a proxy type. The fundamental difference between the two is also in the gateway type does not have the flexibility to configure the function, and the proxy type has a flexible configuration function, which of course, reflected in the router configuration function. In the family application, now three family, usually in order to limit the child's Internet access time and improper network application, need to the child's special computer access to the right to make appropriate restrictions, so in the purchase of home routers need to pay attention to see the purchase of the router configuration function is applicable.
The broadband access mode supported by routers is very important, especially for ADSL users who adopt virtual dialing methods. Because some routers only support special-line routing, no built-in virtual dial-up protocol PPPoE, of course, can not provide dial-up services for virtual dial-up users, routing functions can not be achieved. Some routers also only support one or several broadband access methods, such as most of the support adsl/cable modem mode, and do not support the community broadband access mode, users should choose to use the broadband access mode to understand well, of course, the vast majority of support for all the current types of broadband access mode. If the broadband access mode is the Community broadband mode, it should be noted that the router's WAN port best choice to support 100Mbps, because the community broadband is easier to upgrade to 100Mbps in a short time.

3. Number of Router LAN ports

Traditionally early routers typically provide only a small number of 1, 2 LAN Exchange ports, while WAN (wide area network) ports typically have multiple, because it is not used to connect to the LAN, but to connect to different WANs. While the home broadband router applies a different focus, it is connected to a WAN is usually only one or 2, while the LAN port has several user connectivity requirements, so today's broadband routers usually also provides 4 to 8 switch ports for shared users to connect. In this way, users will not need to purchase additional switches or hubs to save network equipment investment in the case of fewer shared users. So when choosing a router, as a home user, there are usually fewer than 4 computers, so be sure to choose a switched LAN port that provides enough applications for the shared user to connect directly. Of course, broadband routers must have more than one WAN port (for broadband access, such as ADSL or community broadband).

4, LAN port bandwidth occupancy mode

In addition to the need to pay attention to the provision of adequate LAN port, now some of the brand's broadband router to see the appearance and other brands are no different, but also provides 4 or so LAN port, but it is the use of the hub's shared bandwidth, rather than the bandwidth of the switch exclusive way. Typically, the bandwidth of these ports is shared 10Mbps rather than 10/100mbps. This has a greater impact on the network communication rate, especially for users with high-bandwidth Internet applications, such as video-on-demand, real-time 3D online games, etc. Be sure to ask when choosing a broadband router.

5. Whether the router supports NAT service

NAT is "network address translation", with this service router can convert all LAN users IP address to a single Internet IP address, so that the IP of the internal network to play a role in shielding, protect LAN users. However, most routers support this service at present, simply check their instructions or ask for a reseller.
For the convenience of user configuration, the vast majority of broadband routers now provide Web interface configuration functions, users through the ordinary browser can be seen that the resulting configuration, convenient and easy to do. But there are some brands of routers do not provide this type of network management, only provide command-line router configuration, which for the unprofessional computer users, the difficulty is greater, should pay attention to ask clearly.

7, other auxiliary functions of the router

Today's broadband router manufacturers, in order to maximize users, usually in their router products in addition to providing basic routing and LAN port switching, but also provides such as firewalls, print servers, DHCP, VPN and other ancillary functions, depending on the need to choose, of course, there are some small differences in price. For home users These features are basically not available, so be careful to see clearly, do not need to spend some meaningless money. However, many broadband routers now offer one or more of these functions, and rarely provide only routing and several LAN port functions, so if the price is not related to the situation, can be targeted choice, otherwise it is really difficult to find. Because these broadband routers at the beginning of the design is not only the face of home users, but more of the face of small business users, for enterprise users of the above function may need.

8, the price of the router

After deciding on other factors, the price of the router is the biggest factor. Now commonly used 4LAN Port home Broadband router price of more than 100 yuan, brand good may be about 150 yuan, some of the difference as long as dozens of yuan. In the same situation, you can consider buying a little cheaper, but do not pursue prices too much, because the quality of the router for the Internet to bring a lot of trouble, affecting the normal work and life, if you are back and forth to repair the router's time loss and transportation costs, even if the purchase of a router cheap dozens of yuan is not cost-effective.

9. Service Problem of Router

To the router's after-sales service, such as warranty, replacement period and way to understand, some bad manufacturers often do not provide long enough warranty period, the so-called "shifting" is not to say that your router has a problem when you change a new one, and may change to you another after the return of factory maintenance of the same model router, Often it won't be long before it breaks down again. For example, the article mentioned in Baidu to retrieve a 4-port broadband router, many readers said that the router manufacturers in different ways to deceive.