Overview of wireless broadband Routers

A Wireless Broadband Router is also a type of router. Therefore, its basic functions are the same as those of a router. However, as a wireless product, its access network is implemented wirelessly. So what's special? Please refer to this article for more information.

◆ Basic structure of a Wireless Broadband Router

One function of a Broadband Router is to connect different networks and select information transmission lines. The other is to achieve communication with a broadband Modem. In terms of concept, a Wireless Broadband Router is like a simplified PC. Its Hardware includes a processor, memory, and Flash memory. Currently, wireless broadband routers on the market generally use x86 or ARM7 processors. It features low energy consumption and is equipped with high-speed cache, memory management, write buffer, and JTAG simulators. However, the processing speed is slow and suitable for broadband routers with a small number of users; however, wireless broadband routers using x86 processors tend to offer better routing speed and are suitable for scenarios with a large number of users. Of course, we do not have to worry about this when choosing a Wireless Broadband Router, because it only involves the routing speed of large networks, without affecting the speed of Internet sharing.

◆ Important technical indicators

Relatively speaking, when selecting a Broadband Router, we should pay more attention to broadband compatibility, the number of user ports, as well as practical features such as NAT, DHCP server, firewall, and FTP server. In addition, broadband routers with DMZ host, access control, logging, and status monitoring functions can also help us.

Some simple broadband routers do not have the built-in Hub function. Therefore, Uplink and Hub must be used to connect to the client. It may be unexpected that such products are often relatively high-end and support many clients to share the Internet. However, they are not suitable for small-scale users such as families and school dormitories, it is costly and occupies a lot of space. Relatively speaking, the four-port Wireless Broadband Router is more worth choosing. It not only provides Internet sharing, but also supports local area network connection, and automatically allocates IP addresses for management. As for more than seven broadband routers, the high price may make us unacceptable, and the practical value is not great. Before selecting a Broadband Router, we must clarify the bandwidth compatibility. In general, the current mainstream products support ADSL/Cable Modem, but not necessarily for ISDN.

◆ How to measure the routing efficiency

Throughput, latency, and packet loss rate are three major indicators to measure the performance of a broadband router. The higher the throughput, the more powerful the device can process data packets. This improves the performance when multiple users request data at the same time. The delay time indicates the speed at which the Broadband Router processes data packets. The smaller the delay time, the less it will consume on the network speed. Packet Loss Rate refers to the percentage of packets that are not forwarded due to lack of resources under stable load. This indicator can be used to evaluate the affordability of a router under overload conditions.

In the home LAN environment, because the number of users is small, you can ignore the routing efficiency problem. However, once the products are applied to the office environment of small and medium-sized enterprises, these problems have to be considered. Generally, a router can be divided into a high-end router and a low-end router, but the standards of different manufacturers are not completely consistent. Generally, products with more than 1 mpps of packet switching capability are called high-end routes. products with less than 1 mpps of packet switching capability are called low-end routes. You can refer to this technical indicator of the product.

◆ Experience WiFi and determine wireless network standards

The difference between a wireless router and a Wireless AP is whether to provide the routing function. However, the names are generally mixed. In fact, you can think of a wireless router as a common router with a broadband access port and a routing function.

Compatibility is extremely important for any product, and wireless routers are no exception. Before selecting a wireless router, you must identify the Wi-Fi logo. In fact, compatibility was very important at the beginning of wireless devices. However, due to various reasons, some old models did not pass the IEEE 802.11b certification, which made it impossible to work with a few wireless NICs. Generally, as long as the wireless router has the IEEE 802.11b certification, we can rest assured of its compatibility. In addition to the IEEE 802.11b standard, we can also see wireless network devices that support the IEEE 802.11b + or IEEE 802.11g standard, but the price is high and you need to decide which standard to adopt based on your needs.