A single router is judged on its band plan and its port speeds, not on a class number
A single router does three jobs at once — it routes the connection arriving from the line, it runs the radios, and it hands out wired sockets — and the specification sheet mixes all three together. Start with the Wi-Fi generation and its IEEE name: 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be. Each brings a wider channel and a different way of sharing airtime between devices, and each is summarised on the box by a class figure such as AX3000. That figure adds up the theoretical peak rates of the radios inside, computed from the channel width and stream count the standard defines; it is not a rate a connection reaches, and two routers quoting it identically can divide it very differently between bands. The stream count, written 2×2 or 4×4, is the plainer version of the same information. Whether a 6 GHz radio is present, and whether it may be used at all, follows the regulations of the country the unit is sold in. On the wired side, count the LAN ports and read their speed, since a router advertised for multi-gigabit wireless behind four 1000BASE-T sockets has a ceiling nothing on the radio side can lift, and look for a WAN port rated above a gigabit if the line coming in is faster than that. USB sockets, the parental and VPN features published, and how firmware updates arrive round out the picture. We compare Wi-Fi generation and IEEE designation, stated class figure, band count and stream count, WAN and LAN port speeds, port count, USB ports and antenna arrangement.
AC1200 badge over 1167 Mbit/s published · two bands · four Gigabit LAN · four antennas rated 5 dBi in the title and 6 dBi in a bullet · 120 m²
A four-socket dual-band router that publishes both band rates, and gives the same four antennas two different gain figures on the same page.
Best for: A flat of up to about 120 m² with several wired devices, on a connection faster than 100 Mbit/s and slower than a gigabit.
≈ 26 €
Wi-Fi 6 · 802.11ax named · AX3000 badge over 2976 Mbit/s published · two bands rated · AiMesh extendable · no socket published
The only router in this group to print an 802.11 designation, and one of the several to leave every Ethernet socket uncounted.
Best for: A household with Wi-Fi 6 clients that intends to add a second mesh-capable unit from the same maker later.
≈ 45 €
Wi-Fi 6 · AX3000, about 3000 Mbps stated · 160 MHz and 1024-QAM · seven of ten lines unpublished · not one socket counted
A Wi-Fi 6 router that describes its processor down to the core and never mentions a single Ethernet socket.
Best for: A buyer choosing on the radio side and the VPN feature list, who will confirm the socket count with the seller before ordering.
≈ $50 / £43 / 40 €
Wi-Fi 6 · 3000 Mbit/s called theoretical by the maker · 160 MHz and 1024-QAM · two bands rated · no socket, no antenna published
A Wi-Fi 6 router whose own listing calls its headline figure a theoretical speed, and which never counts a socket or an antenna.
Best for: A household with 160 MHz-capable phones and laptops that will take the wired side from a switch or a provider box.
≈ 37 €
Wi-Fi 6 · AX1500, and 1501 Mbit/s published · two bands · three Gigabit sockets · four antennas · a rival model name in the first bullet
A Wi-Fi 6 router whose band rates add up exactly to its badge, and whose opening bullet describes a different model altogether.
Best for: A flat with two or three wired devices and Wi-Fi 6 clients, where WPA3 matters and a USB socket does not.
≈ 31 €
Wi-Fi 6 · both band rates published, no badge printed · four Gigabit LAN · one USB 3.0 · four external antennas · no DSL
A router that publishes the two band rates and never prints the badge they add up to, and the only one of these seven with a USB socket.
Best for: A flat of two or three rooms with four wired devices and a drive or printer to hang off the USB socket.
≈ £87 / 65 €
Wi-Fi 6 · 2.4 Gbit/s stated, exactly 1800 plus 600 · DSL modem built in · VoIP and DECT · not one Ethernet socket counted
The only router here with a modem and a telephone exchange inside it, and the only one whose headline figure is exactly the sum of the two rates printed beneath it.
Best for: A household on a DSL line that wants the modem, the telephony and the radios in one box rather than three.
≈ 150 €
Every price named in a summary was read on the date that review carries. What a shop asks today is shown beside the product, and it moves.
