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 over 867 + 300 Mbit/s · two bands · four Gigabit ports · four 6 dBi antennas · 1 GHz processor · WPA2-PSK
A dual-band AC1200 router whose Amazon.com listing publishes both band rates, four Gigabit ports, four 6 dBi antennas and a 1 GHz processor, and stops at WPA2.
Best for: A small home on a connection under 500 Mbit/s with a few wired devices, where the price matters more than Wi-Fi 6.
≈ $36
Wi-Fi 6 · IEEE designation not published · 1.8 Gbps across two bands · four 1 Gig LAN and a separate 1 Gig WAN · no USB · antennas not described · WPA3 and automatic firmware updates
A Wi-Fi 6 router that publishes its port arrangement properly and WPA3 out of the box — on a page that says no subscription is needed and then sells one.
Best for: A flat or a small house where the four wired sockets and the automatic updates matter more than the number on the front.
≈ $50
Wi-Fi 6 · AX3000 = 2402 + 574 Mbit/s · 160 MHz and 1024-QAM · 1 WAN + 3 LAN Gigabit · WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, PPTP and L2TP server and client
A Wi-Fi 6 router whose Amazon.com listing splits its AX3000 badge into two band rates, counts four Gigabit ports and names five VPN protocols, as server and client.
Best for: A household that wants a VPN server or client on the router itself and three wired devices, on a connection of up to a gigabit.
≈ $50
Wi-Fi 6 · AX3000 = 2402 + 574 Mbit/s · 1 WAN + 4 LAN Gigabit · one USB 3.0 · four external antennas · VPN server and client
A Wi-Fi 6 router whose Amazon.com listing gives the two band rates, four antennas and a VPN server and client, and leaves the ports and the USB socket to TP-Link's own page.
Best for: A home with four wired devices and a drive or printer to hang off the USB socket.
≈ $75
Wi-Fi 6 · IEEE designation not published · AX3000, 3 Gbps, two bands · four streams · four 1G Ethernet ports · USB 3.0 · 1.7 GHz quad-core processor · 160 MHz channels · built-in VPN, no protocol named
A four-stream AX3000 router whose Amazon.com listing names its 1.7 GHz quad-core processor, its 160 MHz channels and a USB 3.0 socket, and never says which VPN it runs.
Best for: A busy household wanting a router that will not stumble under load, with a drive left on the USB socket.
≈ $113
Wi-Fi 6 · 802.11ax named · AX1800, broken out as 1200 and 574 · two bands, 6 GHz excluded in writing · port count not published · no USB · four high-gain antennas and an FEM chipset · OpenVPN and PPTP server
The only router on this shelf that states in writing that it has no 6 GHz band, breaks its class figure into the two radios that make it, and names its VPN server by protocol — and never counts its Ethernet sockets.
Best for: A household that wants Wi-Fi 6 and a VPN server, and will find out the socket count from the photograph.
≈ $55
Wi-Fi 6 · 802.11ax named · AX3000 badge over 2976 Mbit/s published · two bands rated · AiMesh extendable · no socket published
One of two routers here to print an 802.11 designation, sold on the European Amazon stores, and one of 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.
No Amazon.com offer on October 26, 2026
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.
No Amazon.com offer on October 26, 2026
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.
No Amazon.com offer on October 26, 2026
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.
No Amazon.com offer on October 26, 2026
WAN port speed is the ceiling on everything coming in. Above it, the Wi-Fi generation changes nothing.
Port count decides what connects by cable without adding a switch.
The sum of theoretical rates on all bands. No device reaches it, because none uses every band together.
An independent radio path. Several streams allow talking to several devices, or faster to one, if it can use them.
The published band count says what the router has. One more band gives breathing room where the neighborhood is busy.
It limits what comes in from outside. Its speed is published separately from the LAN ports'.
The standardized name of the generation, published beside the commercial one. It is the reference that lets two brands be compared.
The device stays limited by its own radio. The gain comes mostly from handling many devices at once.
That depends on the installation and on what the provider allows. This site describes no setup.
Yes, with a switch. The published count only says what is on the router itself.
A router is read on three separately published figures: stream count, WAN port speed and LAN port speed. The number glued to the name is the sum of nothing usable.
The table shows only the data published by four devices in five. Under that threshold, a column compares empty fields.
| Model | Price | Band count | Stated class figure | Wi-Fi generation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenda AC10 | $36 | Two — 5 GHz at 867 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz at 300 Mbit/s, stated in the first bullet | AC1200, up to 1.2 Gbps — stated in the title, with both parts in the first bullet: 867 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 300 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz, which come to 1167, so the badge rounds up by 33 | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac Wave 2) — not named on the Amazon.com listing; Tenda's product page gives 802.11ac Wave 2.0 |
| Cudy WR3000 | $50 | Two — 5 GHz at 2402 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz at 574 Mbit/s, stated in the first bullet | AX3000 — stated in the title, with the parts in the first bullet: 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz, with 160 MHz channels and 1024-QAM. Those come to 2976, so the badge rounds up by 24 | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the first bullet |
| NETGEAR Nighthawk R6700AX | $50 | Two — the fourth bullet names 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. No 6 GHz band is claimed | 1.8 Gbps across the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands — stated in the title and in the fourth bullet as a single sum. The two bands are not broken out, where the Archer AX21 gives 1200 and 574 separately. It is the theoretical sum of the radios rather than a throughput | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the first and fourth bullets, with backwards compatibility to Wi-Fi 5 and earlier named in the fourth |
| TP-Link Archer AX21 V5 | $55 | Two — 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, stated in the second bullet, with the first ruling out a 6 GHz band in as many words | AX1800, broken into its parts — the second bullet gives 1.8 Gbps total as up to 1200 Mbps on 5 GHz and up to 574 Mbps on 2.4 GHz, which sums to 1774 and rounds to the label. It is the theoretical sum of the radios and no single device sees it | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the first bullet, which also states outright that dual-band routers do not support the 6 GHz band. It is the only listing on this shelf to exclude that band in writing |
| TP-Link Archer AX55 | $75 | Two — 5 GHz at 2402 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz at 574 Mbit/s, stated in the first bullet | AX3000 — in the title; the first bullet gives the parts, 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz, which come to 2976 | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the first bullet |
| NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX36 | $113 | Two — the title gives dual-band gigabit internet. No 6 GHz band is claimed | AX3000, up to 3 Gbps, dual-band — stated in the title and in the second bullet. The description adds the condition that explains it: 160 MHz channel support, which a four-stream AX3000 needs | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the second bullet, with the description adding that it is 2.7 times the speed of the previous standard |
| ASUS RT-AX52 Pro | — | Two — stated with a rate each: 2.4 GHz at 574 Mbit/s and 5 GHz at 2402 Mbit/s | AX3000 — stated in the title, with both parts published: 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz and 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz, which come to 2976, so the badge rounds up by 24 | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title |
| FRITZ!Box 7530 AX | — | Two, each with a rate and stated as simultaneous — 5 GHz up to 1800 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz up to 600 Mbit/s | Up to 2.4 Gbit/s — stated in the title without an AX prefix, and it is exactly the sum of the two published band figures: up to 1800 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and up to 600 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz, used at the same time | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and written WLAN AX in the first bullet |
| HUAWEI WiFi AX3 New | — | Two, each with a rate and stated as running at the same time — 2.4 GHz at up to 574 Mbit/s for wider coverage and 5 GHz at up to 2402 Mbit/s for speed, with automatic switching between them | 3000 Mbit/s — stated in the title, and described in the first bullet as a theoretical speed reached with 1024-QAM and a 160 MHz channel, made of up to 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz and 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz. Those come to 2976, so the headline rounds up by 24 | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title |
| MERCUSYS MR1500X | — | Two — stated: 5 GHz at 1201 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz at 300 Mbit/s, with Smart Connect choosing between them for each device | AX1500 — stated in the title, and quoted as up to 1.5 Gbps made of 1201 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 300 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz. Those two come to 1501, so this badge matches the arithmetic behind it | Wi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the first bullet |
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for network and storage gear and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure in this table names its source.
Most recent revision in this category: October 26, 2026.
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.
