Cheap wireless routers aren’t always bad!

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When you read the phrase “cheap wireless routers,” you’re probably focusing on the word “cheap,” aren’t you? Well don’t. In this case, I’m simply referring to the cost of the router, not necessarily the build quality. Certainly there are routers out there that are both cheap cost-wise and build-wise, but with a little bit of knowledge you can readily avoid those pitfalls and find great deals on these solid routers. It doesn’t take much effort either; a little research and a little know-how go a long way to finding something that’ll work for your home and office.

Alright, so let’s get started. The first thing you want to do is keep in mind is that you really should stick with major brand names that are well-trusted in the industry if you want to keep away from the bad ones. Names like Cisco, Linksys (one in the same these days), and Belkin are just three of the major names that you’ll see when you wander around the store or do any shopping online. While you may not consider any of these a cheap wireless router (some of the Linksys/Cisco models can really get up there in price depending on how robust it is), you can still find good deals on them. For example, a common household Belkin can go for as little as $50, and that’s for the solid Wi-Fi versions. If you choose to go with a wired router (not really useful for household applications anymore), you could even save $20 off of that price. That is, if you can still find wired routers! They’re becoming less and less prevalent unless you use it for a large business that requires the security of a private wired system.

So what’s the best cheap wireless router? That’s tough to say, really. I’ve always been fond of Cisco/Linksys, but I’ve also used the Belkin brands and those are just great as well. I’ve also used Netgear, though I personally had less than a good experience with that one.

Connectivity issues galore. Keep in mind that none of these routers are exactly foolproof; you’ll have issues here and there that you didn’t expect. Even my nice cheap Linksys wireless router (bought for $40) has had the tendency to kick the internet offline if two computers are on it at the same time. It doesn’t do it often at all, but it happens rarely. But hey, for $40, it does its job 99.9% of the time. That’s about what we can expect unless you move up to something that costs in the hundreds or thousands.

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