10 Best Wi-Fi Routers in the Philippines 2025 | TP-Link, Mercusys, Huawei, and More

A router for homes should be able to support multiple connectivity and compatibility with various smart devices in a household. Smart appliances and gadgets, such as TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, or even doorbells with a camera, should all be in a single wireless environment, so make sure that your router can handle it all.

On the other hand, routers in the workplace work differently since the main focus should be wider coverage and better connection management. Ideally, a router must be able to accommodate as many as 250 connected devices and could deliver data to each connection equally or as demanded.

Also, a wider coverage means that the whole office will be covered easily by installing the router at its center. It is also best to look for easy configuration and network management features when choosing a Wi-Fi router for work.

While checking a router's specifications, you might encounter a series of numbers and letters that will look like this—802.11ax. This is called the wireless protocol or Wi-Fi standard, which tells you the router's throughput and range.

Wi-Fi 6 has the most bandwidth capability in current Wi-Fi standards and allows for less bandwidth congestion. Thus, this is your best pick for faster throughput speeds. The several versions that came before Wi-Fi 6, such as versions 4 and 5, also carry 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands but have lower and limited bandwidths. 

There are currently three types of frequencies that a wireless router can use—2.4GHz, 5GHz, and the newly launched 6GHz. While the 6GHz can only be found on limited devices today, most manufacturers ordinarily use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. These routers are called dual-band routers.

A 2.4GHz band delivers data at a slower rate but has a longer and wider coverage. Unfortunately, most home appliances like a microwave or Bluetooth devices can interfere with their transmission. In 5GHz frequency, you will have a shorter range, but the transmission is faster and uninterrupted.

Fortunately, tri-band routers can also transmit both in 2.4GHz and 5GHz, but with an added 5GHz band to extend their bandwidth. This enables 5GHz gadgets to exploit the frequency and enjoy higher speeds. Gamers with newer consoles and devices prefer this since it has lower latency, larger data delivery, and less interference.

Like computers, a router has a central processing unit (CPU) and a random-access memory (RAM) to perform its functions properly. Router CPUs with more cores and faster frequencies can upscale their performance, while a larger RAM can handle more threads. 

These components can dictate the speed and output of the router in terms of network traffic management. These components can also make or break a router's performance and might serve as a bottleneck if unconsidered. Look for a router with a quad-core CPU or a multi-core processor and at least 512MB of RAM and flash memory.

Routers normally have rear slots for a local area network(LAN), a Multi-Gig terminal, or a USB port to accommodate wired connections. While wireless connectivity offers convenience and portability, having a wired connection will always be better in terms of data delivery speed and low latency. 

It also serves as an option if you're having issues with your wireless network and want to be prioritized in the bandwidth allocation. Gamers will always favor a wired connection over a wireless one due to latency and bandwidth speed. However, the bundles of wires can be an eyesore if left scattered around your space.