I need a recommandation for a cheap Wifi Router

What Wifi Router would you recommend for domestic use, something that's around £20?
Please, I don't need irony on this. I am aware of the low price, but still, I need to find a decent option that's up to this budget.

Many thanks

 

Just go to any store and get yourself a wifi router. Unless you have some really high end connection (which i doubt you have) it won't make any differences which router you take.

You can also look up on ebay if you can find any good uwed wifi routers as well.

 

@Danishblunt It actually matters a lot, because on this price range you are very likely to get something that won't hold wifi connection or it will be so ****ty like you are stealing wifi from your neighbor 2 houses away, whilst you are actually sitting on the antenna.
The reason why I asked was that I hoped someone has something similar or knows one that could be better than the average.
Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

 

Nah, routers have come a long way. Even if it's cheap it will still be able to function properly, what you descriped was a description of a literal broken router.

The main differences between a cheap router and an expensive one are functionality and bandwitdh. Expensive routers have much more features that can be used in a professional enviroment, while supporting up to a theoretical speed up to 7.000mpbs. When you buy a 20£ router, you will likely end up with a 802.11g 54mbps router, which would only make a difference when you use a high end internet connection, otherwise the cheap router will offer less functionality such, maybe lacking stuff like DMZ, port forwarding, worse firewall etc, to a normal user with avegrage internet, there is no difference at all.

No need to worry about connection breaking off or anything, unless you try to buy something sketchy on ebay from china.

 

@derei I use these, they're great as long as you don't mind interface in Chinese (or using Chrome to translate it automatically). However, they are almost impossible to find adequately priced nowadays, being phased out in favor of newer model which is cheaper yet slightly worse in terms of range. Both are 802.11ac of course, not some outdated 802.11n junk.

 

@Starlight5 those are interesting options, indeed. But chinese only interface doesn't appeal me much. I found the newer model on banggood with English interface, though.
Anyway, I also found this: https://www.linksys.com/gb/p/P-E2500/ used for £20

 

@derei mine had English interface too, back in the day. At some point Xiaomi stopped updating English firmware, so it was either Chinese language or no updates - I obviously chose the former option. The Linksys is 802.11n, i.e. old junk. 802.11ac routers work on 5GHz much better not only due to raw speed, but also beam-forming etc.

 

@Starlight5 so, you're saying that E2500 is not worth attention?

 

@derei yes. any router that doesn't support 802.11ac isn't worth attention, in my opinion.

 

For cheap the are a number of Dlink's that have been reissued several times, and the DIR-655 has been a go to reliable router for recommendation for a long time, but it doesn't have AC speeds...

This Dlink caught my eye, it's slick looking, AC1900, Dual Core 1ghz GPU, and right now it's available from a number of Amazon sellers for 1/2 price as low as $63.99 - vs $120 from mainstream dealers currently (MSRP $140).

D-Link DIR-879 AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router
http://us.dlink.com/products/connect/ac1900-wi-fi-router-2/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PVDO8YK
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00PVDO8YK/ref=olp_f_new?ie=UTF8&f_all=true&f_new=true

There are some 1 star complaints from 2016, fewer from 2017 related to router based firmware Update, so I wouldn't use that, I'd download the latest firmware from D-link directly - and update it that way.

There are lots of 5/4 star reviews and lots of happy owners, but there are unhappy ones as well, as with anything YMMV, I hope you get a good one

The other thing that stands out is that the admin interface is simplified, which is great for most people, but for those interested in digging down into the interface for advanced features it might be disappointing.

But, it's cheap, has AC speeds, and you can try it and return it on Amazon Prime, so it's probably worth a try.

There is only an "A" version listed on the download page, which makes it easy:
http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DIR-879

There are 2 versions of firmware (2016/2017), and 2 versions of their security patch (2016/2017), I imagine pairing the 2 old ones together or the 2 new ones, so you might want to search using those version numbers to see what owners are saying. I would hope the latest 2 paired updates would be the best.

This is a typical complaint from 2016 about disconnects caused by having SmartConnect enabled:

" Jean-Michel Vincent 12 months ago (Edited)
Report abuse
I had the same problem and just find out after doing some testing and in my case if the Smart Connect feature is enabled the connection drops every 30 minutes. If you disable this feature you will have two seperate SSIDs one 2.4 and one 5ghz but the connection uptime stays stable over the 30 minutes mark.

More info on Smart Connect : http://blog.dlink.com/what-is-smart-connect-technology/

Edit : I did a reset on my router and now I have no more issues."

So run without SmartConnect - it's not a big deal, and/or try the 2017 firmware / security updates and see if SmartConnect works right now, or run without it

The DIR-879 has beam forming as well as high speed AC, and lots of other features, plus it's got that high end modern look and feel, I hope it works out well for whoever tries one, please let us know how it works out


The "Wifi Guy" has a number of under $100 routers in this video, and recently added the D-Link DIR-879 to the text in his Video Details as a recommendation:
Published on Jan 5, 2018
Don't be fooled by advertised speeds! The best wireless routers under $100.
NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK R6700 - http://amzn.to/2qcVTHd
ASUS RT-ACRH17 - http://amzn.to/2qaNzI1
D-LINK DIR-842 - http://amzn.to/2EEbkve
NEW! D-LINK DIR-879 AC1900 http://amzn.to/2CJKUHk
Recent price drop on Amazon for this extended range wireless router!

 

I would recommend simple D-Link router for normal home use. check out this model. Its price is less than 50 dollars.

Wireless N300 Cloud Router
DIR-605L

• N300 Technology – Performance and reliable coverage for everyday web activities
• mydlink™ Cloud Management – Monitor and manage your network from anywhere
• Wired Connectivity – Four Fast Ethernet ports for fast device connectivity
• Simple Setup – Get your router up and running in minutes with the QRS Mobile App

 

I would not recommend this router - for one thing it's a D-Link, so firmware quality will be questionable.
Secondly - it's been on the market at least since 2012 - although to their credit D-Link provided recent firmware updates which should be applauded.
Thirdly - it's Realtek based and Realtek is yet to make a single Wi-Fi radio that works properly. It also sports 32MB RAM and a 10/100 switch and obviously is a single band 802.11n device.

Saying that is price is less than $50 is technically correct - although the price is more like $20 than $50. It's basically crap, is what I'm saying. One can get reasonably good routers for not much less than that and even really good ones if refurbished devices were to be considered.

 

Recommending a 802.11n router in 2018... what an atrocity!

 

Take a look at the Asus AC66U B1 (<$100) it's literally an AC68U in a different case, only other difference being that it has a lower theoretical link rate on 2.4Ghz (450 vs 600) (which means nothing as that higher link speed required proprietary feature support anyway). Make sure it's the B1 revision because the older revision uses a single core CPU, most AC66Us sold now are the B1s.