Gadgetory

there are a few tech products out there that are more confusing and pumped full of hype and jargon than Wi-Fi routers some of you are spending big bucks on dual-band wireless and routers with 450 megabit per second connection speeds and USB 3.0 ports and Gigabit Ethernet and VPN hosting and network attached storage support and you know you don't need half that stuff you just want something fast cheap and reliable so here you go these are the top five routers under $80 recommended by seeing its home networking guru and all-around awesome guy don't know starting at number five the tp-link nano as the name implies this is a small basic router but it's also the least expensive router on this list it's 20 bucks I only get one Ethernet port on the back and wireless n connection caps out 150 megabits per second but it's great for traveling and the thing is freaking cute I mean most of these things look like they were designed by Darth Vader but this one looks more like Hello Kitty and like a good way at number four the Linksys eat when T 500 this one takes you right up to that $80 price but you're getting a lot of router for your money it offers dual band wireless end support so you get that 5 gigahertz band with a better performance and less interference there also plenty of Ethernet connections on the back and the design doesn't really call a lot of attention to itself best of all the Cisco software for getting it all up and running will not make you want to punch a hole in the wall which is pretty rare for a router at number 3 the next gear and 600 here's another one right at $80 is dual band like the Linksys but the range is a little better and you get some nice extras back include the USB ports for connecting hard drives and the software includes a traffic meter so if your roommate likes to binge on HD cat videos and your ISP sends you the bill the router can automatically throttle things down and keep you from a very awkward conversation but if you're looking for a better value even at the expense of some features try this old gem at number 2 the Belkin n plus guy's been around since 2008 but it's still one of the best single band wireless end routers on the market and you can scoop it up for about 60 bucks Wireless ranges arguably the best on this list so if you're lucky enough to have a nice big place this is your best value now before we get to number one let's take a look at scene s list of the best wireless routers overall now there are some great options here but most of these guys retail for around 160 bucks personally I like my routers to be simple and fast and that's why I really like our number one choice the d-link vir 605 L cloud router $40 gets you a tiny relatively fast single band router and the killer feature you can monitor and manage the whole thing with an app that works for iOS and Android from halfway around the world you can see who's on your network you can block access and even reboot the whole thing you will feel like the god of routers for just $40 so there you have it five routers that will help you bring your home Wi-Fi into the modern age without putting you in debt more top fives like this is it top 5 dot cnet.com you can also find me over twitter or posting HD cat videos over on facebook i'm donald bell thanks for watching