Group test: what's the best Wi-Fi/networking tool?

5. D-Link DIR-815 Wireless N Dual Band Router

• Reviewed on: 13 September 10
• RRP: £109 inc VAT
• Rating:

With an expansive feature set, and excellent performance at a decent price the D-Link DIR-815 Wireless N Dual Band Router is an excellent, future-proofed product.

4. WD LiveWire

• Reviewed on: 11 February 11
• RRP: £72.46 inc VAT
• Rating:

Unlike many similar powerline adaptors, the WD LiveWire units each include four ethernet ports, greatly extending their usefulness for plugging in all manner of network peripherals at each end of your mini network. We just wish they were faster, and that the system was as cross-platform as it says on the box. And we do question why WD markets them as 200 Mb/s adaptors when they only seem to include ethernet ports whose top speed is 100 Mb/s.

3. Netgear DGN3500 Range Max

• Reviewed on: 13 September 10
• RRP: £100.75 inc VAT
• Rating:

Despite being more expensive than rival routers, the Netgear DGN3500 Range Max will be a good investment for SMEs and SOHOs who need a high-quality wireless-N router. And if you shop around you can pick it up for a lot less.

2. Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless N Router

• Reviewed on: 19 November 10
• RRP: £64 inc VAT
• Rating:

In addition to dual-band Wi-Fi and Gigabit ethernet, the Linksys E2000 has all the features you'd expect of a modern wireless router: a built-in firewall, QoS, port-forwarding, DynamicDNS support and VPN passthrough support. It performed very well in our tests and it was rock-solid and reliable. For £64, it's hard to go wrong with this router, and we recommend it not only for sharing a broadband connection, but also for tasks such as media streaming and online gaming. The only thing that would make it better is support for simultaneous dual-band networking, but if you want that feature then you can look at the E3000 instead, which costs £50 more.

1. TP-Link TD-W8950ND

• Reviewed on: 14 September 10
• RRP: £34.1 inc VAT
• Rating:

The performance isn't the best we've seen, but the TP-Link TD-W8950ND is a solid wireless router at an excellent price.