With many of us working, studying and playing at home, your home network is probably under more stress than ever before. And while the 1Gbps fibre broadband plans offered by local telcos are good enough for most users, the same may not be true for your home router. Especially if you haven't changed it in years.
The solution: Upgrade your router to the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard (aka 802.11ax) that offers a base speed of up to 1.2Gbps. Wi-Fi 6 also brings other benefits, from improved network efficiency to increased client capacity. The catch, though, is that your devices need to support Wi-Fi 6 to enjoy its advantages. But the good news is that most new tech gadgets already support Wi-Fi 6. You can also get adapters for devices that aren't Wi-Fi 6 compatible. In short, there's no excuse not to switch. And here to help you decide, we have shortlisted five Wi-Fi 6 devices that will boost your home network.
Asus ZenWiFi XD6
Weak Wi-Fi connection in the bedroom? It's a common problem that can be solved with a mesh router system, which uses multiple wireless nodes to improve Wi-Fi coverage. And one of the best Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers I have tested so far is the Asus ZenWiFi XD6. This mid-range model offers excellent performance and useful features at a reasonable price (S$499).
D-Link AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 PCIe Adapter
Most mobile devices released in recent years are Wi-Fi 6 compatible. But what about your old but still reliable desktop PC? If it has a spare PCIe slot, you can upgrade it easily to the latest standard with a Wi-Fi 6 adapter like this one from D-Link. Not only would the desktop PC get a speed boost, it will also benefit from the more secure WPA3 protocol supported by this S$69 adapter.
Huawei WiFi AX3
You don't necessarily have to spend much to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6. Consider the dual-band Huawei WiFi AX3 router, which costs around S$80, and offers aggregate speeds of up to 3,000Mbps. It also has four Ethernet ports and can form a mesh network with one or more compatible Huawei routers.
TP-Link Archer AX90
If you're looking for a more feature-packed and powerful Wi-Fi 6 router, the S$349 TP-Link Archer AX90 fits the bill. This tri-band router offers up to 4.8Gbps in aggregate speeds, and supports the 160MHz channel width that enables compatible devices to enjoy speeds of up to 2.4Gbps (on paper). While you likely won't experience such speeds in real life, you will get a nice speed boost with the AX90. It even has a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, too.
TP-Link AX1800 Wi-Fi Range Extender
Already have a Wi-Fi 6 router, but still experiencing poor Wi-Fi in the distant parts of your home? While a mesh router system is the best solution, it would probably mean mothballing your existing router. If you have a decent, fairly new Wi-Fi 6 router, I would recommend getting an extender like the TP-Link AX1800 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE605X) instead. It's easy to setup and requires just a spare power outlet. And at S$105, it's far cheaper than buying a set of new mesh routers.
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