Open up your hall closet or wherever you keep your Internet connection and take a look. Chances are, you’ve got your whole home network running through a single router. That was well and good back when you just had a PC and maybe a game console hooked up to the Internet, but in 2024 you’ve got smart devices, cell phones, tablets, speakers and more all competing for their share of that pipeline. The most effective way to manage all of their needs is with a mesh network, which splits the signal across multiple nodes that intelligently balance the load across your floorplan, ensuring smooth, steady connections no matter where you may roam. These systems come in a bunch of configurations, so here are three picks: one budget, one high-end and one right in the middle.
Google’s dual-unit system is probably the most affordable on the market, and while it might not boast some of the fancier features of more advanced models, it certainly gets the job done. Housed in a pair of minimalist white cylinders, the Nest mesh routers are easy to install and come with built-in Google Assistant voice controls, letting you manage your network without looking at a screen. In our review, we said that it “provides an easy way to eliminate Wi-Fi dead zones while bringing Google Assistant to any room in your house,” and praised the simple installation and good throughput performance in testing.
If low ping is vital to your performance, consider this aggressive-looking gaming-oriented mesh system from Asus. With Wi-Fi 6 technology, multi-gig WAN and numerous gamer-friendly features like QoS settings for extra bandwidth, this is a customizer’s dream. It also comes with free lifetime anti-malware and parental control software. We gave it an Editors’ Choice award in our review, saying that its “superior performance, robust gaming features, and anti-malware tools make it worth every penny.” You can take 8,000 pennies off right now at Amazon.
Covering up to 9,000 square feet, the Netgear Orbi is a mesh network system suited for big houses with lots of connected devices. We gave this three-piece unit an Editors’ Choice award in our review, saying that it “harnesses the 6GHz band to offer some of the fastest throughput speeds we’ve ever seen.” You’ll definitely pay more for the 12 high-performance internal antennas in each unit, but it’s far and away the speediest system we’ve tested to date, and it will easily keep up with multiple devices streaming video, gaming or downloading large files. Taking $200 off makes it a little easier to handle.Want more options? Check out our rundown of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems.More deals on Wi-Fi Mesh at Amazon
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