One of the most essential utilities when working from home is a reliable router. If you’re using a router that was provided by your ISP or are looking to upgrade to a faster model, now is the best time to do it. Best Buy is offering curbside pickup on these routers and thousands of other products, making it easy to pick them up without having to leave your car. These are the best routers you can get on Best Buy’s curbside service.
Simply the best
Google Nest Wifi
Staff pick
You should get a mesh Wi-Fi router to ensure there are no dead zones in your house, and the best mesh Wi-Fi solution right now is Google’s Nest Wifi. It’s incredibly easy to set up, has excellent performance over both 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, and you get up to 3,800 square feet of coverage. As a bonus, the satellite has a speaker with Google Assistant baked in.
$199 at Best Buy
Fantastic budget pick
TP-Link Archer AC2300
If you’re in the market for value, look no further than TP-Link’s Archer AC2300. It relies on three high-gain antennas, MU-MIMO, and beamforming to deliver rock-solid Wi-Fi connectivity to all parts of your house. There’s also a Smart Connect feature that automatically assigns the best Wi-Fi band for each device, and a RangeBoost option that makes it easy to connect devices that are further away.
$120 at Best Buy
Reliable workhorse
Netgear Nighthawk R7000P
The Nighthawk R7000 was an iconic router, and the R7000P retains a similar design while upgrading the internals. The router delivers up to 2.3Gbps of bandwidth across 2.4Ghz and 5GHz channels, has built-in protections for IoT gear, smart parental controls, and four Gigabit Ethernet ports. It has MU-MIMO and customized features for lag-free gaming and streaming, and is just a great router overall.
$220 at Best Buy
Ideal for gaming
ASUS RT-AC86U
I’ve been using ASUS routers for over a decade, and the RT-AC86U is a fantastic option. It offers incredible low-latency performance thanks to three antennas and robust hardware, making it ideal for gaming. There are unique features like WTFast Game Accelerator that prioritize bandwidth to your console or gaming machine, and beamforming ensures you get the best coverage across your home.
$190 at Best Buy
Seamless connectivity
Ubiquiti AmpliFi HD
The AmpliFi HD is what I use in my home. Ubiquiti’s mesh system delivers excellent Wi-Fi coverage to all corners of the house, and the two satellites ensure there are no dead zones. It is incredibly easy to set up and manage, and the base station has an LCD screen that gives you real-time network usage. If you’re looking for a no-hassle mesh system with robust coverage, look no further.
$350 at Best Buy
Ideal for large homes
eero Pro Mesh WiFi System
If you have a large house and are looking to maximize Wi-Fi coverage, you should get the eero Pro mesh router. This bundle delivers over 6,000 square feet of rock-solid Wi-Fi, and has seamless setup. The router automatically updates itself, you can view real-time usage statistics on the app, and tri-band connectivity means you’ll get a signal everywhere.
$500 at Best Buy
A great mesh system
Netgear Orbi RBK50
Netgear’s Orbi RBK50 is one of the best mesh routers you can buy today. It delivers up to 3Gbps of bandwidth over 5,000 square feet of coverage, and tri-band connectivity means you won’t see any latency even if you connect over a dozen devices. It has seven Gigabit Ethernet ports, smart parental controls, Alexa and Google Assistant integration, and the router also secures your IoT gear.
$330 at Best Buy
Boost your home Wi-Fi
Netgear Nighthawk X6
With six antennas and tri-band connectivity, the Nighthawk X6 is one of the fastest routers on the market today. You get up to 3.2Gbps of bandwidth, dynamic QoS to prioritize gaming traffic, beamforming for better connectivity to devices, and easy to configure parental controls. It even works with Alexa, and Netgear’s Armor protects IoT devices on your network from spyware, viruses, and ransomware.
$250 at Best Buy
Join the Dark side
Netgear Nighthawk AX12
The Nighthawk AX12 looks like the Upsilon-class command shuttle that Kylo Ren uses. The Wi-Fi 6 router delivers intergalactic speeds of up to 6Gbps thanks to 8-stream MU-MIMO and eight antennas that can blanket large homes with reliable Wi-Fi connectivity. Smart Connect automatically assigns the best Wi-Fi band for each device, the router automatically downloads the latest firmware updates.
$400 at Best Buy
Level up to Wi-Fi 6
TP-Link Archer AX6000
TP-Link’s Archer AX6000 delivers the latest Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and incredible performance. It is powered by a quad-core CPU and has two co-processors to eliminate lag, and there are eight high-gain antennas that deliver a strong Wi-Fi signal to all parts of your house. There’s MU-MIMO for ensuring all devices get rock-solid connectivity, and you get eight Gigabit Ethernet ports.
$300 at Best Buy
The upgrade pick
ASUS RT-AX88U
When you’re spending this much money on a single router, you’ll want something that can deliver truly incredible performance, and the RT-AX88U manages to do just that. With Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, four high-gain antennas, and eight Ethernet ports, you won’t need to buy another router for a decade. The router delivers up to 6Gbps of bandwidth, prioritizes gaming traffic, and has best-in-class range.
$350 at Best Buy
Whatever your needs, Best Buy has a router for you
With more and more devices connecting to the internet, you’ll need a good router to handle all the traffic. For instance, I have over 25 devices connected to my router at any given time, and more than half of those are IoT products. You’ll only need to buy a router once every five years, so you need to make sure you’re picking something up that’s reliable and can handle the bandwidth needs for all devices in your home. With more people working from home these days, having a reliable router is more important than ever. Thankfully, there are a lot of great options available via Best Buy curbside pickup, which is extra handy considering coronavirus concerns.
Based on the size of your home, you’ll ideally need a mesh router to ensure there are no dead zones. The best option is the Google Nest Wifi. You can set it up in under 10 minutes, and it provides rock-solid connectivity across your home. What makes it stand out is the fact that the satellite has a built-in speaker with Google Assistant, doubling as a Nest Mini of sorts.
If you’re looking for a traditional router, you cannot go wrong with the Netgear Nighthawk R7000P. I used the earlier variant of this router for several years, and it was fantastic. You get reliable Wi-Fi signal throughout your house, and Netgear has an array of features designed to safeguard your home network.
You don’t need to make the switch to a Wi-Fi 6 router just yet, but if you’re looking to future-proof your home network, the Nighthawk AX12 is the obvious choice. The styling alone puts the router high on my list, but you also get an innovative antenna design, the highest throughput of any router in the market, and a host of exciting features.
