Three Wi-Fi 6 Routers Under $100 Reviewed

Is a sub-$100 Wi-Fi 6 router worth buying? We look at three examples to find out.

ASUS Mesh Roundup: Two Zens and a TriBand

We round-up ASUS' ZenWiFi 6E ET8, WiFi 6 ZenWiFi XT8 and WiFi 5/6 RT-AX92U into the ol' test corral for a ride.

New In The Charts: NETGEAR RAX45

NETGEAR's RAX45 Nighthawk 6-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. Its Broadcom-based design is very similar to ASUS' RT-AX58U, supporting two 2.4 GHz streams and four 5 GHz streams. But it did significantly better in our tests. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts and Wi-Fi Router Ranker for more details. There is no full review of this product at this time.

New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX58U

ASUS' RT-AX58U AX3000 Dual Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. Also known as the RT-AX3000 and RT-AX82U, its Broadcom-based design is spec'd for two streams on 2.4 and 5 GHz. However, since the 5 GHz radio is Broadcom's BCM43684 four stream an/ac/ax radio, it appears it support four-stream receive under the hood.

The router didn't do that well in our throughput vs. attenuation tests, however, due to sustained throughput dips on both bands' downlink tests that were observed on multiple test runs. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details. There is no full review of this product at this time.

New In The Charts: NETGEAR RAX120

NETGEAR's RAX120 Nighthawk 12-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. The sole Qualcomm-based Nighthawk in NETGEAR's RAX family sports four-streams on 2.4 GHz and eight on 5 GHz. But its 2.4 GHz performance lags behind the less-expensive RAX80 and is just about even on 5 GHz, making it not a great value. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details. There is no full review of this product at this time.

New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX88U

ASUS' RT-AX88U AX6000 Dual Band 802.11ax WiFi Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. While it uses the same Broadcom four-stream 5 GHz radio SoC, the AX88U's throughput performance lags behind the less-expensive RT-AX86U. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details. There is no full review of this product at this time.

New In The Charts: NETGEAR RAX80

NETGEAR's RAX80 Nighthawk 8-Stream AX8 Wifi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. Its dual-band,4 stream Broadcom-based design has low latency for wired and Wi-Fi connections and 5 GHz performace equal to the much more expensive ASUS GT-AX11000. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details. There is no full review of this product at this time.

New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX86U

ASUS's RT-AX86U AX5700 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gaming Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. It has an unusual three stream @ 2.4 GHz and four stream @ 5 GHz Broadcom-based design. But it currently ranks #1 in Wi-Fi 6 routers. There is no full review of this product at this time.

How We Test Wi-Fi - Revision 11

Updated: Our Revision 11 process brings multiple clients and a change to WAN-based testing.

How Much Total Throughput Can Your Wi-Fi Router Really Provide?

It's harder than you think for that expensive router of yours to deliver all the throughput the big number on its box promises. We show you why.