Are Gaming Routers Worth It?

These days it seems that having the word “gaming” in front of any product allows that product to transcend its normal capabilities and become immediately better than its competition. This type of marketing gimmick is applied virtually everywhere in hopes that people that know less about tech fall for this simple trick and purchase their hardware or services.

One such line of products is gaming routers which promise to give you better speeds and better ping allowing you to headshot everything that moves in front of you. Unfortunately in a lot of cases, these routers are overpriced for what they offer, therefore, if you came to simply find out if buying a gaming router is worth it – the answer is NO!

Gaming Routers vs Standard Routers

A big reason why buying a gaming router in many cases just does not make sense is the fact that most modern routers have identical specs and operate at identical speeds and frequencies. Most routers you will find today on the market have Gigabit ports that you can use for insanely fast wired connections and all of them operate on Dual-Band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz.

The 2.4GHz connection is used for most devices since it has a wider range of coverage while the 5GHz band is the faster band that allows for your devices to use higher network speeds. This dual-band technology also allows you to reduce network congestion by having most devices on the 2.4GHz band and allowing for the 5GHz band to be the fast gaming connection.

All routers come with security features and parental controls therefore when comparing a normal router and a gaming router there are very few things like built-in VPN or compatibility with different digital assistants like Google or Alexa (Amazon) that skewered the equation in favor of gaming routers.

The one single meaningful feature that comes standard on gaming routers and might be missing from a standard router is Quality of Service. This is a feature that allows you to lower latency by giving priority to your gaming devices over other devices. This is a neat feature if you play on Wi-Fi but why would you pay 300$ or more for a gaming router with QoS if you can buy a 5$ Ethernet cable?

Ethernet Cables Are the Best No Matter What

The biggest reason gaming routers feel like a scam in a lot of cases is the simple fact that no matter what, a wireless connection will have ping spikes since air is not necessarily the best conductive medium.

You can invest in however many gaming routers you want but they will not trump a simple Ethernet connection that is able to deliver the most consistent connection with no ping spikes at speeds that are impossible to match on wireless.

Latency is the biggest enemy to a gamer so even if you have 1000Mbps on Wi-Fi the ping spikes will make the game feel unresponsive and choppy while a wired connection will give you the full advantage you need in games.

You can buy these cables in a lot of different lengths so no matter where your router is, you can always get a wired connection for the best possible gaming experience.

The conclusion here is simple: buy a decent router with a bunch of Gigabit ports and get a wired connection that will allow for the fastest speeds and best latency. The end.

About The Author

Chris (vile_is_dead)

Custom Windows ISO enjoyer, FPS optimizer, and aim improvement enthusiast. Will disassemble all of his peripherals (and sometimes PC parts) to mod them even if all of them work perfectly fine. Discord/Twitter: vile_is_dead

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