Glossary

Unfamiliar with some of the terms and technologies that the latest and greatest wireless routers have? Hopefully this can clear a few things up for you.

Wireless Router Glossary

Here are a few terms you might want to know about before buying a wireless router.

Dual Band

Dual band refers to a wireless router that provides more than one band, or frequency, to connect to the wireless router on. The typical wireless router allows you to connect via the 2.4 Ghz band. This is the default band that most wireless routers use. But some wireless routers, dual band routers, allow you to connect via the 5 Ghz band. What makes these two separate frequencies useful is that you can connect your laptop, for instance, to the wireless router over the 2.4 Ghz band. You can then connect your Wi-Fi enabled TV, for example, to your wireless router on the 5 Ghz band. That way, the two devices aren’t competing with each other for bandwidth, and you get a better connection with both of them. In a world where more and more devices are connecting to wireless routers, two frequencies to connect with is becoming more and more useful.

USB Slots

Many wireless routers are now coming with USB slots, in addition to the typical ethernet ports that they have always come with. This is a feature that can be utilized in a few different ways. One is by hooking up an external hard drive to the wireless router. That way, everyone on the network can store and access files on the external hard drive. A USB slot also allows you to hook up a printer or all-in-one printer to your wireless router. That way, everyone on the network can print, without having to go to a specific computer to do your printing.

Speeds

Advertised speeds can be a bit confusing when it comes to wireless routers. You will notice that all of the speeds for the wireless routers here on Wireless Router Reviews are listed as Mbps. Notice the small “b”. This means megabits per second. You might sometimes see speeds listed as MBps. The big “B” denotes megabytes per second. The difference is that 8 bits = 1 byte. Upload and download speeds, for instance, are often expressed as KBps, which is kilobytes per second, or MBps, which is megabytes per second. Just remember to look for the big “B” to know if bits or bytes are being discussed.

Ports

Many devices like laptops, smartphones and tablet computers connect to networks via wireless, but there are still many devices out there that use those ethernet ports on the back of the wireless router. Port speeds come in either the 100 Mbps or the 1000 Mbps variety, 1000 Mbps being equal to 1 Gbps, or gigabit per second. If you are shopping for a wireless router you might not give too much thought to the ports, but if you find yourself in need of them, having that 1 Gbps port at your disposal can really pay off.

I hope that clears up any confusion you may have had. If you want to know more about wireless routers, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us through the Contact page.