The problem with inexpensive routers, which providers “reward” users with, is constant freezes and slowdowns in the wireless network. Even the budget TP-Link, which seems to be a serious brand, needs to be rebooted daily by power cycling. Therefore, thousands of users dream of buying the best cheap router for home.
And what is hidden behind the concept of “cheap”? The minimum price for routers is $10 USD. You might say – that’s impossible, and you would be mistaken. There is an interesting South Korean brand that has shaken up the router market and competed with serious network equipment manufacturers.
Best Cheap Router for Home
The new 2017 model – Totolink N150RT. It took just one year of testing the hardware to understand that we are dealing with a very reliable router. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. Since networking equipment belongs to the budget class and is heavily “cut” in functionality. But it handles basic tasks perfectly.
One WAN port for connecting to the provider via Ethernet cable (RJ-45). The router reliably works with upload and download speeds of 100 Mbps over WAN. The device supports synchronous and asynchronous communication channels.
For organizing a local network, a switch with 4 ports supporting 100 Mbps is provided. Quite sufficient for home needs. Unless you are talking about DLNA and watching high-resolution videos (4K). For parents and office use, the performance is excellent.
The Wi-Fi wireless network parameters are declared with the 802.11 b/g/n protocol. In the 2.4 GHz range, the router handles data transfer within the network at speeds of 150 Mbps quite successfully. Even torrents cannot overload the wireless network.
The functionality is classic for most budget models:
- cloning or changing MAC address;
- static IP, DHCP or PPPoE, PPTP or L2TP;
- switching: bridge or router;
- firmware update capability;
- Wi-Fi operation on schedule (great for parental control);
- demilitarized zone, QoS, and a couple of useless features.
The main thing about the Totolink N150RT router is that it does not freeze after prolonged operation (a day, a week, a month, a quarter). The best cheap router for home works like clockwork.
Disadvantages – weak Wi-Fi signal transmission through walls. For a single room or living room in a large house, it’s an ideal solution. But for residents of multi-apartment buildings with concrete partitions or brickwork, there are inconveniences. Just one load-bearing wall cuts the signal transmission in half. Two walls – and it’s impossible to get more than 15 Mbps with the Totolink N150RT.
