All top products

Best wireless routers
Best 802.11ac routers
Best N900 wireless routers
Best N600 wireless routers
Best routers with built-in storage support
Best mobile hot-spot routers
Best budget wireless routers
Best power-line adapters

Networking and Wi-Fi:

Best 802.11ac routers

(Updated May 22, 2013 4:00 AM PDT)

Dong Ngo

Senior associate editor

The 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard (aka 5G Wi-Fi) is the latest on the market and offers up to 1.3Gbps of wireless connection speed. First introduced during CES 2012, the new standard can now be found in many routers. These routers, for backward compatibility, also come with Wireless-N (802.11n) and hence support all existing Wi-Fi clients. Hardware clients that are 802.11ac-capable, however, are still very scarce on the market. Following are the top routers that support the new 802.11ac standard on the market. Since there are not many of them, all of those on this list are the best of their kind.

Trendnet TEW-812DRU AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router

The Trendnet TEW-812DRU is the most affordable 802.11ac-enabled router on the market, and it offers excellent performance.

Price: $146.47 - $194.99 (check prices)

4 stars Excellent Read full review

Asus RT-AC66U 802.11ac Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router

The Asus RT-AC66U is an excellent router and is currently one of the best options among those that support the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.

Price: $189.99 - $307.99 (check prices)

4 stars Excellent Read full review

NetGear R6300 WiFi Router

The Netgear R6300 WiFi Router is for a high-standards, low-ego type of user: it's not something you can show off aesthetically, but a powerhouse for a robust, fast home network, both for now and tomorrow.

Price: $198.99 - $338.18 (check prices)

4 stars Excellent Read full review

D-Link DIR-865L Wireless AC 1750 Dual Band Cloud Router

The D-Link DIR-865L Wireless AC 1750 Dual Band Cloud Router makes a decent investment thanks to its cloud-based features, support for 802.11ac, and good performance on the 5GHz band.

Price: $153.65 - $299.67 (check prices)

4 stars Good Read full review

Buffalo AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router WZR-D1800H

The Buffalo AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router WZR-D1800H offers great value by adding support for 802.11ac on top of a high-end N900 router without increasing the price. However, the router doesn't have enough appeal for those who just need simple, low-budget wireless home networking.

Price: $155.99 - $272.69 (check prices)

4 stars Very good Read full review

See all networking and wi-fi reviews