Best Long Range WiFi Routers 2023

Theoretically, the routers that can cover an area with a diameter of more than 2000 square feet are called long-range routers but practically, long-range routers are routers that can cover and provide a good signal in every area of an entire house that has a floor space of about 1500 square feet.

In general and as a simple comparison, with a long-range router, users can still receive a good and strong signal behind the thick walls of the house while users who use a normal router cannot receive a good signal.

First , Check the WiFi Signal Level.

As mentioned in this article, you can check the signal strength at any area of your house or workplace by installing a simple app called “WiFi Analyzer” on your smartphone. This app displays the WiFi signal strength in real-time using visual methods and charts.

Read More : Best WiFi Analyzer Tools

The average WiFi signal strength is about -80dBm to -35dBm (dBm is the unit for measuring signal strength). A larger number (a number closer to zero) means a higher signal strength. Your signal strength shouldn’t be less than -65dBm if you want to have good, high-quality service.

Now you can check if your router is a long-range router or not by simply using this method:

“If your signal strength in all areas of a large house or office is about -65dBm, then your router is probably a long-range one.”

What are the Benefits of a long range Router?

As it’s obvious, a long-range router covers a much larger area compared to a regular router. Covering the entirety of a large office or house is only possible by using a long-range router. Otherwise, you’d have to use two or even three regular routers to cover the entire area of your office or house.

Read More : When to add a second router in your home?

Using two or three regular routers instead of just one long-range router can cause some issues, such as:

• The routers may conflict with each other.
• Connecting all of these routers to the main modem is in itself a technical challenge and it usually greatly reduces the connection quality.
• Users that move between the “borders” of these routers coverage area, keep getting disconnected ( Yellow Area )

Using Two Regular Routers for full WiFi Coverage (with more than -65dBm signal level everywhere):

Using One Long Range Router for full WiFi Coverage (with more than -65dBm signal level everywhere)

What’s the Difference Between Long-Range Routers and Regular Routers?

From a technical standpoint, there’s a few differences between a long-range and regular router:

        1- The Difference in Output Strength

The output strength of regular routers is usually between 100mw(20dBm) and 250mw(23dBm) while in long-range routers, it’s around 500mw(27dBm) to 800mw(29dBm).

       2- The Difference in Antenna Gain

Normally, the antenna in regular routers has a gain of 2dBi (dBi is the unit for measuring antenna strength) while the antenna in long-range routers has a gain of 5dBi. The higher the gain in an antenna, the larger the size so you can easily distinguish a 2dBi antenna from a 5dBi one.

      3- The Difference in Number of Antenna

Increasing the number of the antenna on a router increases the signal strength and speed of the router. A long-range router serves a high number of users so it should have a higher number of antennas compared to a regular router. This way, optimal quality and speed for all of the users are guaranteed. Regular routers have one or two antennas while long-range routers have more than three.

      4- Beamforming Feature

Beamforming is a special technology that greatly increases the coverage and speed of the network. Not all long-range routers have this feature but high-level and main brands use this technology in their long-range routers. The interesting point about this technology is that using it can almost double the coverage of the router.

     5- More Processing Power

Since a long-range router covers a larger area than a normal router, it can serve a higher number of users and devices. For this reason, most long-range routers are equipped with  a more powerful processor (and memory ) than regular routers.

Best Long Range WiFi Routers :