Why You Don't Really Need An Expensive, High-End Router

Netgear’s $500-plus Nighthawk RS700S and similar flagship routers advertise up to 19Gbps, two 10Gbps ports and eight antennas, but most households cannot use that capacity because their broadband plan caps incoming speed. Budget models from Netgear and TP-Link priced under $100 can handle typical home traffic, since a router can only distribute the connection the provider supplies. The FCC’s broadband benchmark of 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up means a cheap router only needs to carry that load without choking. The takeaway for buyers is to check their subscribed plan before shopping, because paying for throughput far above the wall socket delivers no benefit. Watch whether budget-router vendors keep closing the feature gap with premium models as Wi-Fi 7 adoption spreads.