The Best No-WiFi Router [July 2019]

Wireless Wi-Fi routers are very popular nowadays, with phones, tablets, and laptops all needing a Wi-Fi connection. But this doesn’t mean that wired routers are obsolete. On the contrary, businesses tend to prefer wired routers over wireless ones, for many reasons.

Wired or Not?

In the world of wireless technology, it appears that there’s a decreasing need for wired stuff. However, wired technology is way, way faster in general, and not just when it comes to internet speed.

Take any business for example – you are likely to find it using a wired router. If everyone is connected to a wireless router, downloading and uploading data, a lag is going to appear and problems are going to ensue. Many businesses need a stable, strong internet connection that can provide every employee with a good connection.

Wired Router Benefits

As stated earlier, using a wired router brings many benefits to the table, and these advantages over wireless routers all deserve attention. Here’s what gives wired routers an edge in this competition.

Speed

Wired routers are significantly faster than wireless ones. Wireless technology may be more convenient for the purposes of connecting, but this is exactly what makes it the less preferred choice in businesses. If everybody can connect their phones and their laptops to a single Wi-Fi router, connection speeds are going to drop considerably.

Not only do wired routers offer limited connections, but they use cables, a connection method that is still the leader on the market in terms of speed. Take online gamers for example. Latency spikes tend to occur when somebody with a weak connection enters the game, and so the gaming community definitely prefers wired routers to wireless ones.

Security

There’s also the question of security, which is of tremendous importance to businesses. If a router is open to attacks that can come from as far as the router’s range goes, your data can become severely compromised. It’s clear that using a wireless router leaves you more prone to cyber-attacks and data theft. Even if the router is given a strong password, passwords can be cracked and this simply isn’t the case with wired routers.

With a wired router, your only option is to connect your device using a cable (unless it’s a combo router). That means that only directly connected computer units can access it, which significantly increases the network’s general security.

Connectivity

Using Wi-Fi is very convenient for some purposes, but Wi-Fi router connection problems are very common. This is owing to the technology itself. Wireless routers are not only slower than their wired alternative, but the connection isn’t focused on a single output.

With a wired router, you don’t have to worry about placement and signal disturbance. It reacts roughly the same everywhere. This is definitely not the case with wireless routers. As long as a wire can reach the computer, you don’t have to worry about connectivity issues (unless the cable is faulty, but cables are easy to replace).

Top No-WiFi Routers

These are the top three wired routers currently available.

Ubiquiti Edgerouter X

This is a budget-friendly solution that will definitely work faster and better than even the most cutting-edge wireless routers. By design, it is relatively plain – a black box and four ports. The main benefit here (besides the low price) is the dimensions, which are 4.33” x 2.95” x 0.87”. This router is conveniently small, considering you can use it for up to four computers, and the hardware installation is a simple process here.

Fortinet FortiGate 30E

This unit is a great choice if you’re looking for top levels of security. Considering that wired routers see a ton of application in the business world, where data security is crucial, this is a fantastic unit for the workplace.

It comes with a Console Port, a GE WAN port, four GE Switch Ports, and a USB port, which makes it very convenient to use. The best part is that it offers antivirus scanning, NGFW, IPS, Web Filtering, Application Control, DNS Filtering, and SSL VPN. This a mind-boggling amount of security in a single model that costs below $1,000.

MikroTik RB3011UiAS-RM

If you’re looking for a high-performance wired router, whether it’s for gaming or advanced programs that need a strong web connection, this MikroTik should fit your needs. It has 10-gigabit ports, one of which is a PoE port (transfers the power supply and data signal simultaneously). It can be rack-mounted, which is why this model is a favorite among the software developer crowd. However, setting this wired router up is quite difficult, so it’s best suited to professionals.

Go Wired!

Wired routers clearly have many benefits, in comparison to their wireless counterparts. It is clear that the age of wired internet distributors is far from over. When it comes to speed, safety, and connectivity, wired routers have no competition.

What type of router are you using? Do you have more wired router recommendations? Share them in our comment section below.