Know the top speed for your plan.
You want to ensure that the ports on your router can pull your plan speeds in their entirety. This is most commonly an issue for plans speeds over 100mbps as not all routers are equipped with gigabit ports (1000mbps).
Personal routers will vary in price, inclusions, and support options. Customers using personal routers are responsible for the maintenance of that device and must go through the manufacture or retailer for support/replacement issues as we do not have access to log into them.
Outline your budget.
It is easy to spend much more money than is necessary on a router. Higher priced routers can feature a lot of “bells and whistles” that are not necessarily better and may not be suitable for your needs.
Determine the coverage area requirements.
Take into consideration the square footage of the location, the layout and materials of the home, the number of devices requiring hardwiring, the number of devices requiring WIFI, etc. to get a basic picture of what kind of coverage area you need to provide signal to. Generating a heat map is an excellent tool for determining wireless coverage needs.
Do your research.
A basic internet search can provide you with great information to help determine what router types are available and the capabilities of each. Consulting with electronic retailers and online forums can provide you with more insight into what are the most popular brands and models, as well as known issues for those devices.