If your Wi-Fi is flagging, Amazon’s Prime Day shopping event is a good time to upgrade. Whether you need a single Wi-Fi router to replace your ISP’s device or you want to boost that signal throughout your home with a mesh system, we’ve filtered the noise to home in on the Prime Day router deals worth considering. All our recommendations have been WIRED-tested and can be found in our Best Wi-Fi Routers and Best Mesh Routers guides. We scrutinized the deal prices thoroughly, checking them against historical prices to ensure they are real.
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We test products year-round and handpicked these deals. We’ll update this guide periodically throughout the sale event.
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Top 5 Wi-Fi Router and Mesh Deals
This Asus system has topped our best mesh routers guide for a few years now. It is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 system that scored consistently well for speed and stability. The two-pack comes pre-paired, is a breeze to set up, and is easily powerful enough to cover the average home. It offers Wi-Fi on the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands, with an extra 5-GHz band left over for wireless backhaul (traffic between the main router and the node). I particularly like Asus mesh systems because they come with free, comprehensive security software and parental controls for the lifetime of the routers (no subscription required). They are also highly customizable, with options including a guest network, traffic prioritization for specific activities, such as video calls, and more, though folks who like set-and-forget gadgets will prefer a different mesh.
The current champ in our Best Routers guide (even when it’s not discounted for Prime Day), this affordable router combines a slick design with reliable performance. It’s a dual-band (2.4-GHz and 5-GHz) router that will be plenty fast for most folks and offers suitable coverage for an average-size home with an internet connection of 1 Gbps or less. With four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, a single gigabit WAN port, and a USB 3.0 port on the back, there is plenty of connectivity. Setup is simple, TP-Link’s Tether app is easy to use, and you get basic security and features like QoS (Quality of Service) included. Unfortunately, if you want more in-depth security or parental controls, you must subscribe to Security+ at $5 a month or $36 a year and Advanced Parental Controls at $3 a month or $18 a year. It often gets discounted, but this is a good price.
If you want a mesh to cover your whole home, but your budget is limited, TP-Link has you covered with the X20 system. This Wi-Fi 6 dual-band mesh (2.4-GHz and 5-GHz) is easy to set up and delivered solid results in my tests. It’s not the speediest mesh, but if your internet connection is 500 Mbps or less, it will suffice. Each router has two gigabit Ethernet ports, and the vaselike design blends in easily on shelves or tables. Sadly, if you want anything beyond basic security and parental controls, you must subscribe (Security+ costs $5 a month or $36 a year, and Advanced Parental Controls costs $3 a month or $18 a year). Even with the subscriptions, the X20 is a relatively affordable way to get Wi-Fi throughout your home.
Amazon’s Eero mesh systems are very easy to use, and I love that they double as smart home hubs with support for the Matter, Thread, and Zigbee smart home standards. The Pro 6E (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is a tri-band mesh that adds the 6-GHz band to the familiar 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands. If you have a 1 Gbps or faster connection and lots of devices, this is a great mesh system for you. It performed extremely well in my tests, though the 6-Ghz band is short range. The Eero Plus subscription is an expensive extra at $10 per month or $100 per year, but it adds so much value with parental controls, advanced security, ad blocking, and even a password manager and VPN service.
A travel router is a great way to protect yourself when you’re on the road or on vacation, and the Asus RT-AX57 Go is our current pick. This 5-inch, white, plastic square has a stand and is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with gigabit WAN and LAN Ethernet ports that you can plug into a modem or socket in your hotel room. It can connect to public Wi-Fi, and you can connect your phone to the USB 3.2 port and use it as a hot spot to magnify your cell connection (it doesn’t have a SIM slot of its own). If you link up your devices at home before you leave, the Asus RT-AX57 Go makes for an easy life. (My family is happy as long as they have Wi-Fi!) Despite the small size, it performs quite well and should easily fill a vacation apartment or hotel room. Asus includes security software, parental controls, and VPN support.
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Photograph: TP-Link
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