Readers' Choice Awards 2022: Routers and NAS Devices

Count the number of internet-connected devices in your home. ComScore estimates that the average household has eight.5 cyberspace-connected devices, but a quick count in my own home brought me to over 25 devices: smartphones, tablets, ereaders, computers, smart TVs, streaming devices, smart speakers, smart thermostats, smart bulbs, and more.

None of these devices is very useful when the internet isn't available. Yous need an internet service provider (ISP) providing a consistent, fast broadband connection and a wireless (Wi-Fi) router to reliably share that signal with all your devices.

In our latest PCMag Readers' Choice Honour survey, we asked you lot about the wireless router you use in your dwelling, so we can identify which brands provide the most reliable connections. We as well asked almost network attached storage (NAS) devices, which are helpful for storing and streaming videos, music, and other files inside your domicile and across the cyberspace, as well equally for backing upwards your devices.

Our survey near ISPs is coming presently, only for many of u.s., we don't accept a choice of internet providers. We do, however, have a choice of routers. The start pick for most is whether to use the Wi-Fi router that many broadband providers build into their cable modems or to buy a carve up router (smart customers prefer the latter).

In the past few years, a new pick has emerged for those who buy their own: whole abode Wi-Fi systems, which uses two or more than devices to create a single network that blankets a home with wireless coverage. Whole home, or mesh, systems tend to be more expensive and currently represent a niche but growing segment of the router market.

Almost half of our survey respondents say they utilize some sort of NAS device. Many routers include NAS functionality, allowing you to plug a hard drive direct into the router; while this was a popular pick, virtually respondents apply a standalone device. Many come with built-in hard drives, others have one or more empty drive bays so you can add as much storage as you need. Most are optimized for streaming video and music over your home network. If yous adopt to maintain your ain video and music library rather than relying on services like Netflix and Spotify, a NAS makes a lot of sense.

Our PCMag Readers' Choice Laurels surveys focus on end-user satisfaction with the routers and NAS devices they purchase. We ask our respondents about their overall satisfaction with the devices as well equally other aspects of usage including initial setup, support, and reliability. These ratings help provide a motion-picture show of which companies make products designed to please their customers for the long run, and serve as valuable complements to our labs-based reviews. Read on to see whose products provide your devices with the best internet connectivity.

The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for Routers and NAS Devices was in the field from March 12, 2022, through April 2, 2022. For more information on how the survey is conducted, read the survey methodology. Each person who completed the survey was entered into a drawing to win an Amazon.com gift carte du jour valued at $350.

Y'all can win! Sign up for the Readers' Pick Survey mailing list to receive invitations for future sweepstakes.

Looking for expert opinion? Read PCMag's roundups of the All-time Wireless Routers and The All-time NAS (Network Fastened Storage) Devices.

Routers

Yous can become a few means when you set up a wireless network in your home. Yous can utilise the Wi-Fi built into your broadband Internet access provider's cable modem and never purchase any new hardware yourself. While that may be the most expedient and inexpensive option, information technology'south not your all-time choice, according to our survey respondents. Hybrid routers/modems have consistently received the everyman satisfaction ratings in our survey, past far. As a group, these devices had an average overall satisfaction rating of 7.ii on a scale from 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to ten (extremely satisfied).

The group satisfaction rating for standalone routers, on the other hand, was 8.4. Mesh networks received an overall satisfaction rating of 8.5.

Unless yous know you need a whole dwelling Wi-Fi system, beginning with a standalone router, and consider 1 from Asus, which wins our Readers' Option Laurels for the 7th direct year. Asus' overall satisfaction rating of 8.nine is the same it received last twelvemonth and far ameliorate than its competitors. In fact, the company that comes closest is Apple (eight.7), which is reportedly no longer in the router business organization.

Readers' Choice 2022 - Routers -- Overall

Asus also had the highest rating for satisfaction with setup (nine.0) and likelihood to recommend (8.ix). The visitor'south satisfaction with reliability rating of 9.0 was just backside Apple tree's 9.1, merely still excellent.

If you're looking for a whole home Wi-Fi system, Google, with its Google Wifi organization, is our new Readers' Option Award Winner. Google Wifi can exist purchased every bit a single node or three nodes, each of which looks like 2 stacked white hockey pucks. Google Wifi's overall satisfaction rating was 9.0. Netgear, with its Orbi-branded mesh devices, received an 8.6 for overall satisfaction, the same score it had in 2022. (Last year's whole habitation Wi-Fi system Readers' Choice, Linksys, didn't get the required minimum number of responses to be included in this year's results.)

Readers' Choice 2022 - Whole Home Routers -- Overall

Google Wifi's ratings for satisfaction with reliability (9.three) and likelihood to recommend (nine.two) were even ameliorate than Asus. In addition, non a single respondent reported needing repairs for their Google Wifi system in the past year. One of the goals of whole home systems is to brand home networking easy, but 11 percentage of Google respondents reported needing tech support compared to just 8 per centum of Asus respondents. D-Link was the but visitor with a lower percentage needing support (7 percentage). Clearly, this is a statistic that doesn't directly correlate to satisfaction given D-Link'south low overall satisfaction rating.

Asus offers 2 solutions for whole dwelling house networking. There'due south the Lyra Domicile Wi-Fi System, which is similar to Google Wifi and Netgear Orbi, only it's a new production and didn't receive enough responses to get a rating. Asus besides offers AiMesh for its standard routers, which tin turn them into a mesh system. This could be a practiced solution for someone who already has an Asus router, considering how well loved its standalone routers are with readers.

Related Story See all of our survey results for routers.

WINNERS: ROUTERS

Readers' Choice 2022 Award Standalone Routers: Asus
Yr in and year out, Asus is the preferred brand of router for PCMag readers. No other company comes close to Asus' satisfaction ratings; 2022 marks the 7th straight year the visitor has won our Readers' Choice Award.

Readers' Choice 2022 Award Whole Home Wi-Fi Systems: Google
Google is always trying to make information technology easier for people to get what they need online. We're more than used to thinking of that in terms of its search engine, merely the Google Wifi system is making it easier for people to connect at home and our readers like the fashion they're doing it.

Network Fastened Storage (NAS) Devices

If you have a large number of media files—videos, music, photos—that you desire to make available to any device on your network, or even access across the internet, definitely consider a network attached storage (NAS) device. According to our readers, choose one from Synology, which this yr wins its eighth sequent PCMag Readers' Choice Award.

Terminal twelvemonth, Synology'south overall satisfaction rating was nine.4, followed most closely by QNAP at 8.viii. The ii companies shared the Readers' Option Award in 2022 and 2022. This year, Synology's overall satisfaction rating dipped somewhat to a nonetheless excellent ix.1 while QNAP improved to 9.0, nipping at Synology's heels. No i else came close. Western Digital fell from an eight.three in 2022 to an viii.0, the same rating as Netgear, while Seagate was fifty-fifty farther behind at seven.vii.

Synology received a higher likelihood to recommend rating (ix.iii) than QNAP (9.ane). Both are first-class ratings on this very of import measure of customer satisfaction.

Rather than purchasing a standalone NAS, some of our readers have reward of the NAS capabilities built into their home networking router, many of which have USB ports for connecting hard drives. This is certainly an choice worth considering but none of the routers received satisfaction ratings for their NAS capabilities that came close to Synology or QNAP. Asus was the highest rated at 7.8, followed by Netgear (7.7) and Linksys (vii.half dozen).

Ninety-three percent of respondents mainly employ their NAS devices for sharing videos, music, and other files on their home network and backing up their computers; 51 percent also employ their devices then friends/family can access shared media and data across the internet.

QNAP rated slightly college than Synology for storing and accessing photos, music and video on the respondent'due south home network (ix.four for QNAP to Synology'south 9.3). The two companies had identical scores for storing and accessing other types of files on the network (9.4) and backing up computers (9.ane). Synology had the highest ratings for accessing files across the net (viii.ix) and sharing files (eight.four); QNAP did non have enough respondents answering these questions.

Related Story See all of our survey results for NAS Devices.

WINNERS: NETWORK Fastened STORAGE DEVICES

Readers' Choice 2022 Award Synology
Synology has been setting the standard in NAS for years. The company has won our Readers' Choice honour every twelvemonth since 2022. So far merely QNAP represents a real threat to Synology'southward dominance.