Wireless speed 5 GHz
The maximum speed supported by the device when communicating wirelessly in the 5 GHz band.
This range is used in Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E as one of the available bands, in Wi-Fi 5 as the only one (see "Wi-Fi Standards"). The maximum speed is specified in the specifications in order to indicate the real capabilities of specific equipment - they can be noticeably more modest than the general capabilities of the standard. Also, in fact, it all depends on the generation of Wi-Fi. For example, devices with Wi-Fi 5 support can theoretically deliver up to 6928 Mbit (using eight antennas), with Wi-Fi 6 support up to 9607 Mbit (using the same eight spatial streams). The maximum possible communication speed is achieved under certain conditions, and not every model of Wi-Fi equipment fully satisfies them. Specific figures are conditionally divided into several groups: the value
up to 500 Mbit is rather modest, many devices support speeds in the range of
500 - 1000 Mbit, indicators of
1 - 2 Gbps can be attributed to the average, and the most advanced models in class provide a data exchange rate of
over 2 Gbps.
WAN
The WAN port characterizes the ability of the device to receive a wired signal. There may be models with both one port and
two WAN ports, and in rare cases, more connected providers. Such an expanded number of WAN connectors affects the cost and, accordingly, is found in more part among professional-level routers.
In terms of speed, when choosing a device, the priority is the speed of the output LAN port or Wi-Fi. However, faster WAN ports (
1 Gbps,
2.5 Gbps,
5 Gbps,
10 Gbps) allow you to divide the load on several outputs at once without reducing speed performance, as may be the case with
WAN port 100 Mbps.
Reassignable WAN / LAN
Reassignable WAN / LAN port in the design of the device, which can work both with an external WAN network and with a local LAN. This solution allows you to reduce the total number of connection ports and at the same time expand the functionality of the equipment for flexible adaptation to user needs.
CPU
The model of the processor installed in the device.
The processor is responsible for processing network traffic and running software. Knowing its name, you can get more detailed data on the speed capabilities of the equipment and understand how much such a powerful or, on the contrary, mediocre element is needed on board. In new models of Wi-Fi equipment, coprocessors or so-called NPU modules are often installed, which relieve the load from the main processor.
Most often, Wi-Fi equipment is equipped with processors from
Broadcom,
MediaTek,
Realtek and
Qualcomm.
CPU cores
The number of cores in the processor installed in the device. The core in this case refers to the part of the processor that executes one thread of instructions. Accordingly, the presence of multiple cores (there are
2-core models,
3 and on
4 cores) allows you to work with multiple threads simultaneously, which has a positive effect on performance.
Clock Speed
The number of cycles per second that the processor produces in its normal operating mode. A clock is a single electrical impulse used to process data and synchronize the processor with the rest of the computer system. Different operations may require fractions of a clock or several clocks, but anyway, the clock frequency is one of the main parameters characterizing the performance and speed of the processor — all other things being equal, a processor with a higher clock frequency will work faster and better cope with significant loads.
Flash memory
The amount of memory allocated for the operation of the operating system on board the router. It stores the OS and the control programme. Note that Flash memory is not available for use by the end user.
