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We all depend on having a reliable Wi-Fi connection to get work done, to connect with friends and family, to power our smart home devices and streaming services, and so much more, so it's essential to have a Wi-Fi router that works. And even more important than Wi-Fi speed is Wi-Fi coverage, so that areas of your home, like your basement, are still able to get a signal when you need it.
Also: The best Wi-Fi routers you can buy
ZDNET tested 15 Wi-Fi 7 routers from popular brands like Netgear, TP-Link, and Eero in our Louisville-based lab. The lab team's goal was to evaluate the coverage performance of individual Wi-Fi 7 routers by measuring signal strength in decibel-milliwatts (dBm) across strategically chosen locations throughout our 12,500 sq. ft. lab.
The study is designed to characterize performance not only near the router but specifically as distance and physical obstruction increase, since far-field behavior is where routers most meaningfully differentiate. Based on all of this, the router with the best 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi coverage was the Netgear NightHawk RS700S.
How we tested these Wi-Fi 7 routers
To test these Wi-Fi routers, lab engineer Samantha De Leon used NetSpot, a widely used Wi-Fi site-survey and signal-mapping tool, to collect one signal strength reading (in dBm) at each of the 61 fixed, numbered test points distributed across the lab. Point numbering was held constant across every unit under test (UUT) to preserve comparability and repeatability. The router was located at a single fixed origin for all UUTs.
Each test point is assigned to one of three Distance and Interference (D&I) bands (low, medium, and high), based on its distance from the router and the number of walls between the point and the router.
Heatmap for the Netgear Nighthawk RS700S router's coverage across 61 locations in our lab. Samantha De Leon/ZDNET
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