The cheapest Wi-Fi 6 router right now comes with free earphones and a smartwatch
Honor Router 3 is breaking new grounds when it comes to Wi-Fi 6 connectivity
Honor Router 3 - $46.99 at Gearbest (roughly £38/AU$ 69)
The Honor Router 3 delivers Wi-Fi 6 speeds at an exceptional price and this router also has a clean, minimalist look. At less than $50, this router will give you the fastest Wi-Fi speeds currently possible and then some as it is a Wi-Fi 6+ device. Note that freebies are not included with this offer.
Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax) is a pretty recent wireless standard having been officially released as a protocol not so long ago, in 2019. It replaces 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) as the fastest Wi-Fi protocol widely available in the market.
(ed: Note that the device costs €79.90 in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands and £79.99 in the UK where it comes with a free HONOR Band 5 smartwatch and HONOR sport Bluetooth earphones till the end of July 2020. The offer is only available in selected territories and when purchased directly from Hihonor.)
Less than a year later, Honor is selling the Router 3, a Wi-Fi 6 router for as little as $47.99. While you need to have a compatible device to get the most out of it, the improvements on offer thanks to the sheer presence of newer hardware and technology makes it a worthwhile investment if your current ISP-provided router is not delivering.
The Honor Router 3 - which is a rebadged WiFi AX3 - delivered combined wireless speeds of up to 2976 Mbps (2.4 GHz: 574 Mbps; 5 GHz: 2402 Mbps) allowing you to transfer data to up to 20 devices simultaneously.
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Note that most users will almost certainly never reach this level, mainly because it is only a theoretical maximum speed. The router is sold as a Wi-Fi 6+, and we've reached out to Honor to find exactly out what the “plus” version brings to the table.
A maximum of 128 devices can be registered across both bands and its four separate antennae should improve coverage especially across several walls. Insider, the router is powered by a dual-core Gigahome CPU, running at 1.2GHz; it is paired with 128MB RAM and 128MB storage.
When it comes to connectivity options, there’s one WAN port and three LAN ones, all of which are Gigabit capable.
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- We've also rounded up the best secure routers
Bear in mind
- If this product comes from mainland China, it will take at least a month to reach either the UK or US (and potentially more). You may also be levied a tax either directly or through the courier.
- If you've managed to get your hands on a cheaper product with equivalent specifications, in stock and brand new, let us know and we'll tip our hat to you.
Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.