Shopping for a router used to be as simple as buying the thing everyone said was good.

Some of these are useful, but others are marketing fluff.

Let’s dive in and separate the useful from the rest.

Throughput: In simple terms, throughput means speed.

It’stheoreticalspeed, but it’s a measure of how quickly data can move through your router.

We’ll get into the nitty gritty about how deceiving those numbers can be later.

That’s the kind of marketing whitewash you should keep an eye out for.

Bands: Most modern routers are “dual band.”

Dual band routers have a 2.4Ghz band and a 5Ghz band.

Connecting on the 5Ghz band often offers better performance thanks to less interference.

802.11ac operates entirely on the 5Ghz band.

QoS options give you control over your home connection and how it performs.

Whatever you preferbut the options have to be there for you to have that level of control.

It can be difficult to tell if they’re beneficial, or do anything at all.

Let’s run them down one at a time.

Beamforming:Beamforming, or “spatial filtering,” is common on new routers.

Plus, even if you are, don’t expect miracles.

Should you look for it?

Sureas long as you have a lot of AC devices.

Explicit Beamforming:“Implicit” and “explicit” beamforming muddy the water even more.

you could read morein this great article at The Ruckus Room.

Multiple Antennae: For many years, router manufacturers were in a hurry to remove antennae from their devices.

Even now, most “consumer” routers like theApple Airport Extremeand Linksys’consumer lineupdon’t have antennae at all.

However, you’ll notice that enthusiast and high-end routers, like theLinksys WRT1900ACand theASUS AC68Uall pack external antennae.

Does that mean that external antennae are for power users and routers with no antennae are for everyday consumers?

To a degree, yes.

However, neither of those things are necessarily features most users will want.

MIMO: MIMO stands formultiple-input, multiple-output.

Put simply, it’s the use of multiple antennae to offer improved performance and throughput.

Plus, router manufacturers don’t have to add more or bigger antennae to their routers to improve throughput.

you might read more on the topicover at WiseGeek.

You’ll probably see most of those on your next router.

check that your devices are largely Wireless AC before buying into beamforming, for example.

Before we get started, check out that promo video above.

It’s a perfect example of what we’re going to talk about.

Everyone else can move along.

Paying more for a faster processor doesn’t make any sense unless you have a specific need.

Like we mentioned earlier, you have to be careful of this.

It’s sneaky marketing, andmanufacturers are hoping you don’t know enough to see through it.

Additional photos bySean MacEntee,Alexander Kachkaev, andKevin Jarrett.