Introduction:

As a Brisbane router installer and network design business, we know that most people just accept the router their ISP sends them or go and buy fancy-looking routers off the shelf from their local electronics retailer. But have you checked what's under the hood? When it comes to your home network setup, is what you have really the right choice for your needs? From Wi-Fi optimisation to NBN upgrades, let's explore some of the features of a solid router and understand some of the more important terms...

​

Understanding the Basics:

NTD: The "Network Termination Point" is the box that physically connects the NBN to your building.

FTTN: "Fibre to the Node" means that optical fibre is run to a node in your suburb and then connects to your home via copper wire.

FTTC: "Fibre to the Curb" means optical fibre runs to the edge of your premises and then connects to your home via copper wire.

FTTP: "Fibre to the Premises" means you have optical fibre connected directly to your home - nice!

HFC: "Hybrid Fibre Coax" means that the network is a mix of fibre and coax. Bad weather often effects performance in these situations.

Router: The engine that manages the network around your home or small business.

Intranet: The physical network inside a premises.

Internet: The external, world-wide network.

Extranet: A private network designed by an organisation to provide third parties with controlled access. Common in WFH instances.

Wi-Fi 5, 6 & 7: Different generations of Wi-Fi that slowly improved in both performance and security feature (see picture on left)

Access Point: A Wi-Fi connection point 

Throughput: How fast a device can process information and send it out. It's like a measure of efficiency for a manager. 

Latency: the delay between an action (like clicking a link) and getting a response - measured in milliseconds (ms).

 

 

The key points for choosing which router is best for you are:

 

• Look for a router with IDS/IPS security (Intrusion Detection & Prevention) - This feature filters threats in real time — but if your router isn’t powerful enough, it can slow your internet down. A high-performance model (like the Dream Machine Pro) can maintain almost full speed while protecting your network.
   

• Processing Power matters: Even if you’re on a gigabit NBN plan, a weak router can bottleneck your speeds — meaning you’ll never see those “1000 Mbps” results you’re paying for.
   

• Is the Wi-Fi throughput enough for your needs? We recently installed a network for an e-sports team — and instead of our usual UniFi U6+ access points, we upgraded to the U7 Pro, which jumps from a theoretical 3 Gbps to 8.6 Gbps of aggregated throughput. (Yes, we still hard-wired their consoles using Cat6 data points — Wi-Fi can only take you so far).
   

• Cost: Look, I'd like to say "you get what you pay for" but it's not always true - at least when it comes to technology. You have to understand that what is available off the shelves is a small selection what is available from the professional installation industry. Remember, we are looking at 2 different avenues of supply: Off-the-shelf routers are built for mass retail — they look fancy, but they’re limited in power and flexibility; Professional-grade routers - which aren't usually sold in stores - are designed for performance and reliability, and installers like us have access to these models. The price might be similar, but the capability is often ten times greater.
   

• Will your network be handling general living stuff like mobile phones and solar, or will it be managing video surveillance, VLANS, Point-to-Points? These things will directly influence the right router to purchase. This is why we generally supply 3 levels of router: The Express 7 for minor home usage; the Dream Router 7 for solid home networking; the Dream Machine SE for handling heavy network loads.

​

Not sure what’s right for your home or business?

Book a free on-site network assessment — we’ll help you choose the router that fits your needs and your future

​