A new router will not raise a 100Mbps broadband line to gigabit speeds, but it can decide whether your gaming PC, phones and laptops actually get a stable connection through the house. Wi-Fi 7 is no longer a launch-price curiosity. Tom's Hardware, which last updated its router guide on 10 November 2026, now treats it as the default, with usable tri-band models and even some dual-band options at more everyday prices.
Forge PC has not benchmarked these routers. The picks below follow Tom's Hardware's tested recommendations, with official specifications from the manufacturers and a few UK street prices we could verify on 13 November 2026. Our Wi-Fi 7 vs Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi vs Ethernet vs Powerline guides cover the standards and when a cable is still the better answer for a desktop.
What actually matters
Tom's Hardware's shopping advice is straightforward, and it matches how most UK homes are set up:
One router is enough for many houses. Mesh systems cost more and can add latency when you hop through a satellite. Buy mesh if you have dead rooms or more than one floor that a single box cannot cover.
Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 includes 6GHz. Dual-band Wi-Fi 7 still gets you Multi-Link Operation (MLO) and 4K-QAM, but it has no 6GHz radio. That is how the cheapest Wi-Fi 7 boxes hit a lower price. In Tom's real-world tests, MLO itself did not show a significant throughput or latency advantage over a single band.
Wired ports still matter. A 2.5GbE WAN port is the sensible minimum if your broadband or a future upgrade can use it. A 10GbE port is useful for a very fast fibre line, or as a LAN link to a gaming PC or NAS. Ethernet to the desktop remains the lowest-latency option for play.
A "gaming" router is mostly about ports and software. Tom's description is that most gaming models include at least one LAN port that prioritises game traffic, plus quality-of-service tools, port forwarding and sometimes a game dashboard. The antennas do not magic away a weak broadband line.
If your PC only has Wi-Fi 6, a Wi-Fi 7 router still works; you just will not see the newest client-side features until the adapter does too. A Wi-Fi 7 PCIe card is the upgrade on the computer's side.
Best budget: TP-Link Archer BE3600
Tom's Hardware's best budget router is the Archer BE3600, a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 box that sells for about $99 in the US. It has no 6GHz band, which is the main compromise. Official UK specifications list Wi-Fi speeds of up to 3.6Gbps in total, one 2.5Gbps WAN port, one 2.5Gbps LAN port, three 1Gbps LAN ports and a USB 3.0 port, plus four external antennas and EasyMesh support.
In Tom's tests the review unit surpassed 1Gbps on 5GHz and topped 200Mbps on 2.4GHz at both 6-foot and 25-foot distances. That is still plenty for most UK broadband packages, and more future-proof than buying another Wi-Fi 6 router for similar money.
We did not get a clean, current UK shelf price for the BE3600 on 13 November 2026, so check Scan, Overclockers, Box or TP-Link's own UK store before you buy. The official UK product page is the one to use when you compare listings, because TP-Link also sells a closely related Archer BE230.
Best one-box tri-band: TP-Link's BE9700-class routers, or an ASUS RT-BE92U
Tom's Hardware's overall winner is the TP-Link Archer BE9700: a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with a 10Gbps WAN/LAN port, four 2.5Gbps LAN ports and a USB 3.0 port. Tom's measured it cracking 2.5Gbps at close range on 6GHz, with solid if not class-leading 5GHz and 2.4GHz results, and called it the sweet spot for most people at a US street price of around $200.
UK naming is messy. TP-Link's UK site lists models such as the Archer BE550 and Archer BE700 rather than "BE9700", and some UK retailers advertise a "BE9700" router under the Archer BE600 name. We have not unboxed those SKUs side by side, so treat the BE9700 as Tom's tested recommendation and match the ports, band count and official model name carefully before you pay.
If you would rather buy a model that is already widely listed in the UK, the ASUS RT-BE92U is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router already in our database. It is not Tom's overall winner, but it is a clearer UK shopping target than a model-name hunt.
Best gaming: TP-Link Archer GE800
Tom's Hardware's best gaming router is the Archer GE800, a tri-band BE19000 design with a distinctive vertical layout, RGB lighting and a cooling fan that Tom's says becomes audible under heavy load. Official UK specifications list:
one 10Gbps SFP+/RJ45 combo WAN/LAN port;
one 10Gbps WAN/LAN port;
four 2.5Gbps LAN ports, including a designated gaming port that prioritises game traffic;
one USB 3.0 port;
a game dashboard in the Tether app or web interface, plus HomeShield and EasyMesh.
Tom's measured more than 2,800Mbps on 6GHz and nearly 1,900Mbps on 5GHz at six feet, with relatively little drop-off at 25 feet. That is the performance case. The UK price is the catch: on 13 November 2026 the GE800 was £679.99 at Scan and £814.99 at Overclockers UK. Those are approximate street prices, and they are far above the US figure Tom's quotes, where the router regularly falls to $349 on sale. Buy it if you want the ports, the software and the tested radio performance, not because the word "gaming" is on the box.
Best mesh: ASUS ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro
If one router cannot cover the house, Tom's Hardware's best mesh system is the ASUS ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro. It was the fastest router Tom's has tested, with more than 3.5Gbps on 6GHz at six feet, falling to around 1.9Gbps at 25 feet, and more than 1.6Gbps on 5GHz. Official specifications describe a quad-band BE30000 system (2.4GHz, 5GHz and two 6GHz bands) with, per node, one 10Gbps WAN/LAN port, one 10Gbps LAN port, one 1Gbps WAN/LAN port, two 1Gbps LAN ports and USB 3.0, plus dual-WAN and optional phone tethering. Tom's also highlights the AsusWRT 5.0 software.
Tom's main reservations are the price, which it put at over $1,100 for the two-pack, and the fact that the extra LAN ports are still 1Gbps at that money. The BQ16 Pro is not the same product as the ZenWiFi BQ16 already in our database, so check the "Pro" name on the box.
For a cheaper mesh, Tom's pick is the MSI Roamii BE Pro, a tri-band two-pack it had at just under $300. Official MSI specifications list Wi-Fi speeds of up to 5,764Mbps on 6GHz, 4,323Mbps on 5GHz and 688Mbps on 2.4GHz, six internal antennas, a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and four 2.5G Ethernet ports, with one-pack and two-pack versions of the MRBE110 system. Tom's also mentions USB 3.0 and wall-mount brackets; those extras were not listed on the official specification page we checked, so confirm the box before you buy. 320MHz channels may be restricted in some regions. We did not verify a current UK price on 13 November 2026.
Our verdict
For most UK homes, a single tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with a 2.5GbE or 10GbE WAN port is enough, and Ethernet to the gaming PC is still the right way to cut latency. Tom's Hardware's tested sweet spot is the Archer BE9700, but you need to match the UK model name and ports carefully; the official UK Archer BE3600 is the clear budget option if you can live without 6GHz. The Archer GE800 is the tested gaming pick if you want the extra 10GbE ports and software, though UK prices on 13 November 2026 were about £680 at Scan and £815 at Overclockers. Use the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro or the cheaper Roamii BE Pro only if you actually need mesh coverage. We have not tested these routers ourselves; these recommendations follow Tom's Hardware's 10 November 2026 guide and the manufacturers' official specifications.
