ASUS Ranked Top for Customer Satisfaction of Wireless Routers

Question, who makes the best wireless broadband routers for managing your home Internet connection? According to a recent J.D. Power survey of customer satisfaction the answer is ASUS, which gained top marks (838 on a 1,000 point scale). The lowest rated was Netgear.

The survey was based on responses from 2,716 current owners of wireless routers who purchased their kit during the 12-month period prior to November 2015. Satisfaction was then measured across 10 factors (listed in order of importance): Wi-Fi range; reliability; restore connection easily; speed of upload/download; security capabilities; price; ease of use; variety of features; intuitive user interface and customer service.

Overall the report found that the average level of satisfaction with wireless broadband routers stood at 821 on a 1,000-point scale and that 18% of participants had experience problems with their wireless router. The most common issues reported include slow Internet speeds (42%), frequency of resetting router (38%), initially connecting to the Internet (38%), limited WiFi range (25%) and installation process (20%).

Netgear’s position in the table probably won’t come as much of a surprise, although it is curious to see Apple listed so high as they’re not generally well known for their routers and tend to focus on a different side of the market. TP-Link also rank high despite often taking criticism for buggy firmware, although they do offer affordable and feature rich kit that attracts enthusiasts.

The study also revealed that most customers use a wireless router to connect with their laptop (80%), which was followed by Smartphone (73%), Tablet (65%), Desktop computer (55%), gaming console (51%), printer (51%), smart TV (39%) and streaming device/media player, such as Chromecast or Roku (37%). The average price paid for a router was around £76 ($108).

It’s worth noting that the survey participants were from the USA and not the UK, although there’s often not a huge degree of difference in the fundamentals between countries.