Overview

iPad has sold tens of millions around the world, a great achievement for an Apple product that later becomes a benchmark for other mobile devices. All generations of iPad come with built-in wifi and there is also another model that comes with 3G in addition to the built-in wifi to connect to the Internet.

With the iPad you can access the Internet through a network connection to a wifi hotspot when you are in public places such as airports, on campus, at the café, hotel or wherever wifi hotspots available. If wifi is not available, you can use 3G network only if your iPad supports 3g. What about at home? Surely you do not want to pay another 3G plan if you already subscribe broadband internet access at home. What you need is router for iPad. The question is which wireless router is best for your iPad to be able to perform to the fullest?

Understand the Specs

To help you choose the best wireless router for iPad the main point is to provide the best wireless environment that can help the iPad to perform optimally in running the applications. Since users mostly utilize the iPad, beside the internet browsing, for video streaming and mostly are high definition ones, your wireless environment must meet the requirements to being able to stream fast and smoothly, jitter-free and lag-free for video and gaming.

All iPad models come with built-in wifi adapter with recent wifi standard 802.11n and dual band support for either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands.

The 5GHz band is relatively clean band and is not prone to signal interference compared with the more crowded 2.4GHz band. Moreover, the iPad is also equipped with Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR technology for peer-to-peer communication with other handheld devices including cellular phones. To provide the best environment, firstly you need to choose the best wireless router for iPad that must be based on the latest wireless technology which is 802.11n or the latest technology is 802.11ac (5G Wi-Fi). Secondly your router must support the simultaneous dual band technology to let you select the clean band. Thirdly, the router must support the Quality of Service (QoS) for reliable connection. In a nutshell, your wifi network must support HD multimedia environment.

Today, wireless routers with dual band technology doubles your bandwidth demand for high speed connection in streaming high definition videos and online gaming. Select the clean 5GHz band which is less interference. iPad will connect optimally with the 5GHz band and perform well in streaming the video. QoS will help you prioritize the multimedia traffic over other internet browsing activities.

Best router for iPad

To choose the best wireless router for iPad whatever the generation is (2 or 3), the router must be based on 802.11n or 802.11ac with simultaneous dual band technology and supports the Quality of Service (QoS). Standard wireless router with a single band (such as Belkin N150 router or Medialink N150 router) is less favorable. Sure it will work, but not to the fullest performance.

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station

Apple Airport Extreme Base Station is superior wireless router by Apple which is the same vendor as iPad. This is a good idea to provide a wireless environment which is powered by the wireless router from the same vendor for best compatibility and easy technical support.

Apple Airport Extreme supports wireless N with dual band technology to allow you share broadband internet connection with up to 50 users within the household of small offices. All Windows and Mac computers can be compatible with this router. The router includes one USB port to let you host either storage device or printer for share across the network. You can add a USB hub to let you host both storage device and printer concurrently.

Pros:

• The same vendor as iPad, assured to work optimally
• Gigabit Ethernet ports (3x) and one USB port for shared storage or printer
• Guest network support

Cons:

• Includes only 3 gigabit Ethernet LAN ports compared with others that normally include four ports.

Apple Airport Extreme is one of the best wireless routers for your iPad. For details of manufacturer specifications this Apple Airport Extreme, click the link. For small home you may also consider Apple airport express 5gen.

Linksys E4200

Linksys N750 E-4200 is one of the new high performance E Series wireless routers. This is the fastest wireless router shipped by Linksys that uses the N750 technology. The router is powered by wireless 802.11n technology with simultaneous dual band support. The router is embedded with 6 internal antennas with MIMO technology for high speed and larger network coverage. With N750 technology, the router delivers the high speeds up to 450Mbps in 5GHz band and up to 300Mbps in 2.4GHz band. But in the real world, the router never reaches these speeds due to many environment factors.

The router includes 4xGigabit Ethernet LAN ports (high speed and reliable wired connection to the computers) and one Gigabit WAN port. The router supports the WMM-based QoS (Wi-Fi multimedia Quality of Service) – a QoS prioritization engine for reliable wireless connection for multimedia – ideal to support your iPad devices.

Pros:

• N750 technology for maximum speed in 5GHz band
• Gigabit Ethernet ports
• Built-in media server
• Guest network support

Cons:

• Includes one USB port for storage but you cannot use it for shared  printer.

Linksys E4200 is one of best wireless routers for iPad you can consider for your network. The previous Linksys E3000 series is also an ideal solution for your iPad even with N600 technology.

You can also consider any high performance wireless routers available including Buffalo WZR-HP-AG300H 300Mbps dual band – a high power wireless N600 router, or you can also consider Asus RT-N56u N600 Black Diamond, it includes two USB ports for shared storage and printer at the same time.

For affordable router, you can consider Medialink N150 router which is Amazon best seller in router category – a solid connection router with averagely 5 star customer ratings. Unfortunately the router can only support 2.4GHz band.

New generations of wireless technology has come, 5G Wi-Fi. You may have a look at what’s new with new generations of Linksys EA6500 wireless ac with cloud connect.

Summary

To support the best environment for your iPad 2, Samsung galaxy Tab, and other tablet computers your wireless environment must be powered by wireless N with dual band technology for high speed, Quality of Service for HD multimedia traffic prioritization and larger network coverage.

By Ki Grinsing