Tenda F3 — 300Mbps Wireless 11N 4-in1 Router

Buying it, and when not to

The F3 is the cheapest thing in this catalogue that will still hand out DHCP, run NAT and put a WiFi name in the air. It is a 300Mbps 11N router with three fixed antennas and a 4-in-1 mode switch, so the same box can be set as a router, an access point, a repeater or a WISP client without buying different hardware for each job.

Buy it for a single shop, a BQ, a one-room office, or as the subscriber unit you drop at the end of a copper run where the customer pays for the cheapest working connection. It is also the sensible spare to keep in the van: when a customer's own router dies at 6pm, an F3 restores service that evening and nobody argues about the price.

Do not put it on a connection faster than its 100Mbps-class Ethernet and 11N radio can carry, and do not use it where ten or more phones and laptops are on at once - 11N shares one slow channel and the whole room feels it. For a flat with a real fibre or Starlink feed behind it, step up to the AC10 for dual-band and gigabit ports. For anything with multiple rooms and concrete walls, a mesh pack or a ceiling access point will beat a cheaper router every time.