This is the wireless router for people who hate wireless routers

The router provided by your ISP is likely to be terrible.

If you're unhappy with your speeds and range, you can go straight to the nuclear option if you'd like, but the $199.99 High Power Touch Screen AC1750 Wi-Fi Router is an interesting middle ground between power and accessibility.

The hardware boasts "12 powerful amplifiers and three antennas" that "push Wi-Fi through walls to eliminate dead spots," with four wired ports and one USB port that allows you to share files across the network.

It's a surprisingly light piece of equipment that delivers the power it advertises: I ran connection and speed tests using the hardware and was able to get a flawless signal in my basement, where I previously had to use a wired connection for my console, and my gaming PC in the sunroom attached to the kitchen. My house is old, with thick walls. All the areas that were a problem with my standard ISP-provided router were no issue for this router. I stood across the street and got a great signal, ditto for standing in the yard of my next door neighbor.

So the power was a vast improvement from my previous router, and was more than enough for my entire home. That's nice enough, but one of the main draws of this particular router is the four-inch touchscreen on the face of the hardware. Setup only took a few minutes, and adjusting the settings of the router was as easy as using the screen, no need to use a web interface from a laptop or other connected device.

Using the touchscreen makes adjusting your wireless settings, or even just updating the firmware, much easier for people who are intimidated by the standard options of routers aimed at power users. Hell, try even talking someone through the steps needed to reach their router using a laptop or a phone. You minimize the steps needed by accessing the device directly, which makes it much easier and more welcoming for people who may not feel comfortable dealing with networking to adjust their settings or play with even advanced settings.

It only took me a few minutes to blacklist some sites in my home — yes, kids, I look at your browser history. No more of that, thanks — and then I set up a guest network they can access from their phones and tablets before then adjusting the times the network would even be active. No more sneaking internet access after bedtime. I then changed the password on the network my wife and I used and I was good to go.

The whole process, using the touchscreen, took me about five minutes.

This is an fascinating product in many ways, but it fills a niche that has to be rather large: people who need a powerful signal for multiple devices throughout their home but don't want to spend a lot of time, if any, messing with their settings. It's both powerful and easy to use, which is a rare combination in the world of wireless routers.