Netgear Nighthawk review: This 802.11ac router sets LAN speed records

October 06, 2013

With the IEEE expected to finally ratify the 802.11ac wireless networking standard in November, the race is on to introduce a new generation of high-end Wi-Fi routers based on that standard. Wireless gear designed according to the draft 802.11ac standard has already left older 802.11n gear in the dust, so what comes next should be exciting. Netgear is first to market with a new 802.11ac router powered by Broadcom’s BCM4709 SoC (system on chip), which is based on a 1GHz, dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. The Netgear R7000 is packed with tasty features, and it delivers exceptionally good performance. First, a comment on the rather nasty lawsuit that Netgear has filed against Asus. Netgear has accused Asus of unfair competition, among other things, so I think it’s funny that the two companies seem to be taking design and marketing cues from each other. Historically, Netgear’s consumer wireless routers have used fixed internal antennas, while Asus’s Wi-Fi routers have been equipped with external, removable antennas. When I compared Netgear’s first 802.11ac router (the R6300) to Asus’s (the RT-AC66U) last year, I credited its superior performance to its external antennas. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2050761/netgear-nighthawk-review-this-802-11ac-router-sets-lan-speed-records.html#tk.rss_reviews