NETGEAR Comes in Hot with Four New Wi-Fi 6 Routers

We heard last fall from the Wi-Fi Alliance that the group planned to rebrand the naming convention of their wireless networking standards to coincide with the launch of the next-gen standard. Thus, the Wi-Fi 6 standard was introduced, bringing the 802.11ax standard under a simpler, easier to understand and marketing umbrella. And now, with the standard finalized, the wave of new networking products feels like it’s about to crest—starting with NETGEAR.

The longtime leader in the networking space, NETGEAR launched into the market four new Nighthawk routers that support the faster, greater-bandwidth-supporting Wi-Fi 6 standard. The line ranges from a $200 Nighthawk AX4 router that boasts Wi-Fi speeds of up to 3Gbps that has signal amps suitable for a mid-sized home, up to the $600 Nighthawk Tri-Band AX12 router that sports speeds up to 10.8Gbps.

The promise of these new Wi-Fi 6 routers is about far more than just the speed of networking. In this age of smart home devices, the average household has roughly 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices connected to their network at a given time. That number is set to explode over the coming years with more smart home devices being added every day. That means more bandwidth is needed on these networks in order to ensure minimal or no lagging.

“While previous Wi-Fi iterations have been largely about improvements to speed, Wi-Fi 6 promises a number of other benefits such as lower battery consumption and most notably increased capacity and reduced latency,” David Watkins, director, Intelligent Home Group for Strategy Analytics, said in the NETGEAR statement. “The enhanced capacity of Wi-Fi 6 will ensure that consumers experience great performance across all their devices even as those devices demand more data from ever richer media services.”

Here’s the full breakdown on each, as provided by NETGEAR:

• Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Router  (RAX40): $199.99, available April 2019. Features combined Wi-Fi speeds up to 3Gbps and an AX optimized dual-core processor powers smart home automation, ultra-smooth 4K UHD streaming, online gaming, and more. Features 4-stream Wi-Fi with up to 600 + 2400Mbps for ultra-fast wireless speeds, a dual-core processor that ensures smooth 4K UHD streaming and gaming, and powerful amplifiers for network coverage throughout medium size homes.
• Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 Router (RAX80): $399.99, available now. The Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream AX6000 Wi-Fi Router features blazing-fast combined Wi-Fi speeds up to 6Gbps with an award-winning design recognized by both Red Dotand iF Design awards. Eight Wi-Fi spatial streams—four in the 2.4GHz band, and four in the 5GHz band—offer four times the device capacity as compared to typical 2x2 AC Wi-Fi. Multi-Gig Internet enables customers to get more than one Gbps of Internet through aggregation.
• Nighthawk AX12 12-stream AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 Router (RAX120):$499.99, available April 2019. This 12-stream router offers combined Wi-Fi speeds up to 6Gbps and AX optimized 64bit 2.2GHz Quad-core processor, an award-winning design recognized by both Red Dot and iF Design Have more fun with the uninterrupted 4K/8K Ultra HD streaming, gaming, and the smart home experience. As the only router with 8 streams on 5GHz, you will get better range and reliability with all devices. Built-in 5Gbps Multi-Gig Ethernet provides powerful connectivity options.
• Nighthawk Tri-band AX12 12-stream Wi-Fi 6 Router (RAX200):$599.99, available May 2019. The Nighthawk Tri-band AX12 Wi-Fi 6 Router offers the fastest Wi-Fi speeds with a combined speed of up to 10.8Gbps designed to specifically address the smart homes of today and into tomorrow, which are crowded with an ever growing number of connected of devices. This tri-band Wi-Fi 6 router ensures that there is an abundance of bandwidth available to distribute to all the connected devices on the network delivering the best performance without congestion or drop outs. While streaming 4K/8k Ultra HD video and playing online games simultaneously on the same network, you’ll now be able to enjoy the experience without lag or interruptions.  This router also supplies a 2.5Gbps Multi-Gig Ethernet that can be used for LAN or internet connectivity.

While all of the excitement in the networking space has been solely focused on the impending launch of 5G, the Wi-Fi Alliance has something to say with this latest update to their own wireless networking standards. Wi-Fi 6 is a much needed step forward in the in-home networking space, ensuring that users will have an equally snappy Internet experience.