Netgear's first wave of Wi-Fi 6 routers are pricey as hell
- 24 June, 2019 13:39
If mesh Wi-Fi doesn't strike your fancy and you've been waiting for a reason to upgrade your wireless router, Netgear's new Wi-Fi 6 range is going to provide just that.
“With our nearly 25-year history, Netgear has always led with innovation in the Wi-Fi space. It is now with great pleasure that we introduce this new family based on the latest Wi-Fi standard, which is destined to make enormous changes to how people utilize the wireless networking technology,” said David Henry, senior vice president of Connected Home Products for Netgear.
According to Henry, “Wi-Fi 6 is the most significant change to the Wi-Fi standard in over 6 years. With the technology’s increased capacity and thus the capability to connect simultaneously with multiple client devices, Wi-Fi 6 will make the world of Internet of Things much more sustainable due to the expansive bandwidth it will deliver to a network.”
Credit: Netgear Netgear's first Wi-Fi 6 router, the Nighthawk AX8, was announced back in April. It's an dual-band, 8-stream AX6000 wireless router that supports the newer 802.11ax wireless standard and Wi-Fi speeds of up to 6Gpbs.
Netgear say that “Nighthawk AX8 delivers super-fast Wi-Fi with better coverage and, more importantly, has the power and capacity to handle the dozens of devices in the typical congested smart home." However, locally, the next-gen router commands a recommended retail price of $599.
Credit: Netgear The newly-announced Nighthawk AX4 is a little cheaper at $399. The pitch for this one is that you get a lot of the core benefits of the Wi-Fi 6 standard but less of the heavy-duty specs found in the AX8. The Nighthawk AX4 is a little more modest by comparison. It only boasts speeds of up to 3Gpbs and 4 streams.
Credit: Netgear Rounding out the range, you've also got the Nighthawk AX12. This one sits at the top of the Netgear's Wi-Fi 6 lineup in both price and specs. Priced at a sizable $799, it boasts a 2.2Ghz quad-core processor, speeds of up to 6Gpbs and a grand total of twelve simultaneous Wi-Fi streams: four on the 2.4GHz band eight on the 5GHz one.
Netgear claim that "as the only router with 8 streams on 5GHz, you will get better range and reliability with all devices" connected to the AX12.
The Netgear Nighthawk AX4, Netgear Nighthawk AX8 and Netgear Nighthawk AX12 are available in Australia now through most major local retailers.
