NETGEAR Nighthawk WiFi 6 Router (RAX120) 12-Stream Dual-Band Gigabit Router, AX6000 Wireless Speed (Up to 6 Gbps), Coverage Up to 3,500 sq.ft. and 30 Devices
Condition: New
Buy Now, Pay Later
As low as
$27.83
/ mo
Learn more
- – 6-month term
- – No impact on credit to apply
- – Instant approval decision
- – Secure and straightforward checkout
Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.
Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayTomorrow. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Selected Option
Free shipping on this product
30-day returns
Learn more
FREE 30-day refund/replacement
To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
Availability:
In Stock.
Arrives
Jul 18 – Jul 22
Recently Viewed
Style: AX6000 WiFi 6 | 12 Streams
Features
- Maximum Range : 3500 Sq Ft.Beamforming : Beamforming+ Boosts speed, reliability and range of WiFi connections for 2.4 and 5GHz..Beamforming : Beamforming+ Boosts speed, reliability and range of WiFi connections for 2.4 and 5GHz.
- UNLEASH FASTER SPEED, EVEN MORE POWER: Optimal for devices built to support WiFi 6: Playstation 5, iPhone 11 & 12, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13 & Mac Mini, Ultra Notebooks, Samsung S10 & S20.
- WIFI 6 STREAM EVERYTHING AT FASTER SPEED: Simultaneously stream uninterrupted movies, games, video calls or download/transfer files at 6 Gbps WiFi speed.
- WORKS WITH ALL INTERNET PROVIDERS: Replace your existing WiFi Router (separate modem or gateway required). Compatible with any Internet Service Provider up to 2Gbps including cable, satellite, fiber, DSL and more.
- EASY TO SET-UP AND MANAGE: Connects to your existing cable modem and sets up and customizes in minutes with the Nighthawk app easily manage your WiFi settings at the device and network level, test your Internet speed, view speed history and monitor data usage.
- USB CONNECTIONS: Share a storage drive with any connected device and create a personal cloud storage to access from anywhere using the 2 x 3.0 USB ports.
- NETGEAR ARMOR protects your family's WiFi with an automatic shield of security across all your connected devices with a 30-day free trial.
- WIRED ETHERNET PORTS: Plug in computers, game consoles, streaming players and other nearby wired devices with 4 x 1G and 1 x 1/2.5/5G Ethernet ports.
Description
Nighthawk AX6000 12-stream Wi-Fi router is powered by the industry's latest Wi-Fi 6 (802 11ax) standard with 4 times increased data capacity to handle today's and tomorrow's growing home network Blazing-fast combined Wi-Fi speeds up to 6Gbps and ax optimized 64bit 2 2GHz quad-core processor powers Smart home applications ultra-smooth 4K UHD streaming online gaming and more Ax Wi- Fi features orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (ofdma) that dramatically increases network capacity Plus eight high-performance antennas on the router amplify Wi-Fi signals for maximized range and Reliable coverage Nighthawk AX6000 12-stream router is also the first home router to have a 5G Multi-Gig port
Brand: NETGEAR
Model Name: RAX120-100NAS
Special Feature: MU-MIMO, Alexa Compatible, Guest Mode, Internet Security, LED Indicator, Remote Access, Beamforming, Remote Access, QoS, See more
Frequency Band Class: Dual-Band
Wireless Communication Standard: 802.11ax
Compatible Devices: Playstation 5, iPhone 11, 12, MacBook Air, Pro 13, Mac Mini, Ultra Notebooks, Samsung S10, S20
Recommended Uses For Product: Gaming, Home
Included Components: Nighthawk AX12/12-stream AX6000 WiFi Router (RAX120); Ethernet cable; Quick start guide; Power adapter See more
Connectivity Technology: Ethernet,USB,Wifi,Optical Fiber
Color: Black
Other Special Features of the Product: MU-MIMO, Alexa Compatible, Guest Mode, Internet Security, LED Indicator, Remote Access, Beamforming, Remote Access, QoS,
Frequency Band Class: Dual-Band
Wireless Compability: 802.11ax
Compatible Devices: Playstation 5, iPhone 11, 12, MacBook Air, Pro 13, Mac Mini, Ultra Notebooks, Samsung S10, S20
Antenna Location: Gaming, Home
Connectivity Technology: Ethernet,USB,Wifi,Optical Fiber
Antenna Type: Fixed
Operating System: 0, Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 10, Vista, XP, 2000, Mac OS, UNIX or Linux,
Security Protocol: WPA3
Number of Ports: 5
Control Method: App
Data Transfer Rate: 6 Gigabits Per Second
LAN Port Bandwidth: 5 gigabits per second
Voltage: 110 Volts
Number of Antennas: 8
Router Firewall Security Level: Basic
Wi-Fi Generation: Wi-Fi 6
Has Internet Connectivity: Yes
Router Network Type: Wireless
Is Modem Compatible: Yes
Connectivity Protocol: ethernet, wi-fi
Coverage: 3,500 square feet
Frequency: 5 GHz
Brand: NETGEAR
Model Name: RAX120-100NAS
Built-In Media: Nighthawk AX12/12-stream AX6000 WiFi Router (RAX120); Ethernet cable; Quick start guide; Power adapter
Model Number: RAX120
UPC: 606449134773
Manufacturer: Netgear
Mfr Part Number: RAX120-100EUS
Unit Count: 1.0 Count
Warranty Description: 1-year warranty
Item Weight: 2.1 Kilograms
Item Dimensions L x W x H: 12.2"L x 7.48"W x 1.77"H
Color: Black
Has Security Updates: Yes
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Jul 18 – Jul 22
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
- Klarna Financing
- Affirm Pay in 4
- Affirm Financing
- Afterpay Financing
- PayTomorrow Financing
- Financing through Apple Pay
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Top Amazon Reviews
I chose this router to update my wifi in the house, my criteria was coverage and speed since the old router was starting to show it's age. After reading the reviews the Netgear RAX 120 was my choice, it has the coverage at 3500 sqft and the speed hit the target, an added plus was multi device usage without the lag. To address some issues I have seen in reviews. 1. Set up: From what I saw in most unsat reviews the people that were unhappy used the app to setup the router. I started with this process and quickly saw how this could be frustrating. I would HIGHLY recommend you hardwire setup with pc, it is a MUCH easier process. 2. Firestick: So far, I can start up just about all of my apps on my firestick, I do have one that gives me problems and that's my Dish app. For some reason it shuts down router and it only happens on tv's and not kindle or phone. That being said, I have only had to restart router once so far so this is a puzzle. 3. Real world performance: I have about an 1800 sqft home, the old router I had dead spots. This router performs like a rhino on steroids. Old router I could barely get a signal in the garage, now I can go across the street to the neighbors front door and still have a signal. There is no lag, since this is fast and can handle multiple devices at the same time without issue, I do not get the occasional clocking spinner in center screen. Conclusion: This is a good router if you keep it simple. I am sure other users have tweaked it to their liking but for most of us who buy product and plug it in and expect it to work this router will do. 02/23/2022 - Update: I am sorry to say I have to return this router and lower the rating. The reboot and restart reviews I have read are true and I have experienced them for myself. I am not willing to spend hours or days to try and hash out problem since I don't want to miss my return window and I don't feel like double talk. I think as a consumer that when you get something like this that it should work out of the box with little or no issues. I did set this up correctly and as I have mentioned I did it hardwired. When it works it is great but the reboots several times a day is annoying. 03/11/2022 Traded in the RAX120 for RAX70, the differences between the two are subtle. When the RAX120 worked it was awesome, the range and the speed were just outstanding. The problem with the RAX as I have mentioned is the constant reboot. I traded this in for a RAX70, this router is just as good if not better. RAX70 is a triband router and is wifi 6 however the range is a little shorter by 1000 ft, in my house I do not notice the difference. This router I have had for about 2 weeks now and I must say it is solid, no resets or reboots. I have a theory which is the RAX series 120 and 200 might have program issues but maybe heating problems too. I bring this up because I noticed when I turned on the fan permanently for the RAX120, the reboots were fewer but they still happened.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2022 by stingerdoc
I have had many Netgear routers throughout the years and had good results with the majority. My family household streams television as our primary source of entertainment and we subscribe to 500mbps of internet speed from the local cable company. About 1.5 years ago, my brother bought me the R9000 model and it was a beast until a power surge killed it. Fortunately, he purchased the warranty insurance from Amazon and square trade refunded the money in full. In 2019 I purchased a r6700 from Amazon during a lightening sale as a backup and I am glad that I did. I put this router into service when the R9000 failed and it did a fairly decent job. My home is about 3000 sq feet and the WIFI coverage was fair and it held the internet speed sufficiently enough for streaming, but I did encounter some buffering in the bedrooms. I was going to repurchase another R9000 from Amazon but the price was 100.00 more than the original price my brother paid so I decided to wait for a lightening deal special and use the R6700 until Amazon offered another deal. On February 1st, Amazon promoted a Netgear special and I came across the RAX120 at a discounted promotion. I read the reviews and was skeptical about buying it. Some of the negative reviews posted on Amazon and other competitor’s websites complained about problems with this router. Time was running out and I did not want to miss the special so I made the investment. DID I MAKE A MISTAKE!! The R6700 worked better than this piece of junk. Many customers posted problems with the wifi cutting in and out, inadequate internet speed and drop outs. I experienced them all. I had to reset this router 4 times within 24 hours because of internet disconnections from the cable modem. The wifi signal was strong on my first floor, but it only broadcasted one bar to the second floor. Netgear advertises that the wifi will cover up to 3500 sq. feet, but it did not perform in my house. The internet speed was cut in half or more and buffering was an issue. For example, I pay for 500mbps and the RAX120 wifi was broadcasting 250 mbps in the same room as where the router is located, 50 mbps on the second floor, and 30mbps in some of the bedrooms. The R6700 as cheap as it is, worked better than the RAX120 and broadcasted well over 500 mbps on the entire first floor and 250 mbps on the second floor. I am familiar with setting routers up and the firmware was updated to the most recent version. I tried different settings and I still could not get this thing to run efficiently. After researching the internet extensively looking for solutions, it appears that the firmware is very buggy for this unit and others had recommended the RAX200 over the RAX120. Netgear customer service if useless and it’s hard to interpret their customer service representatives’ accents. The waiting times are high and I do not have time to wait 50 to 60 minutes for the basic runarounds script instructions. I guess this is the reason that Amazon had given such a significant discount price on this router. I am going to pay the extra 100.00 and upgrade to the RAX200. If the RAX200 does not work then I am switching to another brand. It is terrible that the R6700 outperformed this high-priced router. I am VERY DISAPPOINTED that Netgear would release a product with such flaws at a high price and not correct the problem since it’s release one year ago. Follow up: I purchased the rax200 and what a nightmare. The original came on time and setup went well. I updated the firmware and everything appeared good for about 48 hours. The WiFi signal weakened, and the download speeds went from 500 to 35. I had to reset the cable modem and the router every couple of hours. Very annoying!! I factory reset the router and it seemed to help for a few hours then it was back to low speeds again. I have my local channels running through Kodi and the low mbps speeds caused significant buffering to the point where I could not watch television. The audio was out of synch from the slow WiFi. I tried various setting and recommendations that others had posted on the netgear website and nothing seemed to work. I attached my R6700 and everything worked like a well oiled machine minus the WiFi range. There is definitely a problem with these nighthawks. At this point I notified amazon for an exchange because I really wanted this to work because of the WiFi range. Amazon authorized the exchange and shipped out the new one. I came home from work to find the router laying on my steps, not packed in a shipping box. Man, was I shocked to see this because amazon usually mails there products in a packing box. I was shocked that they would leave a $600 router in plain view for anyone to walk off with. I have their photo of delivery as proof. I set the exchange unit up and immediately detected a strong sweet burning smell coming from the fan area when it turned on. The smell was actually making me nauseated, smelling the room up. I continued the setup and I could not get the WiFi to work. I must of factory reset the router and modem at least 10 times with bad results. I finally got the router to broadcast a signal but the speeds ranged from 15 to 60 mbps. I continued trying different settings and had no luck of getting the WiFi close to 500 mbps. The speed coming from the modem to the router hit the 500 mark but the WiFi is a sham with constant drop outs and signal loss. I do not know how others are saying that this is a great router because the firmware is very buggie. I had great results with the r9000, r6700 and other netgear products throughout the years, but this router is far ready from primetime. It is not worth spending the $600.00. I expect the cream of the crop for this amount of money but instead I got piece of junk. I am very disappointed in netgear because I really need the extra WiFi range in my household. I did as many other dissatisfied customers and returned the router for a refund. I hope others find my review useful.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2020 by Amanda C
TL;DR - it's a great router with great capability. I was surprised at the ease of use and ease of configuration. It has great range, can handle multiple devices simultaneously, and has no problems with handling access to network storage. There are a ton of bells-and-whistles options that may or may not come in handy for the average user. It is expensive for a reason but the features are well worth it. This is the best router I have ever used, period. I bought one nearly 2 years ago when they first came out and I bought another one, here on Amazon, recently. This particular one was purchased to help set up my sister and brother-in-law's home network. The setup is very easy and quick and the menu's interface is full of options. Using 2x RAX120 routers for an AT&T fiber service of 1000/1000 Mbps at sis's and Spectrum 1000/35 Mbps in my home. The router's Wi-Fi coverage is approximately 3500 ft^2 (square feet) at 100% signal strength with the ability to beam-form to devices. Power adjustment values are 25%, 50%, and 100%. It is a dual band router with 12 streams (when working with 160MHz clients) broken down as 4x4 (4x 1x1 devices) on 2.4GHz band and 8x8 (4x 2x2 devices) on 5Ghz band. It can handle up to 8 simultaneous Wi-Fi streams (again, 4x 1x1 devices and 4x 2x2 devices). I have run tests to see how it handles walls, metal plates, blankets soaking up the waves, etc and the Wi-Fi still manages to beat through most of it even at extended ranges. A direct LoS (line-of-sight) Wi-Fi connection goes to nearly 200 feet (at 100% power value). There are 5x 10/100/1000 RJ-45 ports and a single 5Gbps (5000Mbps) RJ-45 multi-gig port (1x WAN/LAN + 4x LAN @ 1Gbps + 1x WAN/LAN @ 5Gbps). One can use the port labeled "Internet" (the single 1Gbps WAN/LAN RJ-45 port) as an extra 5th LAN port if you use the 5Gbps port, labeled "Multi-Gig", as your internet service connection. There are 2 ports able to link for aggregation. To take advantage of link aggregation, you will need a device that can team 2 ports. Usually, higher-end motherboards and consumer network gear have this ability but it is rapidly dying due to the newer 2.5Gbps NICs in the last couple generations of motherboards that take advantage of AMD and Intel CPUs supporting 2.5Gbps networking. However, if you have a multi bay NAS with link aggregation, those 2 aggregate ports would help balance the load on the NAS. Also, about the single 5Gbps RJ-45 port: this would be useful if we all had 5Gbps service from our ISPs; however, there is another use. Some of the Aquantia (now Marvell owned) and Intel 2.5/5/10Gbps NICs on consumer motherboards could take advantage of that 5Gbps port to improve network traffic speeds to/from the host/client. To clarify and simplify, your home network device-to-device speeds can take advantage of this. As far as networking, this handles video streams from computer-to-device without a hitch. You can use the 2 USB 3.0 (5Gbps) ports on the router to plug and storage device to get access to the contents of the storage device from any network connected device if you are not using a NAS (Network Attached Storage). For the average person, this is probably useful for streaming videos to any client device. Supported file system types (on the storage device) are FAT16, FAT32, NTFS (both with or without compression), Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, HFS, and HFS+. I, somehow, got my 5 bay DAS (Direct Attached Storage, NOT a NAS) to be identified with all 5 hard drives detected with their own drive letters and such after configuring the access from the RAX120's ReadyShare sub-menu in the router's setup/main menu in the Advanced settings tab. Made my day as I won't need to spend more on a 3rd NAS unit. I'm getting off topic though.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2022 by math_dude
Works great, and has probably one of the easiest to manage interfaces ever. I have had Netgear products in the past and think they are great maybe second to only one other company. That all being said the product works without almost any involvement, I feel safe to say I could give this to my elderly mother and not need to be involved much. Though my greatest gripe is what comes with the simplicity is the lack of encryption types and some other more technical issues. This gripe can make the “Internet of things” ie older Internet-capable TVs, laptops, hard to make just work. Although, it is simply a matter of finding one that meshes with your layout. Now to the price vs value: is it worth 500$ - No. At a slightly lower rate something you can find on Warehouse deals, it is. Now that should come with an asterisk. It works great but to truly get the best performance out of this router you need to be slightly versed in networking and remember wired connections are always superior. Gather your tools DNS benchmark and some patience because to get the absolutely ideal performance you will need to test different scenarios. I would recommend this product to others and think while it’s great it is really meant for those pushing the limits of their ISP’s service via gaming, multiple concurrent connected devices, extreme and often occurring downloading or uploading. If you don’t think you will be doing that save money and go for a slightly lower end model.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2020 by Kayleigh Coxx
Purchased two of these so I can run one as a bridge to a home theater on the other side of my house. Setting the first one up was impossible using their recommended method of: 1) Install the app on my smart phone, 2) scan a QR code, and 3) going through the steps. The Android app absolutely would not connect to control panel of the router, despite my phone's wifi having connected to the router's wifi. OK, so I opened chrome on my phone, went to 192.168.1.1, and logged in with the default passwords. This brought up the control panel with little to no effort. Initial setup will greet you with series of pages prompting to change the admin password, download the latest firmware, set the SSID/PW, to register the device with Netgear, etc. It eventually dumps you on one of Netgear's advertisement websites instead of loading up the admin control panel, which is a nuisance. Fine. Just browse back to 192.168.1.1 and you should be able to access it straight away. After that, I un-boxed the second router and did the above process again. Going into the advanced settings, I was able to set it to Bridged mode and enter the necessary SSID and password, then watch it reboot. Pleasantly, it booted right up, and bridged mode just simply worked. Everything in the home theater had internet. Great! Now that the physical setup was complete, I log back on to the main router's control panel and began to configure a few things: QOS, VPN, and so on. That's where things started going south. Adding any QOS settings for devices using MAC rules (to prioritize the home file server above all the other devices, for example) caused the server to disappear from the router's connected devices list. Permanently. Even deleting the rule wouldn't bring it back, even though the server retained full internet connectivity the entire time. Ponderous, but not a deal breaker, assuming the QOS rule was actually working. Anyway... Having read that the AX12 was capable of VPN connections before purchasing, I went through several menus trying to figure out where to put in my VPN provider's connection info. Here's the rub - You can't.** You can use the preconfigured "PureVPN" service Netgear has installed, but that's it. Doing some homework revealed that PureVPN's mailing address is in China, and the company was founded in Pakistan. (Check the Wikipedia article.) NO. Not going to happen. Netgear - you really need to rethink this. Users should be able to configure OpenVPN, or at a bare minimum, a static L2TP, PPTP, or Socks connection. None of this is available at all! Routers which cost 1/10th of the AX12 have this. A feature like this missing from a flagship device like the RAX120? Shame on you. **Please don't confuse this with the other VPN settings on the router, which will allow you to configure INCOMING VPN connections - so that you can access your home network from the external world. Those settings are front and center in the control panel and seem pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, I don't want to connect to my home network from the airport. I want to be able to secure my home network's OUTGOING internet communications while I am at home. This, apparently, was barely an afterthought for Netgear. Continuing on, I went into the control panel again to disable their ReadyShare feature. I don't use it, and don't want someone plugging a malicious usb in and having bad things served up to everything on my network. Here's where another big issue occurred. Going into Advanced > ReadySHARE > Advanced Settings and disabling all ReadySHARE featured caused internet connectivity to die. Dead. Nothing I did would allow internet connectivity to resume, even enabling the ReadySHARE features again. The control panel showed there was an internet connection, and the internet light on the router never went off, so it thought everything was just fine - but nothing in my home could hit the internet. The fix was to completely reset the router, and set it up again. This also brought the home server back to the connected devices list. I guess that's good? A little gun-shy, I figured I'd try this all again, and experienced all of the problems detailed above a second time. Queue emotional music. Hero dies. Antagonist exits stage right. Another router reset performed. Fade to black. Clearly, the firmware needs work. On the bright side, I can report the following positive traits of the AX12: * The radio is amazingly strong. Dead spots in my garage are gone, and I can finally use my Riva Festival smart speaker out there without the music cutting in and out due to spotty wifi. * The network feels like it is twice as responsive as my previous setup. I have 2 Google hubs, a Nest thermostat and camera, Ring doorbell, about 12 smart lights, 2 smartphones, a laptop, a server, 2 Nvidia Shields, 2 smart TVs, and a few computers running in the house. Nothing seems to be waiting, hanging, or suffering from laggy behavior like it did on my last wifi setup. The AX stuff seems to be working as advertised. (If you told me 10 years ago that people would have over 30 networked devices in their house, I'd have laughed at you. Now look at me. *sigh*) Fundamentally, the product works to take a ton of wifi connected devices and make the network run better. It does this very well, in fact. However, if you dive deeper into the firmware, it starts to fall on it's face. Any DD-WRT based router will still perform extremely well, and cost you pennies on the dollar compared to this. I know AX/Wifi 6 is still pretty new, and these are the pains early adopters have to face. With that said, I have (had?) confidence that Netgear would have a much more polished product out of the gate. I hope further firmware revisions bring more.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019 by Elnrik
4 and 1/2 Stars. The router works great though I had some real concerns about upgrading to this router based on mixed reviews and comments in the support forums. This said, I’m happy to report that firmware updates have fixed a lot of the problems that I was reading about. The latest firmware being 1.0.0.84, I can confirm that DFS channels is added and WAN aggregation is present even through it’s not seen on all of the product documentation. It’s also not clear to me yet if you can configure both WAN and downstream Ethernet aggregation at the same time since WAN aggregation uses WAN+LAN1 which was originally designated for the downstream Ethernet aggregation. Though the multi-link port might be more desirable for downstream NAS connections. The jury is still out on this and I haven’t attempted this yet. After unboxing, I downloaded the app on my iPhone and I followed the directions. I let it update the firmware to 1.0.0.84 then as a precaution to make sure I didn’t have any starting problems, I disabled the AX for now. Doing so seems to have set the 2.4 band to 40Mhz for b/g/n and the 5 band to 80Mhz a/n/ac. I did NOT enable Smart Connect and chose to keep the SSIDs separate. Then after setup was completed, I went to the advanced settings through the web interface 192.168.1.1 and I disabled automatic updates so I can research future firmware updates before beforehand. Everything is stable, I haven’t had any problems connecting laptops and games. I read that if there are connection problems to update those devices and drivers first and if necessary; change the 2.4 band to 20Mhz. So far this hasn’t been necessary. The overall range is great! The signal is stronger and the 5 band works much-much-much better than my previous router. Also in the 5 band, I’m getting the full Mbps over WiFi that my plan with Xfinity allows. In conclusion, I’m very happy with the router on day one. Combined with my new Netgear CM1200 modem, my network has never been faster and I’m future proofed for AX devices and gigabit Internet service. But I think Netgear could have done a much better job on product documentation and firmware stability in the early releases to reduce confusion and early problems. These issues also led to many complaints about their support call center which thankfully I didn’t need to use. Update: Three weeks later and not a problem at all. Patch 1.0.1.90 fixes a few things I didn’t experience but others have including a random factory reset problem, compatibility with AX200 cards and enabling/disabling 11ax OFDMA.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2019 by Jay
I'll try to be brief. I'm a retired tech and IT professional and well versed in troubleshooting computer networks and equipment. I am shocked that Netgear continues to sell this product. I read the negative reviews, many of which are a few years old, but ignored them thinking either that the problem must be fixed by now, or in my arrogance I assumed I could resolve the issue. When it's working, the router is good, but as many other reviewers have reported, it has an annoying habit of dropping wifi signal. The transmitter is usually down only briefly, perhaps 30 seconds, but when there are dozens of devices connected to it, it's quite a pain in the neck. It's also extremely irritating to have your movie or football game die at the most intense moment while you scramble to restore the connection. Now, in my experience a problem like this is almost always a matter of the router having excessive heat. It may be poorly ventilated, with shoddy construction, but most typically the heat sink designed to draw heat away from a critical chip is not doing its job. This could be a manufacturing flaw (e.g., the heat sink has inadequate thermal paste), age (the paste has disintegrated over time) or a design flaw (the heat sink is just not adequate to deal with the chip's heat signature). If it's a manufacturing problem it can be fixed by opening the box, removing the sink, and adding new paste. But clearly the problem here is one of design, not of manufacturing. The proof is that I tried two of these routers in a row and got the exact same results. Now, it stands to reason that if the unit is overheating, one might be able to take steps to mitigate that. For example, the unit could be placed in a way to maximize airflow, and kept away from other hot equipment. Or, the settings in the firmware can be modified to reduce heat production. Well, I tried everything I could think of, but no dice. As just one example, I changed the radio transmitter settings from 100% to 25% (the lowest setting). This means the transmitter will draw less power and thus produce less heat. The problem persisted, perhaps a little less frequent. I then went in and turned off essentially every advanced feature of the router, turning into a very expensive, large, and heavy version of a low end router, but yet the problem persisted anyway. That's' when I returned the unit to Amazon and traded it for another one. Same result. Netgear used to be a great company. But if you put out an expensive high-end (consumer) product that very clearly has a design flaw that breaks its fundamental function, and you continue to sell that product for multiple years without doing anything to resolve the flaw, then whatever else you might be, you are no longer a great company. I returned the router and instead bought two ASUS RT-AX3000 units, which so far are working perfectly, and actually have a more full-featured and well designed interface. I bought two because they don't have the range of the Netgear unit, so I needed two units to match the Netgear range (the total range is actually better, and the price for two is about the same as one Netgear). I have one set up as the router and the other as an ethernet-connected access point. They don't have the cool stealth fighter look, but are about about a third the size and weight of the Netgear unit, and they work. Okay, so I wasn't so brief. Shorter version: don't be an arrogant dummy like me. Avoid this model unless and until Netgear definitively fixes the design. Edit: One clarification. Looking over the other many, many one-star reviews, I think there are a couple of different issues with these routers. Many people mention random reboots. I have not experienced this. My problem was random dropping of the wifi signal, which is not the same thing. The router itself did not reboot. It continued to be accessible via its web interface, and it continues to function for ethernet/wired devices even without the wifi. The difference between these cases is that a full reboot takes much longer to get back up and running (several minutes at least), whereas the wifi transmitter dropout problem lasts for perhaps a minute or less until the transmitter comes back. Why is this important? It's not, other than having an understanding of what is going on. The full reboot suggests either an electrical problem or the main processor is overheating causing a shut down of the entire unit. By contrast, the transmitter-only dropout suggests the transmitter chip is overheating causing it to glitch but not impacting the entire circuit board. Having two different major design problems in the same (overpriced) router suggests really poor engineering. Probably the engineering department has been gutted. The failure to catch the problem prior to manufacturing suggests the QA department also has been gutted. The horrendous customer support outsourced to the cheapest possible noisy call center in India suggests customer support has also been gutted. The only department that seems to be properly funded is for cosmetic design because these routers look awfully cool, but unless you're crazy, you don't buy a router for its looks, but for its capabilities, stability, and reliability. Update: Closing in on two years since I wrote this review, which now has nearly 100 "helpful" votes, and I can say three things: 1. Netgear has never reached out to me, so clearly they are not monitoring customer comments. 2. Netgear is still selling the same product, evidently unchanged, as the one star ratings continue to flow in. 3. The routers I put in place of this Netgear router, ASUS RT-AX3000, continue to work flawlessly, with outstanding total range and performance, and not a single drop out or reboot. What more needs to be said?
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2022 by Customer Review
I needed a new router since my previous Linksys was 7 years old and provided spotty coverage in the far corners of the house. I also wanted to upgrade to WiFi 6 and better encryption and I have been working from home and want to make sure I have better bandwidth for ever more bandwidth consuming Webex calls and the like. This router was well regarded by consumer reports and most Amazon reviews although there were a few outliers I went with Netgear since that’s supposed to be a top name. Got the router and setup was pretty easy on the app. Then the trouble started. I set the Wifi to auto choose 2.4 or 5G and within an hour, the unit started rebooting itself and dropping the WiFi in the house. I got a lot of yelling when everyone’s devices went dead. This continued even after I took the automatic setting off and defaulted everything to 2.4G. Had a bunch of email correspondence with Netgear support, about 10 emails. They wanted me to do things like shut off my Fios modem, shut off the router and disengage about 40 devices I had linked to the router and start everything from scratch including a factory reset of the router. Needless to say, that was about a 2 hour ordeal and didn’t fix the problem. Next step was phone support. I was told not to plug the router into a surge protector (I have a pretty good one) since the slightest voltage fluctuation might cause the router to malfunction, hmmmmm. The last straw was that it would not link to a Dell Wyse terminal for my work network. I tried for a week and a half and finally my work tech support told me to disconnect the router and run the Ethernet cable from the Fios modem directly to the Wyse terminal and it worked ! As soon as I saw that, I got in touch with Amazon for a return. I was reluctant to do that because I did not have the original packing anymore. They said no probs, take it to UPS and they’ll pack it up for you. Fantastic ! I had 2 days left to go on my 30 day return period. I purchased myself an Asus unit, hooked it up this morning and it works great. Took 10 minutes and no dropouts. I would have given the rating of 1 but I really do like the router. The looks are cool and when it works, it's very fast and the house coverage is like nothing I've ever seen. But to have dropouts once or twice every day was unacceptable and the Wyse terminal issue was a no go for me.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2022 by DonnyC