NETGEAR Nighthawk Wifi 6 Router (RAX70) | AX6600 Wireless
NETGEAR Nighthawk Wifi 6 Router (RAX70) | AX6600 Wireless Speed (Up to 6.6 Gbps) | PS5 Gaming Router Compatible
Tri-band Features 6.6Gbps Total Speed
Tri-band WiFi adds an additional band of 4.8Gbps speed, boosting total speed to 6.6Gbps and reducing congestion for your devices.
Supports Fiber & Internet Plans up to 2 Gbps
RAX70 is designed to support the latest 2G
Internet plans through the aggregation of two
gigabit Ethernet ports. Requires compatible fiber or cable modem supporting multi-gig Internet speeds (sold separately).
NETGEAR Armor Advanced Threat
Stop paying for multiple anti-virus subscriptions. NETGEAR Armor multi-layer security software protects all your connected smart devices, smartphones and computers with anti-virus, anti-malware and data theft protection.
 |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WiFi Speed | WiFi 6 – AX6600 (Up to 6.6Gbps) | WiFi 6 – AX6000 (Up to 6Gbps) | WiFi 6 – AX6000 (Up to 6Gbps) | WiFi 6 – AX11000 (Up to 10.8Gbps) | WiFi 6 – AX6000 (Up to 6Gbps) |
| WiFi Coverage | 2,500 sq. ft. | 2,500 sq. ft. | 3,500 sq. ft | 2,500 sq. ft. | Add up to 2,500 sq. ft. |
| # Simultaneous Streams | 8 Streams | 8 Streams | 12 Streams | 12 Streams | |
| Wired Ethernet Ports | 4 x 1G, Supports Port Aggregation and up to 1G WAN | 5 x 1G, Supports Port Aggregation and up to 1G WAN | Aggregation and up to 1G WAN 4 x 1G, 1 x 1G/2.5G/5G (WAN or LAN), Supports Port Aggregation | 4 x 1G, 1 x 1G/2.5G (WAN or LAN), Supports Port Aggregation | |
| USB Ports – for Shared Storage/Printer | 1 x 3.0 (storage only) | 2 x 3.0 (storage only) | 2 x 3.0 (storage only) | 2 x 3.0 (storage only) | |
| Network Security | NETGEAR Armor, WPA2/WPA3, DoS, Double Firewall | NETGEAR Armor, WPA2/WPA3, DoS, Double Firewall | NETGEAR Armor, WPA2/WPA3, DoS, Double Firewall | NETGEAR Armor, WPA2/WPA3, DoS, Double Firewall | |
| Fiber/Internet Plan Bandwidth Supported | Fiber/Internet Plan Bandwidth Supported | Up to 5Gbps | Up to 2.5Gbps | ||
| Advanced Technology | Tri-Band, MU-MIMO, Beamforming+, Smart Connect, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, 1.5GHz Quad-Core processor | Dual Band, Beamforming+, Smart Connect, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, 1.8GHz Quad-Core processor | Dual Band, Beamforming+, Smart Connect, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, 1.8GHz Quad-Core processor | Tri-Band, MU-MIMO, Beamforming+, Smart Connect, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, 1.8GHz Quad-Core processor | |
| Other Features | VPN, Guest WiFi Secure Access, Personal Cloud Storage, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Voice Control | Access, Personal Cloud Storage, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Voice Control Circle Smart Parental Controls, VPN, Guest WiFi Secure Access, Amazon Alexa AND Google Assistant Voice Control | Personal Cloud Storage, VPN, Guest WiFi Secure Access, Amazon Alexa AND Google Assistant Voice Control | Circle Smart Parental Controls, Personal Cloud Storage, VPN, Guest WiFi Secure Access, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Voice Control |
| Dimensions: | 20.8 x 34.7 x 16.5 cm; 1.17 Kilograms |
| Model: | RAX70-100EUS |
| Manufacture: | Netgear |
| Dimensions: | 20.8 x 34.7 x 16.5 cm; 1.17 Kilograms |
| Origin: | China |
was struggling with the decision – mesh or router but the connectivity of this router at source (i have network cabling to a number of devices) made going for a router over a mesh system more practical. The range is impressive with better wifi speed an range than i expect. we no longer receive network drops in the extension (other side of a previous external wall). The controls are good and extensive. I would prefer not to have to pay extra for parental guard and have left that off but we’ll see how we go.
6e is not a myth its legendry, phones and tablets on wifi, computers and laptops via cable, a system in a house which has alot of use from one FTTC isp has now got a whole new outlook. Thanks souly to the Nighthawk AXE11000 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Router (RAXE500). Easy to set up using a couple of Netgear switches in the house and the network is up and runing giving me full use of the home network and a storage device and my isp. I love it! Now, when I get FTTP I can use it to further the speed and bandwidth so future proofed as well.
I replaced this with my old Netgear router which I had for 4 years . I moved into new house and was struggling with dead spots. This has been sorted as I have WiFi range to the end of my backyard. I have 900 Mbps and now utilising full bandwidth with WIFI 6.
Over all full marks for functionality and only downside is price!
Brilliant router, get almost the full Gig over wifi. Make sure to turn smart switch on in settings so it chooses the best band for the connected device otherwise you won’t have a good experience. Highly recommend.
I’m an owner of a XR300 which in general was happy with. However I noticed some small hiccups in the connection that weren’t due to the ISP. I decided to try this model as I wanted to upgrade to wifi-6 and get a better CPU for the routing services and additionally I didn’t want exclusive gaming features.
After many months using this router on a working from home situation and plenty of video streaming and online gaming I’m quite happy with the purchase. The mentioned networking hiccups are gone completely and QoS features work very well when playing online and downloading/streaming at the same time. Right now I don’t monitor the network often as I was doing with the previous router as everything works very well. Wi-fi performance has improved massively compared to before specially when the network is stressed with uploads, downloads and video-calls happening at the same time from 2 people.
Despite having full fibre (almost gigabit) service at home we still had issues with relatively poor download speeds and insufficient coverage with our existing WiFi router supplied by our service provider. After running out of options we replaced the existing WiFi router with the Netgear Nighthawk 11000. Apart from being told by our service provider that we still have to use the existing WiFi router as access point, installation was quickly taken care by the engineer (I opted for this service,). We are now enjoying the benefits of proper download speeds and coverage. The unit has a quality feel and looks the part – even the name- nighthawk- is cool!
Due to having quite a busy WiFi network due to smart home appliances etc i started suffering issues with my standard service provider router. My first though was trying a Mesh system.
The first one i tried was a total failure and very unreliable.
I then upgrade to a second more premium solution. However suffered issues with this, even after following all the trouble shooting. I constantly had devices connecting to a weak signaled far away node rather than the one 3ft away and then dropping off the network.
Annoying at the best of times, Extra annoying at 2am when your lights don’t turn on! The Netgear was my “last hope” and thus far has proven solid as a rock. Unlike with my previous struggles everything stays connected all the time and the signal strength is excellent and while not the cheapest router in the world was still cheaper than my last attempt with a Mesh.
The stock router that came with my broadband was quite poor: WiFi was patchy upstairs and it would cause frequent buffering when streaming on some services. Now that I’m fully up and running with this router all those problems are fully solved.
However, getting the settings right initially was tricky (some of the information online wasn’t right), but the free-of-charge support from Netgear was very helpful. I then had to contact support again as the router would spontaneously reboot. Again very helpful and once the firmware upgrade was available, that problem too is fully resolved.
So it is great, but it’s not necessarily a 5-minute swap job.
Amazon covers all their electronic equipment with a standard 2 year warranty direct with them regardless of what you get with a manufacturer. However NETGEAR gives you 2 Warranty with them .On top of that NETGEAR gave me offers as I was setting up my new router you could go for extending the warranty with them for a further 1 year so 3 year extended warranty and for a decent price to me of 11.09 !!!..If you went for both Hardware & full software support it was only 36 for both which is still pretty darn good. As I work in IT & electronics industry myself I am quite adept to technical and software aspects of the router so for me I only needed Hardware cover .What NETGEAR also give you as Part of that hardware cover is accidental damage which could be very useful unless you have house insurance contents cover that covers you for accidental damage anyway.
So for me if I start noticing any issues starting on my Netgear router random reboots of ridiculous amounts of WiFi drops then I have a warranty to use that what’s it their for.
All my previous routers suffered from “occasional” WiFi dropouts theirs nothing unusual in that and if the router just now and then randomly reboots itself then not worth the fuss sending it back just for that .
However it it became far more severe and it was a constant issue happening all the time every day then yes definitely I would get it swapped out or change it for another model at worse case scenario.
Needed this after struggling for years with a hitron router. Easy to set up and use, lots of complicated features if you need it, plenty of online help and easy of use for the app. Should have done it years ago! A great addition to my network!
Huge improvement in download speed, the BT Home Hub 2 never reached more then 600Mbos, my first speed check with the Nighthawk and the download speed is over 900Mbps, my WiFi app shows a line speed of 1200Mbps, the same app used with the Home Bub 2 never showed a speed higher than 868Mbps. The router is currently balanced in a box behind the tele, when it’s properly set up I imagine speeds will increase again.
Well worth the money and easy to set up using the app – luckily I didn’t have to use an ethernet cable to connect my laptop, I have a DELL XPS 15 which doesn’t have an ethernet port, the app was fine for the complete set up.
The design makes it the centre of attention in the living room and gets everyone asking what it is!
For most people a standard router will do the job, but if you’re into gaming or have a lot of devices connected like a smart home then this is for you!
The biggest selling points for me were the port aggregation (I have a NAS drive as a media server so this allows 2 ports to be bonded to make a 2gb port) and the multi gig port is an added bonus!
The coverage of this router is mind blowing, I live in a large 3 bedroom detached house with a good sized garden and I can receive full signal throughout the house and still pretty decent signal to the end of the garden so I think this would easily cover a large 4 bedroom house if positioned correctly!
I have virgin media and unfortunately you can’t just replace the existing router – you can however set the virgin router into modem mode and it works a treat with little setup required!
This router comes with an app which gives you a good overview however this is a little limited so if you need to do configuration this can be done via the Web GUI.
Overall if you’re into gaming or running a small enterprise from home this will do the job and more! The build is solid and it just simply works with no glitches!
Brought this product AX8 RAX70 to address my bad Wi-Fi, LAN and jitter issues with my virgin superhub 4. Highest test speed I got right next to the virgin router was 500Mbps at best on my iPhone. Running in modem mode and letting this take care of the routing now getting 800Mbps on Wi-Fi at last finally getting the speeds I pay virgin for and not having to reboot everyday as it was killing my Skype / teams meetings due to jitter. Even in the bedrooms I’m now getting 600-700mbps with my iPhone 11.
Had a quick look at the subscription features ok but the parental guard has limits and you have to pay to unlock premium features but the basic stuff is fine for what I need.
Downloaded the app and the set up was really easy, was up and running in minutes, spent more time getting virgin hub to run in modem mode. Once configured you have to leave the super hub off for 5-10 so the MAC address cache clears from virgin side (virgin don’t tell you this) and also don’t connect RAX70 to the hub.
The app is fine for your basic everyday needs but your need to go into the web interface to do the final config parts like having all the bandwidths as one SSID or separate them.
Overall impressed with it so far fix my terrible issues with virgin which I thought going to have to leave virgin.
I have recently upgraded to a Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 router to replace my useless Virgin media hub 3.0. The new router has been a revelation. I purchased two Netgear extenders and now have full wifi coverage throughout the whole house with no blackspots. It was easy to set up although there were a few technical blips, nothing I could not sort out myself and once set up I don’t need to do a thing. I have had the router for a week and it is managing the traffic really well. We stream a lot and game on PC and Xbox series X and so far we have not noticed any lag or buffering at all. A much improved service that the VM hub 3.0. The armour security app also gives a lot of reassurance as it checks each device connected to the network for weaknesses and attempts to access. We also use the Web protection that blocks malicious sites and it seems to work better than my Norton online security. I am very pleased, thank you Netgea
Weve had terrible wifi for as long as i can remember. Recently switched to virgin and still rubbish so bought this router to plug into the virgin one. Wifi is now amazing, wishnid done it years ago!
I had tried another manufacturer router and the set up was not easy and in the end I gave up the Netgear router and the app made it so easy to set up and we were up and running in 10 mins really good product.
I tuned the frequencies of my old WiFi router to find the lowest congested frequencies that I could identify using the NetSpot app. The wifi network still performed poorly, never approaching the full speed of my internet connection. It also constantly dropped the throughput to near zero on both the 2.5 and 5 GHz frequencies. It randomly dropped Internet calls and internet browsing would freeze due to loss of signal because of interference.
I put the Nighthawk RAX120s into the same physical locations of my previous routers configured to exactly the same frequencies and transmit power levels. One as the Wireless Router and the second 2 stories up in my 200+-year-old home as an access point. Now I get full internet speed in every nook and cranny in the house. The connection is stable with none of the dropouts nor near zero throughput experiences. I get full speed in the cellar and in the room that has brick walls around where the signal has to travel through another brick wall with a fireplace in it to get to the router. Even my AC only (non-AX standard) devices enjoy full-speed performance.
I can see over 25 networks from my house. Even with my computer in the same room as the previous wifi router, I couldn’t get full speeds. After replacing it with the Nighthawk I instantly saw full internet speeds on my wifi network, just as if I was wired to the Internet Modem directly.
I used Orbi in my last house which was a craftsman made of wood. I had to put an extender in every room to get this level of performance. I should have gone with the Nighthawk.
Ask any of my friends I am no IT whizz
This was an absolute doddle to set up (once I realised I had to press a button on top of the device- see above)
It is superb, rapid and you should all buy one!
A quick tip for anyone on Virgin, set the hub to modem only mode and you need to use port 1 on the router to connect to this router. Also if you do need to access the virgin hub once in modem mode the ip address will have changed to 192.168.100.1.
I used the nighthawk app to set this up, all done in 10 mins and has been solid since. Recommended.
Easy setup, works great with my 1 Gig connection. I get the complete 1Gig wired and I get great speeds via WIFI 6 with a new PC I built. I have very solid, thick walls, a real test for any router, and I get 0.5Gig using the old WIFI standard on my Ipad, iPhone etc., at the furthest point in the house. This contrasts with my ISP modem, which delivers around 0.25Gig, and that’s with an extender. I’m delighted, the device is very stable, and I use the Internet a lot. I have TV, PlayStation, phones, Macs, Pc all connected, and things run very well. I paid 410, so the current 350 seems a great deal. I like the software which runs on IOS, Mac, Pc very smoothly.
I’m not a technical expert; I wanted a router that could consistently deliver fast speeds throughout my house, without the need for a mesh system. I’m more than happy that for my needs this router does that. I attach an external USB 3.0 hard drive to the router via one of its USB ports, and it works very well for quick internal file-swapping and sharing.
I’m happy to recommend it, particularly at this new lower price.
Bought this so I could use my ISP hub as a modem only after suffering unreliable signal and weak spots. Wi-if is now strong around the house and working continuously with download speeds not dropping below 160Mbps. Also comes with good security.
After trying several other WiFi Routers, really impressed with the capabilities and range of this device. Setup was straightforward, software very comprehensive, connection is stable, good coverage throughout my 3 story house.
I already own the RAX200 but i wanted to add an additional router to increase the coverage area within my multi storey town house, so the RAX500 was the obvious choice. Set up via the App was simple but to get the exact configuration i wanted i had to use the web interface for certain aspects like setting the old router (RAX200) into AP mode and aligning the channels used to avoid any conflicts. I also had to pay for a new Armour subscription even though i had only renewed the subscription on the RAX200 1 month before purchasing the RAX500. Luckily there was a 60% discount which i could apply so it wasn’t too painful on my wallet. First impressions of the RAX500 are excellent, longer reach and faster than the RAX200 but still as beautiful to look at, definitely an element of Star Wars Styling to its looks. The 2.5GB Wan port is very handy as i have multiple gigabit internet connections to my home office so absolutely no slowdown, although i do use a separate WAN multiplexer to distribute the traffic between carriers. All in all a great upgrade and continued excellence from Netgear, just try not to think about the price and buy it!
Add this router to my existing 2 Netgear WIFI extenders and now I can walk around the house and not lose connection while on Teams calls. I also have taken the NETGEAR Armor subscriptions and it works very well. The router has a lot more features that I am very happy with.
I purchased the RAX120 to obtain better wifi compared to my BT Smarthub 2 router which was OK, but patchy at longer distances to the router.
First the aesthetics: it is quite a big router and does look like something out of Star Wars. But it is well put together and the lights aren’t too intrusive (although you can turn them off). The ‘wings’ do contribute to its wifi performance, but not everyone will like the design, or want it on full parade in the middle of their lounge.
Onto the setup: I have a BT G.Fast connection which limits what I can use as a modem. My BT Smarthub 2 is a combined modem router so I wanted to use the BT Smarthub 2 as a modem and the Netgear as my router. Unfortunately the BT Smarthub 2 cannot work in modem only mode which I thought would mean a bit more manual setup in the RAX120 to sync the gateways, but the Netgear wizard was quick to identify a potential clash of IP addresses on the original BT network and automatically setup a new network passing the internet traffic through automatically – great job and no more than about 5 minutes to setup. Then it was another quick job to change the wifi security on the RAX120 before switching off the BT Smarthub 2 wifi. All done in about 30 mins. I didn’t really get on with the Nighthawk App; the web interface for setting up the router is much better IMHO. YMMV.
So how does it compare?
At close range, my original BT router and the RAX120 were both good – I would have to be moving large files to really notice the difference. However the Netgear starts to show its real strength at range, both in the house, or out in the garden. Mine hasn’t put a foot wrong since I initially switched it on. I can only assume that some of the poor experiences of the RAX120 you can read on the internet are down to early firmware, defective items, or user error.
Would I recommend it?
Yes – but there are some caveats. If you have a smaller home or flat, or a good Mesh network already, this may be overkill for you needs. Likewise it works well with devices that support wifi 6 (such as newer Android or iPhones) but if you have older devices, then its like having a sports car but never getting out of third gear.
Finally, my understanding is that there is a newer version of the RAX120 on the way with a different (improved?) chipset. To be clear, mine is the V1 which works great. As a consequence I got it at a slightly reduced price – still not the cheapest, but quality rarely is.
1. Set Virgin Hub up as Modem only mode (magenta light on front).
2. Turn off Virgin Hub.
3. Boot up the Nighthawk AX12.
4. Connect ethernet cable from yellow Nighthawk WAN socket to the socket marked 1 on the Virgin hub.
5. Boot up the Virgin hub.
Then use the Nighthawk app to complete the set up, it should detect the router and ask for new password to be set (again, ignore the initial instructions in the app about starting Modem first). This should detect the internet and control all the devices on your network.
Update: the multi-gig socket failed after 12 months so back to gigabit network only. Poor for such an expensive piece of equipment.
It must be considered that this wifi router requires a separate modem in order to work as it does not have one integrated.
It is easy to set up and includes parental controls which is easy to use but requires a separate app from a third party.
The system guides you to install Netgears security Armour, but sadly this a payable extra that as yet I cannot see a benefit yet. It also guides you to Netgears’ antivirus/antimalware – bitdefender if you find it useful.
I have found the app and setup quick and easy, with navigation a dream. It has lots more features than the standard ISP router making it the obvious choice and with a tech heavy family, a robust, high-capcity router is a must.
The product looks fab and is known as the spaceship in our house!
Despite the continued need for a repeater, I still feel this was a worthy investment giving many benefits that provide value for the money.
MY BROADBAND PACKAGE:
Virgin Media Fibre Optic Cable. 220MB Download and 20MB upload broadband plan. Using Virgin SuperHub 3.
MY HOME SETUP:
Large 4 bedroom detached property (very wide) over 2 floors (No brick internal walls). Furthest internal point in house, from the router is approx 15 meters.
I have approx 15 devices connecting to the WiFi network.
THE VIRGIN SUPER HUB 3:
The only time I ever received Virgin’s advertised upload and download speeds was when I connected my MacBook Pro directly to the router using an Ethernet cable. Great – if you don’t mind cables running all over your house.
The WiFi was horrendously slow 90% of the time – I was often getting download speeds of just 20MB and that was in the same room as the router. In other rooms or upstairs the WiFi signal would degrade further still, to the point that it was often unusable – frequently I would get faster downloads using 4G (on my iPhone Pro Max). I tried all the usual stuff – turning the router off and back on again – turning off the mobile devices and laptops – and resetting the router back to factory settings. Even resorted to tweaking the router settings, to no avail.
Occasionally, the router would give me a faster WiFi connection when turned off and back on again (maybe reaching 70MB) and then within minutes or a couple of hours it was back to the usual slow speed connection. I tried WiFi extenders etc.. nothing seemed to work, and as I work from home, I would end up using ethernet cable during the day to ensure I had a fast and constant reliable connection.
Fed up with the slow WiFi and having an ethernet cable running over 10 metres to the study I started to research the Virgin Super Hub 3 router online. If only I had done it sooner. The reviews for it are terrible (and that’s from official reviewers – not your average lay person). In view of this and already have spent a small fortune on other devices (extenders etc) I started to look at reviews for the NETGEAR Nighthawk router. Initial reaction was expensive, but the reviews for it were generally very good. Having had enough of my current unworkable setup, I decided to purchase the router.
THE NIGHTHAWK NETGEAR ROUTER REVIEW:
Arrived within a couple of days via Amazon Prime.
Downloaded the app to my iPhone, launched it and followed the step-by-step instructions to complete the router setup. It was an absolute breeze. I had the new router up and running within half an hour of getting it out of the box.
Note: If you’re using the Virgin Super Hub 3, you will need to change the Super Hub 3 from “WiFi Mode” to “Modem Mode”, before you start setting up the Nighthawk router, which can easily be done within the router’s settings.
During the set-up, you’re asked if you want to keep your existing Network SSID and Password… Select “YES” as this means all of your existing devices will automatically connect to the new router (once set-up), otherwise you’ll have a New SSID and Password, which you’ll have to set-up on every device you wish to connect to the WiFi. This worked perfectly for me.
Post setup, all of my existing devices connected perfectly. Note: The 5G network has shorter range but faster connection, whereas the 2G network has further range but slower speed connection. I managed to get all of my smart devices (TV’s, mobile phones, iPads) to connect to the 5G Wi-Fi network without any issues or signal drops anywhere in the house. There are 5 ethernet ports on the back of the router, which I also used to connect some devices (e.g Lounge TV, and PS4).
Here’s THE BEST BIT … THE SPEED… WOW – this has totally blown my socks off!!! Most of the devices are connecting to the WiFi at almost full speed (220MB download) most of the time. In the furthest corners of the house I can still gets signals as fast as 210MB. I’m totally impressed and wish I’d bought this sooner.
The Nighthawk Phone App is great. It allows you to see all of the devices connecting to the network either via WiFi or wired connection. You can ‘pause’ internet to individual devices if you like. You can also check the internet upload and download speed between your Router and ISP, which is handy. You can also turn on a “Guest WiFi” network if you wish to give house gets access to WiFi but not ‘your’ personal WiFi. There is also a traffic meter, if you wish to track how much data you’re using .
IN CONCLUSION:
This router isn’t cheap, in fact it’s one of Netgear’s most expensive. It does however have the latest WiFi standard (WiFi 6 aka “AX”) which the latest iPhones, Samsung Devices, iPads can make use off. It is also backward compatible with all previous WiFi standards. It is quick and easy to setup and doesn’t require any technical knowledge. Most importantly is the WiFi speed which I’ve been completely amazed with. You might also be able to get great results with other cheaper Netgear Routers (I didn’t want to take the chance based on the amount I’d spent cumulatively on other products trying to sort my poor WiFi signal), however, I can wholly recommend this router if you have the budget, want ultra-fast WiFi speeds, and are looking to ensure any new smart device purchases can make use of the very latest and fastest WiFi.
Over the first few days the RAX120 devices like my iPhone 11 Pro Max would freeze when trying to load websites and I would have to turn Wi-Fi on the phone off then on to get it to work. In the router settings OFDMA is off by default, enabling this seemed to resolve this issue. I’m not sure why something like this was off by default and I had to google what the setting meant as the interface doesn’t give any guidance.
Next up was game streaming via steam link and PS4 remote play. They both performed like a slide show which was a surprise taking into account my older nighthawk R8000P could run both these services flawlessly from the same location as the RAX120. This was harder to resolve but it seemed to help when I enabled upstream QOS and set the bandwidth randomly to 60mbps. Again there was little guidance on how to use this feature so it was on me to play battleships with the settings, knowing I can always factory reset the router with a pin should I ruin it. This did seem to help mainly with the steam link app where games become fully playable with no lag. PS4 remote play did improve but would still lag momentarily every 10 – 20 seconds.
I’ve reported all the issues I had to netgear who tried to help, they will take you back to basics with their advice and will gradually go into more detail so do use them. If you need a new router you may as well buy a WiFi 6 one but no matter which you buy there will be some issues, for example the RAX120 supports 160mhz out of the box while certain others need a future firmware update to enable this. In my experience the RAX120 needs an update to be more gamer friendly.
Apart from the faults I mentioned this router does a lot very well. It’s signal strength over long range is seriously impressive. I live in a large house where the router is set at the front entrance and I can get a strong signal at the far end of my back garden, good if I want to stream music outside or for outdoor wireless security cameras etc. This is a good stand alone alternative to a mesh set up.
It looks to have a good cooling system, there is a quiet fan on the top which I’ve never turn on but under heavy load it should help keep it cool.
Most importantly it looks like a spaceship which I believe means it is the best router available.
It’s worth mentioning I almost bought the RAX200, thinking it was better because of the higher model number. The difference is the RAX200 is tri band and the RAX is dual band, however the RAX120 has a much longer range and different chipset with a faster CPU at a lower price. I personally value range and performance more than the extra band and overall I’m happy with my choice.
Update: I can get a decent 80-100 Mbps connection on my phone, at about 50ft away from the router at the far end of my back garden. That’s really good and shows me how strong and reliable the signal is. My R8000P router could not achieve the same result.
Sometimes I find I’m still getting random drops and stutter. The cause is unclear, I suspect it’s a firmware issue from various support pages I’ve visited trying to get this to work consistently.
After years of hit and miss wifi with our service providers and many, many, many phone calls to them without satisfactory resolutions I saw an advert on amazon about net gear WiFi’s routers and how they could drastically improve my WiFi signal.So because I was sick to the teeth with the wife and kids ear-bashing me about the very poor signal we were getting from our supposedly 350mbs with the majority of the time we were only getting 20 mbs on a good day and 1 and a half meg on a bad day with some flat spots in the kitchen not even receiving any signal from service provider. So I started researching how I could use my service providers own router as as a modem by putting it in modem mode and to be honest it was quite daunting as I am nearly 60 years old and not very tech savy! But after going on a few tech sites reading articles and looking at home and small office set ups and found out it was easy also found out about including a gigabit switch that enables you to put more Ethernet cables into the gigabit switch because I only have 4 on my service providers router! Once I set up my home computer network with the top of the range Nighthawk AX12/12-Stream AX6000 WiFi Router, Wi-Fi 6 (RAX120 this router use Triband tech that enables every WiFi device on the system to have dedicated service so you could have upto 20 WiFi devices on all together with no problem as long as you are paying for enough mbs from your service provider. I was very proud of myself for researching and setting up my home computer network so our network is totally problem free with speeds far out seeding the 350 meg I’m paying for, it now goes up to 384 meg a second and ping of 7 because it’s a gaming router as well my son has even stopped swearing at the top of his voice as he is now winning the majority of his matches and my wife is happy because her work computer has stopped freezing and is working to the max! The only negative was the price, it is expensive and I didn’t want to pay that much (361.00) and still have the same awful WiFi but to my amazement it all worked beautifully! So expensive yes but i certainly got what I paid for and if I had to buy it again or recommend it to anyone I would say yes in a heartbeat! 9.9 out of 10. I also bought an 8 gigabit switch from neat gear and was a reasonable 61.00
Very easy to set up with either the app or web page, I entered the same credentials and everything connected straight away. The XR was different as it was constant messing to get even Echo devices to connect.
The web page and app are basic and not complicated and within 10mins it was up and running after the firmware updated. I turned off AX mode as I have no AX devices and it’s very stable so far.
Wi-fi coverage is excellent, way better than the XR. I have 2 NETGEAR Ex8000 extenders as I had dead areas but now it just covers the property but I’m using one extender as it has some wired connections from other devices. I noticed too the extender now connects at max strength. For example my Arlo security cameras connect to extender and streaming is now butter smooth with their app and Apples HomeKit.
I’m also on BT and there is no issue but I’m running a HG612 modem and not a home hub which I prefer.
The specs are impressive, 64bit with good ram and cpu power as indicated in the spec. Perfect for streaming and gaming without the complex software many gaming routers supply. It’s a set and forget device.
QoS is basic and I’ve left it off and have streamed and gamed at the same time without any issues so far. A very capable router thanks to its spec.
I’ve also noticed as I’m using smart connect it’s working well at roaming and allocating devices to different channels ie. 2.4 or 5Ghz. Both web page and app show what’s connected to what channels and you can turn off devices if need be. Again this is a vast improvement and does the work for you. I’ve in total 15 devices connect to the network and it’s not even pushing it.
There is a small fan to keep the temp down, it’s not come on yet and the case is slightly warm to touch, not surprising with the cpu power this router has.
To round up if you want a Wi-fi 6 router or just a good modern up-to date router you can’t go wrong. Set it up and forget it’s there, perfect.
Very good router with great performance and features, as long as you are on firmware V1.0.0.84.
My router was shipped with a later firmware and it crashed constantly. I noticed that the NetGear web site had removed the later firmware from their site, so I downgraded and it now works perfectly.
I connected it to my Sky Q router and used the DMZ server feature on the Sky Q router to pass all traffic to the Nighthawk router. I then disabled the Wi-Fi on the Sky Router, miniboxes and the SkyQ box itself. My Wi-Fi devices are now MUCH more reliable and the range has doubled.
All my wired and wireless devices now go through this router and performance and reliability has improved greatly.
I use the VPN feature to connect to my home network when traveling abroad and have attached a 3TB USB hard drive so I can utilise the NAS feature.
Only knocking 1 star off the rating because it didn’t work out of the box