Netgear introduced the 802.11 AC R6300 about a month ago and on May 15th introduced a lower cost 802.11 AC model the R6200. Both of these routers are leveraging the new AC Gigabit Wireless standard. Currently Netgear is the only vendor with AC products announced. And they will begin shipping the R6300 later this month in volume through all the major distribution channels that sell Netgear products.
First off gigabit wireless is an amazing feat to start with. The fact that you can get speeds near equal to the fastest wired connection is just mind blowing IMHO. But like any new technology we will have to wait for the full effect of it as client devices come onto the market.
Most likely Apple will be first with Macbook updates we will see. Netgear themselves will be offering a usb adapter later this summer.
But should you wait to buy one? Is this something you can benefit from today? Read on and Ill try and answer this for you.
The Netgear R6300 will be selling for $199. The R6200 $179. The difference between the two routers is that the R6300 uses a 3x3 radio configuration delivering 450mbs x 3 = 1350 mbs maximum speed. The R6200 is a 2x2 radio router that will deliver 900mbs maximum bandwidth / speed.
Let me address the speed talk here as it is confusing to say the least. Netgear and others often refer to their routers with terms like N300, N600 and N900. What this means is if you add up all the radios in all the bands you get this total. Lets take an example. Netgear's WNDR3800 and WNDR4500. The 3800 is a 2x2 N standard router. This means that on the 2.4 ghz band you can get a maximum of 300mbs (150mbs per radio x 2 radios equal 300 mbs) and the same on the 5 ghz band (150mbs per radio x 2 radios equal 300 mbs) equal a total of 600mbs. Now this is misleading because while the router has this capability your connected device will only connect to either the 2.4 ghz or the 5 g hz bands. Not both. So in reality you will only ever get a maximum of 300mbs for your devices. And this is the theoretical maximum too.
In the case of the 4500 with N900 what is different is you have 3 radios per band so you could get 150mbs x 3 radios equals 450mbs per band. But the gotcha is you need a 3x3 client to do this which there are very few available. The advantage of the 4500 though (very smart on Netgear's part) is they use enhanced radio technology which has higher signal output then any other router in their portfolio. This has been proven out by the many positive comments posted here in AVS.
So now what about the new AC standard and the R6300 and R6200? Well the difference is this. Each of the radios in the 802.11 N standard had a maximum bandwidth of 150mbs. The 802.11 AC standard has a maximum of 450 mbs per radio! Thats right 3 times the speed of 802.11N! So by adding radios to the mix you once again get the multiples of 2 x 450 mbs = 900 mbs (the 2 radio R6200) or 3 x 450 mbs 1350 mbs (the 3 radio R6300). And these are the speeds to the device itself! (assuming you have an AC client device)
Now I also need to point out that the AC standard only applies to the 5 ghz band. The 2.4 ghz band remains the same as it was in the existing N products we have today.
So does it make sense to get an AC product today or should you wait? Well with any new technology there are always start up issues but wifi has come a long way from the days of 802.11 g and it's transition to 802.11 n. There is a lot in the legacy products that carry over so there should be fewer bumps in the road. Now again you will need an AC client to get these wire burning speeds so that will take some time. But as for today here is the benefit to these new products.
The R6300 and R6200 use radios similar in power to the Netgear WNDR4500 admittedly the most powerful consumer router on the market today. So the range we see with the 4500 should carry over to the 6200/6300 products. In fact they are based on fairly similar hardware pinning's. The 6200/6300 also use a technology called Beam Forming which as I understand it helps legacy client devices connect more consistently and with a higher bandwidth then it's predecessors. The R6200/R6300 also use faster CPU's then their predecessors so overall performance is improved from that as well. This is also true from it's USB connected devices too.
So the question is if you are buying a router today what should you buy? This is the question I get asked most here in AVS. So Ill try and give you my thoughts.
The new AC products R6300 and R6200 clearly help future proof your purchase. Unlike the 3x3 radio N products my guess is most device manufacturers will leap frog that technology and use AC instead. The performance gains are huge versus the cost. Now I would only expect that in premium products today and probably over the next year. But as we saw with 802.11 N it is only a matter of time before that is standard fare.
From a price standpoint in the Netgear line the routers are priced like this
R6300 $199
WNDR4500 $179
WNDR 3800 $149
WNDR 3700 $129
The R6200 will be $179 when it ships at the end of the summer. So I would expect to see Netgear slot it in the line between the 4500 and 6300.
So what should you buy? Well given that the R6300 is only $20 more then the WNDR4500 Id have to say if you can afford the additional money then the R6300 is the best bet. You get everything the 4500 has plus you know it has the next generation wireless technology. The last time we saw this change was when we went from G to N.
Given the fact that the R6300 will be available in about 2 weeks from now that would be the way I would go. The R6200 is months a way. But if money is the issue then Id look for the WNDR4500. It is the best that N has to offer today. Either way you end up with a great piece of networking technology.
Once the R6300 ships and I get a unit Ill post back with my experiences. But in the meantime feel free to ask questions. I be happy to answer what I can.
Bob Silver
Netgear AV Consultant
First off gigabit wireless is an amazing feat to start with. The fact that you can get speeds near equal to the fastest wired connection is just mind blowing IMHO. But like any new technology we will have to wait for the full effect of it as client devices come onto the market.
Most likely Apple will be first with Macbook updates we will see. Netgear themselves will be offering a usb adapter later this summer.
But should you wait to buy one? Is this something you can benefit from today? Read on and Ill try and answer this for you.
The Netgear R6300 will be selling for $199. The R6200 $179. The difference between the two routers is that the R6300 uses a 3x3 radio configuration delivering 450mbs x 3 = 1350 mbs maximum speed. The R6200 is a 2x2 radio router that will deliver 900mbs maximum bandwidth / speed.
Let me address the speed talk here as it is confusing to say the least. Netgear and others often refer to their routers with terms like N300, N600 and N900. What this means is if you add up all the radios in all the bands you get this total. Lets take an example. Netgear's WNDR3800 and WNDR4500. The 3800 is a 2x2 N standard router. This means that on the 2.4 ghz band you can get a maximum of 300mbs (150mbs per radio x 2 radios equal 300 mbs) and the same on the 5 ghz band (150mbs per radio x 2 radios equal 300 mbs) equal a total of 600mbs. Now this is misleading because while the router has this capability your connected device will only connect to either the 2.4 ghz or the 5 g hz bands. Not both. So in reality you will only ever get a maximum of 300mbs for your devices. And this is the theoretical maximum too.
In the case of the 4500 with N900 what is different is you have 3 radios per band so you could get 150mbs x 3 radios equals 450mbs per band. But the gotcha is you need a 3x3 client to do this which there are very few available. The advantage of the 4500 though (very smart on Netgear's part) is they use enhanced radio technology which has higher signal output then any other router in their portfolio. This has been proven out by the many positive comments posted here in AVS.
So now what about the new AC standard and the R6300 and R6200? Well the difference is this. Each of the radios in the 802.11 N standard had a maximum bandwidth of 150mbs. The 802.11 AC standard has a maximum of 450 mbs per radio! Thats right 3 times the speed of 802.11N! So by adding radios to the mix you once again get the multiples of 2 x 450 mbs = 900 mbs (the 2 radio R6200) or 3 x 450 mbs 1350 mbs (the 3 radio R6300). And these are the speeds to the device itself! (assuming you have an AC client device)
Now I also need to point out that the AC standard only applies to the 5 ghz band. The 2.4 ghz band remains the same as it was in the existing N products we have today.
So does it make sense to get an AC product today or should you wait? Well with any new technology there are always start up issues but wifi has come a long way from the days of 802.11 g and it's transition to 802.11 n. There is a lot in the legacy products that carry over so there should be fewer bumps in the road. Now again you will need an AC client to get these wire burning speeds so that will take some time. But as for today here is the benefit to these new products.
The R6300 and R6200 use radios similar in power to the Netgear WNDR4500 admittedly the most powerful consumer router on the market today. So the range we see with the 4500 should carry over to the 6200/6300 products. In fact they are based on fairly similar hardware pinning's. The 6200/6300 also use a technology called Beam Forming which as I understand it helps legacy client devices connect more consistently and with a higher bandwidth then it's predecessors. The R6200/R6300 also use faster CPU's then their predecessors so overall performance is improved from that as well. This is also true from it's USB connected devices too.
So the question is if you are buying a router today what should you buy? This is the question I get asked most here in AVS. So Ill try and give you my thoughts.
The new AC products R6300 and R6200 clearly help future proof your purchase. Unlike the 3x3 radio N products my guess is most device manufacturers will leap frog that technology and use AC instead. The performance gains are huge versus the cost. Now I would only expect that in premium products today and probably over the next year. But as we saw with 802.11 N it is only a matter of time before that is standard fare.
From a price standpoint in the Netgear line the routers are priced like this
R6300 $199
WNDR4500 $179
WNDR 3800 $149
WNDR 3700 $129
The R6200 will be $179 when it ships at the end of the summer. So I would expect to see Netgear slot it in the line between the 4500 and 6300.
So what should you buy? Well given that the R6300 is only $20 more then the WNDR4500 Id have to say if you can afford the additional money then the R6300 is the best bet. You get everything the 4500 has plus you know it has the next generation wireless technology. The last time we saw this change was when we went from G to N.
Given the fact that the R6300 will be available in about 2 weeks from now that would be the way I would go. The R6200 is months a way. But if money is the issue then Id look for the WNDR4500. It is the best that N has to offer today. Either way you end up with a great piece of networking technology.
Once the R6300 ships and I get a unit Ill post back with my experiences. But in the meantime feel free to ask questions. I be happy to answer what I can.
Bob Silver
Netgear AV Consultant
. The WNDR's and Asus are probably some of the best out there right now!
