Let’s dig into why Netgear went home with How-To Geek’sbest router at CES 2022award.
I did find it annoying though that it tries to make you create a Netgear account before beginning setup.
If you already have an account, that obviously won’t be a problem.
Jordan Gloor / How-To Geek
After walking through the setup, the router needed to update before I could use it.
It was a minor inconvenience, though, that wasn’t really the router’s fault.
While the fins fold down for storage, the user manual says to stand them upright when in use.
Jordan Gloor / How-To Geek
But let’s face it: a cutting-edge router like this deserves to be shown off.
There are four dedicated 1-gig Ethernet ports, two of which can be aggregated to create a 2-gig connection.
So by spending less you might actually manage to future-proof your data pipe for bulkier internet packages.
Jordan Gloor / How-To Geek
You’re only ever going to be using one band at a time with any gear.
Related:Wi-Fi 6E: What Is It, and How Is It Different From Wi-Fi 6?
The additional channels mean lesscongestion, and thus, potentially, more speed.
Jordan Gloor / How-To Geek
The only 6E machine I own is theGoogle Pixel 6.
(For context, streaming 4K video onlyuses about 15Mbps.)
Related:How Much Download Speed Do You Really Need?
The 5Ghz band was not far behind at around 850Mbps.
In most other rooms, the 6Ghz band was still holding between 500Mbps and 800Mbps.
In fact, the 5Ghz band was sufficient for my needs most of the time.
I was able to transfer tens of 12.2MP photos from my phone to my PC in seconds.
I never had problems cloud gaming orstreaming my PC’s screen to my Quest 2 headset.
While the 6Ghz band is the main attraction here, you have to temper your expectations with it.
I could step out onto my porch and stay connected to the 6Ghz frequency, but not any farther.
So any 6E devices you do have will need to stay near the router to take full advantage.
The App
If you already have a Nighthawk router, you’re probably familiar with the app.
As stated earlier, you do need a Netgear account to use it.
The app doesn’t have any ads (unless you count its promotions for Netgear’s Armor software).
In particular, I found it handy for testing signal strength while optimizing the RAXE300’splacement.
Should You Buy the RAXE300?
Or go big with a deadzone-killing mesh router system like Netgear’sOrbi Wi-Fi 6E system.
However, if you have an average-sized home and typical Internet demands, the RAXE300 will treat you well.
