Netgear Introduces Nighthawk RS700 Wi-Fi 7 Router

Wi-fi networking has seen speedy strides during the last couple of years with the opening up of the 6 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi functions. Silicon distributors up to date their Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) options with help for the brand new band and router / entry level distributors adopted swimsuit. Final 12 months noticed the introduction of Wi-Fi 7 silicon primarily based on 802.11be from all the key silicon distributors – Broadcom, Qualcomm, and Mediatek. Intel additionally offered hints about their upcoming Wi-Fi 7 shopper platform of their interoperability demo with Broadcom’s AP design. Following this, corporations similar to TP-Hyperlink and ASUS (RT-BE96U and ROG Rapture GT-BE98) began to expose particulars of their first-generation Wi-Fi 7 merchandise. TP-Hyperlink’s choices have been up for pre-order since January, with cargo initially slated for Q1 2023. As we speak, Netgear is asserting their first Wi-Fi 7 product – the Nighthawk RS700 wi-fi router.

As a refresher, Wi-Fi 7 brings a bunch of enhancements to the wi-fi expertise with sooner speeds (true multi-gigabit, making it essential to equip the routers with wired 10G ports), decrease latency, and higher effectivity in channel utilization (significantly with a number of shoppers within the image). The usual additionally permits multi-link operation with the shoppers having the ability to hook up with the AP over completely different bands concurrently. All Wi-Fi 7 routers should be tri-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz help) to deliver out all the advantages of the brand new normal. In comparison with their Wi-Fi 6E flagship Nighthawk, the RS700 boasts of just about double the wi-fi throughput, and comes with 10G WAN and LAN ports. It’s primarily based on Broadcom’s Wi-Fi 7 platform (BCM4916 community SoC + BCM67263 / BCM6726 radios).

Whereas ASUS continues to undertake their spider-style antenna design for his or her Wi-Fi 7 choices, we noticed TP-Hyperlink fully revamp the economic design for his or her high-end providing to help the brand new normal. Netgear has additionally moved to a brand new design model for the Nighthawk RS700 with a tower form-factor. Along with complementing the fanless design by aiding in convection (with assistance from strategically positioned vents), Netgear claims that the brand new design additionally permits for optimum placement of the antennae for lowered inteference.

Netgear helps hyperlink aggregation on each LAN and WAN sides, with the latter function in place to be used with the first-generation 1200 Mbps cable modems (such because the Netgear CM1200) that got here with twin 1 Gbps ports as an alternative of a single 2.5 Gbps NBASE-T port. A USB 3.0 port to connect a storage drive or printer can be within the combine.

The Nighthawk cellular app will proceed serving the product household for straightforward administration by way of Android / iOS gadgets, and an area internet UI may also be accessible. Netgear can be together with a 1-year subscription to their ARMOR cybersecurity product for cover towards on-line threats in addition to VPN options.

The Nighthawk RS700 is out there for pre-order as we speak, however availability is slated for Q2 2023. The corporate claims that the router can help upwards of 200 simultaneous shopper gadgets and blanket a 3500 sq. ft. residence with full protection – greater than sufficient for the overwhelming majority of shopper households. Nonetheless, prospects used to plain Nighthawk options similar to out of the field mesh networking help, a number of wi-fi networks (along with the usual fundamental and visitor networks), and parental controls must anticipate firmware updates within the second half of the 12 months. Priced at $700, the RS700 prices the identical because the introduced pricing for the TP-Hyperlink Archer BE900. Nonetheless, TP-Hyperlink manages to incorporate extra wi-fi streams (and correspondibgly increased wi-fi throughput), a number of USB ports and 4x 2.5 Gbps together with a SFP+ / RJ-45 10G combo on the similar worth level. In any case, each distributors are promising many of the options in future firmware updates, and there are not any concrete delivery dates but. A extra knowledgeable worth proposition comparability can solely be made after the merchandise are within the fingers of the top prospects.