It seems like many of us are finally getting used to Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 is almost ready to hit the market. Multiple Wi-Fi 7 routers were announced at his CES 2023, but now Netgear follows the $699 Nighthawk RS700. (opens in new tab).
Unlike many traditional routers with relatively flat base units, the Nighthawk RS700 (opens in new tab) It features a tower-like design similar to the Asus ZenFi Pro ET12 and Netgear’s high-end Orbi mesh routers. Moreover, it is a tri-band router covering 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands. Backward compatible with all popular IEEE standards, including the latest Wi-Fi 6E, with a maximum aggregate throughput of 18.7 Gbps.
Of course, the Netgear RS700 can take full advantage of Wi-Fi 7 features such as multi-link operation. This allows the router to aggregate multiple wireless bands. For example, instead of a client connecting to a single 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 6GHz band, it can connect to all three simultaneously. This reduces latency and increases data rates. Wi-Fi 7 also enabled preamble puncturing, allowing clients to make better use of interfering wireless channels.
In addition to its excellent wireless portfolio, Nighthawk RS700 comes with one 10 Gbps WAN port, one 10 Gbps LAN port and four 1 Gbps ports. A 10 GbE port might seem like overkill at first, but Netgear is offering Google Fiber (8 Gbps) and Comcast Xfinity (10 Gbps) while AT&T Fiber and Frontier already offer 5 Gbps service to customers. was quick to point out that promised even faster speeds. client. So the Nighthawk RS700 can theoretically handle high speed pipes to your home or business.
The Nighthawk RS700 also supports LAN aggregation up to 2 Gbps by combining two 1 Gbps ports. Internet aggregation is also supported between a 10 Gbps WAN port and one of the 1 Gbps ports. Netgear also includes a USB 3.0 port for connecting a NAS professional printer or storage device.
While Nighthawk RS700 features are accessible through the traditional web user interface, Netgear also offers a Nighthawk smartphone app to quickly set up the router and keep it up and running. The company also includes his Netgear Armor protection for a year of his router with Bitdefender security and a VPN (including 200MB of daily traffic). After the first year, Netgear Armor costs $99 annually.
According to Netgear, the Nighthawk RS700 will be available in the second quarter and will cost $699 (you can pre-order it directly from Netgear). (opens in new tab)), which is expensive for a Wi-Fi router. The Nighthawk RS700 also supports mesh operations. That means you can add two more units to your home or office to increase your coverage (and your financial expenditure). However, this is the company’s flagship consumer model, and we’re sure we’ll see more streamlined, cheaper options from the company in the coming months.
