Netgear's new Nighthawk RAXE300 router makes Wi-Fi 6E speed more affordable

Netgear'southward new Nighthawk RAXE300 router makes Wi-Fi 6E speed more affordable

Lifestyle shot of the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 router on a table in front of a sliding glass door in a modern home.

(Image credit: Netgear)

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 was one of the best Wi-Fi routers of 2021, offer blazing Wi-Fi 6E speed, but information technology was likewise one of the near expensive, with a list toll of $599.

If that'south a picayune too rich for your claret, the new Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300, just announced at CES 2002, offers most the same specifications (and the same Death Star fighter-spaceship looks) as its big blood brother but at a more affordable price of $399. That'south still rather a lot for a domicile Wi-Fi router, just you do get quite a lot for your money.

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Both of these routers use not ii, merely 3 Wi-Fi spectrum bands: the usual ii.4- and five-GHz bands besides as the newly bachelor half-dozen-GHz band. That'south what makes the RAXE500 and RAXE300 compatible with Wi-Fi 6e rather than just Wi-Fi half-dozen. (Technically speaking, both vi and 6e autumn into the IEEE 802.11ax specification.)

This ways that when the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 connects to a device capable of using Wi-Fi 6e, such as a Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra smartphone, maximum throughput can be as much every bit seven.viii Gbps — fast enough to transmit a full-length HD movie in a few seconds.

That's assuming the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 is using all six of its antennae to fire on all eight possible simultaneous channels — ii on the vi-GHz ring, 4 on 5-GHz and 2 on the 2.4-GHz band — to connect to a single wireless device in your home.

Existent-globe scenarios are a little messier, of course, given the sheer number of continued devices in today'southward average home. Only the RAXE300 is still going to be very fast. It will also comprehend up to 2,500 square feet, according to Netgear. If you'd rather connect a few devices via Ethernet, the RAXE300 has five gigabit-speed ports to spare, plus a 2.5-gigabit port for the modem.

Like Netgear's other high-cease routers, you'll be able to interact with the RAXE300 via the Nighthawk mobile app, though yous tin also fix and administer the router the onetime-fashioned way, through an Ethernet port.

Optional services include Netgear Smart Parental Controls and Netgear Armor security, both of which come with free trial periods before you accept to start coughing upwards some cash.

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 will be bachelor by the finish of March, though it could arrive much sooner, Netgear says.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom'due south Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, lawmaking monkey and video editor. He'south been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom'southward Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random TV news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA home-technology conference. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.