The WiFi 7 standard nonetheless is not ultimate, however that is not stopping Netgear from making the expertise out there to the general public. The corporate has launched its first WiFi 7 router, the Nighthawk RS700S, and it is clear the velocity is not the one draw. Whereas the 320MHz channels promise as much as 5Gbps on WiFi 7, the primary attract often is the very low lag — Netgear claims “100x decrease” latency that ought to assist with gaming, VR and different timing-sensitive apps. You will not be in a rush to plug your PC into an Ethernet jack, then.
The tri-band router presents protection as much as 3,500sq. ft thanks partly to a brand new antenna design, and might deal with as much as 200 concurrently related units. You’ll be able to create a mesh community if you have to cowl a big dwelling. A 10Gbps WAN Ethernet port makes certain the RS700S can assist the fastest home fiber connections, though Netgear curiously limits the 4 native Ethernet ports to 1Gbps. You will have to make use of WiFi if you wish to take advantage of this {hardware}.
The Nighthawk RS700S arrives within the US within the second quarter of the yr, and can value a steep $700. You are paying for the privilege of being first. With that mentioned, it prices lower than Netgear’s WiFi 6-based Orbi 860 two-pack regardless of a lot stronger efficiency in its (admittedly smaller) protection space. Should you’re extra all in favour of uncooked throughput than vary, this can be the higher worth.
The larger challenge is compatibility. Solely a restricted variety of units have the parts wanted to assist WiFi 7, and the brand new format is not enabled. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 within the Galaxy S23 series is technically able to WiFi 7, for instance, however Samsung’s telephones formally assist ‘solely’ WiFi 6e. And whereas multi-gigabit web service is changing into extra commonplace, it is nonetheless uncommon sufficient that the RS700S’ headroom could go unused. You are shopping for this router to future-proof your setup, to not notice any rapid velocity good points.
All merchandise advisable by Engadget are chosen by our editorial crew, impartial of our mum or dad firm. A few of our tales embody affiliate hyperlinks. Should you purchase one thing by one in every of these hyperlinks, we could earn an affiliate fee. All costs are appropriate on the time of publishing.
Trending Merchandise
