Netgear Nighthawk R7900 X6 AC3000 Review

Following last year’s first Tri-Band router release (the Nighthawk R8000 – see bottom of page), which was released by Netgear, funnily enough, comes another – the Netgear Nighthawk R7900 AC3200.

This is pretty much the ‘2nd in command’ within the Netgear “Ultimate” brand of router. Meaning that it’s been price pitched a little lower than the X6 R8000, with the aim of appealing to those who want to save a little cash, yet still own an awesome home router.

Netgear Nighthawk R7900 X6 AC3000 Features

Some of the big hitting features the R7900 has within it’s arsenal…

6 Features of the Netgear Nighthawk R7900

Tri-Band AC3000
Yep, it’s another Tri-Band offering from Netgear. The two 5GHz bands ensure that a high amount of bandwidth is available for any one 5GHz client – 1.3Gbps x2 = 2.6Gbps. Add the extra 450Mbps from the 2.4Ghz range, and voila! 3Gbps is all yours.

Just bear in mind that, as with all router advertised speeds, these are theoretical rates. Expect around 40% of those speeds in real life. Still pretty powerful!

Tri-Band is a very effective way of evening out the available bandwidth to wireless clients, usually providing a better Wi-Fi experience all-round.

Smart Connect
The R7900 also has Smart Connect which smartly (see what we did there?) decides on which clients go on which wireless band. It puts the slower devices on one band, and the faster devices on others.

Dual Core CPU & More
Along with a dual core processor, there are 3 offload processors to help take the load. It’s a ‘must-have’ for interconnections between Internet and local, Wi-Fi to Ethernet, and USB access.

USB 3.0 Port
There is a single USB 3.0 port on the R7900. Most other AC routers have two USB ports (ok, usually one of them is a USB 2.0 port, but it’s always a nice-to-have).

That being said, a single USB port is enough for a lot of users out there, so this may not be an issue. As the port is USB 3.0…meaning it’s perfect for some USB drive streaming action.

Sharing & Backup Options
The Nighthawk R7900 has plenty of sharing options available. Whether you want to share:

– ReadyShare USB makes sharing your files very easy. Just plug in your USB drive and connect to it via your network devices
– ReadyShare Vault is a backup utility that replicates your files so you have a safe backup of your precious saves. Works beautifully for photographs. Especially good for those who snap with their smartphones. Vault can be set up to automatically backup your photos from your phone, so you don’t have to worry about lost photos should your phone die or be lost/stolen.
– DLNA: Used to share media with compatible devices around the home
– iTunes Compatible: the R7900 can share share using Air Play or Apple Remote.
– ReadyShare Printer lets you, yes you guessed it, share your printer (via USB)

6 Adjustable High Gain Antennas
Cover a greater area of your home with 6 antennas. Particularly useful for homes with multiple floors, the R7900 antennas can tilt so coverage can be manually manipulated to your advantage.

Nighthawk R7900 Ports

Extra Features of the Netgear Nighthawk R7900

Guest Network
Use a guest network to keep visitors off your network, but let them access the Internet

Beamforming+
Improves coverage area, reliability and throughput.

Netgear Genie
Set up and monitor your network with the Genie app. Can be used with a smartphone, tablet or your laptop. Makes control of your network a cinch, and you can see how it’s utilized. Nice

Parental Control
Make sure you command what users access, and when they do it.