NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router (R7000) with Open Source Support | Circle with Disney Smart Parental Controls | Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa (Indian Adpater)

Pros: - Top end hardware - best in class processor and RAM - Solid connectivity over 2.4 gHz and 5 gHz bands. - Excellent network printing features for converting your USB printers into network printer and support airprint for Apple devices - Backup software available from Netgear for creating network backups - DDWRT firmware compatibleCons: - Warranty policy is confusing: Read review below for details. - DLNA Media Server not as robust - Open VPN client functionality not available - only Open VPN server function available and that too needs improvement - Torrent Download Manager needs improvementOther routers considered: - Asus ac68u AC1900 - TP-Link Archer C9 AC1900 - Linksys Cisco not considered due to large price differentialDetailed Review:I have been using the Netgear R7000 router for about a week and it is an amazing product. The CPU and RAM specs for this router are the best in the AC 1900 class at the time of review. Hardware specs are comparable to the Asus 1900 (R7000 has a slight edge) but completely blow away the TP-Link Archer C9. Both the 2.4gHz and 5gHz frequency bands work perfectly. Obviously the 2.4 gHz band has a longer range. I gave the same name to both these networks and used the Smart Feature on the router. No complaints there and connectivity is awesome. The router is also compatible with DDWRT open source firmware.I had bought this for networking at my home office to connect about 5 desktops, a PS3, a CCTV DVR connected by wire and 3 laptops and several phones and tablets connected wirelessly. All these devices connect perfectly with the router. So far the router has no dropped connection or downtime and is working flawlessly.My main reason for getting this router was that I have an old HP USB laserjet printer which I needed to use as network printer for office use and connect a 2 TB portable harddisk for setting up a DLNA Media server for accessing videos and music on Playstation 3 and iPad and phones etc. for home use. I connected the printer to the USB 2.0 port on the router and the external HDD on the USB 3.0 port.The R7000 has excellent network printing capability. What I liked the best was that now I can use my USB laser printer as a network printer and can give print jobs from all wired and wireless device without having a dedicated computer connected for network printing. All you need to do is install the network printing app from Netgear website on each laptop/desktop and you are good to go.What's more is the wireless printing feature from Apple devices which converts your basic USB printer to an Airprint device. But for this feature you need to install the Netgear Genie app on your iPads and iPhones and also install the Genie app on at least one of your PC connected either by wire or wifi to the router. The PC having the Genie app needs to be ON when sending print commands from iPad or iPhone but this is understandable and not that big of a hassle since most people don't usually have to print from an iPad or iPhone that often.You can get free DDNS service from Netgear too if your ISP gives a Dynamic IP or if you hate remembering your static IP address. This function is really useful for accessing your CCTV DVR security camera or your files on external HDD through FTP when you are away from home and for VPN connections to your home network.Another great feature is the Netgear Downloader which allows one to perform intensive download/upload tasks over P2P networks (torrents) without having to keep your PC turned on. The router directly downloads the files to the HDD connected to it once the torrent file is uploaded to the router. However this feature is in beta phase and as of now downloading by magnet links does not work properly.The network printing function is what led me to choose the R7000 over the Asus ac68u. I had initially purchased the Asus router, but the network printing gave me headache and I had a tough time getting my older Win XP desktops in office to print consistently through this router. After trying several fixes I finally returned it back to Amazon within the allowed return period since network printing being office task took higher priority over other features. Thank you Amazon for being so amazing. Also Netgear offers backup software for scheduling and creating backups of your PC on the external HDD connected to router. Asus is missing this feature but you can always buy your own software for creating backups on network attached storage.However on every other feature the Asus router beats the Netgear R7000 when comparing them on stock firmware basis and without DDWRT. For example the R7000 supports only Open VPN server feature and not Open VPN client. What this means is that you can use Open VPN to connect to your home network from outside network location. This is useful for office type scenario where one might need to connect to the home network. However if you want to use Open VPN client wherein you can connect to a VPN service through your router so that network traffic on all your devices is routed through an external VPN provider, for privacy and security, this function is not available on the R7000 at this time at least on stock firmware.I had tried the TP-Link Archer C9 too before the Asus, but it lacks the features available on either the Netgear or Asus and the performance does not stand comparison with either of these superior devices. If you are buying an AC1900 or higher config router stay away from TP-Link since it is waste of money as you are basically paying a premium price for product testing a substandard and underdeveloped router. Both Asus and Netgear AC1900 routers are much mature devices that have been around for quite some time and hence most of the issues/problems are already ironed out. The current price differential between TP-Link Archer C9 and equivalent standard Asus/Netgear is not large enough to justify purchasing TP-LinkMOST IMPORTANT - NETGEAR Warranty policy is confusing:At the time of purchase of the router I was under the impression that it comes with only 1 year warranty policy unlike the Asus which gives 3 years hardware warranty. Even TP-Link is offering 3 years warranty on their device. I registered the router on Netgear website and it showed warranty period to be only 1 year as well.HOWEVER, a few days later I noticed on the router box (cardboard packaging) that a 3 year warranty period was mentioned. I raised a ticket with Netgear support and sent them a picture of the router box. They eventually increased my warranty period by additional 2 years to keep the promise of 3 years as mentioned on the box. However had I discarded the box and overlooked this, I would had lost out on the additional 2 years of product support. What's more, it seems some router boxes for R7000 on google image search DO NOT show this 3 year hardware warranty.SO PLEASE IF YOU BUY A NETGEAR R7000, CHECK YOUR ROUTER BOX AND REGISTER YOUR PRODUCT ON THEIR WEBSITE. IF NEEDED RAISE A TICKET WITH NETGEAR SUPPORT AND HAVE YOUR WARRANTY PERIOD EXTENDED. Because maybe a year down the line if something goes wrong with your router you will be left without warranty and would have no recourse to replacement unless you have the original packaging lying around.Note on Wireless AC protocol:A lot of people seem to think that the Wireless AC standard/protocol will give them phenomenal networking and wireless video streaming speeds. This is not entirely true since most end devices do not support the AC standard at this time. You will get amazing speeds ONLY when you use two of such Wireless AC devices. For example a second wireless AC router or range extender/Access point connected to your Smart TV and accessing your primary wireless AC router. Moreover your max wireless streaming speed will be dictated by the lower of these two devices. If you are not planning on such elaborate network setup at this time stick with wireless N devices and you should be fine both in terms of range and speed.TO Summarize: - Go for Asus ac68u if network printing through older PCs and printers is not a big priority for you. Open VPN as well as P2P downloading features are much better on Asus - Go for Netgear R7000 if you need hassle free network printing and Airprint feature of Apple devices. The free backup software for storing backups on network storage is pretty sweet too. If you get the 3 year hardware warranty from Netgear it is even better. I bought mine during Amazon Lightning deal and found Netgear to be cheaper than Asus by about Rs. 1800/- at that time. - Go for TP-Link Archer C9 if you like to waste your money and conduct product testing for the benefit of manufacturer.

I bought this during the Prime day sale and it was a steal at that price. I give it 4 stars because it does most of what it is advertised for. I have gone through reviews of this router on various country websites of Amazon and external reviewers as well. Found very reviews on youtube. Was sceptical at first but the product did deliver in performance.I wanted this router because I use the Plex media server on Amazon Fire TV stick for streaming high-quality video content from my PC. My TP-Link 300mbps router was doing the job well but was struggling with Blu-ray content.Since the fire TV stick supports 2x2 MU-MIMO and this supports up to 3x3 I was hopeful that I would get a better streaming experience. Which in part I have, eventually. Let me explain this further.Initially, my streaming experience was worse than my 300 Mbps router as this was struggling to stream even normal content buffer free. After learning about the different features I finally solved the problem by disabling the Smart Connect feature which makes the router automatically switch a client between different bands. By default this setting is disabled. If you also experience streaming issues, disable Smart Connect.Now, I am not entirely sure whether MU-MIMO is being used when I stream on Fire TV device. (Whether it is using 2x2 bands to stream, the router does not show double connections for the Fire TV). Maybe if I am able to strain the single band beyond its capacity while streaming, then the second band will connect. Also, the MU-MIMO is disabled by default, you will have to enable it.Another quirk I found from my experience and reading other reviews world over is that a lot of your user experience depends on the firmware on which the router is on. When I got the router it was on 1.3, when I was facing the streaming issue I tried upgrading the firmware to 1.4.0 before disabling Smart Connect.When you update the firmware to 1.4.0 it automatically enables automatic firmware update. A few days later I found that my 2.4 GHz was not connecting to any device client. Then I restarted the router and everything was working fine until the problem repeated after a few hours. Then I found that firmware 1.4.1 had been automatically downloaded.Since then, I have downgraded back to 1.4.0 and everything is working just as it was and I have disabled automatic firmware update. So, I would recommend you to keep a copy of the firmware that has been working for you before updating to a new one.And at last, as you would have also read, a lot of the reviews complain about the router WIFI range. I don't know how big the problem was in each case, but many have complained that their old router gave better range than this one. I think this is just a case of misguided expectations. People buying this please do read about the limitations of 5 GHz band before buying. I doubt anyone would get a 5 GHz signal through a floor or ceiling but it does go through walls. The 750 Mbps 2.4 GHz picks up the slack there and works very well for me at least.Even, on the 5 GHz band, the best I am getting with the client in the same room as the router is 800-900 Mbps which is good enough for almost all my needs but far away from the advertised & theoretical 1625 Mbps.So, if you can deal with the settings and firmware issues, this is the router for you. Hope this will be helpful to the next buyer of this product and you won't have to go through the same problems and anxiety as I have. Netgear Nighthawk X6S R8000P AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router (Black)

NETGEAR R7000 Dual Band WI-Fi Gigabit RouterI have a lot of wireless devices in my household and I am always looking for better range and features from a Wireless Router. While I have been able to cover most of my house and yard, I still have a few areas with either weak coverage or no coverage. So, I decided to give the NETGEAR R7000 Wireless Router a try.Short Summary:This router is a deviation from the design that all of the R series NETGEAR routers now seem to have. It is a desktop or shelf design that is also designed for wall mounting. Instead of having the same old box design, this router tried to make a statement with a design more like that of a stealth bomber. It also has three hi-gain antennas which allow you to obtain the best coverage. I found that following the advice in the setup page really does work best. The two outside antennas are at a 45 degree angle and the center one is at 90 degrees. Helps to also make it look like a plane!It also gives you the ability to do away with all of the annoying blinking lights that generally make a router a problem trying to locate in a home. Now, I am not saying that flashing lights cannot be impressive in an office atmosphere, but I hardly think that it makes a home look appealing. It does, however, add to the high tech look if that is what you are after. Actually, what is nice is that you can have the lights on when you need them and then you can turn them off when you don’t.This router works extremely well, has the best coverage I have found with a home grade router, has an excellent user interface, has a NETGEAR app that you can download for just about every device except Kindle Fire HD to monitor your network with and to share files with, will also use SAMBA to share either storage and/or a printer which has native support on Windows machines and on Apple computers, supports Kindle Fire and Apple devices (IPAD, ITOUCH) with a SAMBA app. You can also download backup software for Windows machines and is compatible with Apple Time Machine. I found that the Windows Backup software is extremely easy to configure and use. I have a 4 Terabyte drive on the USB 3.0 port and I am able to do 20 MB/s files with ease.This router also supports gigabit Ethernet. There is a 3.0 USB port in front and a USB 2.0 Interface in the back. This allows you to add a USB drive and a Printer to the Router. An additional feature is that by connecting a printer to the router, you enable that printer to be an AirPrint unit for your Apple Devices. My only gripe is that the USB 3.0 port is on the front of the unit and that the back USB port is only 2.0. Still, this is a very solid 5 star product based on performance, configurability, and reliability.Full evaluation:Here are the things that I wanted it to be able to do:1. Support Apple products including iPad2, iPad3, iPad Air, and the iPhone 5S.2. Support multiple Microsoft Operating Systems to include: Vista Pro, Windows 7 Pro, Windows 7 Home, Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows Home Server.3. Support multiple manufacturers of Internet Enabled TVs4. Support multiple manufacturers of Internet Enabled Blue Ray.5. Support multiple manufacturers of Internet Enabled Audio Receivers.6. Provide full coverage to a two story home of 3300 square feet, and attached three car garage, and coverage to all areas of the 1/3 acre property that the house sits on.7. Be more esthetically pleasing so that you can locate it in a house WITHOUT it looking like a light show!8. I was also looking for a router that could provide the highest level of protection to include the latest security levels on RF with protection turned on as default, the ability to turn off SSID (turning off broadcast ID makes it that much harder for someone to break into the system) and good security on Router Configuration control. It also had to be able to use the latest AC band to provide for multiple streaming videos while also providing adequate support for other functions at the same time.One of the things you need to understand about dual band routers is that the 2.4 GHz band will pass easily through walls and other obstacles while the 5 GHz band will not. This means that you will generally have the best coverage with the 2.4 band and the worst coverage with the 5 Ghz band. My testing showed this premise to be absolutely correct. The 5 GHz band does fine with three or four walls, but quickly deteriorates after that. Thus the coverage in the yard was almost exclusively the 2.4 GHz band. However, the fastest data stream was obtained using the 5 GHz band. So, if you are streaming video to multiple televisions (think Netflix and Amazon video at the same time to different television sets) you will probably want to use the 5 GHz band for that function. By locating the unit in the middle of the upper floor of the house, I was able to receive at least 4 bars of signal in every room of the house and in the garage.Finally, this router supports the new AC data rate on the 5GHz band as well as all of the other previous standards. It also supports all of the current standards for the 2.4GHz band as well. What this means is that it will support existing equipment and any new equipment that you might acquire. Note: each of the standards (a,b,g,n,ac) are only different ways of encrypting data. The original standard encrypted data at a much lower rate and the newest standard encrypts data at the fastest rate. They all use the exact same radio frequencies!Here are my results:First and probably the most important to a lot of folks, this system is very easy to configure! In fact, if pressed, you could just connect cables, power up the unit and run with it! Wireless is preconfigured for security and the unique password for the unit is contained on the strip with the SSID and Network Key on the internal package of paperwork. It also supports WPS which means that as long as your equipment supports it, you can just push a button on the router to have your device automatically connect; no need to type in passwords!The user interface is straight forward and easy to navigate. You have an enormous amount of flexibility with the configuration of this unit. I was easily able to accomplish my requirement of turning off SSID. This unit also includes a sign-out feature for the administrator and will actually disconnect if you forget and wander off to another website. Using the back button will NOT allow you to connect until you have completed the sign in process again. You can also turn the lights on and off, which I consider a real plus!!There is a Genie app that will run on your computer, Apple device, phone, etc., that will allow you to share files and manage your network. The app is free and can be downloaded from several locations, depending upon the equipment you want to run it on.Here are my testing results: (Note: not all devices will support both bands! Ensure that your devices support both bands before trying to use them! Many less expensive wireless devices only use the 2.4 GHz band)I was able to actively stream HD to all of my Internet TVs concurrently while also doing backups, Internet searches, stream audio to multiple devices, and run my xBox without any problems. For reference purposes, my Internet Connection is 20Mb/S.For the Apple products, this router supported them with the following caveats: Both of the early model IPad models supported and used both bands though their antennas do not do as good a job as the new iPad Air.For the Microsoft products, I had the best range on both bands with the four different laptops that I tested. I was able to reach over 150 feet from the router with the 2.4 Ghz band and just under 100 feet with the 5 Ghz band.All five of my Internet enabled Televisions which were located in different areas of the house, floors, and in the garage, were able to connect to the 2.4 Ghz band and the 5 Ghz band without issue. I had the router located on the second floor, in the middle of the house, against the front wall of the house.All of the Internet enabled radio receivers were able to connect without issue using either band.All of the Internet enabled Blue Ray Players were able to utilize the 2.4 Ghz band and the 5 Ghz band while including the unit located in the garage.By setting up all of my portable units to utilize either of the two bands and to be able to automatically connect, I was able to wander around my yard and maintain a connection with everything.Being able to connect to the USB and whatever storage device you put on it (Thumb Drive, Hard Drive) requires that the wireless device you are using support SAMBA. All Macs and all Microsoft Operating Systems support this function. What does not support this function directly are the Apple Touch, the Apple IPAD, the iPhone, and the Kindle Fire. The good news is that you can download a free app onto each of those devices which then allows them to connect to the local resource on your network. This is a great way to share documents and pictures!The Genie app from NETGEAR allows you to connect to the share port to share files. However, on Apple devices this app only allows you to access files on the share drive on your Apple devices; it does NOT allow you to upload or download files to it.Home Server was quite happy to connect to any device that it will support using either band. The requirement is that you either plug the server into one of the 5 ports on the back of the router or that the server you are using has wireless capability.The guest network is a very nice feature and it works in such a way that you can isolate that network from your home network. You can also implement parental controls to limit what content can be accessed on either the Guest Network or on your own network.There are more security and other features in this unit than you can shake a stick at. I tested as many of them as I possibly could and had excellent results with all features. I did not run into a single issue with any of it. To keep this from becoming a book, I will simply say WOW!As you can probably tell from the above, setup is extremely easy and takes less than 5 minutes from starting to unbox to having the system up and running. The user interface is well laid out and is very intuitive. You can be as simple or as complicated as you want to get with the configuration.A final comment about the bandwidth that this unit supports. You need to keep in mind that no matter how fast and how much data a router can pass, it cannot make your Internet connection any bigger or any faster! So, if your Internet connection is capable of 10 megabits per second and your router is capable of 1900 megabits per second guess what? The fastest connection you can get is 10 megabits per second to the Internet!! This also applies to streaming video if the source of the video is the Internet (think Amazon Prime Movies, Netflix, etc.). However, if you have a home server with videos, a game server with games, a server that does backups, you are doing file transfers between computers, etc., you will have a lot more bandwidth to be able to do concurrent things!! I will also note that to obtain the fastest data transfer rates you will need to use a wireless device that supports AC standard. The unit I test with is the NETGEAR A6200.I would have to say that this is one of the best home version wireless routers I have ever used for the price and I would highly recommend it! It functions exactly as it should and it is easy to incorporate into your home whether you like an item that disappears into the background or one that stands out and looks extremely cool!

I wouldn't normally start off a review with an autobiography but for a device like this - especially considering what I'm going to say about it - I think it's important information for the review reader to have.I've been in network engineering for almost 20 years and have been designing networks for Fortune 10 companies for the past decade. I've sold, used, configured, and even helped design networking devices in both my professional and personal life. I've used a half dozen different brands over the years here in my home but I've been a loyal Netgear customer for about 6 years. I've also been an active participant in Netgear consumer beta testing and a couple of the Netgear devices you see on Amazon today are the result of input from myself and others. I've had a very productive relationship with Netgear and they've been very good to me during that time.My first impression of this router was simply "wow". The 5Ghz range on this unit was easily 20% better than both the Netgear WNDR3700 and the Asus RT-N66U. There were places in my house where I couldn't get a reliable 5Ghz connection before that now had superb coverage. The R7000 was instantly worth the money. I have approximately 35 devices on my network with two external Access Points hard-wired to the router. Total throughput increased slightly on the entire network but since I don't have any 802.11ac clients, I couldn't push the router to see what kind of max throughput I could get.There's not really much more I can say than that. Like most of the Netgear routers I've used before, it took about 10 minutes to configure and after that everything just worked. I don't have to worry about interference (closest neighboring network is at least 2 miles away). I don't use the USB/NAS/Media server functions (which have been unreliable on several Netgear models).Unfortunately, about 3 days in, my kids started telling me they couldn't print. I did a couple of days of troubleshooting and I tried defaulting and reconfiguring the printer. Normally, my kids are connected to one of the APs. If I connected them directly to the R7000 wirelessly, they could print again. The only thing that fixed the problem was rebooting the router.Without going into exhaustive detail, here is what I found:1. Multiple online reports of people intermittently losing connectivity to wireless printers (HP, Canon, or in my case, Epson)2. Printer wasn't the only problem. While connected directly via wireless to the R7000, I couldn't connect to other wired devices.3. After much online discussion with other users, it appears that wired and wireless devices are losing the ability to see each other after some period of runtime.4. When the problem appears, wireless devices connected to the R7000 appear in the WIRED section of the "attached devices" screen.5. Rebooting the problem ALWAYS fixes the issue. Within 48 hours or so after the reboot, the problem re-appears.This nagging issue isn't a showstopper but it is frustrating. What happened next is ultimately why I'm only giving this router 2 stars.After 2 weeks of working on the issue, I opened a case with Netgear. Here I am 5 weeks, 11 phone calls, 158 emails, and SIX beta firmware revisions later and the problem isn't solved.I really don't know where to start with what I used to consider one of the best customer support departments I've ever dealt with.They don't communicate internally and they're extremely disorganized. Several times, I gave them debug and packet capture info that they were going to "send to the engineers". To date, I have received ZERO feedback on any of the information I have sent them. Several times, I had to update my ticket multiple times with the same information because they rotate support techs by shift and they weren't reading the tickets before contacting me. Several times, they would tell me to try things via email, even though I had already told another tech on the phone that I had tried it.When Netgear agrees to allow you to test beta firmware, they want you to sign an NDA. Previously, this was always done electronically via their website. One quarter of the way into this process, they changed to a generic paper agreement which you had to physically sign and FAX or scan and email back. Fairly standard practice in the industry except that they DON'T KEEP THEM ON FILE. It's a generic NDA and should cover any and all beta testing for the term of the agreement but no. Every time they wanted me to test a new beta firmware I had to download, print, sign, scan, and then email them a new copy of the SAME generic NDA with a different date on it.As I mentioned before I gathered volumes of troubleshooting information for Netgear. The only feedback I ever received was "here try this new firmware and see if it works". I never once had anybody say "we've isolated this in the lab" or "we're working on a fix". They have been throwing darts the entire time. Not only that but they asked me to do things like gather packet captures with Wireshark. They knew full well that these packet captures were going to be large files (one of them was over 600MB) but they provided me no mechanism to actually SEND THEM. Their web tool is currently the only way to send them a file and the file size limit is 10MB. They refused to provide me with a Netgear FTP site to upload them and asked me to upload them to two different PUBLIC file sharing services, knowing that these packet captures could contain information like my WPA2 pre-shared keys and potentially some clear text internal LAN passwords. I agreed to setup an FTP server on my own time so that they could download them from me with the request that they download them promptly and let me know when they were done so I could shut it down (I don't want to allow open, always-on access from the outside world). They did neither. After 2 days of not hearing from them, I shut down the FTP server, opened a DropBox account, and sent them the files. That was the last I ever heard about it.The real kicker is this - Netgear has a long-standing reputation of releasing firmware updates slowly and for a limited amount of time. Generally, a new device gets firmware updates about every 2 months or so, for maybe a little over a year, so each devices ends up with around 4 to 5 firmware updates before they stop development. While this has never been a problem for me in the past, I'm growing concerned that this device could be the first. They've published 3 release firmware revisions to date and they have yet to even prove to themselves this problem exists, let alone fix it. At this rate, the R7000v2 will be out before the problems are fixed and people with this first gen model still having problems will be out of luck.Bottom line - this router is a performance monster. If you happen to be a lucky one and get a unit that doesn't have any issues, you're going to be VERY happy I would imagine. However, if you're not one of the lucky ones, you have a decision to make - live with the little nagging issues or try something else. I am simply floored at how bad Netgear's support has gotten. Despite my long-standing relationship with them, I will be hard-pressed to buy another Netgear product anytime soon.

I have to say that I’ve always been a huge fan of NETGEAR products. I purchased this router along with the NETGEAR cable modem , the CM700 which has been a great improvement over what our cable company provides us with. It’s been going strong since I purchased it and it never drops the signal and there’s no buffering issues to deal with.We currently have the following devices connected to this router:1. 2 iPad Pros (2020 12” models)2. A networked surround sound processor that is a 11.2 model and we rarely use the internet on this device.3. A music server that plays music in different rooms via (3) in wall iPods that can play different music for guest )4. 2 Roku Ultra devices5. A Wi-Fi Thermostat6. A Windows Desktop Computer in a guest bedroom for guest to use.7. A Homeseer Pro smart home device for lighting control and other devices8. 2 iPhones ( 2nd generation ) as we use them as phones mostly9. A MacBook Pro10. A Windows Gaming Desktop thats very seldom used now that’s liquid cooled. This is the main controlling PC for the router and making changes to passwords. Running Windows 7 pro.11. Apple TV streaming device ( 2019 version 64gb model ) mostly for AirPlay.12. An Astell&Kern Kann Alpha High Resolution player and a newer Astell&Kern music ripper/player.13. A NETGEAR Nighthawk S8000 switch for additional managed devices in our den.14. A Home Alarm system15. An Oppo UDP-205 Multiplayer as it plays every format I throw at it16. A HTPC that we rarely use now, but it gets used to stream movies occasionally from the Sony players below.17. A Windows 10 PC that is essentially a Windows Home Server since they got rid of their WHS program, a huge loss for Windows users for a cheap alternative to a business server18. A Firewall Device between the modem and router. It’s for added Protection and it was expensive.19. An outdoor camera system that runs through the Homeseer device as well as the internet ( 8 HD cameras )20. A Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, 16 Zone 3rd Generation unit we recently installed, needed 11 zones.21. A Kaleidoscope movie server that is incredible and plays 4K disc in incredibly sharp detail.22. A Chamberland garage door unit to close the door remotely if we leave it up.23. ( 4 ) Sony 300 disc BluRay , DVD, and CD units that hold most of our movies. They are daisy chained and eliminate the need for storage in our den of boxes for CDs, Blu-Ray movies, etc. We generally watch the Kaleidoscope movie server when we want to watch a physical disc we have in 4K format. It plays back 4K movies in incredible detail and it has taken the place of the Windows 10 computer as the picture looks much sharper. It’s incredible how expensive a video card has become that will render a proper 4K video. We decided not to use our 4K Smart TV to control our streaming choices. We use our HTPC and the Kaleidoscope movie server as it has the best picture quality. We do have two connected Ethernet cables from the router to the managed switch for streaming and it works good, but for the best quality, the Kaleidoscope movie server is the best item we’ve ever purchased. I know that China and Japan are getting 8K devices, but I don’t think I’ll live long enough to need to upgrade to 8K. It’s the most future proof router we’ve ever owned.It’s also extremely rare that all of these devices are running at the same time. Generally the 2 iPads are running, the two iPhones are connected as well as the Thermostat, the Smart Home Hub in standby, the alarm, one of the 2 Roku Ultra devices and the Surround Sound receiver are running at the same time. The Windows 10 PC that has 20TB in raid 5 storage is constantly running as well, but it is cut off from time to time. We have a program that allows us to download all of our DVDs and BluRays to this computer so we don’t have to look for a certain movie or have an entertainment center full of boxes. It’s just become easier to stream everything from the various streaming devices. So we don’t really need anything else now. You would think that the 4 Sony players and the Kaleidoscope movie server would be enough space, but there’s over 2,000 CDs ripped in uncompressed Flac format that eats up about 7GBs of space. There are also multiple MQA files as well as High Resolution files we purchased from HDTracks and other services. The closet that we have the rack server unit in is where we have several shelves for the empty boxes for the Blu-ray and CD boxes.I like that I have an app that lets me update the router and lets me reboot it when our power goes out. The Homeseer Pro is hooked to a battery backup as it isn’t cloud dependent. You can still lock and unlock doors for security. The alarm is also on battery backup and has a cellular module to keep it going for awhile, now it needs a new battery pack. Too bad Radio Shack is gone as the manufacturer charges 3xs the price plus a service call. I have replaced the ones in our old system myself.I have never had any problems or issues with this system set up as it currently is now. I’m getting ready to update the modem to the CM1000 as we are getting ready for a temporary visitor who’s going to be here for awhile. So that may mean another computer or iPad and iPhone and possibly a Roku device added to the current load.We’ve had NETGEAR devices for years and we’ve never had problems with our internet devices dropping connections or buffering issues. We generally have to replace them because more items have been added over the years that are network connected and we have needed more connections and bandwidth.All of the above items are located in our guest room closet in a rack mount system it has a separate cooling unit to keep these items from frying. It’s a large closet and it backs up to our Den where most of the connected devices are located. It’s now not as needed as once before as it is huge and it’s outdated for us as I don’t run my business from home anymore either. So we’re getting ready to buy a entertainment center that will accommodate our equipment and get rid of the 40 unit rack system.Regardless, I think this is an incredible router and when I purchased it, it was the best model that NETGEAR offered. I don’t know why so many other people have had issues with this router, but I have not had any of the problems mentioned in other reviews that are lower rated at all.I went through 3 different Motorola modems with in a few weeks and they all got extremely hot. They all fried and one was like $150 at the time. I decided that since I had been so happy with our NETGEAR modem, then I would try a NETGEAR router. It’s working like a champ as well. I installed two fans on each side of the modem in a push / pull method and they are on a heat detection sensor. It’s only been on in the hottest months and with a lot of devices in use at the same time. But it’s fine for the two of us and we generally have two iPad Pros running, a Roku player, 2 iPhones and our security system, thermostat, and Homeseer Pro working at the same time.I have not had any of the issues with firmware updates causing issues or even a glitch. I purchased this brand new in late 2017 when it first came out and it has been the best router ever. There’s been times where multiple devices have been using the internet connection and it has never gotten hot, or as far as I know, the fans have never kicked in that are built into this modem. I also think that the app is great as you can update the router without even getting up off the couch. I generally back up my firmware in case I have a problem or something, but if this router was to quit working tomorrow, I couldn’t complain about it as this beast has been working overtime since we got it. I would t be exactly happy as I don’t think I paid quite as much for mine as they are selling for now. But I bought this to replace another NETGEAR router and I wanted one that could handle all of the internet connected devices that we use on a daily basis. We never experience buffering issues or slow devices and that is why this is the best router that I’ve ever owned. Ours is almost 5yrs old now and it works just as well as it has since day one. I just can’t say enough about how much this router has made our life better and hooking everything up was time consuming, but simple as we have so many things that are hooked up to the router. We have had a couple of issues with ransom ware and keyloggers compromising our Internet in the past, but adding the firewall was the end of the problems. One came through Norton and that was very disappointing, we had been using the NETGEAR anual antivirus software that is available for this router, but we just decided to try a firewall device and it’s stopped any further issues with this problem. Almost everything is on a VPN network anyway, but some items just cannot be added like the Wi-Fi thermostat. I am considering going back to our “smart” thermostat. The only issue is that it’s also connected to the service team and they know when there’s an issue with our HVAC system before we do most of the time.It’s well worth the price and I think it is the best router on the market. There are newer gaming routers by NETGEAR that are pricier, but we need the number of ports that this router provides. We have a 24 port managed NETGEAR switch , but it is not being used, yet.I have been using NETGEAR routers for years now and this is the most expensive one I’ve ever purchased, but absolutely worth every penny that it cost to acquire.

I've been using this Netgear Nighthawk X10 R9000 wireless router for about four months now and thought I'd share my experience. Not long after I first received it and got it all hooked up, maybe 20-30 minutes in, I started hearing a repetitive intermittent buzzing sound from the power supply. I touched it and it was very, very hot. I powered down the router and unplugged the power cord to let it cool off, and when I plugged it in again and turned on the router some of the lights were blinking rapidly and I no longer had any network access including the ability to log in. I contacted the seller and they sent me a new power cord. We were both hoping there was no damage to the router and when the new power cord finally arrived that did seem to be the case.I plugged it in and various front LEDs lit up and I had wi-fi and ethernet connections on all devices throughout the house. I went to the setup screen which has a ton of options and was able to get everything set up the way I like. If you've ever gone through router settings before then you'll be familiar with it, but for those that aren't you simply access the settings through a web browser by typing in a specific URL address that's given on a sticker on the router. Then the settings page will come up and will be organized in sections like any other webpage. Most of the options are categorized logically and are easy to find.The one setting that wasn't intuitive was the page for configuring the external hard drives I had plugged into it. I thought it'd be called something like USB devices or whatever, but nope, it's called ReadyShare. If you haven't read the item description I should probably mention that this router has two USB 3 ports that let you plug in external hard drives and then share those files across all devices on your network. This is actually the primary reason why I chose this router, because I already had a couple external hard drives and didn't want to shell out money for a real NAS (network attached storage) plus internal hard drives. Anyway, it has specific software called ReadyShare which helps you to share your files so that's the reason for calling the section ReadyShare (you don't have to use this software to share files).There is a list on the Netgear website that lists specific models of supported hard drives, and the two identical drives I had were on the list (which I specifically checked before purchasing this router). After three months of use I had to fight with this thing several times to get it to recognize my hard drives. When they were recognized it would work great, but then for no reason at all they would disappear from the network and I'd go look at the front panel and the USB LEDs would be off and I'd have to fight with it to get them recognized. And I do mean fight! Unplug the USB cord and plug it back in... nope. Turn off the router, plug it in, turn on the router... nope. Turn on the router, unplug the hard drive power, plug in the USB cord, plug in the power... maybe. Who knows. When I got a procedure to work once I wrote it down but then the next time it happened and I did the same procedure it again didn't work. And what's really frustrating is that often times when the first port would light up I'd plug the second hard drive in and the first one would go away and the second one wouldn't light up either. I tried several different USB cords and tried swapping the hard drives, putting the one I had in port 2 into port 1 and vice-versa but it made no difference.Then there was a deal on an 8TB external hard drive which I decided to get even though it wasn't on Netgear's list ( )... and I've had very little problems getting it to recognize. I think once or twice it wouldn't recognize but I just unplug the USB cable and plug it back in and it recognizes again. Prior to this I would not have recommended this router to anyone who specifically wanted to use the USB ports for external hard drives, but now I'd say I guess it depends on the hard drive and obviously Netgear's list is not the best one to go by.The other reason I decided to go with this router is that it has a PLEX server built in and I wanted to try out PLEX. We normally use Kodi with Android TV boxes hooked to the TVs but I was interested in PLEX's singular video library for all devices and just wanted to see what it was like. Once I got that set up it worked well, except for when the router stopped recognizing the hard drives. All our videos streamed to our TVs without stuttering or buffering. Of course we weren't trying to stream 4K or anything, just DVDs and Blu-rays I converted to mkv files.I don't have any complaints about network speed. It's fast and stays cool and is quiet. I've never had a noisy router but I mention this because I can actually see fans inside it though I've never seen them turn on so we much not be putting it under too much stress. There are mounting holes which I used to hang it on the wall which is nice to save space for other stuff on the shelf, like the external hard drives. I find it slick-looking and aesthetically pleasing, even the four thick antennas that have blue LEDs in them which looks kind of cool when viewed at the right angle. The LED lights on the front panel show what's connected and which connections are gigabit and which are 10/100. If you have the router somewhere where it's always visible and think the LEDs would bug you there is an option to turn them off.I haven't had any problem with the strength of the wireless signal anywhere in our house (the router is pretty close to being centrally located). However we did have a problem with it frequently dropping the connection on my wife's work laptop when she worked from home. Rebooting the router usually seemed to fix it which would seem to indicate the problem was with the router somewhere. My laptop had dropped connections as well but it was fairly rare. Hers was so bad, like several times a day, that I ended up running a really long network cable from the router to the table so she could use that instead.So would I recommend it? I really don't know. When it works, it works quite good and it's been working good for the past few week. But it's hard to get past all the fighting I had to do with getting it to recognize the hard drives and all the mysteriously dropped connections with my wife's work laptop, especially for a router this expensive. So who knows. I'll just give it 3 stars out of 5 and leave it for you do decide if you want to try it.If you found my review helpful please let me know by hitting that button below otherwise please leave me a comment letting me know what I can do to improve. Thanks a bunch!9/17/2018 UpdateNetgear responded to my review asking me to contact them so we could resolve the dropped connection issue. My wife no longer has the work laptop that would constantly drop the connection but I wanted to thank them for making the effort so I did contact them telling them as such. I then received an automated email saying a support case was opened and shortly thereafter received an email from Netgear technical support asking for my phone number and the best time for them to call, but the email was sent from a do_not_reply address and there was no other contact information in the email so I had no way to reply. A couple days later a nearly identical email came in from the same address asking for the same information again. I was going to add a star onto my review score for Netgear taking the time to read my review and attempting to help, but I'm taking it away again because their technical support system seems to be broken. How are they going to ask me for information and not have any way for me to reply?10/5/2018 UpdateThe past couple weeks we experienced local streaming issues twice wherein video streamed from the external hard drive connected to the router would start to stutter, then buffer, then stop. Each time I went to reboot the router from a web browser instead of getting the Netgear control panel I got a white screen with a bit of text at the top saying "Failed to fork child: Cannot allocate memory". We also had the external hard drive issues again. Once our second hard drive lost the connection so I unplugged and re-plugged in the USB cable and that got it working. Days later both hard drives stopped being recognized and this time I had to fight to get it to recognize them just like I mentioned in my original review. I got to the point were it would recognize drive #1 and I stopped trying to get it to recognize drive #2 because every attempt made drive #1 go away. The next morning I did a firmware update to v 1.0.4.12. I then tried getting drive #2 to work again by unplugging and re-plugging drive #2 and this time it worked. We'll see how this new firmware does.10/12/2018 UpdateWe were streaming a local video this evening when it started buffering and stuttering again. I tried logging into the router and (just as I suspected) got the white screen with the message "Failed to fork child: Cannot allocate memory". Guess the firmware update didn't help. I physically rebooted it and once it was back up the light for external hard drive 1 was illuminated but it didn't actually show up on the network for several more minutes. We waited over an hour to see if external hard drive 2 would show up but it never did. Its light never came on and it didn't show up on the network so I unplugged and re-plugged its USB cable and waited a couple minutes. Nothing. I removed the power cable from the back of the HDD2 and a few seconds later the router rebooted itself for some reason. I wasn't anywhere near touching the router and the HDD power cords and the router power cord are on different power strips so it's not like I accidentally rebooted the router. Once it was up and running I plugged the power cable back into HDD2 and again nothing. HDD1 is showing up fine but it doesn't see HDD2 at all. I think I'm going to contact Netgear support to see if they can help at all, but until then I'm lowering my score of this router to 2 stars as at this point I do not like it.10/15/2018 UpdateOur HDD2 wasn't recognizing for at least full day and I was about to just give up and hook it up to my main PC to share it when I had to reboot the router for something else and then it magically showed up again. Then today we had some more weird stuff happen. Our Internet went down, which was a service outage and not the router's fault but when I tried to watch videos on the HDD1 none would play for more than a minute before completely stopping and refusing to play. Lack of internet should have nothing to do with streaming local videos over the network. I tried rebooting the router but that didn't help, but it did cause the HDD1 LED not to illuminate even though the router was recognizing it in the control panel. Once the Internet came back on we were able to stream videos from the hard drive just fine. That was about 9 hours ago and the HDD1 light is still not on but we've watched several videos that were on that hard drive and I am able to copy files on and off it.

Actually, this is a tale of FOUR (4) different routers.Two of these four are VERY old style routers (an old [very old] NetGear AC1600 [R6250] and a Apple Extreme [AC] router [see below], which I "retired" to a NetGear AC3200/R8000 [the third] then, lastly, to the MOST RECENT NetGear AC5300/R8500 [the forth].Here is the 1st part (the 2nd/3rd part, to follow):I must admit, that the NetGear guys/company always seems to AMAZE (when you see my 2nd/3rd part of this [below] then you'll know what I'm talking about).But, let me give you a [quick] preview (of 3 & 4):> I had the older model (a year or so ago), the AC3200/R8000 - and I must say, it was FAST, but....it had a few "Flaws" (see below).BUT, the [newer] AC5300/R8500 model performed ABOVE (and BEYOND) the older model. -- It seems like the NetGear guys/Corp there Are INDEED listening!!! - cause they FIXED ALL the main problems/issues that I had with the AC3200.Specifically, the AC5300 now works FLAWLESSLY with the USB3 (my Drobo, external), and "wakes-up" 100 times faster than the older model, and doesn't lose the connection most of the time when I put it into sleep mode! (This last one was the best, and most important, for me).So read my two (2nd/3rd) reviews below if you wish. But I can sum it up by saying that I am VERY much [now] pleased with the newer model, and can wholeheartedly recommend the newer AC5300/R8500, or as I stated it (below) the [former] "Ugly Duckling" is NOW a full-fledged SUPER Swan!! ---- Yes, it is a LOT more expensive (than others, and the older model), but it IS WORTH IT - 99.9% ;-) -- Enjoy!OK, this is now the 2nd part of this:The "older" story is a tale of a “UGLY duckling” turning into a Beautiful Swan.That duckling was a NetGear AC1600 [R6250], and the Swan a R8000/AC3200.When I initially purchased a NetGear product, a few years ago – [see my old review, below] I reviewed it as the BAD piece-of-CRAP due to its vast limitations, as compared to the Apple Airport Extreme (that worked flawlessly).The NetGear AC1600 was slow, buggy, hard to configure, and didn’t live up fully to its advertised promises or expectations (as an example, it didn’t connect well with my USB device, connect with other network devices, nor stream video content well).NETGEAR HAS NOW REDEEMED THEMSELVES with this most recent router product (R8000/AC3200).I cannot say enough good things about the R8000/AC3200, which has completely BLOWN away ALL the prior NetGear routers flaws or shortcomings.The most MAJOR shortcoming with the prior router was that it didn’t connect properly with my external USB device (specifically, my Drobo 5D).The NetGear R8000 [now] connects with the Drobo FLAWLESSLY, with its ReadyShare protocol - and even connects very easily with ALL my network shares. As an example, the R8000 connects to my KDLINKS media box ( kdLinks HD680 Extreme Network 1080P HD Media Player w/ Realtek 1185 & Built-In Wifi ), so that I can [now] “see” ALL of my DVD movie collection (on my Drobo). – and streams different movies, to DIFFERENT wireless devices, at the SAME time!! (HOW FREAKEN AWESOME IS THAT!!!).IT EVEN ALLOWS ME TO DO FLAWLESS APPLE "TIME-MACHINE" BACK-UPS (I almost pee-ed in my pants over this one!! - LOL ;-)The only [minor] negative or issue I’ve had with the R8000 is that it [sometimes] take a LONG time to “wake-up” (about anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds). The share also either doesn’t show up automatically, or takes a LONG time to do so [as it did [more instantly] with my [prior] Apple Airport Extreme]. I don’t know if this is because of some “sleep” mode within the router itself, or, cause it is waiting for the Drobo to wake up. I fixed this [somewhat] by my making a shared shortcut [with the IP address] on my desktop – this seems to make the old connection issues less of a hassle.It also doesn’t connect well to the USB3 of the Drobo (will only do so with the USB2), but it doesn’t seem to matter much, and streaming speed is sufficient to be smooth, with no lag (I’m HAPPY ;-)UPDATE (11/13/2015): I FOUND OUT how to get the USB3 working!!! (WOW!) - Apparently, the USB3 on the router is not "powerful" enough to be driven by the Drobo External drive (by itself) so it needs to have a USB [Booster] Hub (this one worked best  Plugable 7-Port USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Hub with 25W Power Adapter and Two Ports with BC 1.2 Charging Support for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Mobile Devices ) - Use this if you want to have it see your Drobo - as an EXTRA treat, if you connect ANY USB device to the Hub, the ROUTER WILL SEE IT AS WELL!! (again, WOW!!), I never knew the R8000 is/was able to see "multiple" USB drives - But it DOES!!!!It also didn’t work well after updating to the most recent firmware (it was slow, buggy, and video streaming no longer smooth) – but it was GREAT that I could “downgrade” to the older firmware, and it worked fine, again.Anyway, this is all [again] minor, and I can say (without a doubt) that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new NetGear R8000/AC3200 router – so much so, that I got RID of my Airport Extreme router, as of yesterday!!! (APPLE – YOUR STUFF IS NOW CRAP!! [Still, with no USB3, or “true” universal file structure sharing]).Lastly, the R8000 is a bit more extensive, but with ALL the things this thing now does (with Tri-Band connectivity, and better sharing) – it's WORTH IT!So GOOD JOB NetGear!!! – THIS time, you hit a HOME RUN!!! (This is an example of a company that LISTENS to customers, and IMPROVES on their products [fix that wake up delay, and the share [auto] connection - and you will be PERFECT!!)Update (11/10/2015 - First Contact): Just an FYI - Just tried NETGEAR " tech support " - IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!!!! - 1) The automated system could not understand my speech, so kept on making the mistake of hearing "Z" (Versus "C" --- do we Pittsburgh people have THAT BAD of an accent?!?, 2) Then when I did reach a "person" (it was someone from INDIA [can you say "Outsourcing?!?] - so I could BARELY understand what they were saying (plus, voice muffled). - THEN the ONLY thing they could recommend, was the tech "basic" SLASH and GASH (Reset, ReFlash, Reboot, and the like). If you have had read earlier you can see I already tried to update the firmware (it got WORST). So I will just "deal" with its minor foibles ;-)************ OLD REVIEW *************Title - From Apple (Airport Extreme [AE]) ...to NetGear (R6250) ...BACK To Apple...Disclaimer: If you are Fan of Apple products then this review is for you (if you are NOT a Apple person then PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW [As you will obviously not agree, and be pissed! - so move on! (Seriously!)]).So let me give you the highlights of my little "experiment" - I initially had the recent Apple Airport Extreme [AE] (Model ME918LL/A -  Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (ME918LL/A) ), which is Apples "AC" version.I was (and am) PISSED at Apple, for not having the most recent USB (Version 3) technology on their stuff, so I looked at the R6250 as a possible substitution for the AE (besides the fact that the AE, and ALL Apple products cost THROUGH-THE-MOON! (as compared with other products/vendors) -But.....Apple has also been known for its infamous "plug-n-play" (that has ALWAYS been better than Windows - I don't care what ANYone says - it's STILL superior, to this day!)Anyway, I was willing to try out this product (NetGear R6250) to see if it would/could truly surpass the AE.Overall, everything mostly worked with the R6250 except for one major thing - The USB drive.You see, I have a Drobo 5D as my back-up and archive - which has always worked with present, and past Apple (AE, etc) products, so a "replacement" would HAVE to work [with the Drobo], in order to replace the AE.In a word, it DIDN'T!The R6250 "saw" the Drobo, but did not let me fully ACCESS it!Now I know what many of you guys [Geeks] and saying out there - "Well, why didn't you contact tech support," or "Update the Drivers," or something else "Techy."I didn't do this - and the reason why is "time" (as in, I don't want to WASTE my time, trying to make this thing work [with its "SMB" windows sharing protocol, using paths [//], or some other Mumbo Jumbo) - All I wanted this thing to do WAS "WORK" 100% (and it did not, in a simple [Apple] way).......So with that, I'm BACK, with Apple [AE], cause....It Just WORKS!!!(and for anyone else out there reading this...., pulling out your hair, trying to get this to work - I would STRONGLY suggest that you DROP this R6250 JUNK and go pay a little more, for TRUE plug & play, and get an Apple AE [Airport Extreme] - cause it WILL work!!!).((( Again, especially if you have a DROBO drive )))Yes, I'm still pissed about the no USB3, and paying [A LOT] more, but WORKING is the best reward in this "game" of technology - Ciao ;-) kdLinks HD680 Extreme Network 1080P HD Media Player w/ Realtek 1185 & Built-In WifiPlugable 7-Port USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Hub with 25W Power Adapter and Two Ports with BC 1.2 Charging Support for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Mobile DevicesApple AirPort Extreme Base Station (ME918LL/A)