Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500

An incredible Wi-Fi 6E router, but this new technology is still too expensive for most roles

- DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH

PRICE £458 (£550 inc VAT) from netgear.co.uk

Netgear gave us our first taste of Wi-Fi 6E last month with its phenomenally fast - but phenomenally expensive - Orbi 6E mesh system (see issue 331, p68). Now the company has delivered its first standalone Wi-Fi 6E router, bringing the new technology into a single package and reducing the cost to a more manageable level.

To recap, Wi-Fi 6E introduces a new set of wireless channels in the 6GHz frequency range. These can be used to evade interference from older networks, allowing for a clearer, faster connection; the catch is that in order to take advantage, both the router and clients need the latest 6GHz-compatible hardware.

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 thus integrates separate transceivers for the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz radio bands, making it a tri-band router in the truest sense. They're all top-of-the-range units - even the lowly 2.4GHz band is rated for up to 1.2Gbits/sec, while the others promise transfer speeds of a huge 4.8Gbits/sec - which partly explains the price.

Winging it

With its upturned wings, the Nighthawk RAXE500 looks like a dark-themed variant of its predecessor, the formerly A-Listed Nighthawk RAX80 (see issue 318, p82). The only real clue that we're looking at a generational upgrade is round the back, where the usual four gigabit LAN ports are joined by a 2.5Gbits/sec Ethernet connector, hinting at an uplift in performance potential.