Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart WiFi Router (R9000)

[microchip]

That's not entirely true. Most of them would 'expect' the security options between manufacturers to be equal.

Many/most of my customers are openly surprised when I properly setup a new or existing router for them. They truly believed the marketing on the box that said 'connect to the internet in three simple steps'.

The only thing they 'expect' is that it works and provides what they need. I haven't come across a single person who's not into this stuff going to the shop and asking how secure it is. For most people, price, functionality and performance is far more important than security... until it's too late

 

[L&LD]

The only thing they 'expect' is that it works and provides what they need. I haven't come across a single person who's not into this stuff going to the shop and asking how secure it is. For most people, price, functionality and performance is far more important than security... until it's too late

Yes, I can agree with that (doesn't really change what I said though?).

I wish I could record some videos of customers expressions when I tell them that the router is not only the 'digital front door' to their networks, but that if they don't control it fully (i.e. forego any ISP 'free' routers, for example, or anything that is only/primarily controlled, cloud based), their network usage, history and any and all data that flows through it can possibly be available to all that look hard enough.

I'm not trying to scare them. But giving them the other side of the possibilities (without the rose colored glasses effect).

 

[sfx2000]

It is things like this that make me wonder how they can sell any routers, still.

Like buying a security system from the back of a van from a guy you met at the bar twenty minutes ago.

Have to LOL on this one, and this might be more of a US thing...

Putting things into perspective -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam

 

[sfx2000]

so can anyone explain why i would want to spend so much on what is a 1733M 5 gig and 800M 2.4 gig wireless router , i dont have anything AD and prob wont for quite some time , sure its got link aggregation and all up 8 ports

but where is the real world advantage to any domestic user over say the linksys ea9500 and or asus rt-ac88u or netgears own r8500 which are all 2156M 4 x 4

so the r9000 is actually slower that the current routers wifi wise as far as end users are concerned !!!

I just wonder if this is the T-Rex of BHR's - notice we don't have any TRex's (outside of Jurassic Park that is...) - the final BHR to end all BHR's...

(BHR - Big Honking Router)

It is an impressive technological development, no doubt - and it pretty much blows past the 400USD threshold for Consumer Router/AP's with features that just run up the numbers.... to some, at least from a HW perspective, they're impressed (I know, I am.. don't mean I'm going to rush out and buy one) - the factory SW here will be key, and it better be good...

Some might think it's future-proofing - but the future has an odd tendency to change paths... and we see the early steps already...

Netgear (Consumer) is hedging their bets, IMHO, by bringing this device out, and also their Orbi platform - this BHR is the ultimate DinoBHR, and Orbi might be the mammalian MESH that meets a lot of needs for just decent WiFi...

I kind of like Netgear's recent product stuff - between this, the Orbi's, and the low cost AC1200 AP (along with the SnapSwitch, which is a very nice little smart switch, btw, and good price there).

 

[coolguymcgee]

the factory SW here will be key, and it better be good...

It's okay in it's current state, nothing better than normal for Netgear, though.

 

[pete y testing]

the way i see the IoT and 60mhz stuff i i am prob going to go down the path of a separate vlan and run a separate 60mhz router as i would a guest access router

who wants all the wifi in 1 box esp with the security issues IoT bring

 

[sfx2000]

the way i see the IoT and 60mhz stuff i i am prob going to go down the path of a separate vlan and run a separate 60mhz router as i would a guest access router

who wants all the wifi in 1 box esp with the security issues IoT bring

My best guess is that the 11ad stuff is probably sandboxed at the wireless level, but you do bring up a good point about security on the end points - it's a policy issue, and there, the customer will have to make some choices...

I think we're all kind of frustrated with the internet of insecure things at the moment... but that's also a policy concern, however some items will either lose functionality, or at a minimum reduced functionality... however, this is probably outside of the scope of this thread...

 

[psychopomp1]

Just a heads up, Amazon US are selling this for $374.99 on a 'deal of the day' sale today (RRP $499.99).

 

[Blunderbuss]

My ASUS RT-AC87 has been acting up lately (read: dying randomly) and I'm tempted....but that's still a lot of $...

 

[thiggins]

My ASUS RT-AC87 has been acting up lately (read: dying randomly) and I'm tempted....but that's still a lot of $...

Why would you be interested in this?

 

[Blunderbuss]

Why would you be interested in this?

Because my desire for the latest and greatest almost overrode my common sense the x10 is totally overkill for me, and completely unnecessary. I'm just frustrated with the issues my current router has.

 

[pete y testing]

you understand that the x10 is 5 gig and 2.4 gig exactly the same spec as the asus rt-ac87u wifi wise in that its 5 gig is 1733M and its 2.4 gig is 600M

I'm just frustrated with the issues my current router has.

yes the 87u is a bit of a train wreck but i see no point in just going to the same class router you already have and to just have hardware you cant use and prob wont be able to use any time soon if ever in the life span of the device

if you want to throw a fist full of $$$ at a solution at least throw it at a solution thats going to give you some overall gain , eg something in the 2156M class

or how about put the money into getting some structured ethernet cabling installed and run a few wireless access points and never worry about wifi again

 

[thiggins]

If you want a good 4x4 router with working MU-MIMO, I would go for the NETGEAR R7800.

The 60 GHz radio in the R9000 ain't gonna do nothin' to help your Wi-Fi woes.

 

[sfx2000]

If you want a good 4x4 router with working MU-MIMO, I would go for the NETGEAR R7800.

The 60 GHz radio in the R9000 ain't gonna do nothin' to help your Wi-Fi woes.

I'm just thinking since OP has been down that path - ending up in tattered rainbows and unicorn tears... but such is life on the cutting edge - and there, marketing seems to be driving things that folks honestly don't need or even could make use of.

Perhaps going back to the tried and true AC1900 class devices (any vendor to be honest, go with what you know)...

 

[psychopomp1]

you understand that the x10 is 5 gig and 2.4 gig exactly the same spec as the asus rt-ac87u wifi wise in that its 5 gig is 1733M and its 2.4 gig is 600M

Even though the numbers might be the same, the R9000 uses a different brand of wifi radios - Qualcomm (AC87U uses Broadcom/Quantenna) and from experience I find QCA based routers provide better wifi coverage, eg Linksys EA8500 and Netgear R7800 are superb routers for wifi coverage, especially on 5ghz band. The Netgear R9000 appears to be a better version of R7800 with 802.11ad (admittedly 60ghz is a novelty at present), Plex streaming, Amazon cloud backup, huge 1Gb ram (huge for a consumer router) and to top it all off, powered by a 1.7ghz Quad core processor. The latter might make a big difference to doing things like running an OpenVPN server on the R9000 itself as from experience, Openvpn speeds are often limited to the router hardware being a bottleneck.

So just to brush off the R9000 as 'another bog standard router' seems a bit blasé. Having said all this, its RRP of $500 is totally insane, $300 is probably a more realistic price. Amazon US & Bestbuy have put their prices back to RRP, however Newegg are still selling this at a more respectable $375. And if you think US prices are nauseating, spare a thought for those across the pond - Amazon UK have the R9000 priced at £520 ($650) LOL

Thiggins, will there be a SNB review for the R9000?

Edit: Newegg's price has gone back up to an eye watering $500

 

[wfhmaster]

I picked one of these up on a super sale to give it a shot. I've been suffering with an 87U for quite some time trying to find something more stable. I don't need AD or AC for that matter, but as long as I was buying something I was going to get the newest one, so gave the Netgear a shot.

The networking side worked great, everything went without a hitch, static assignments, forwarding, etc. The range was 30-50% greater than the 87u. I thought I had finally found THE router.... Unfortunately, the USB ports are inoperable. I read somewhere else someone had the same problem. Perhaps a manufacturing issue or QC miss. Sadly it's going back and I'm going to see if the 88U will be stable longer than I can hold my breath. If I had a dedicated NAS I'd think about keeping the R9000, but I don't.

Seems like a nice router, if they fix the USB port issue.

 

[thiggins]

What do you mean the USB ports are "inoperable"? USB drive not recognized when plugged in? Where did you read that someone else had the problem?

 

[sfx2000]

Unfortunately, the USB ports are inoperable. I read somewhere else someone had the same problem. Perhaps a manufacturing issue or QC miss. Sadly it's going back and I'm going to see if the 88U will be stable longer than I can hold my breath. If I had a dedicated NAS I'd think about keeping the R9000, but I don't.

Seems like a nice router, if they fix the USB port issue.

If the drive was formatted ext3 - the netgear might not recognize it

check the user manual on how to work with external drives

 

[wfhmaster]

I have several USB memory sticks and a couple of USB SSD's, they're all either NTFS or FAT32 and work on my PCs and 87U. When plugged into the R9000 they wouldn't even get power (no lights/LEDs lit), and obviously not seen by the router. The USB ports also felt very loose, and the plugs felt like they would almost fall out... perhaps not soldered to the board on the inside or something. I can't remember where I read about someone else with the same issue, it might have been the in the comments section of a website announcing the product. That person said similar things about the USB ports being loose too, so I'm assuming they have a bad batch of them going out.

I worked with support for an hour (mostly on hold) and they determined the ports were bad.

I forgot to add, support told me some of the devices I had were on the supported list but not working, that's how they concluded the ports were bad.

 

[thiggins]

So why not just return it to the store and get another one if you liked everything else about it?