NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router-802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit Reviewed

[klas]

Thank you Tim for your review and mentioning that your test results don't reflect my experience. I am on day 5 with R6300 and it's still delivering the range and speeds (in 5Ghz band) that N56 was never able to achieve using the same client card Intel 6200. Btw, my primary test location is similar to your location E and at average 8 MB/sec (64 Mbps) download. I'll keep using R6300 for now in hopes that next firmware release will improve things even further.

EDIT: Since Amazon reviews show split in terms of good & bad results, I wonder if there is a chance that there is a defective batch of routers. I find it it surprising that N56U outperforms R6300 in long range using 5Ghz band because that's clearly not the case for me, unless I have a defective N56U.

 

[corndog]

Thanks for the early look Tim.

On my last biz trip to the US, I stood in Fry's looking at both the Buffalo and the Netgear. I couldn't decide which one to grab, so after trying the dice roll app on my phone to no avail, and tossing my tea on the floor to read the leaves (just kidding) I shut my eyes and randomly picked the Buffalo.

Seems it wasn't such a bad way to go, so far...

 

[thiggins]

EDIT: Since Amazon reviews show split in terms of good & bad results, I wonder if there is a chance that there is a defective batch of routers. I find it it surprising that N56U outperforms R6300 in long range using 5Ghz band because that's clearly not the case for me, unless I have a defective N56U.

That is certainly possible for any router.

 

[thiggins]

On my last biz trip to the US, I stood in Fry's looking at both the Buffalo and the Netgear. I couldn't decide which one to grab, so after trying the dice roll app on my phone to no avail, and tossing my tea on the floor to read the leaves (just kidding) I shut my eyes and randomly picked the Buffalo.

The downside with Buffalo products is that they are rarely updated.

NETGEAR has a few updates in the pipeline since it seems their release was a bit premature due to marketing pressures.

Update: Netgear confirmed that it plans to release the first firmware fix to support guest networks and some bug fixes by June 8th Friday, followed by another firmware release by mid-next week to enhance 802.11ac 5GHz performance.

 

[klas]

That is certainly possible for any router.

Well, I've been messing...err testing with RT-N56U vs R6300 using Intel 6200 client card (v 15 drivers) in Envy 14 laptop and Synology NAS DS 211+ and I just could not get better results with RT-N56U in my usual download tests from NAS using mainly 5Ghz band.

Even after resetting the router to default settings, minor tweaks to wireless settings and standing right next to a router I could barely match the results I was getting from R6300 in the same test. As soon as I start walking away the download speeds drop substantially on RT-N56U while R6300 maintained decent download speeds. In this test no other clients were connected to RT-N56U while R6300 had other clients.

Since I had two RT-N56U (first one purchased in 2/11 and second one on 12/11) I figured maybe performance was degraded over time in one of them, but the same result I got on the most recent one as well.

Finally, it may very well be a client that I am using. I always thought that Intel 6200 inside Envy was a crappy one, but as it turns out it works much better with non Asus routers. As I recall I had similarly uninspiring results when I was trying out RT-N66U.

 

[thiggins]

Guest Network fix firmware posted

NETGEAR posted it last night. V1.0.2.10
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/20866

 

[klas]

Looks like only guest network fix, tested download speeds and in the initial run I see some improvements. The download test went up from 10-12 MB/sec to 17-19 MB/sec.

Using as usual 5Ghz band with no other clients connected: NAS -> Mini 17-19 MB/sec, Mini -> NAS 4-5 MB/sec. About 4-5 meters away with a couple of walls in a way from 2nd to 1st floor.

2.4Ghz kind of sucks, while it has good range the throughput is not as good as some other routers.

 

[klas]

There is a Performance Boost option now available with latest firmware in the Advanced > Wireless settings which may explain why I had better results.

 

[staticfree]

The downside with Buffalo products is that they are rarely updated.

NETGEAR has a few updates in the pipeline since it seems their release was a bit premature due to marketing pressures.

Update: Netgear confirmed that it plans to release the first firmware fix to support guest networks and some bug fixes by June 8th Friday, followed by another firmware release by mid-next week to enhance 802.11ac 5GHz performance.

Oh boy, I bought this router on a whim that my old WNDR-3700V1 router was getting weak in RF output on the 2.4GHZ band after a couple of years full time running. Anyway, I was/am very happy with that old WNDR-3700V1 router and it built my faith enough to just jump and buy Netgear's latest top of the line router.

I think I made a big mistake. The R6300 with latest V1.0.2.14_1.0.23 firmware installed is performing way below expectations and seems buggy as all hell on the 2.4Ghz band. All my devices (several laptops, ipod 4G, Samsung Galaxy SII cell phones) do not connect reliably or at all to the 2.4Ghz band no matter what speed setting nor what channels I configure the route to. And when I do get a device to finally connect, it is SLOW as molasses with delayed page loads and slow file transfers.
The 5Ghz band seems to be okay and connects reliably at the N speed settings.

The Genie GUI becomes very slow a few times when I tried to login to the router. It would sit there and hang for a minute or more before the screen updated. Reboot fixes it, but it happened again.

I reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigured it fresh. Same lame slow performance and extremely poor signal conditioning on the 2.4Ghz band of this router. All my devices upstairs don't even connect to it. The 5Ghz band range is not as good as all the "positive" review posters have posted at newegg and amazon, etc. I suspect that those posters are all Netgear shills trying to sell the product. I am disappointed in paying $200 for this weak performer. I think I will be ultimately requesting an RMA for refund from newegg where I bought it from. Hope they don't give me a hassle with the return. I am going to have to use my old WNDR-3700-V1 router which has much superior range on the 2.4Ghz band.

 

[thiggins]

It is possible that one of your devices is causing the others to slow down. I suggest shutting everything off except one 802.11n device, preferably something with at least a 2x2 adapter (300 mbps link rate).

 

[staticfree]

It is possible that one of your devices is causing the others to slow down. I suggest shutting everything off except one 802.11n device, preferably something with at least a 2x2 adapter (300 mbps link rate).

Yeah, it has crossed my mind that some other device might be causing interference but that is not the case as I've turned them off and tried also. Same unreliable and slow connectivity on the 2.4Ghz band. What gets me is that even when the devices show excellent signal strength, the 2.4Ghz portion of this R6300 is turtle slow. 5Ghz portion is fast as normal should be, no probs there. Except both bands are below par on signal range. I went straight to the newest latest firmware as soon as I took it out of the box (based on reading others posts about updating it to improve on features and function). Now I am wondering if I should have left it at the original firmware (missing the Guest Network stuff) and maybe it would not have these slow and poor 2.4Ghz band problems? I don't want to hassle with it. Netgear dropped a bomb on the market for us it seems. Letting us beta test and debug it for them... too expensive. There are a lot of wi-fi SSID's in my vicinity but if my old router can negotiate through all that RF noise, why can't a supposedly new and improve Netgear R6300 do the same? This is disappointing and a hassle now. sigh!

 

[Chaz1]

What's going on with the site/page for Netgear R6300?

I click the link for NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router-802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit Full Review and get the title, but the article shown is for Cisco OnPlus. I find it kind of confusing.

 

[thiggins]

I click the link for NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router-802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit Full Review and get the title, but the article shown is for Cisco OnPlus. I find it kind of confusing.

Oops. Sorry! Fixed.

 

[thiggins]

Yeah, it has crossed my mind that some other device might be causing interference but that is not the case as I've turned them off and tried also. Same unreliable and slow connectivity on the 2.4Ghz band.

Other possibility is that you have a bad router, then.

 

[staticfree]

Other possibility is that you have a bad router, then.

I have sent the router back for a refund now. I just could not deal with chasing Netgear for a fix. I've gone through so many routers in the past waiting for firmware fixes and it never works out well. I have a very busy and noisey wifi neighborhood filled with tons of SSID's all over the place. Only a few routers that I've had can survive and work well in the noisey RF environment. One of them being my current router the Netgear WNDR-3700v1. Even that one is occasionally acting up on the 2.4Ghz band recently so I suspect more RF wifi neighbors must have come online. The R6300 if it was not defective hardware, just did not cope well in the RF noise then and no firmware fix will ever rid it of the disconnects and interference sensitivity. So I returned it rather than hold hope that one day it might get a fix. The 5Ghz band worked fine but its signal strength was no better or actually weaker than my WNDR-3700v1. I am thinking of getting one of the ASUS N56u or N66u routers next if they are better for signal strength and range.

 

[staticfree]

I have sent the router back for a refund now. I just could not deal with chasing Netgear for a fix. I've gone through so many routers in the past waiting for firmware fixes and it never works out well. I have a very busy and noisey wifi neighborhood filled with tons of SSID's all over the place. Only a few routers that I've had can survive and work well in the noisey RF environment. One of them being my current router the Netgear WNDR-3700v1. Even that one is occasionally acting up on the 2.4Ghz band recently so I suspect more RF wifi neighbors must have come online. The R6300 if it was not defective hardware, just did not cope well in the RF noise then and no firmware fix will ever rid it of the disconnects and interference sensitivity. So I returned it rather than hold hope that one day it might get a fix. The 5Ghz band worked fine but its signal strength was no better or actually weaker than my WNDR-3700v1. I am thinking of getting one of the ASUS N56u or N66u routers next if they are better for signal strength and range.

Let me add a tidbit of info that I've observed from my many years trying out and using wifi routers. It seems like all the routers (regardless if they are low, mid or high end router models from any brand) that always gave me problems with dropped packets, disconnects or not connecting were all Broadcom chipset based routers. The ones that seemed to work reliably were ones based on the Atheros chipsets (and I believe Ralink) from Netgear. What this tells me is that even though a router might test as "Best in category" in a somewhat clean RF environment, it might not serve you well at all in a very congested noisey RF environment. The Broadcom chipset based routers seem to fall short and become useless in such noisey RF environments negating any "Highest Speed, longest range or highest throughput" tests that it may have won against other non-Broadcom chipset routers. That's what I am experiencing. So Tim, maybe you ought to add another test category where you create a bunch of RF interference and see which routers can negotiate through the noise best and rate them for that aspect also. ?

 

[thiggins]

So Tim, maybe you ought to add another test category where you create a bunch of RF interference and see which routers can negotiate through the noise best and rate them for that aspect also. ?

This might be possible on an occasional basis, but not for routine testing.

 

[staticfree]

This might be possible on an occasional basis, but not for routine testing.

I understand (its more work, I know) and we all appreciate your hard work already. But just wanted to suggest a more real world use rating which might help everyone choose the right router for real world congested RF (includes wireless phones, microwaves, etc.) interference noise.
What good is a router rated as best in speed, throughput, signal strength in a clean RF environment but once put to use in a real world noisey RF environment its algorithm drops the link or refuses to connect? That will render its top speed capability ratings moot for most home real world users. Just saying. do your best if you can start rating some routers for that aspect.
You do great already but I am just wondering if there is a more useful telltale rating for these routers. (so many times in the past I bought routers based on highest speed ratings, etc. and find out when I get it set up at home, it just stinks at passing a reliable signal). The Netgear Atheros and Ralink based routers that were not always rated tops in speed, etc. however turned out to be the best for speed, signal strength and reliable connections. So I chalk it all up to RF interference that kills the supposedly top ranking routers in all your (and other reviewers) tests results. Just saying. Keep up your great work!

 

[remixedcat]

have you taken the amped wireless android app or using xirrus wifi inspector on a laptop and inspected the interferrence?

 

[klas]

Perhaps you should considering retesting this router. After a few firmware releases it shows much better performance (at least for N clients). I've compared it to Asus RT-AC66U and Dlink 868L alternatives which are not as good.