Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7800)

amazon Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7800) reviews

Live in a home connected to many wireless clients competing for bandwidth. It may be time to consider a Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) Router, such as a Router. Netgear Nighthawk X4S (R7800) Smart WiFi, listed for $269.99. R7800 is an 802.11ac model with support for MU-MIMO data transmission, which means it can simultaneously send and receive data to multiple clients at the same time without sacrificing bandwidth (most routers can only service one device at a time). However, each client must have an MU-MIMO-compatible network adapter to take advantage of the technology. The R7800’s USB file transfer performance was average in our tests, but it managed to achieve the fastest MU-MIMO throughput ever and deliver solid performance specified 2.4GHz and 5GHz. That said, it can’t.’

Design and features

The R7800 has a similar design to the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2350 Smart WiFi Router (R7500). The black angular chassis measures 1.97 x 11.22 x 7.26 inches (HWD) and features four detachable external antennas. In addition to MU-MIMO, the R7800 also supports 4X4 data transmission, which means it can provide four data streams per band to maximize throughput rates. It uses a 1.7GHz dual-core processor and is capable of (theoretical) maximum throughput rates of up to 2.53Gbps (800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band).

The front of the R7800 has ten small LED indicators that give you the status of the four LAN ports and WAN ports, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio band activity, and USB and eSATA activity. There’s also a WiFi Protected Setup (WPS) button and a button that disables one or both radio bands. The Router’s back is four Gigabit LAN ports, one WAN (Internet) port, an LED on/off button, a Power button, and a reset button. The left side of the Router has two USB 3.0 ports, and the right side has an eSATA port for connecting to an eSATA drive.

The Netgear Genie Web-based management console makes it easy to adjust basic and advanced network settings. The home page shows the status of the Internet, Wireless, Guest Network, and Parental Controls at a glance. It also tells you how many peripherals are attached and the status of the ReadySHARE feature, which allows you to share and back up files using a connected USB drive. Basic settings include Wireless, Internet, ReadySHARE, Quality of Service (QoS), Parental Controls, and Guest Network settings. In the Advanced Settings menu, you can enable site blocking, create a network access schedule, view access status, and logs, configure port forwarding, and enable remote management. Here you can also configure the Router to act as a wireless bridge or a wireless access point and view Internet traffic statistics.

Settings and Performance

Most routers these days offer easy setup and configuration processes, and the R7800 is no different. After connecting the Router to the Internet and your PC, open a browser to automatically launch the Netgear Genie management console (if it doesn’t launch, type www.routerlogin.net in the URL bar). Genie will walk you through the steps needed to get an Internet connection, with options to use DHCP or a static IP address and an automatic or manual DNS address. Once connected, you can switch to the wireless settings page to assign each band’s SSID name and security settings.

To test MU-MIMO performance, I used three identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapter as my clients; the desktop is equipped server with Intel Core i7 and JPerf throughput utility. In our proximity tests, in which customers were housed in the same room, the R7800’s average throughput of 210Mbps was our top score for an MU-MIMO Router, just ahead of it. Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi- Router Fi (209 Mbps) and beat the Asus RT-AC88U (138 Mbps) and TP-Link AC2600 Archer C2600 Wireless Dual Band Router (132 Mbps). The R7800 also took top honors in our 30-foot MU-MIMO throughput tests, reaching 94.3Mbps. The Linksys EA8500 scored 90Mbps, while the TP-Link Archer C2600 scored 60.9Mbps.

The R7800 delivers good 5GHz throughput performance, but the 491Mbps score on our proximity test falls behind the Asus RT-AC88U (537Mbps) and the D-Link AC3200 Super WiFi Router (DIR-890L/ R) (558 Mbps). However, it beats the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart WiFi Router (443Mbps). At 30 feet away, the R7800’s score of 247Mbps is good but not good enough to beat the RT-AC88U (302Mbps), D-Link DIR-890L/R (310Mbps), or Linksys EA9200 (255Mbps).

Stable performance in our 2.4GHz throughput tests. The R7800’s 105 Mbps score on the close-range test is faster than the Asus RT-AC88U (97.9 Mbps), D-Link 890L/R (92.7 Mbps), and Linksys EA9200 (90 Mbps). The R7800’s 52.3Mbps score on the 30-foot test puts it behind the Asus RT-AC88U (74.3Mbps) and the D-Link DIR-890L/R (82Mbps) and is roughly the same as the Linksys EA9200 (53, 2Mbps).

To measure file transfer speeds, I connected a USB hard drive to the Router and timed it to read and write a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of photo, video, music, and document files. The R7800’s 23.3MBps write speed is faster than the Amped Athena AC2600’s 15.5MBps, but slower than the Tenda AC1900 AC15 Wireless Dual Band Router (42.3MBps) and the Linksys EA8500 (66MBps). The Linksys WRT 1200AC holds the record at 73.1MBps. In our reading tests, the R7800 managed 30.3MBps, while the Amped Athena AC2600 hit 29.2MBps and the Tenda AC1900 AC15 hit 40.4MBps. The Linksys WRT1200AC dominated with a score of 76.8MBps.

Conclude

The Netgear Nighthawk X4S R7800 Smart WiFi Router is a viable option for users willing to utilize MU-MIMO data transfer technology and requires a comprehensive set of management settings with a user-friendly interface. Use. It delivers the fastest MU-MIMO performance we’ve seen in our testing, if only by a narrow margin, and its 2.4GHz and 5GHz range performance are also impressive. However, its file transfer speed is just barely enough. If you require more than four wired Ethernet ports, the Asus RT-AC88U, our Editors Tool for High-end Routers, has eight of them and offers better all-round performance.

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