NETGEAR unveils high speed Wi-Fi router for domestic use

NEW DELHI: Global networking company, NETGEAR has introduced a new Wi-Fi router for domestic purpose that would set a new standard for speed, features and performance.

The latest addition to the company’s premium Nighthawk product line of Wi-Fi routers, Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R8500) (www.netgear.com/R8500) delivers Internet performance with combined Wi-Fi speeds up to 5.3Gbps (1000Mbps + 2166Mbps +2166Mbps), which is claimed to be a new record for a home router. The quad-stream, tri-band router provides more Internet bandwidth for all the devices in the consumer’s home, so everyone in the family can stream movies and music, download files, surf the web, share photos, and enjoy online gaming — simultaneously and without lag.

The company indicates that that the product has been engineered with an elegant modern design, and is powered by an extremely powerful 1.4GHz dual core processor for faster connections; the industry’s first, patent-pending Active Antennas to boost range. It supports more wired connections with six Gigabit Ethernet ports including two that can be aggregated for faster file transfers.

Quoting an observation from a report by market research firm Market Lab, the company executives indicated that due to the recent popularity of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, the average household today has more than 12 Wi-Fi devices connecting to its network. The production of these devices is expected to grow exponentially in the next few years as the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) smart home becomes a reality. The next-generation Nighthawk X8 Wifi router from NETGEAR ensures the bandwidth required to support this ever-growing number of networked devices. The Nighthawk X8 delivers the best Wifi speed across all your devices, even when yo ur family members are streaming, gaming, and downloading files at the same time.

Today’s homes combine many new and old Wi-Fi devices that slow down overall performance. The Smart Connect feature of the tri-band Nighthawk X8 is engineered to intelligently segment slower and faster devices into the most appropriate Wi-Fi band so that not only can the fast devices run faster, but even older devices will offer better performance.

One can also use the tri-band capability to segment traffic by devices or application. In a typical older dual-band router, for example, the video streamer and the Internet gamer have to effectively ‘time-share’ bandwidth. However, with a tri-band router such as Nighthawk X8, video streaming and Interne t gaming traffic can each operate on separate bands, effectively getting double the speed of a dual-band router.

It is said that Nighthawk X8 offers a unique Dynamic QoS prioritization capability. Instead of treating all devices and applications as the same, Dynamic QoS recognizes each individual application and the device it is running on, their network traffic accordingly. Whether you are using your smart phone, tablet or laptop computer for gaming, streaming, transferring files or web browsing, Nighthawk X8 ensures that you are getting the most effective network connection for the best possible experience.

Nighthawk X8 has a total of eight antennas, four internal and four patent-pending external Active Antennas — the industry’s first — that boost the wireless range of the Nighthawk X8. Unlike typical antennas that simply relay the Wi-Fi signal received from your devices to the router, Active Antennas amplify the Wi-Fi signal within the external antenna itself. They eliminate loss in signal strength and avoid any additional noise during transmission. Active Antennas effectively compensate for the low power of Wi-Fi devices to provide a more symmetrical connection for both receiving and sending wireless signals, which contributes to improving overall range and speed at long range.