NETGEAR R6700AX WiFi Router Review

Introduction:

One of the most notable features of the R6700AX is its ability to create multiple streams of data for each device, which can improve overall speed and connectivity. This is essential for households with multiple devices connecting to the router simultaneously, such as smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, and smart home devices.

In addition to its impressive performance, this router is also easy to set up and manage. The router interface is user-friendly and accessible through the Nighthawk app. This app allows users to remotely manage their network, prioritize devices, and perform speed tests.

Overall, the NETGEAR R6700AX WiFi Router is an excellent investment for anyone seeking to improve their home network’s performance and speed. With its innovative WiFi 6 technology and user-friendly interface, this router is a smart purchase for any modern household.

WiFi 6 Technology:

Support for the WiFi6  standard has given very favorable capabilities to Netgear AX1800 (R6700) WiFi router. In this standard the coverage and speed of communication has increased dramatically due to the presence of valuable technologies such as BSS Coloring, MU-MIMO, Beamforming, as well as support for communication channels with a width of 80Mhz.

The overall speed of this device is up to 1800Mbps, which is serviced in 2 separate frequency bands, one of which is used to communicate high-speed devices such as Game Consoles and the other to communicate clients for routine tasks such as web surfing and checking emails.

How Does BSS Coloring Improve Performance?

Technically, when several WiFi networks with the same channel are in the neighborhood of each other (for example, your WiFi network and your neighbors), unwanted interference occurs between them. This interference causes neighboring routers to receive each other’s signals.

But the problem is that since the router is not able to recognize the signals of the clients of its own network, it has to refrain from sending until it receives a signal (whether it belongs to its own network or to neighboring networks). This causes a sharp drop in speed in noisy networks.

WiFi6 technology has solved this problem easily. Routers compatible with this technology identify their signals with a tag (Color). In this way, WiFi6 routers can recognize the signals received from their network’s clients and ignore the rest.

Bands:

Since this router has 2 separate frequency bands ( the 2.4Ghz frequency band with a speed of 600Mbps and the 5Ghz frequency band with a speed of 1200Mbps) it allows you to manage communications in the WiFi network.

To have a better service, you can connect clients that need higher bandwidth to the 5Ghz frequency band. (such as smart TVs and game consoles) and connect the rest of the users to the 2.4Ghz frequency band.

VPN Server Service:

The VPN server service is one of the interesting features of this WiFi. Usually, other WiFi routers only supports VPN client capability , but this router can work as a VPN Server. But what is its application?

You may need to make servers or programs (e.g. Home or Office file server , VOIP or CCTV systems) within the network accessible from the Internet. (also known as Server Publishing). There are two ways to to do this:

• DMZ or Virtual Server service: Which is  very risky because in this case these resources are exposed to the access of all Internet users.
• VPN Server service: Which is a secure method and recommended by cybersecurity engineers. But since setting up this server may be a bit complicated; it is not popular between users.

Netgear R6700 (AX1800) has embedded VPN Server service. You can set up this server easily and with the least complexity possible. In this method it no longer requires to publish internal servers and programs on the Internet. Authorized Internet users who want to access the internal servers , can first connect to the router as VPN Client and then use them safely as an internal user.

Security , the Most Important Option :

Netgear has designed the Armor security system in collaboration with Bitdefender security company. This system is a comprehensive security program that is activated on this Netgear WiFi Router model . Armor is able to create a very high level of security for all equipment in the network.

In addition to mobile phones and tablets, this system also provides security for IOT equipment

Parental control

NETGEAR AX1800 (R6700) has one of the most useful management systems for parents. The NETGEAR Smart Parental Control System allows you to monitor and limit your children’s online activities. You can restrict access to adult content and harmful websites too.

One of the most interesting features of this system is the ability to Pause the kid’s internet connection, at times such as dinner time or study time. To learn how to set up this system, refer to the setup tab.

Conclusion:

WiFiAdviser has performed different tests on Netgear AX1800 (R6700) WiFi6 Router. Which included speed test, communication stability test, Number of concurrent users and Coverage tests. We also performed mesh quality and stability tests.In the end, we gave this router a score of 7 out of 10.