Netgear Launches 802.11ac Router, Announces Two New 802.11ac Devices

Posted 05/16/2012 at 10:14am | by Brad Chacos

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Well, that didn't take long. Just a couple of days after Buffalo beat Netgear to market with the first commercially available 802.11ac router, Netgear's responded by launching not only the R6300 Wi-Fi router it's been teasing us with, but also announcing a second, slightly cheaper 802.11ac-enabled router and a 802.11ac Wi-Fi USB adapter.

The $70 USB adapter's a big point of interest, as widespread 802.11ac support in consumer devices isn't expected any time soon and Buffalo only released an 802.11ac media bridge. Netgear's adapter gives you the ability those vaunted 802.11ac speeds -- that's a theoretical max of 1.3Gbps, by the way -- wirelessly, as a Wi-Fi standard should be. Too bad it won't be available until the third quarter.

As with the Buffalo router, the new Netgear routers include both a 802.11ac radio and an older 802.11n radio to support devices that use past 802.11g/b/n iterations. The n-class radio handles the 2.4GHz spectrum while the new tech operates on 5GHz. The $200 dual-band R6300 sports max n/ac speeds of 450Mbps/1.3Gbps, respectively, and the $180 R6200 rocks 300Mbps/900Mbps n/ac speeds. The more expensive model carries a pair of USB 2.0 ports; the R6200 is limited to one.

The routers also include the usual lineup of Netgear features, include AirPrint and ReadySHARE support and various DLNA-related features. The R6300 will be available in stores this month, but as previously mentioned, you'll need to wait until the third quarter to get your hands on the R6200 or the Wi-Fi USB adapter.

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