Nighthawk AX6600 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Router
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Wi-Fi 7 isn’t automatically “better” than Wi-Fi 6 in every case. Right now, Wi-Fi 7 routers at the low end (like the BE3600) are basically entry-level devices with the new label slapped on. They’ll support the Wi-Fi 7 standard, but with fewer streams, weaker hardware, and lower real-world performance than some of the more mature Wi-Fi 6/6E models you listed. For your use case (WFH, PS5, Quest 2): * AX5400 / AX6600 / AXE75 will likely give you better range and consistency because they have stronger radios and more streams, even if they’re “only” Wi-Fi 6/6E. * The BE3600 will work fine for basic tasks, but don’t expect it to outperform a higher-end Wi-Fi 6 router just because it says Wi-Fi 7. So at \~$140 CAD, the BE3600 is more of a budget router with future branding. If you can stretch a bit, the AX5400 or AXE75 are safer picks for stability and gaming.
Only thing I will add to the wifi statements being made. They're not exactly wrong. Both the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands are 2x2 streams, in spite of being wifi 6. One of the benefits of some of the slightly more expensive models, will be that you'll get more streams on each band, which helps with the ability to use the bandwidth and achieve higher data throughput and efficiency. This wifi router might be fine for your situation, but I'd do a quick assessment of how many devces you have in your house, which wifi they use (4,5 or 6) and what you plan to use them for and figure out how data hungry they'll be. If it's only a small number of devices, a 4 stream wifi router can still be perfectly fine, but you will benefit from a device with more streams available (3x3, 4x4 would probably be the max you'd have to consider, if you have a pretty standard setup at home). For example, for the upgrade this is what I bought [https://www.netgear.com/au/home/wifi/routers/rax70/](https://www.netgear.com/au/home/wifi/routers/rax70/) managed to find it at a good price (seems to have disappeared everywhere I look atm) which will be fine for my use case, maybe even a little overkill in some ways, but also has the 6ghz band. But this type of spec is also worth considering.
Considering that you’re using a very old 802.11n-only device, an upgrade to a decent WiFi6 device will modernize you greatly. These can be very inexpensive. I picked up a used Netgear Nighthawk WiFi6 router for $30 and it covers my apartment perfectly, despite the 200 neighbors. Then, when the future arrives and it’s time to expand, I’d buy something new. WiFi7 prices are only going to fall faster and WiFi7 clients will become all that more common, so it will pay to wait. Network gear is one of those things that you can’t future-proof. The tech changes fast enough, and the prices change fast enough, and the client support lags enough to the point where it’s is more efficient to buy for today, and not for 24 months from now.
Netgear nighthawk for 6. Using tplink easy mesh for 7 and been happy so far
Definitely 👍. I use a Netgear Nighthawk with WiFi 6.
I dont know about this model but fuck Netgeat Nighthawk. I owned a different one few years ago that was supposed to be a a high spec version, and it caused me infinite problems, which all disappeared when I bought a different one.
I agree. I have tried numerous Netgear products, going back to a PCMCIA card, and all of them have had problems. The last Nighthawk I had constantly resulted in "Connected, No internet" for too many devices.
I moved from a Netgear Nighthawk router and extender to an Orbi network... Well worth it to me.
They were all WiFi 6. I used a Nokia linksys Atlas, a TPLink one and a Netgear Nighthawk. Except for the Nokia (wifi5), none of them even came close to the signal penetration I got from the GLinet flint 2.
Yeah their speeds are terrible man! I swapped out to a nighthawk router for $300 at Best Buy has been worth it