NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 WiFi 7 Router Review

1. Introduction2. NETGEAR Nighthawk RS3003. NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 Administration Interface4. NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 Analysis5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

The NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 showcases the potential of WiFi 7. The performance with the new wireless standard is an order of magnitude above anything we have seen before, and negates the need for Gigabit Ethernet wired LAN connections. This tails off beyond 5m, but the RS300 is a relatively budget-oriented router aimed at a smaller apartment rather than covering a whole multi-story house.

You do need to have a WiFi 7 laptop to make this worthwhile, although performance with WiFi 6 is also excellent up close. Older protocols aren't so well served, though, making it not worth opting for if you don't have new devices.

The RS300 is reasonably future proofed with 2.5Gbit ports for LAN and broadband, plus the ability to aggregate two ports for the latter. It's a shame that the USB 3.0 is only available for file sharing and media serving, not printer connectivity. But the physical features are decent for a relatively small router.

The Web interface reveals NETGEAR's usual comprehensive configuration options, although not having Quality of Service profiles is a limitation and needing to pay almost immediately for advanced parental controls feels a bit stingy. All the standard networking settings are there, though, such as port forwarding and dynamic DNS support.

At under £300, the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 is not outrageously expensive, considering it offers the very latest WiFi technology. There are a few limitations compared to NETGEAR's more expensive WiFi 7 options – as you'd expect – but the features are still decent. If you're looking to provide very fast wireless networking for a small apartment or meeting room, it's well worth considering.

The NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 is available from Amazon UK for £289.99 inc VAT.

Pros:

• Fast WiFi 7 performance close up.
• Excellent short-range performance with WiFi 6..
• Four-port Ethernet switch.
• Two 2.5Gbit LAN ports included in Ethernet switch.
• 2.5G WAN with potential for aggregation.
• Gigabit LAN ports can be aggregated too.
• USB 3.0 for storage sharing.
• Comprehensive management interface.
• Reasonably featured smartphone app.

Cons:

• Performance with WiFi 5 / 802.11ac is less outstanding.
• Average legacy 802.11n throughput and range.
• Parental controls require subscription after 30 days.
• Limited Quality of Service features.

KitGuru says: The NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 really shows what WiFi 7 can do. It's a big step up from WiFi 6 and a huge leap from WiFi 5. With a decent set of features and a not outrageous price, this is a reasonably affordable entry point to the latest high-performance wireless networking – so long as you have a compatible client.

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