NETGEARNighthawk Tri-Band WiFi 7 Router (RS300) - Security Features, BE9300 Wireless Speed (up to 9.3Gbps) - Covers up to 2,500 sq. ft., 100 Devices - 2.5 Gig Internet Port

We were using a Spectrum WiFi 7 router that they were charging us $10 a month for, and honestly, its performance wasn't great – especially when it came to getting a strong signal to my bedroom through walls. That's why I decided to try this one out.Setup was a breeze, and updating the firmware was easy. Performance-wise, the BE9300, is a noticeable improvement. It's much faster and more stable than the Spectrum router.Ditching the Spectrum rental fee means this will save us money over time.The only thing I noticed that wasn't ideal was that the guest WiFi was automatically enabled by default on my unit without a password. Definitely something you'd want to change immediately for security.Overall, though, the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 seems like a worthwhile upgrade for me and I’m happy with it thus far.

The signal of the router is such an improvement from my old router.I am from the old school and started setting the router up manually, like I have every other router, which is the wrong thing to do.I ended up using the way Netgear recommends with the NightHawk App and doing the QR code. That is a snap.One should understand where not to place the router for the best coverage and follow the instructions. I went a step further and mounted mine 6 feet up the wall.I need to add to the review.Averything worked great for a week. The router started losing the 5G band, and the coverage went down.I called Tech support 3 times, they had me change several settings, which didn't help. I went online to the Netgear community and found many others are having the same problem with this router, with no fix.Netgear is a great brand I have been using for several years, so the RS300 will be going back, and I will buy a different model.

Needed a new router and picked this one for advertised range and name recognition. I have used Netgear stuff before with no issues. Easy setup to change the numbers to replace the old router. On first power-up there was a firmware update, no problems. 2.4 and 5g nets seem to work fine, haven't tried the 6g yet. Range is not bad, maybe a bit optimistic according to the advertised info but there's too many variables, I think, to make a solid call in all circumstances. While connection and signal strength is OK and doesn't seem to drop out, the low connection speeds are much less than I expected. I'll play with router placement and most likely will add one or two wired extenders to maximize coverage and speed through the entire house in addition to upgrading the wireless hardware in the receiving units. Considering the reports and reviews, the cost of this unit would suggest this is a 'not bad' value for the money.

So far so good, but not without compatibility issues and annoyances.1. Basic setup was very easy, but you have to have an active cable modem or other digital service internet connection to setup the router. 2.5 Gb Ethernet RJ-45 interface is there. There are also 2 additional 2.5 Gb RJ-45 internet interfaces plus 2 1 Gb RJ-45 internet interfaces.Annoyance: The Nighthawk phone/ipad app only supports basic setup.If you want to do something like disable SSID broadcast, you need to manually login directly to the router via laptop from a browser.Other routers can be setup without the connection, and then plugged into a live internet connection like a cable router.2. Some older networked appliance type devices may have WiFi compatibility issues.Example: Older Apple TV boxes like the Generation 2 Apple TV A1469 will hang on initial connection request to the network. You will get to the screen where you can select a network SSID for AppleTV to choose, but it will bomb out with a message:"There was a problem connecting to the internet. The WIFI password entered is not correct. Try Again. (-3900)"- or -"There was a problem connecting to the internet. The WIFI password entered is not correct. Try Again. (-100)"Often this happens before the system has even prompted you to enter in a password. You have only selected the network.This is a modem chip type communications issue which is actually somewhat common with older WiFi devices built to older WiFi specs and newer WiFi6/WiFi6E/WiFi7 routers, not just Apple and not just NETGEAR.One workaround in my case was to DISABLE Access Control on the router and retry setup of the old Apple TV device. This did not work.Another workaround of changing authentication to downgrade WPA2/WPA3 back to WPA2 on the router and retry setup. WPA2 is apparently not always reliably detected by the NETGEAR Router. This did not work, either.Annoyance: The Nighthawk app also is too basic to handle this as well, and info on the WPA settings is not under the SECURITY tab, but under the INFO on the wireless network - but not changeable there. Again, you have to login.Another workaround of disabling all router security also did not work. With some routers it will work, but the older Apple TV boxes will return to an error state of (-100) or (-3900) once security is turned back on.Before you return your router, consider replacing the older devices unless you have no option. In my instance, the Gen 2 Apple TV 1469 box is the only device I have that had connection issues. The device is very old and getting a new one is not that expensive. You may run into similar problems with older Home WiFi appliances adhering to older WiFi specs, even if you replace the router with a different brand. Search their knowledge bases before deciding to return the router and getting something else. Do your research on the device and the specific routers you are looking at, and don’t blindly trust what the router vendor tells you..Keep in mind that WiFi7 is also still an interim draft specification at this time (January 2025), but it has backwards compatibility. WiFi7 is faster than WiFi6 or 6E, but not much can take advantage of the speed yet.WiFi6 is a released spec.WiFi6E is somewhat proprietary and has no backwards compatibility or limited backwards compatibility, but it is faster than 6.I did, however, still notice a definite improvement in my Internet TV devices on the new NETGEAR RS300 Router.