Wireless communication standards continue to move forward and get faster. So while most of us are still getting use to the idea of wireless-N routers, along comes an even faster standard: 802.11ac.
Netgear has just announced the availability of a new wireless router supporting 802.11ac, otherwise known as 5th generation Wi-Fi (5G), called the R6300. Taking advantage of a Broadcom 5G chip, Netgear is claiming wireless speeds of up to 1,300Mbps (1.3Gbps) using the 5GHz band, or 450Mbps on 2.4GHz.
While those blazing fast speeds will be appreciated by everyone, Netgear is attempting to make the R6300 the center of a home media network with a number of out-the-box features.
A free app called Genie is meant to make connecting devices and repairing your network simple through a dashboard interface. It even works from an iOS or Android device. Then there’s MyMedia, which presents you with all the media stored across the devices connected to the router without having to go to the trouble of setting up and navigating to a shared folder/drive.
The R6300 also supports wireless printing from an iPad or iPhone with AirPrint, as well as allowing any USB printer to be shared across your network with ReadySHARE. The inclusion of two USB ports also means network attached storage is as simple as plugging in a hard drive.
All those added features are pretty standard fare for a decent wireless router. The real selling point of the R6300 has to be those data transfer speeds. Streaming media, transferring files, or just surfing on a fast broadband connection should be a frustration free experience. And the cost? The recommended price is $199.99 with availability in May, but I suspect online retailers to offer it with a healthy discount.
