News NETGEAR Announces Tri-Band AX RAX200 Router

[kc6108]

One of my biggest complaints with Netgear routers is that they simply can't handle very many wireless devices/clients even with the better, more powerful hardware. IMHO Netgear's official stance of only handling 32 devices/clients per band is getting old and just plan ridiculous. I realize they don't want their routers crashing when overloaded with wireless clients, but wouldn't adding what options/features are turned on, router load, etc in the calculation determine a more reasonable number?

 

[thiggins]

One of my biggest complaints with Netgear routers is that they simply can't handle very many wireless devices/clients even with the better, more powerful hardware. IMHO Netgear's official stance of only handling 32 devices/clients per band is getting old and just plan ridiculous. I realize they don't want their routers crashing when overloaded with wireless clients, but wouldn't adding what options/features are turned on, router load, etc in the calculation determine a more reasonable number?

32 active devices per radio is a common general rule of thumb. # of connected (but idle) devices is much greater.

Setting aside NETGEAR's official number, what is your experience using NETGEAR routers?

 

[Officialko1]

So which router is the better one the Rax 120 or the Rax 200?

 

[thiggins]

So which router is the better one the Rax 120 or the Rax 200?

The one that costs more, or course...

 

[kc6108]

32 active devices per radio is a common general rule of thumb. # of connected (but idle) devices is much greater.

Setting aside NETGEAR's official number, what is your experience using NETGEAR routers?

I have just over 100 devices on my network. Everything from gaming consoles and smart phones to IoT devices and printers. I haven't counted the exact number of wireless devices in awhile, but there is not a single consumer Netgear router that can handle them all... wireless crashes, router reboots, not all wireless devices can connect, etc. This is of course with little to no activity on each (just simply trying to connect to the network).

Every room in my house has at least one Cat5e cable and one Cat6 cable. Several have two of each. They terminate into my utility room. All the cables that are in use (roughly 20) connect to a Netgear Smart Pro switch. The only three cables plugged into the router are one from the modem into the WAN port and two from the LAN LAG ports into the switch (configured with LACP LAG).

I used a Netgear SRX5308 for years in this configuration with a Netgear R8500 for wireless (not in AP mode, but with DHCP turned off with a static IP). I use the R8500 simply because I have it. Otherwise I'd use an AP if I had to buy something.

The SRX5308 is no longer supported, so that's why I've been on the hunt for a new Netgear router.

I am using the R9000 right now (free to me), but even it can't handle the wireless load. I continue to use the R8500. It takes on most of the wireless load. I have Smart Connect turned on both routers. I also use the same SSID/password for each router and wireless band. The R9000 supports Smart Roaming (802.11k), but unfortunately the R8500 doesn't. If the R8500 ever goes out I'll replace it with an EX8000. I tested one of those and they work great for smart roaming (with a router that supports it).

Regarding my switch... it used to be a GS724Tv4 when I was using the SRX5308. Now I use a GS728TX instead. The R9000 and switch are connected via a DAC cable (SFP+ to SFP+).

Sorry, I got carried away a bit... I'm forcing myself to stop typing :/

 

[Officialko1]

The one that costs more, or course...

Could you explain how it is better? Honestly that was what I was thinking, when in doubt go with the more expensive one.

 

[thiggins]

Could you explain how it is better? Honestly that was what I was thinking, when in doubt go with the more expensive one.

Guess my sarcasm was too subtle...
Neither. It's too early to buy a Wi-Fi 6 router. You are paying top $ and getting buggy products with key features that are not yet working (OFDMA).

 

[avtella]

So which router is the better one the Rax 120 or the Rax 200?

The RAX200 is essentially an RAX80 with an extra 5Ghz band and a 2.5 Gbps Eth port. Both are using the same Broadcom chipset.

I’d say the RAX120 is better at least on paper, setting aside the extra 5Ghz band on the RAX200.
The RAX 120 has a better CPU, with a separate dual core 1.7 GHz network processor. It also has a 5Gbps Eth port and Qualcomm seems to do a better job of implementing advertised features.

The R7800 (QCA based) was cheaper than the R8500 (Broadcom based) but was a better as it had a better WiFi chipset and a significantly more powerful CPU (For VPN etc), it also had MU-MIMO actually worked, plus it had HT160 support. With the R8500 one was effectively paying for an extra 5Ghz Band and Link Aggregation.

So just because you pay more doesn’t necessarily mean you get a better deal.



Also like thiggins suggested upon release these may still be buggy, just wait like 6 months from now before buying. You literally are paying to test and bug fix. It takes a while for firmware to become stable. Not only that, with 0 AX/WiFi-6 devices out these are effectively AC devices.

 

[Officialko1]

Guess my sarcasm was too subtle...
Neither. It's too early to buy a Wi-Fi 6 router. You are paying top $ and getting buggy products with key features that are not yet working (OFDMA).

Looking back at it now it does seem like sarcasm but at the time when I was hoping for a serious response I guess I didn't catch on. Lol.

The RAX200 is essentially an RAX80 with an extra 5Ghz band and a 2.5 Gbps Eth port. Both are using the same Broadcom chipset.

I’d say the RAX120 is better at least on paper, setting aside the extra 5Ghz band on the RAX200.
The RAX 120 has a better CPU, with a separate dual core 1.7 GHz network processor. It also has a 5Gbps Eth port and Qualcomm seems to do a better job of implementing advertised features.

The R7800 (QCA based) was cheaper than the R8500 (Broadcom based) but was a better as it had a better WiFi chipset and a significantly more powerful CPU (For VPN etc), it also had MU-MIMO actually worked, plus it had HT160 support. With the R8500 one was effectively paying for an extra 5Ghz Band and Link Aggregation.

So just because you pay more doesn’t necessarily mean you get a better deal.



Also like thiggins suggested upon release these may still be buggy, just wait like 6 months from now before buying. You literally are paying to test and bug fix. It takes a while for firmware to become stable. Not only that, with 0 AX/WiFi-6 devices out these are effectively AC devices.

That makes sense, plus if I wait I can probably find one through ebay or another reselling app and get it cheaper.

 

[Gitsum]

Guess my sarcasm was too subtle...
Neither. It's too early to buy a Wi-Fi 6 router. You are paying top $ and getting buggy products with key features that are not yet working (OFDMA).

I bought the ASUS RT-AX88U because I wanted the more powerful hardware and increased RAM that it has for gigabit internet connection. I do not have any AX clients yet.

 

[L&LD]

Also want to point out that I have issues when these things are marketed as TriBand, when if fact, they are not.

Splitting the 5GHz band into two doesn't a TriBand router make.

 

[xOperator]

The RAX200 is essentially an RAX80 with an extra 5Ghz band and a 2.5 Gbps Eth port. Both are using the same Broadcom chipset.

I’d say the RAX120 is better at least on paper, setting aside the extra 5Ghz band on the RAX200.
The RAX 120 has a better CPU, with a separate dual core 1.7 GHz network processor. It also has a 5Gbps Eth port and Qualcomm seems to do a better job of implementing advertised features.

The R7800 (QCA based) was cheaper than the R8500 (Broadcom based) but was a better as it had a better WiFi chipset and a significantly more powerful CPU (For VPN etc), it also had MU-MIMO actually worked, plus it had HT160 support. With the R8500 one was effectively paying for an extra 5Ghz Band and Link Aggregation.

So just because you pay more doesn’t necessarily mean you get a better deal.



Also like thiggins suggested upon release these may still be buggy, just wait like 6 months from now before buying. You literally are paying to test and bug fix. It takes a while for firmware to become stable. Not only that, with 0 AX/WiFi-6 devices out these are effectively AC devices.

I went to go check my pre order on the RAX200 just now, and noticed it didnt have the 5 Gbps port, which was one of the main reasons I was looking at the AX line.
Ended up canceling my RAx200 and ordered the RAX120 for that port, and faster CPU.

 

[rk8531]

Tim, they're pushing to see what sticks.

They could always go lower, but they couldn't go higher if they introduced it as such.

The power of the Netgear 'name' is mostly limited to their switches for me. Their routers were once great, but they proved themselves incapable of keeping them current and up-to-date, security-wise, over the actual life of the product and not their (greedy?) internal decision(s).

You forgot to mention an outdated web ui which doesn't goes well with the hardware they sell. Even in 2019 their routers don't have a built in VPN client and the QOS is absolutely trash. I owed Netgear R7800 before Asus RT86U and I don't regret my decision of switching to Asus that offers reasonably good hardware alomyg with a sophisticated and good looking but functional web UI.

 

[pege63]

You forgot to mention an outdated web ui which doesn't goes well with the hardware they sell. Even in 2019 their routers don't have a built in VPN client and the QOS is absolutely trash. I owed Netgear R7800 before Asus RT86U and I don't regret my decision of switching to Asus that offers reasonably good hardware alomyg with a sophisticated and good looking but functional web UI.

This is here where the 3rd party software comes in like the Kong Mode, it has more than you could wish for.
If you have all the time in the world do make you configurations on the router

 

[rk8531]

This is here where the 3rd party software comes in like the Kong Mode, it has more than you could wish for.
If you have all the time in the world do make you configurations on the router

I had also tried DD WRT on R7800 but QOS wasn't good on that either. I had heard a lot of good stuff about the Open WRT builds too but couldn't make it work because I don't know anything about Linux . However, Kong has just launched an Openwrt build for R7800 but now I have already bought RT86U . Still HW acceleration doesn't work with DD WRT and Open WRT which works on 86U with Merlin's firmware. Moreover, VPN is also faster on 86U than on R7800.
I am gonna stick with Asus till the time Netgear stops releasing a new router every month and start fixing the issues with the old ones.
Still imo Netgear builds top notch hardware but their Devs are the sloppiest one to support the Hardware. Just look at the web UI of their $600 router and it's literally same as that of a $50 router.

 

[pege63]

I had also tried DD WRT on R7800 but QOS wasn't good on that either. I had heard a lot of good stuff about the Open WRT builds too but couldn't make it work because I don't know anything about Linux . However, Kong has just launched an Openwrt build for R7800 but now I have already bought RT86U . Still HW acceleration doesn't work with DD WRT and Open WRT which works on 86U with Merlin's firmware. Moreover, VPN is also faster on 86U than on R7800.
I am gonna stick with Asus till the time Netgear stops releasing a new router every month and start fixing the issues with the old ones.
Still imo Netgear builds top notch hardware but their Devs are the sloppiest one to support the Hardware. Just look at the web UI of their $600 router and it's literally same as that of a $50 router.

The Voxel FW works with HW acceleration wath i can remember.

 

[avtella]

I had also tried DD WRT on R7800 but QOS wasn't good on that either. I had heard a lot of good stuff about the Open WRT builds too but couldn't make it work because I don't know anything about Linux . However, Kong has just launched an Openwrt build for R7800 but now I have already bought RT86U . Still HW acceleration doesn't work with DD WRT and Open WRT which works on 86U with Merlin's firmware. Moreover, VPN is also faster on 86U than on R7800.
I am gonna stick with Asus till the time Netgear stops releasing a new router every month and start fixing the issues with the old ones.
Still imo Netgear builds top notch hardware but their Devs are the sloppiest one to support the Hardware. Just look at the web UI of their $600 router and it's literally same as that of a $50 router.

Merlin is stock based firmware that’s why it supports hw NAT acceleration. The Netgear equivalent for custom stock firmware is Voxel’s firmware. Newer Qualcomm based routers actually get proper support on OpenWRT unlike newer Broadcom units (ie all Netgear and Asus Broadcom based models from 2014 onwards including the AC86U, R8500, AC88U etc) because Broadcom is far worse in regards to open source support so many don’t even have WiFi support and if working in some they are very rudimentary.

WiFi performance wise the R7800 is still the best Ive seen 5Ghz wise and it can do over 700 Mbps throughput even without hw NAT acceleration in OpenWRT unlike say the 86U. But yes the 86U has better crypto acceleration. Asus actually has hardware equivalent to the R7800 called the BRT-AC828.


However in general yes you are correct about NG having good hardware but problematic firmware and I have to add also lack of settings for advanced users. I get releasing similar models ie R7900 (Costco)/R8000 as they use practically the same firmware with just header differences but I don’t get why they go back to the old units with completely new chipsets like in the R7000P and R8000P when newer gen models have already been released. They’re unnecessarily splitting the workforce and firmware quality shows.

 

[psychopomp1]

Its seems Amazon UK have the tri-band RAX200 for sale now...until you take a closer look (ie probably a listing error):



https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P3FGKYD/?tag=smallncom-21

 

[psychopomp1]

Had this router for a few weeks now, obviously not cheap but in terms of performance, rock solid and great wifi speeds

 

[avtella]

It costs like $200 more than the RT-AX11000 which has the same hardware. Also significantly fewer features and also lower warranty period, very hard to justify an RAX200 at its current price.

On the Netgear side, the RAX120 is probably the better one, significantly better storage performance and Qualcomm’s AX chipset is better, though also overpriced at the moment.