Unless you want to be wedded to 802.11n's megabit pace forever, you might want to consider switching over to 802.11ac-enabled tech to suit that gigabit pipe you plan on installing in your home. On that front, Netgear's got you covered, today officially launching its R6300 and R2000 Routers, as well as its A6200 WiFi adapter -- the first routers to utilize Broadcom's 5G WiFi IEEE 802.11ac chipset.
What does making this jump mean exactly? Basically, speed. Speeds up to 3X faster than the maturing 802.11n standard, in fact. When it comes to surfing the high seas of the Internet, when is faster ever considered a bad thing?
First up is the R6300 Dual-Band Gigabit WiFi Router, which upfront offers next-gen Gigabit speeds (up to 450 + 1300 Mbps), better range for WiFi-enabled locations, and backward compatibility to 802.11a, b, g and n devices. The R6300 also features two USB 2.0 ports, Netgear's ReadySHARE Cloud service (which lets you attach an external HDD and access the data wherever you've got an Internet connection), Netgear Genie (an app for your desktop, tablet or smartphone to let your manage your network) and DLNA media streaming.
The R6300's little brother, the Netgear R6200, boasts the same features, except for the speeds it notches. The R6200 gets up to 300 (at 2.4 Ghz) + 900 (at 5 Ghz) Mbps. Otherwise it mirrors the R6300's capabilities.
And finally, Netgear's A6200 dual-band WiFi Adapter is supposedly the industry's first 802.11ac wireless USB adapter. It lets you upgrade your existing PCs with 11ac and is backward compatible with WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n routers. The WiFi adapter also sports an attractive swivel design for flexible placement on your desktop or laptop.
The Netgear R6300 router will be available this month of May for $199.99, while the R6200 hits the market in Q3 2012 for $179.99. The Netgear A6200 WiFi adapter will land during the third quarter too, and will retail for $69.99 then.
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