Wi-Fi 7 Arrives on Netgear's Big and Tall Nighthawk RS700 Router
With Wi-Fi 6 still drawing blood at the cutting edge of wireless networking technology, Netgear and its competitors are already taking stabs at what even-more-advanced Wi-Fi 7-capable routers will look like.
The new Netgear RS700, launched Tuesday, is an indication that the Wi-Fi 7 future could be full of routers with commanding physical presence (in addition to what we hope are more reliable signals). The RS700, which will retail for an eye-watering $700 when it goes on sale this spring, is among a new class of consumer routers that ditches the traditional black rectangle with pointy antennas in favor of a taller enclosure with integrated antennas that resembles a desktop PC tower.
The new form factor, which TP-Link is also using for some of its Wi-Fi 7 routers, is intended to improve antenna performance. By placing the antennas inside the enclosed tower, the RS700 will suffer from less interference caused by the cables that connect the antennas to the rest of the Wi-Fi circuitry, Netgear claims. Coupled with redesigned RF circuits, the RS700’s new antennas can push Wi-Fi 7 signals further than they’ve gone before from existing Nighthawk routers, according to the company.
The increased range may not matter as much for early adopters, however, since one of Wi-Fi 7’s chief benefits is the ability to transmit on the relatively uncrowded 6GHz radio spectrum. The FCC still hasn’t licensed routers to transmit at full power on the 6GHz band the way they can on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, so your data-hungry devices may not benefit from the advantages of the RS700’s increased signal strength immediately. Still, life at the bleeding edge is all about being prepared for what comes next. Netgear points out that once full-power
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