Netgear Nighthawk X4S D7800
LIKE D LINK, NETGEAR has not been content to let its DSL router range linger in the backwaters of Wi-Fi. Boasting wireless capabilities greater than most broadband routers, the NightHawk X4S is the rst and only DSL router we’ve seen that supports MU-MIMO. MU-MIMO, if you’ll recall, is the technology that lets each client device have its own spatially separated downlink stream. at is to say, they don’t compete with each other for bandwidth and thus get full speed access to the router. Now that’s not that big a deal right now, since almost no devices support it, but it will be over the next few years as more MU-MIMO capable devices come online. In addition to MU-MIMO support, the X4S is also capable of full 1,733Mbps wireless AC using its four antennas. at’s more than enough to support a household of six or more heavy internet users. It delivered in our tests as well, pulling the fastest speeds at 15m of all the DSL routers tested.
e X4S uses Netgear’s genie interface for management. It’s not as sleek as Linksys’ or ASUS’s interface, but it provides plenty of information and options to the user. is is not a router with a lot of advanced rmware features, however, and if you want things like VPNs and VLAN segmentation, this is not the place to look for it. We do like its integrated parental controls, which deploys OpenDNS content ltering in an understandable and simple way.
e mobile app, like the main interface, is a little raw and a little retro and doesn’t quite give you access to the full suite of router options, but for basic setup it’s easy enough.
Overall, we really like the Netgear. It provides premium future-proof Wi-Fi and solid features for families. It is very expensive, but for the kind of tech on o er, that’s probably to be expected.