Netgear R6220 Ac1200 Dual Band Smart Wifi Router Review

Budget routers provide a relatively inexpensive fashion to bring wireless networking to your home, but as is unremarkably the case, saving money comes with sacrifices. You won't become the same performance every bit you practise from a more powerful (and more expensive) model like the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router ($129.00 at Amazon Great britain) , nor will you become the latest wireless technology. At $99.99, the Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6220) may exist at the higher-end of the budget pricing spectrum, but you get a lot of value for the coin, including dual-band 802.11ac technology, a USB port, and plenty of management settings. Its throughput performance is on par with our peak pick for budget routers, the D-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Router (DIR-842)($129.00 at Amazon Uk), but information technology's around $twoscore more expensive.

Blueprint and Features
At one.5 past ix.4 by 7.two inches (HWD), the R6220 ($129.00 at Amazon United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland) is slightly bigger than nearly of the other budget routers that we've reviewed, such as the Tenda F3 N300 Wireless Router ($129.00 at Amazon UK) , the D-Link DIR-842, and the Amped Wireless Loftier Ability Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Router (R10000G)($129.00 at Amazon United kingdom). It uses a glossy-black enclosure with LED activity indicators on the top panel for power, Internet, Wi-Fi, wired ports, USB, and WPS. The router uses an 880MHz MediaTek processor and has ii radio bands. The ii.4GHz ring is capable of maximum (theoretical) throughput speeds of up to 300Mbps, and the 5GHz band tin handle speeds of up to 867Mbps. The rear console holds four Gigabit LAN ports, a WAN (Cyberspace) port, a Reset button, a WPS push, and a Ability push. Information technology besides has a USB port that can be used to connect a printer or a storage drive, but it's a USB 2.0 port and non the faster USB iii.0 multifariousness.

Yous Can Trust Our Reviews

Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to assistance you brand better buying decisions. (See how we test.)

The router can be controlled using the Netgear Genie Spider web console or the Genie mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Basic menu options include Internet settings for configuring Dynamic or Static IP addresses, DNS addresses, and MAC addresses. Wireless settings let you choose a security option (WPA, WPA2, or WPA/WPA2 Enterprise) and create a passphrase, and the Attached Devices screen displays a list of wired and wireless devices connected to the router. Use the ReadyShare screen to set upwardly a USB printer and storage devices, and the Guest Network screen to create divide limited access networks for users who practice not require admission to your entire network.

Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6220)

Similar Products

The Advanced Domicile screen offers a snapshot of network settings for each band and for guest networks. The Advanced Setup carte du jour is where you get to configure Port Forwarding and Port Triggering, Static routing, VPN service, access control scheduling, website blocking, and email alerts for when someone attempts to visit a blocked site. The Assistants menu offers router status, activity logs, firmware updating, and password settings.

Installation and Performance
To install the R6220, simply connect it to your PC and Internet source. The Netgear Genie utility launches automatically and asks you if you want to let the genie configure your router or if you'd rather do it manually. If you lot say yes, the genie launches a Setup Wizard that checks your Internet connection and walks y'all through the DHCP and basic wireless configuration steps. In one case this is done, you can dig deeper into the management settings to customize your router.

The R6220 delivered impressive throughput numbers for a upkeep router. On our ii.4GHz close-proximity (aforementioned-room) test, its score of 74.1Mbps was correct up at that place with the D-Link DIR-842 (75Mbps) and much faster than the Tenda F3 (48.5Mbps) and the Amped Wireless R10000G (59.2Mbps). Its score of 48.3Mbps on the thirty-foot test was slightly faster than the D-Link DIR-842 (41.5Mbps), the Amped Wireless R10000G (38.6Mbps), and the Tenda F3 (40.6Mbps).

On our 5GHz close-proximity test, the R6220'southward throughput of 331Mbps was nigh identical to the D-Link DIR-842's score (332Mbps), and its score of 104Mbps at 30 anxiety was also very close to the D-Link DIR-842 (111Mbps). To illustrate the performance gap between upkeep and midrange routers, our Editor'south Pick midrange router, the Linksys EA7500, scored 495Mbps on the close-proximity examination and 298Mbps on the 30-foot test.

File-transfer speeds were mediocre. The R6220 scored 25.6MBps on our difficult drive read exam and 17.6MBps on the write test, both of which are measured using a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of photograph, music, video, and certificate files. The Linksys WRT 1200AC ($129.00 at Amazon UK) delivered much faster scores of 73.1MBps (write) and 76.8 (read), as did the Synology Router RT1900ac ($129.00 at Amazon UK) (38.5MBps write and 34.9MBps read).

Decision
The Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6220) is a solid selection if y'all're on a budget, just looking to outfit your dwelling house with dual-band Wi-Fi networking. Although it doesn't give you the killer throughput and the latest simultaneous Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Out (MU-MIMO) streaming engineering that you get with more expensive routers, it does give you lot dual-band coverage and good throughput for your money. It besides offers USB connectivity, although it is the slower 2.0 version. If y'all can live without a USB port, our Editors' Choice for budget routers, the D-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Router (DIR-842) delivers similar performance over both bands and is loaded with management settings, and it costs $twoscore less than the R6220.

Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6220)

The Bottom Line

The Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router is relatively affordable and offers dual-band 802.11ac engineering science, a USB port, and a generous selection of direction settings.

Similar What You're Reading?

Sign up for Lab Written report to go the latest reviews and height product advice delivered right to your inbox.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Utilize and Privacy Policy. You lot may unsubscribe from the newsletters at whatever time.

lanedents1968.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/netgear-ac1200-smart-wi-fi-router-r6220

Share this post