NETGEAR R6200 Wireless AC 1200 Dual Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router IEEE 802.11 ac/b/g/n NETGEAR R6200 Wireless AC 1200 Dual Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router IEEE 802.11 ac/b/g/n

Pros: easy to set up.

Cons: I bought this router to replace and wndr3700 that developed huge signal strength fluctuations and speed drops. Searching online I found it was common for the wireless radios to fail. After setting this router up I noticed the same signal fluctuations, but with an added bonus of the router locking up. This was my last netgear purchase.

Other Thoughts: I would avoid netgear products.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Anonymous,

We'd like to help, and have some questions for you:

When you say signal fluctuation, are you referring to signal strength (signal bars) or link rate? What’s the fluctuation gap?

How did the router lock up? Did the power LED blink green after powering on?

If so, there is a simple recovery procedure that you can try:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18989

Please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to assist further.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Easy setup, runs steady, lots of range, guest account works like it is supposed to, usb storage also works like it is supposed to, usb port works well with a cheap unpowered usb hub I had laying around and I have a 2tb wd my book drive attached to the hub and a 1.5 tb seagate external in the hub as well, both powered drives. This router works with my wd tv hub better than the western digital n750 router I also tried and returned. Looks good as well.

Cons: Only con I can think of is no open source support. Still a little pricey. $139 would be a more fair price, hint new egg.

Other Thoughts: Don't let the hard drive support fool you, this is only a list of drives that has so far been tried by those who submitted their findings and is only those known for sure to work, not the only drives that will work. I would be surprised to find an external desktop drive that didn't. Any that works with linux should be just fine and that is a pretty long list. The nas feature with this is great.

Pros: Not sure yet ...

Cons: This thing is huge, won't even fit in my bookshelf, I should have checked the dimension before I bought it, but don't know what Netgear was thinking.

I have always been a Netgear fan, and it was an upgrade from my WNDR4500, which I like a lot, but the size of R6200 was really disappointing.

Put the size aside, the coverage needs work, I get intermittent connections, drops my connection once every 3 hours or so. Configuration page was somewhat confusing, and the manual did not explain everything in details.

Other Thoughts: I think I should just return this and keep my WNDR4500 since I really do not see any benefits.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi CyprusKing,

When you say the connection drops, do you mean that the wireless clients are dropping from the router? Or do you mean that you can no longer access the Internet (but remain connected to the router?) Also, does the connection restore automatically, or do you have to reboot the router?

Are you seeing the wireless drops on all wireless clients, or just certain ones?

When you were using the WNDR4500, did you see any of the same issues that you're seeing with the R6200? Do you have the same settings on both routers, or are you using different setttings on the R6200, e.g., wireless security type and so on?

Please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to help out!

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: All the configuration bells and whistles you would expect from a high-end router.

Cons: The wireless range is worse than the $30 dollar router it replaced. Considering that netgear touts the 6200 and 6300 as having the best range of their entire router line, I was extremely disappointed. If I'm in the same room with it I can get 30 Mbs down (my isp's max). If I go to the hall to the next room, I don't even get 2 Mbs! The old netgear 150, that this replaced, would usually give me 7 or 8 Mbs, and cost 1/6 the price (everything is in the same location as the previous one)! Maybe because it doesn't have external antennas that you can adjust. I am trying to decide between buying a AC USB stick (I am still on the 4g network) or selling this router. I'd hate to have it sticking out of my laptop all the time, so I probably will sell it and try a different router.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi BigApple,

The range you're reporting is much lower than what we would expect, and the R6200 is designed to give superior range and speeds. We'd like to help and a few questions would help us start troubleshooting further:

- When you go down the hall, how far is that exactly? What type of walls are in between? Any other obstacles in between?
- What wireless clients, e.g. laptop, phone, etc, are you performing these tests with? Have you tried with multiple wireless devices in the same location, and all provide the same result?
- Did you perform this test on the 2.4 GHz band, 5.0 GHz band, or all three? Do you see the low speeds on both bands?
- What firmware version is on the R6200 currently?

We'd like you to get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com with as much info as you can provide; we're happy to help!

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: After 3 months use the R6200 is an outstanding router providing both 2.4Ghz/5Ghz bands, and IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n and IEEE 802.11ac for flexibility. The incredible feature set results in the fastest response time, longest range, and best reliability - no hiccups yet.

The Netgear 6200 WiFi router is very easy to setup and use. The quick start setup guide is easy and it works.

This router is shipped secure by default with the network name and password attached to the front of the device. The device includes four 1GB wired ports, and one USB 2.0 port for either storage or printing. Documentation, latest firmware can be found at support.netgear.com/product/R6200.

Robust parental controls are included for content filtering and defining access schedules. It uses a third-party provider OpenDNS. This service also allows for changing of settings while away from the home with remote access. More information on this service is available at www.netgear.com/opendns#.

A bandwidth meter with warning settings is available to configure and manage bandwidth usage. You can configuration of specific channels for both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz to avoid interference from nearby WiFi networks. Additionally there are applications to configure the router for PC, tablet, and smart phone.

Testing

This router was tested with connections to multiple wireless devices, including: computers, Xbox, Wii, iPad, and smart phones. I easily connected a wireless device using WPS connection method with no need to enter security settings or password. The R6200 increased the range, connection speeds compared to my previous wireless N router. The wireless 5 Ghz connections worked great and consistently measured faster connection speeds when compared to the 2.4 Ghz connection. AC protocol devices are supported.

The guest network works great on both 2.4/5 Ghz networks. The default guest network settings do not allow access to any computers on the other 2.4 or 5 Ghz networks, but it is configurable to share or deny access to other connected devices or networks. Note that the guest network does not allow access to the Netgear router configuration URL, unless access is granted to the guest network.

Movie streaming is available from the USB connection. I plugged a USB stick with 2 GB movie into the router. It played on both the network share and media server. I streamed the movie from the network share as well as through the DLNA media server. This was done at the same time other clients were connected via WiFi and doing online gaming. Movies can also be copied directly to the USB media share device.

Also tested was access to remote networks via VPN. This router was able to connect using a VPN connection with no configuration changes required. The connection was fast and stable for an entire day across the WiFi network at the same time as online games were played. Also the performance is now so good with online gaming that Xbox Live has made our console the host server!

Cons: Cost is high comparable to basic N routers, but the full suite of R6200 features and reliability are worth the extra cost. You might be limited using N protocol, because few AC adapter options exist to connect on 802.11ac. Search the "List of 802.11ac Hardware" on wikidevi for a current list.

Other Thoughts: With 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz networks for both and standard and guest networks, this device has support for a total or four simultaneous networks. Each network can easily be configured separately for security and performance based on the needs of the connected devices. The Netgear 6200 is both simple to setup for the average consumer and has all the advanced features and performance characteristics of technology savvy consumers. This is a great WiFi router for work or play with media streaming and online gaming.

A fantastic product, and highly recommended to purchase.

Pros: I posted the slow review and netgear contacted me so I replied back and listed all of the troubleshooting I had done and I just want a refund. No response. I have bought a lot of netgear products over the years and this is my first bad experience. If they want to keep me as a customer they need to make this one right.

Cons: Slow

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Anonymous --

We did receive your email and apologize for the delay. I've passed this on to our engineers and internal support team, and someone will be in touch soon.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Fast, looks great, really not too expensive all considering... Its AC

Cons: Can't wall mount, unreliable, failed quickly

Other Thoughts: My network history... I had an old g router that lasted me years. I upgraded to a Netgear N router... I don't remember model. I then wanted a dual band router, I went with WNDR4000 router... It lasted about 6 months and I started having issues with connecting wirelessly and dropping wired connections. So I bought this R6200 router. Once I swapped it, everything was great for a while... After about 2 months I again started having issues. They slowly got worse to the point I would pick up several devices and none would even find a wireless connection.

Frustrated I decided I was going to rebuild my entire network from the ground up. I bought 500' cat6 500mhz cable, 3 x 8 port switches and i bought a new WNDR4500 router. I ripped out all my netwrking cables and rewired everything. I even bought a tester to ensure there were no wiring issues. Hooked everything up and power made all the network activity lights come to life! Yes!

But it was short lived... The router lasted about 10 minutes and died. Completely dead. Tested other outlets and even checked power supply with multimeter. It was flat out dead!

So I returned it and decided to give the Asus RT-N66R router a try. Very similar specs to WNDR4500... Wow! I love this Asus router... Compared to all the Netgear routers I have owned, I think this Asus puts them all to shame! Network is way faster than ever before, range is superb everywhere in my house, and so far no dropped connections... Time will tell on that though. It has only been a week. But performance on all levels (Mainly wireless range and speed) seems to be in favor of the Asus. I know I changed everything to GBit also, but I like everything about this router over the net gears of past.

So I am finished with Netgear.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi scootnfast,

We understand your frustration and thank you for being a NETGEAR customer. The problems you were having were not normal, and we think that the WNDR4500 unit, and possibly the R6200 unit, may have had corrupted firmware issues. Do you remember if you performed what is called a "30-30-30" reset on either of the routers?

Instructions for the 30-30-30 reset can be found here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30

If that doesn't help, we also have an easy procedure to completely recover the firmware on the routers, which can be found here:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18989/~/router-power-led-blinks-slowly-and-router-no-longer-works

If you are still having trouble, please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to assist.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Looks nice

Cons: Slow connections, dropped connections. I bought the A6200 to go with it thinking that would fix the issue. Had a fast connection for 5 minutes. I can copy 2MB a second sometimes. Upgraded the firmware. Used different machines and OS. This will be my last Netgear product. Expensive for a device that is slower than the router I replaced. Netgear - will you take it back?

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Anonymous,

We'd like to help -- and we apologize for the trouble you've had so far. Our engineers have some questions for you so we can begin to troubleshoot:

- How are you measuring the speed and throughput? Are you using a program or an online speed test? What speeds are you expecting to see?

- Did you test the speed on your 2.4 GHz network, 5 GHz network, or both? What wireless mode (up to xxx Mbps) is configured on the R6200?\

Please get in touch with us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be happy to assist further!

Regards,\

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Easy set-up, worked well out of the box. No surprises. Included set-up software and Genie is east use.

Cons: Previously had a 2.4G G-band router -- not seeing much better performace with this Netgear R6200. I had expected to see an overall network performace increase. Wouldn't send it back - but not as satisfied as I thought I would be.

Pros: This router was recognized by every wireless device in my house with full signal strength on each. The set up is as easy as it gets. My printer, blu ray player and laptop were all set up in about 10 minutes. It took only as long as it takes to get to each device and type in the network key. I've had difficulties in the past setting up other routers but had absolutely no issues with this one.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I have used Linksys and Asus routers in the past but was never totally satisfied with what I got. This product was easy to use, performed according to the product specifications and looks nice wherever you put it. From this point forward I will certainly use Netgear for all my wireless needs.