Netgear’s new tri-band, six-antenna router is designed for homes with 9 or more Wi-Fi devices

By Konrad Krawczyk June 26, 2014

netgears new tri band six antenna router designed homes 9 devices netgear 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Netgear has revealed its newest home networking creation. Dubbed the Nighthawk X6, the company’s latest router is designed for modern households, many of which have not one or two, but a multitude of devices sharing the same Internet connection.

Netgear developed the Nighthawk X6 with this in mind. Though dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz routers are not strangers to the world of home networking, Netgear claims that two band routers aren’t equipped to handle the network speed and stability challenges posed today by households equipped with a multitude of Wi-Fi enabled devices.

So, the Nighthawk X6 is outfitted with a second 5GHz band, which, Netgear says, will allow the router to maintain high and stable connection speeds, eliminating drop offs in performance while many devices are connected simultaneously. Netgear also packed in six antennas onto the Nighthawk X6, which is partly where the router gets its name from. Under the hood is a dual-core 1GHz CPU powering the router, supplemented by a trio of offload processors.

Aside from the extra 5GHz band and six antennas, the Nighthawk X6 sports a pair of USB ports. One is 2.0, and the other is of the 3.0 variety. The ports allow you to plug in external hard drives into the Nighthawk X6, which, combined with the company’s ReadySHARE Vault software, permits you to perform automatic backups of whatever is on your network, and save them to the hard drive(s) that you connect to the router. Aside from USB, the Netgear Nighthawk X6 also has five Ethernet ports. A switch on the back of the Nighthawk X6 will allow you to shut off the router’s LED lights, in case you find them too distracting.

Each Nighthawk X6 router will come pre-configured with a unique network password, so there’s no risk of someone hijacking your network and hogging your bandwidth if you forget to set one up, which is a problem that is more common than you might think.

The Netgear Nighthawk X6 can be pre-ordered now, costs $299.99, and will begin shipping July 11.

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Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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