I just bought a new NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE500, set it up, 6G Wifi networks (regular and guest) are enabled and SSID broadcasting, and there's no trace of these Wifi 6 networks anywhere. I've got an iPhone 11 Pro Max and an iPad Pro, both Wifi 6 compatible, and neither of them can see these networks. I've done a factory reset and reconfigured a second time, same result. I've tried to connect manually from wifi settings on my devices, also tried through the Nighthawk app, and the Nighthawk app doesn't detect them either. If anyone has any guidance, or if you've encountered a DOA router with no Wifi 6 working, I'd appreciate your insight. Thx....

Got same router for around 1~2 weeks and I'm noticing this issue too. Any answers will be apreciated.Trying to connect to my gygabite aourus master's on board wifi 6 but can't find any trace of it

Ok, I am a little afraid to jump in here... I have the issue but nothing to do with Apple. When I scan for APs I see the SSIDs for both the 2.4g and 5g bands but not the 6g. My laptop was upgraded with a Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX210 160MHz. One of the posts in this thread said Windows does not support WPA3 yet but would that prevent the modem from simply seeing the 6g broadcasted SSID? For a moment I change the 6g from WPA3 to Enhanced Open but I still was unable to detect the signal. It seems reasonable, especially at the cost and effort to connect at 6E, that I try to deterine if it is 1. Not supported by Windows 10 regardless of the 6E wifi card. 2. A configuration issue on the laptop, OS or WIFI driver. 3. My RAXE500 is not either working properly or not ready for prime time. Anyone else able to detect the SSID for 6g using Win10 and a Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX210 160MHz? Thanks.

I will close the loop on my original questions with a personal conclusion. Your milage may vary. Based on all the insight given by Tonydi (Thanks), I did testing to address the questions from my original post. After doing the registry edit I was able to detect the 6g broadcasting SSID but still had issues connecting. I then read where someone had extracted the wifi driver from a pre-release of the next windows 10 patch. It seems the regedit with the pre-release driver is working for people. Keep in mind the "hack" is just adding a DWORD to the right spot in the registry. I op'd to undo the regedt and ultimately follow Tonydi's advice. I will wait for the patch. I'll check but I imagine it will simply add the same DWORD and apply an updated driver. However, from my testing I was able to answer my original questions. 1. My RAXE500 is working fine. 2. My install of the Intel 6E laptop wifi card is working fine. 3. It is my OS that needs to catch up for me to experience true 6E. If any of you choose not to wait and do both the regedit and find the pre-released driver, please confirm that it worked. Thanks all.

I can confirm that the Win10 update does not use the Is6GhzBandSupported DWORD. Once I got the update I went back and removed that entry from the Registry and I can still connect to the 6G band.

Curiouser and couriouser......I went back and looked at your earlier posts and noted the talk about the registry hack. With the Insider build I was able to remove those keys and I could still connect. Realizing that the old backup image that I restored probably had the hack I went and looked. Sure enough it was there in both keys with a value of 1. I changed them to 0 and rebooted. The 6GHz band disappeared. So clearly the Windows Insider builds have the support built in and the public 21H1+ does not. It looks like Microsoft bailed out and removed it from the public release. Put the key back in and see what happens. If that still doesn't work then I'd suspect that your AX210 card has an issue. Because you can't buy these cards directly from known Intel wholesalers there are some sketchy things going on with them. I've seen a number of people with certain "brands" say they could never get them to work on the 6GHz band. This was a few months ago so I'd hoped this had all been worked out, but maybe not.

No trace of Wifi6 networks on Nighthawk RAXE500

110 Replies

SilverHelado
Tutor
Apr 16, 2021
Got same router for around 1~2 weeks and I'm noticing this issue too. Any answers will be apreciated.
Trying to connect to my gygabite aourus master's on board wifi 6 but can't find any trace of it
tonydi
Luminary
Apr 16, 2021
brado77

Those Apple devices don't support Wifi6E, the 6GHz band, which is different than the Wifi6 your devices support. The only phone I'm aware of that supports the 6E 6GHz band today is the Samsung S21 Ultra. It's rumored that the next iPhone will be able to utilize the 6GHz band.

And yes, even Netgear's Nighthawk app can't see the 6GHz band yet.

They don't call it the bleeding edge for nothing.
- plemans
  Guru
  Apr 16, 2021
  tonydi is correct.
  the only devices that support 6E currently are the samsung S21 and the intel AX210 wireless board. But even the intel doesn't fully support it as windows hasn't supported the wpa3 for it or enabled it in public views of windows. So to get it working on windows requires work-arounds to get it functioning.
  Its a bit of a pointless band currently. I usually recommend the RAX200 or RAX120 to people until more devices support 6E
  - brado77
    Star
    Apr 17, 2021
    I understand that not many devices support 6E, and that band won't be reachable by most current devices. But the RAXE500 is supposed to be backward compatible, and support not only 6E and Wifi 6, which iPhone 11+ and iPad Pro support. I'm not seeing that.
HarrySmooth
Tutor
Nov 12, 2021
I just bought a new NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE500, to replace my Nighthawk AX8 ,RAX80 which just stopped working! I am on Spectrums Highest Speed Internet available here, and was getting around 550-650mbps coming into the router, and USED to get anywhere from 400-550mbps on the Download Side coming out of the Router on the 2.4ghz Band.
After installing this new RAXE500, I’m STILL getting well over 650mbps coming into the router but now I can’t even break 100mbps coming out of the router (2.4ghz band) but I can squeeze upwards of around 350-400 mbps on the 5ghz Band!
I’m no Stranger to routers and networking and have ALWAYS used Netgear, because I KNOW Netgear, and they have always treated me well.
But I can’t figure out this Drop in signal!
After trying all the “Tweeks” I know to do, it’s still slow as molasses!
I called Geek Squad, and they’re sending me a Replacement Router, so we’ll see if I just got a Lemon or I’m missing something in setup!
I’ve set up so many Netgear routers I can do it in my sleep… But maybe this new 6E band crap has some settings I’m not familiar with….
Any Ideas? Anyone else run across this DRASTIC Signal Drop after installing this thing?
Any comments, advice etc would be deeply appreciated!!!
Thank you!!!
Harry
- tonydi
  Luminary
  Nov 12, 2021
  What device are you using to test speeds?
  - HarrySmooth
    Tutor
    Nov 12, 2021
- plemans
  Guru
  Nov 12, 2021
  HarrySmooth wrote:
  I just bought a new NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE500, to replace my Nighthawk AX8 ,RAX80 which just stopped working! I am on Spectrums Highest Speed Internet available here, and was getting around 550-650mbps coming into the router, and USED to get anywhere from 400-550mbps on the Download Side coming out of the Router on the 2.4ghz Band.
  After installing this new RAXE500, I’m STILL getting well over 650mbps coming into the router but now I can’t even break 100mbps coming out of the router (2.4ghz band) but I can squeeze upwards of around 350-400 mbps on the 5ghz Band!
  Any comments, advice etc would be deeply appreciated!!!
  Thank you!!!
  Harry
  
  I've never once seen a 2.4ghz device hit 400-550mbps. Not even under optimal conditions. 2.4ghz is a much slower network and is more sensitive to interference. But it does broadcast further and through more materials. The 100mbps is more in-line with what I'd expect as well as what I experience with my RAXE500. So I'm not sure how you were testing before but I'd be looking at how you were testing prior and not the RAXE500.
  
  I'd highly recommend reading a bit more on wifi and the misunderstandings of wifi. this article is well written and breaks it down nicely.
  
  https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html
  
  You can also look at a tested review of the RAXE500 from smallnetbuider. They do a great job and test under optimal conditions so see the best devices can perform.
  
  https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33231-netgear-raxe500-nighthawk-tri-band-wifi-6e-router-reviewed
  - HarrySmooth
    Tutor
    Nov 13, 2021
    Well, all I know is with my old router, (Netgear AX8000) I was indeed getting well over 400mbps on the download side.....wanna see a pic of my Router Results?) before it crapped out, now I put in this AX110000 and I can't even bust 100? Nah........something's amiss! It doesn't take an IT Engineer to figure THAT out! ....AND......my 5ghz band keeps dropping out! Just at random times.......no, I'm sending this POS back and getting another AX8000.......none of us even HAVE anything that will run "6E" anyway.......I dunno why I even bothered!
Kolich69
Aspirant
Nov 18, 2021
Hello to all.
I have win11(latest with all updates)
Intel Killer 6E AX1675x(based on the chip intel AX210) with latest drivers from intel web-site
my laptop clevo x170KM-G with latest bios
router raxe-500 with latest stable firmware
I see JUST 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ networks, what the problem and how to solve im really do not know, wasting time within few weeks....(((((
Anybody who can help me? Thank you.
- Kolich69
  Aspirant
  Nov 18, 2021
  i mean i do not see wifi network 6GHZ ((((
  - tonydi
    Luminary
    Nov 18, 2021
    If you go into the Web UI for the router and click the Advanced tab, then click Advanced Setup and Wireless Settings and then scroll down to Wireless Advanced Settings (6GHz a/n/ac/ax) is the 6GHz Enable Wireless Router Radio checked?
    
    At one point that setting became disabled for some reason and I never though to look there.
    
    If it's enabled, have you tried doing a factory reset on the RAXE500?

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No trace of Wifi6 networks on Nighthawk RAXE500