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Forum Discussion
No trace of Wifi6 networks on Nighthawk RAXE500
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 i...
"There are numerous reviews of this router out there (going back as long as nearly 2 years)"
You're clearly in some parallel universe because the RAXE500 was announced on Jan 11th 2021 in this one.
"There is no indication I'm aware of on these devices (both of which I'm using to connect) to tell that Wifi6 is in play."
As discussed, something Apple doesn't want you to know.
"There's no noticeable speed difference that I can detect."
As discussed, it's because your Internet plan isn't fast enough to give the faster speeds that your phone is capable of. You could have bought an 802.11ac router, not Wifi6 or Wifi6E, and your phone would still give the same speed.
"Neither the Nighthawk app nor the RAXE500 admin console appears to provide a way to verify this to my knowledge"
Personally, I think the app is a steaming pile and yes, perahps the web UI should show connection rates. There are a ton of things I would love to see added to the UI but Netgear has to decide how valuable some of the more techie stuff would be to the avg consumer and if it's worth the costs to code it.
"What I want to think is that the thing is working as advertised, based on some data metric."
As discussed, blame Apple for not giving you the only data metric that actually means anything in your case, the connection rate. Since your Internet plan isn't capable of taking advantage of Wifi6 speeds it would be a moot point anyway. Hey look, I'm connected at 1.2Gbps.....oh, my download speed is still 330Mbps.
"So it isn't just me -- this is NETGEAR themselves without answers."
A phone support "tech" doesn't have an answer that's not in their flowchart and they don't do what they promise? SHOCKER!
"So given that I have observable bugginess in the hardware-software ecosystem, it doesn't seem a stretch that there could be an issue here. There should be a way to confirm that isn't the case."
There is, just not with the devices you own. Or if someone brought over their Wifi6-capable Andriod and showed you the proper Wifi6 connection rate, would you still not be convinced?
Just crurious, what country are you in? Netgear has been the only source of this router and they were selling it for $550 US.
tonydi I appreciate the responses. There were some good pieces of factual info imparted, again thanks.
The RAXE500 is an expensive device -- really skirts the border of the "consumer" label, if not beyond it. There are a few reasonable things which should be expected of a device at this price point. I've got an enterprise-class firewall running pfSense on my network which cost just over half of what this RAXE500 does, and it makes the three Nighthawks I have look like wind-up toys. The ask here wasn't unreasonable -- just ability to verify working functionality, and/or responsive support with an explanation / resolution. As of yet, neither has materialized. My aim with my original post was to connect with others interested in the same thing.
No worries, I've requested a refund. Best to all....enjoy your networking journeys....