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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...
"Think what you want."
It isn't a subjective matter, and the entire point of this post was to try to find some verifiable evidence somewhere that it is working, and that is very clear from the original subject of the post: "No trace of Wifi6 networks on Nighthawk RAXE500".
There are numerous reviews of this router out there (going back as long as nearly 2 years) saying that iPhone 11+ and iPad Pro+ support Wifi6, even if iOS devices do not support 6E bands yet. 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. There's no noticeable speed difference that I can detect. Neither the Nighthawk app nor the RAXE500 admin console appears to provide a way to verify this to my knowledge.
One other mention -- I'm no expert on the associated 6E protocol, but connecting to 6E isn't necessarily the same issue as seeing the SSID broadcast. It may be that if your device doesn't support 6E, it won't see 6E the SSID broadcast either, but then again, it could be that the SSID broadcast should be seen and network displayed, you just can't successfully connect to it with a device that doesn't support 6E.
What I want to think is that the thing is working as advertised, based on some data metric. I had no luck on my own, and so I chose to reach out to the community and anyone else which might have had a shared experience.
FWIW, I contacted NETGEAR support two days ago about this, and the support rep was stumped too, after spending 45b minutes on the phone trying various things which didn't work, he was out of answers too. He told me he'd be back with a verdict in 24 hours, and I have had no contact back since. So it isn't just me -- this is NETGEAR themselves without answers.
It's pretty simple -- if when all is said and done, since I've dropped ~$800 on a new router, I want to do my due diligence to make sure it is working as advertised. I've owned enough NETGEAR equipment over the last 20 years (and have 2 other Nighthawk routers deployed as well) to know faulty equipment and faulty software isn't unusual. In fact, I have already found several bugs in the RAXE500 admin console and the Nighthawk app from this testing alone. 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 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....