Netgear A6200 Dual-Band USB Wireless AC Adaptor Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

When it comes to any new product in the market, especially those that bring a new technology with them; there is guaranteed to be a fair price tag attached and this is to be expected. Whilst you can pick up wireless-n adaptors for a very small cost these days, we have to consider that they once carried a strong price tag themselves. Priced at around £65-70, the A6200 is not a cheap investment, but it isn’t that overly expensive either. Considering the amount of bandwidth that many of us are now begging for, the A6200 is going to be a sound investment and a great partner to any Netgear AC capable router.

Overview

When we look at the internet connection speeds that many of us are become all to familiar with and the amount of data that we find ourselves moving around our networks, it was only a matter of time before we saw a need to speed up our wireless networks to come into line with Gigabit Ethernet. 802.11ac as we are experiencing with this first generation of wireless-ac capable devices is a huge step up from the high performance of wireless-n, however the speeds that we are seeing at the moment is far from the limit of what is possible. Like we saw with wireless-n, the first generation of wireless-ac complaint devices will be much slower than what we will be seeing within the next couple of years, but is actually a good thing as it means that the pricing ladder will be far more manageable and the performance that we do get compared to 802.11n is still going to be noticeably greater.

Netgear are not the only ones to be moving over and on to the 802.11ac bandwagon and whilst a number of people are still managing 802.11g, the shift to ac will mean that the price of wireless-n routers and adaptors will quickly fall, making the upgrade path more affordable.

The A6200 is a great looking adaptor and with its beamforming+ technology it’s only when we get to a great distance that we see the performance start to drop off. This shows how far we have come in wireless technology in the last 2-3 years and as our homes and lives become more connected with the digital and online world, having the network that can deliver the data fast is become more of a priority. Granted there is going to be a higher price to pay for the early birds that want to move across to the world of Gigabit wireless, but the difference that it will make is going to be easily worth the cost.

Pros:

• 802.11ac ready
• Strong performance
• Easy to set up
• Dual Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios
• Beamforming+ technology

Cons:

• Will be soon classed as slow as 802.11ac routers and devices mature.

“As our homes and lives become more and more connected into the digital world, the need for speed is growing exponentially. The A6200 USB wireless AC adaptor from Netgear is a great example of what the next generation of wireless products as to offer. Pair this with one of Netgear’s latest beamforming+ compatible routers and you will not be disappointed.”

Thanks to Netgear for providing this review sample.