NETGEAR Introduces the Nighthawk AX8 WiFi Router - The New Era of WiFi

[Raevenlord]

NETGEAR is leading the New Era of WiFi with our new Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router! The Nighthawk AX8 is NETGEAR's first WiFi Router to support Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology. With AX WiFi you will get a smoother and more enjoyable experience in your hyperconnected home. By supporting 802.11ax, the Nighthawk AX8 is engineered to deliver up to four times more data capacity than today's AC WiFi.

Whether you're looking for strong and reliable smart home connectivity for your IoT devices, smoother UHD 4K/8K streaming, or faster and farther coverage, the Nighthawk AX8 is here to take WiFi to the next level! With advanced features like OFDMA, MU-MIMO, 160MHz channel support and 1024 QAM, the 802.11ax supported Nighthawk AX8 promises to deliver the fastest and most reliable WiFi yet!





Additional Features Include:

• Ultra-fast Wireless Speeds-8-Stream WiFi with up to 1.2 + 4.8Gbps†
• More WiFi for More Devices-Uplink and downlink OFDMA substantially improves network capacity and efficiency, particularly when that traffic is created simultaneously.
• Up to Four Simultaneous WiFi Streams-4-stream MU-MIMO enables streaming on up to four 1x1 devices at the same time.
• 160MHz Channel Support-Gigabit speeds for compatible mobile devices and laptops.
• Additional DFS Channels-For an interference-free experience.
• Powerful Processor-64bit 1.8GHz quad-core processor ensures smooth 4K UHD streaming and gaming.
• Multi-Gig Internet Support-Aggregate two gigabit Ethernet ports to get multi-gig Internet speeds, where supported.
• Six Gigabit Ports-Connect more wired devices for faster file transfer and uninterrupted connections.
• Support All Current WiFi Devices-Backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac client devices.
• Dynamic QoS- Prioritizes internet traffic by application and device for smoother streaming
• Nighthawk App-Easily set up your router and get more out of your WiFi. Includes remote access to manage your network when away from home.
• Automatic Firmware Updates-Delivers the latest security patches to the router.
• Works with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant-Control your WiFi using voice commands.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Kursah]

Moving on from spider routers to Imperial Shuttle routers eh?

I do like this design better than the spider-router design but I'll stick with PFSense routers and UBNT AP's thanks.

 

[Mussels]

"control your wifi using voice commands"



NO. NO. NONONONONONONONO.

 

[Durvelle27]

Well no device currently supports AX so you wouldn’t even see the benefits

 

[Divide Overflow]

I thought this was supposed to be WiFi 6? So much for the adoption of the new WiFi naming standards.

 

[windwhirl]

Lots of anger in the community because of firmware being horrible. Across all products, it seems.

That aside, AX is still a draft. So I wouldn't really go for it. And no WPA3 yet, even more reason to hold back.

And controlling it with voice commands? Hell no.

 

[John Naylor]

I control my WiFo by voice commands now.... Come here son, go reboot the router"

Yeah we all know it's a cut and pasted press release but as such shouldn't it be indentified as such ... or at least in quotes ?

".... leading the New Era of WiFi with ***our*** new ..." Is this a TPU / Netgear partnership ? Yeah, it's nitpicky but with Purch using their web sites for product placement, TPU would be well served by beating their chests a little and making empahasizing their independence

 

[AsRock]

Moving on from spider routers to Imperial Shuttle routers eh?

I do like this design better than the spider-router design but I'll stick with PFSense routers and UBNT AP's thanks.

Now with wings

I was thinking it was more a feminine touch.

I am wondering if they are going to do a Flexi vversion.

Spoiler

 

[Deleted member 97545]

The AX8/80's antenna wings do look kind of pointless, but if you look at the AX12/120 which is coming out later, the wing a few more tilted antenna positions, and keeping them in those specific positions might increase performance. Only a proper review could confirm that though.

 

[Valantar]

Yeah we all know it's a cut and pasted press release but as such shouldn't it be indentified as such ... or at least in quotes ?

You didn't spot the "Press Release" tag above the post, then? Next to the byline? This is standard TPU stuff, and is always labeled as such.

Moving on from spider routers to Imperial Shuttle routers eh?

I do like this design better than the spider-router design but I'll stick with PFSense routers and UBNT AP's thanks.

Just wait. An officially licensed Star Wars-branded version is no doubt in the works.

 

[blobster21]

You didn't spot the "Press Release" tag above the post, then? Next to the byline? This is standard TPU stuff, and is always labeled as such.


Just wait. An officially licensed Star Wars-branded version is no doubt in the works.

You mean, a Disney router ? no thanks.

 

[Valantar]

You mean, a Disney router ? no thanks.

What, you don't want a router that injects Disney ads into your network traffic to make you buy their plastic crap merch? That sounds like a dream scenario for most fans these days - after all, fandom has long since devolved into brainless consumerist slavery to gigacorporations, so this sounds like a logical next step.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Well no device currently supports AX so you wouldn’t even see the benefits

Not true, 802.11ax is supposed to bring improvements for 802.11ac devices as well.

Lots of anger in the community because of firmware being horrible. Across all products, it seems.

That aside, AX is still a draft. So I wouldn't really go for it. And no WPA3 yet, even more reason to hold back.

And controlling it with voice commands? Hell no.

Not had any real issues with my R7800, most solid router I've ever owned. QCA based though, not Broadcom, maybe that makes a difference?
The AX12 will come with WPA3 out of the box and the AX8 will apparently get it via a firmware update.
As for it being draft, remember how long 802.11n was in draft? It might be a non issue, but who knows.

Personally I'm more disappointed by the poor wired options on both devices, especially as link aggregation is likely to offer zero performance increase for most users. A single 5Gbps port is hardly exciting either.
Another weird thing is that it seems like QCA only supports OFDMA for downlink, but not uplink, whereas Broadcom does. Nor does the QCA model support DFS at launch, nor 160MHz channels, which they can do with some of their current hardware (such as the R7800). So it seems like a lot of this stuff, draft or not, isn't really quite ready for prime time and there's no real commitment that there will be feature parity between the two models in the future.

 

[Readlight]

i happy whit cheapest internet from mobile phone shared and cheapest router for optic internet.
internes is now dangeroes. if you haw job you cant use it but if dont haw job you cant pay for it.

 

[TheLostSwede]

i happy whit cheapest internet from mobile phone shared and cheapest router for optic internet.
internes is now dangeroes. if you haw job you cant use it but if dont haw job you cant pay for it.

 

[Durvelle27]

Not true, 802.11ax is supposed to bring improvements for 802.11ac devices as well.



Not had any real issues with my R7800, most solid router I've ever owned. QCA based though, not Broadcom, maybe that makes a difference?
The AX12 will come with WPA3 out of the box and the AX8 will apparently get it via a firmware update.
As for it being draft, remember how long 802.11n was in draft? It might be a non issue, but who knows.

Personally I'm more disappointed by the poor wired options on both devices, especially as link aggregation is likely to offer zero performance increase for most users. A single 5Gbps port is hardly exciting either.
Another weird thing is that it seems like QCA only supports OFDMA for downlink, but not uplink, whereas Broadcom does. Nor does the QCA model support DFS at launch, nor 160MHz channels, which they can do with some of their current hardware (such as the R7800). So it seems like a lot of this stuff, draft or not, isn't really quite ready for prime time and there's no real commitment that there will be feature parity between the two models in the future.

Supposed to but doesn’t mean it will

We’ve seen claims like that before

 

[TheLostSwede]

Supposed to but doesn’t mean it will

We’ve seen claims like that before

Well, this has supposedly been tested by the chip makers. As I have yet to see any real world 802.11ax tests, I can't say it really works, but I doubt these companies would outright lie about it.
Obviously a small performance improvement to 802.11ac devices is not the same as what you should see with real 802.11ax devices, especially when you have multiple devices connected to the same AP at the same time.

 

[Fx]

"control your wifi using voice commands"



NO. NO. NONONONONONONONO.

I know right. I'm tired of all of this voice-activated technology myself. At least give us the option to enable that feature instead of it being a hardcoded default.

 

[Valantar]

I know right. I'm tired of all of this voice-activated technology myself. At least give us the option to enable that feature instead of it being a hardcoded default.

Apart from the idiocy of having every d**n thing voice-controlled (which is both invasive and impractical in the vast majority of cases), how often does one need to control a router as long as it's working properly? The only control I can think of is "hey router, reboot so that the wifi works again". Or are they proposing we configure DHCP, static IPs and security settkngs by voice? I don't much feel like reading aloud the MAC addresses of every device in my house...

 

[Gasaraki]

I thought this was supposed to be WiFi 6? So much for the adoption of the new WiFi naming standards.

Oh, yeah! I totally forgot about that. It also has WPA3 so I don't know why people are saying it doesn't.

 

[Valantar]

I thought this was supposed to be WiFi 6? So much for the adoption of the new WiFi naming standards.

Sure, the old-style terminology is used, but

The Nighthawk AX8 is NETGEAR's first WiFi Router to support Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology.

is literally the second sentence of the news post.

 

[windwhirl]

Oh, yeah! I totally forgot about that. It also has WPA3 so I don't know why people are saying it doesn't.

Because it doesn't say anywhere it has WPA3. In fact, the product page says "Standards-based WiFi Security (802.11i, 128-bit AES encryption with PSK)", which means WPA2.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

What in the flying fuck? Who came up with this design? Why would i need to control the wifi from google or alexa?

 

[Durvelle27]

What in the flying fuck? Who came up with this design? Why would i need to control the wifi from google or alexa?

So hackers can screw with you from across the world

 

[John Naylor]

You didn't spot the "Press Release" tag above the post, then? Next to the byline? This is standard TPU stuff, and is always labeled as such.

Nope . A "Find in page" on the word "press" does not show one on the page nor the thread listing