Review NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router

The NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 pretty much does it all for a "consumer" oriented router. Learning about all it can do will take a little bit of time for the typical user but it will be time worth spent because of the powerful features that will be available to you. In spite of the powerful features, setup is about as easy as it can be. Once you have your router set up, you should immediately check for firmware updates. For me, there was an update available already so I applied it and again it was all very easy to do.

This is a large router and can be placed on a desk or shelf but it can also be wall-mounted since it has key-hole slots on the backside.

Included with the routher is an installaion guide, ethernet cable, AC power adapter that is 100/240V, 50/60Hz with 6' cord.

Three large external antenneas off the back side provide excellent signal transmission and the powerful signal blankets practically every square-inch of my nearly 2000 sq ft house. Prior to installing this router I was using a NETGEAR range extender to ensure optimal signal strength everywhere, NETGEAR N600 Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender - Wall Plug Version (WN3500RP) but now that I've installed the AC1900, I do not need to use the range extender anymore.

Setup of the router is very easy and I'd say that even a fairly non-tech savvy person could be successful in setting it up following the excellent guide and sofware interface that NETGEAR provides.

This is a dual band router with the very latest technology including 802.11ac. The newest Apple computers finally support the 802.11ac spec so this is fantastic.

The throughput on the 5GHz side of this router is nothing short of phenomenal. For bandwidht hogging use such as gaming and streaming 1080p video this has the power to do it all. It's got a 1GHz processor inside, which for a router is impressive.

Two USB ports are on the router; a USB 3.0 port on the front side and a USB 2.0 port on the backside. You can attach external HD's to either and because USB 3.0 can be affected by close proximity to 2.4GHz signals, NETGEAR wisely put that port on the front side to maximize the distance between the antennas and the port.

Of note to gamers and video streaming enthusiasts is the robust QoS feature of the Nighthawk. When enabled, it prioritizes certain aspects of the routers settings to ensure a smooth gaming and video playback experience by optimizing bandwidth allocation for those functions.

The Nighthawk also has a feature called "Beamforming" that actually directs the signal from the router to the client. It's pretty high tech stuff but the end result is amazing signal coverage.

ReadyShare USB is included in the features list of the Nighthawk and allows you to set up an external HD as a NAS (network attached storage) device. This means that other users n the network can access the attached storage. You can also set up ftp on the attached storage. ReadyShare USB also allows you to setup an attached HD as a backup device or attach a printer for over the network sharing. You are also able to setup an attached HD with an iTunes library although I did not test that function.

Robust parental controls allow you to setup restrictions easily.

Guest network access separates guest activity from the rest of your network for security.

I recently purchased a 3rd Generation AppleTV which is now capable of 1080p and able to connect to a 5GHz network. This has eased the burden of traffic on the 2.4GHz band and now everything operates so smoothly on my home network.

Oh how I love this router. In the couple of months I've had it, I have noticed no downtime at all. It has been very stable and troublefree.

I was provided a sample for review.

Review from Mr Erb.Thank for watching!