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The Nighthawk RS300, first released last month, is Netgear's 2nd Wi-Fi 7 standalone router and is meant to be inferior to the first, the RS700S, with lesser hardware. In return, it's much more affordable, currently costing only $330 on the street.
However, compared to its peers, such as the TP-Link Archer BE550, the Nighthawk RS300 is still over 25% more expensive—that's not to mention the recently released $99 Archer BE230. So the question is, is it worth the cost? We'll find out.
Here's the bottom line: The Nighthawk RS300 is a well-performing mid-tier Wi-Fi 7 router that's a good fit for a single-broadcaster home with mostly modern clients and (up to) 2Gbps broadband. However, the moment you want more than just raw speed—the support for multiple SSIDs, Wi-Fi mesh, simply more built-in features, and whatnot—you might want to consider something else.
Netgear Nighthawk RS300: A good router that’s a bit too pricey
The new Nighthawk RS300 is not decidedly behind the top-tier RS700S. That's because it has three Multi-Gig ports instead of just two. However, all of them are entry-level multi-Gigabit (2.5Gbps), which makes its mid-tier Wi-Fi 7 specs make sense—it won't be able to handle faster speed anyway.
And on this port front, the new router is a bit behind its chief rival, the TP-Link Archer BE550, which has five 2.5Gbps ports. The table below shows the hardware specs of the two.
Hardware specifications: Netgear Nighthawk RS300 vs. TP-Link Archer BE550
| Netgear Nighthawk RS300 BE10000 Wi-Fi 7 Router | TP-Link Archer BE550 | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Model | RS300 | BE550, BE9300 |
| Wi-Fi Bandwidth | Tri-band BE9300 | |
| Modulation Scheme (QAM) | 4096-QAM (all bands) | 1024-QAM (2.4GHz) 4096-QAM (5GHz and 6GHz) |
| 2.4GHz Band (channel width) | 2×2 BE: Up to 688 Mbps (20/40MHz) | 2×2 AX: Up to 574 Mbps (20/40MHz) |
| 5GHz Band (channel width) | 2×2 BE: Up to 2880 Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) | |
| 6GHz Band (channel width) | 2×2 BE: Up to 5760Mbps (20/40/80/160/320MHz) | |
| Network Standards | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE 802.11be, IPv4, IPv6 | |
| Local Web UI | Yes | |
| Free Features | Standard network settings, Simple QoS, Dynamic DNS (a free Netgear host included) IP reservations/port-forwarding Traffic monitor | Standard network settings, Dynamic DNS (a free TP-Link host included), VPN (server or client), Basic Security, Basic Parental Control, Remote web-based management |
| Mobile App (with a vendor-connected login account) | Optional (required for add-on premium features) | |
| Premium Add-on | Netgear Armor | HomeShield Pro |
| Mesh-ready | No | Yes (EasyMesh) |
| Operating Mode | Router (default) or Access Point | |
| Multi-Gig Port | 1x 2.5GBASE-T WAN, 2x 2.5GBASE-T LAN, | 1x 2.5GBASE-T WAN, 4x 2.5GBASE-T LAN, |
| Gigabit Port | 2x LAN | none |
| Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) | Unavailable during testing (might be added via firmware) | |
| Multi-Link Operation (MLO) | Yes | |
| Link Aggregation | Yes | |
| Dual-WAN | No | |
| USB Port | 1 x USB 3.0 | |
| Dimensions | 9.8 x 5.9 x 4 in (24.9 x 15 x 10.2 cm) | 9.12 x 7.99 x 2.99 in (231.6 x 202.9 x 75.9 mm) |
| Weight | 2.09lb (.95kg) | 2.45 lbs (1.11 kg) |
| Processing Power | Quad-Core 2.0GHz CPU 512MB NAND flash and 2GB RAM | undisclosed |
| Internal Fan | No | |
| Firmware (at review) | V1.0.0.38 | 1.0.7 Build 20240119 |
| Power Input | 110-240V | |
| Power Consumption (per 24 hours) | ≈ 250 (as tested) | ≈ 310 Wh (as tested) |
| US Release Date | June 2024 | October 2023 |
| US Price (at launch) | $329.99 | $299.99 |
If you haven't noticed, the two routers have very similar specs. The two noticeable differences between them are the fact that the TP-Link has more Multi-Gig ports and features Wi-Fi 6 on its 2.4GHz band. Additionally, the TP-Link also has a bit more to offer in terms of features and Wi-Fi options.
Netgear Nighthawk RS300: The 2.5Gbps speed cap, no EasyMesh
Like the TP-Link Archer BE550, the 2.5Gbps ports mean the Nighthawk RS300 won't deliver faster than 2.5Gbps in real-world performance—a far cry from Netgear's fantastical 9.3Gbps misleading number.
While that seems low compared to those with 10Gbps ports and higher Wi-Fi 7 specs, it's plenty fast. In most homes, folks generally want to enjoy Gigabit in full, and with the 2.5Gbps cap, they can safely expect double that from the RS300.
That's, of course, if they only need a single broadcaster. For a large home, the RS300 has no option to work as a mesh member, like the case of the TP-Link Archer BE550.
Originally, Netgear told me that the RS700S would support EasyMesh. However, almost a year after the release, the feature was nowhere to be found, and Netgear hasn't gotten back to me about when or if it's ever added via firmware updates. In the case of RS300, the mesh notion wasn't mentioned at all. That doesn't mean it won't be added in the future, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it.
To make up for it, the Netgear Nighthawk RS300 shares the same fanless design that's good-looking enough to pass that complex "spouse-approval" challenge. It can fit in any home without causing anyone to question your taste for home decor.
MLO and the backward compatibility dilemma
To deliver the best performance, a Wi-Fi 7 router has to use the latest WPA2/WP3 or WPA3 setting for its Wi-Fi security, which makes it incompatible with many existing Wi-Fi 5 and all older clients.
That's generally how it will pan out for all Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters with MLO turned on, which is the case of RS300—you can't even turn its MLO feature off.
To overcome this, hardware from other vendors, such as TP-Link or Asus, has the option of creating multiple virtual SSIDs of different security settings (in addition to the Guest SSIDs) to help with backward compatibility.
Like all Netgear Nighthawk routers, the RS300 (or any other tri-band Nighthawk router) only has Guest SSIDs, which might not be enough if you have lots of legacy clients. That said, if you have legacy clients that can't be upgraded or replaced, you might need a separate access point for them.
Netgear RS300: A typical Nighthawk router
Like the case of the RS700S, on the inside, the new RS300 is a standard router in Netgear's Nighthawk family.
The gist is that while these differ in hardware specs and, therefore, real-world performance, sharing the same firmware—which, in recent years, has slowly changed for the worse—they generally have the same approach in setup, management, Wi-Fi settings, and features set.
Standard web user interface, app coercion, a relatively thin feature set, and few Wi-Fi options
A Netgear Nighthawk router generally has a full web user interface accessible via the default IP address, 192.168.1.1, allowing you to set it up the way you do any standard router.
However, the first time you access this web interface, you have to get past Netgear's Nighthawk mobile app coercion by clicking on the link at the bottom of the web page.
After that, you need to create a new admin password, set up the Wi-Fi SSIDs, and access the router's standard network settings. Things are generally self-explanatory. You can expect the following in all standard Nighthawk routers:
- Standard LAN configuration: The customization of the DHCP server with its IP address pool. In most cases, you can just leave this in the default settings.
- Standard WAN settings: The router can connect to the Internet via a dynamic IP address (the default) or a static IP address.
- IP reservation and port forwarding: These settings allow you to give a local client a specific IP address and forward a particular port to it. They are helpful in setting up a server within the local network.
- Main Wi-Fi network: You can choose between Smart Connect or one SSID for each band. Each band includes some customization, with the option to pick the performance grade "up to" a certain speed grade—there's no reason not to pick the highest number (default).
- Guest Wi-Fi network: One SSID for each band. You have the option to make the SSID not isolated from the primary network.
Additionally, the router comes with the following noteworthy free features:
- VPN Service: The support for the Open VPN protocol, including downloads for VPN clients for Windows, macOS, and smartphones.
- Dynamic DNS: The support for DDNS using Netgear, NoIP, or Dyn as the domain provider.
- Traffic Meter: This is a useful bandwidth management tool that allows users to set download or upload limits and manage the monthly data cap.
It's worth mentioning that Netgear consumer-grade routers do not offer web-based remote management. This feature was initially available in previous Nighthawk routers until it was quietly killed to encourage users to use the Nighthawk mobile app.
The underwhelming Nighthawk mobile app
This app is attached to a login account with Netgear and is required for add-on premium features, including Netgear Armor, Parental Control, and more advanced VPN. All of them costs extra to use. Additionally, the app has the "Anywhere Access" feature that allows users to manage the router while on the go.
Netgear and your privacy
Registering the hardware with a login account with the vendor generally translates into privacy risks.
Here's Netgear's Privacy Policy.
Managing your home network via a third party is generally not a good idea, but privacy is a matter of degree. Data collection and handling vary vendor by vendor.
It's worth noting that the app has very little access to the standard settings and features mentioned above. For example, you must use the web user interface to manage port forwarding or IP reservation.
Addtionally, the app feels stagnant and doesn't always work as intended. It often doesn't show the correct number of connected client or their actual status.
In any case, home users who just want to get their network up and running will find the Nighthawk app sufficient enough and will be happy with a Netgear router.
On the other hand, advanced users will find those from Asus, TP-Link, Synology, or Ubiquiti much better alternatives in terms of features and usability. The fact that their web user interface can be configured to be accessible via the Internet alone is a considerable management advantage.
A bit of a hiccup
I tried most of the features and settings mentioned above with the Nighthawk RS300, and they generally worked out as intended. However, the QoS feature, which includes a speed testing function and uses an online database to prioritize the traffic without any users' input other than turning it on or off, didn't pan out well.
After a successful speed test, the router repeatedly showed an error, as shown in the screenshot above, and I was never able to enable this feature.
Chances are this will be fixed via future firmware updates. Still, the bug showed how Netgear didn't pay enough attention to the Nighthawk family's free features, including those that are already oversimplified.
What the company didn't skimp on, however, is where it mattered the most: the performance.
Netgear Nighthawk RS300: Excellent performance for the specs
I tested the Nighthawk RS300 for over a week and was generally impressed with its raw performance. It was the fastest mid-tier Wi-Fi 7 router in most tests.
It's worth noting that since Wi-Fi 7 is still very much in development, a new router generally enjoys better overall performance thanks to the latest firmware and software drivers. That was likely part of why the RS300 did so well compared to previous hardware with the same specs that were previously tested with an early stage of Wi-Fi 7 at the time of their reviews.
Considering its mid-tier specs and 2.5Gbps sorts, the RS300 will always be middling in performance. But compared to its peers, namely routers with 2.5Gbps ports, it's among the fastest. Overall, it was faster than the TP-Link Archer BE550 (which was first reviewed in late 2023.)
As for range, the Nighthawk RS300 did quite well, though, unsurprisingly, not as well as Netgear's claim of up to 2500 ft2 (232 m2). It's always tricky to put Wi-Fi range in number, but if you live in a home of around 1,600 ft2 (135 m2) or slightly larger, without a lot of thick walls, this router blankets all corners. The router had no AFC during my testing, so its 6GHz band's reach was noticeably shorter than that of the 5GHz band.
The Netgear RS300 did well in wired performance, too. In fact, it had the highest sustained speed among all 2.5Gbps routers and switches I've tested, albeit with small margins.
Finally, like all Nighthawk routers, when hosting a USB external drive, the Nighthawk RS300 can function as an excellent mini NAS server to share data and work as a DLNA media server. It did decently as such in terms of performance.
The router's NAS performance wasn't the best I've seen, but at around 125MB/s, it's fast enough for most casual home network storage needs before you need a dedicated NAS server.
Last but not least, the RS300 ran cool and was silent during my testing. It also uses noticeably less power than the TP-Link Archer BE550, which is never a bad thing.
Netgear Nighthawk RS300's Rating
Pros
Excellent overall performance for the specs; three 2.5Gbps ports
Robust web interface, helpful (optional) mobile app
Compact, fanless, aesthetically pleasing design; runs cool and quiet; comparatively low power consumption
Cons
No 10Gbps ports; no standard web-based Remote Management; comparatively pricey
Limited Wi-Fi options might lead to incompatibility with older clients
Disjointed web user interface and mobile app; online protection and Parental Controls require the Nighthawk mobile app and premium subscriptions
Conclusion
The Netgear Nighthawk RS300 BE9300 Wi-Fi 7 router is a case where excellent hardware is stunted by firmware that's stagnant and limited. Still, if you're looking for a simple mid-tier Wi-Fi 7 router, it can be a great choice.
On the other hand, if you want something more flexible with more options, the TP-Link Archer BE550 definitely has more bang for the buck. Ultimately, the question of which one to get boils down to the personal taste. Ready to take that tentative leap to Wi-Fi 7? Pick one today!
Costco version RS280S uses1024-QAM for 2.4GHz, instead of 4K-QAM in RS300, but both mention being MU-MIMO capable.
The 1K-QAM limitation for 2.4Ghz is similar to TP-Link Archer BE550 and does seem to impact price significantly as both RS280S & BE550 can be had for $200 while RS300 is $300 currently. Since 2.4GHz is the most useful band would be worth understanding the real-world impact of this limitation.
RS280S does offer free 1yr technical support for Costco members as opposed to 90days for RS300.
hey man i just got the netgear rs300 and its working pretty well but i cant figure out how to chose the 320mhz band. in the 6ghz options it only goes up to 221. any idea why??
You generally can’t do that with Netgear routers, Max. You can only pick an “up to” value, which is fine and safe in most cases. For more customization, get an Asus or TP-Link.
I just picked up the Costo version yesterday because it was on sale for another $70 off, so it was only $199. It was between this or the TP-Link Deco BE63 mesh, having a smaller home, this definitely is enough!
This thing is leaps and bounds better than my old Google Nest Wifi mesh solution. I can actually get my full gig fiber speed and the drop-off in the bedroom isn’t too bad!
Thanks for sharing the expfreince, Joe. And yes, Good Nest Wifi is one of the worst, together with the eero.
It appears the RS280 at Costco does not have MU-MIMO, if that’s a positive or negative compared to the RS300. Guessing that Wifi 7’s improvements in general might overcome that somewhat compared to previous standards. I’m trying to weigh that too right now. Not experienced yet in things Wifi 7. 🙂
If that’s the case, Craig, it’ll has even less support for legacy (pre-Wi-Fi 7) clients. That’s definitely not a good thing. More on Wi-Fi 7 in this post. But chances are it doesn’t affect real-world usage much.
Note that Costco sells this model in the US as the RS280s for $270, so it’s an even better value.
2×2 instead of 4×4 is the big trade-off here IMO. If you have a big household then you might be better off spending more for 4×4, else this could be a great value.
The thing that concerned me the most was a lack of AFC to bump the 6ghz range enough to get through interior walls… without it it’s almost the same as Wifi 6E. My network gear is in a closet as it’s the most central location of my 2-story house, and has worked great for Wifi 5 (old Nighthawk R7800) with reasonably strong signal throughout the house and in the yard. I’d expect the RS300/RS280s to perform similarly in 2.4/5ghz bands but very poorly for 6ghz.
Because of high prices and/or strange functionality deletes like this or others (no AFC, no Wifi7 on 2.4ghz band, etc.) I’m holding off on a Wifi 7 upgrade until whichever comes first; prices come way down, these deletes are addressed, or we get next-gen cable modem speeds in my neighborhood (mid-split with faster uploads, or Docsis 4.0) and I need a hasty speed upgrade.
There’s a similarly-specs TP-Link Archer BE230 that has much better value, Kory.
Right now the Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is the only that has AFC. Asus also said it would enable that on its existing hardware via firmware updates. Netgear is muted on this front, there’s a chance you’ll never get AFC on existing Nighthawk Wi-Fi 7 routers.
Generally, the hardware variants made for Costco tend to be the stripped down version of the standard one. Just FYI.
Thanks for that extra bit of valuable context. I didn’t realize the $500-900 Wifi 7 routers lacked AFC as well. The industry has a lot of work to do to catch up to the actual promise of Wifi 7. Sounds like Asus will be a leader.
The Archer BE230 has zero 6ghz. The RS300 6ghz without AFC isn’t really better for me, but the BE230 isn’t really an alternative (at any price) when it’s functionally the same as Wifi 6, maybe just the most modest upgrade over my 4×4 Wifi 5 setup, if that. 2×2 Wifi 7 will only be an upgrade for me with tri-band + AFC + MLO.
As far as a mesh router, I don’t want or need mesh networking because my building is not spread out horizontally or vertically, it’s like a ball with a router at the center that can reach all corners. Even running as a single unit these mesh routers are very pricey.
BTW the Costco version of the RS300 looks like identical hardware, they just added some free trial services in (which they probably get paid for promoting, thus lowering the price), hence the little ‘s’ on the end of RS280s.