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Netgear today announced the Nighthawk AX40 4-Stream AX3000 as its budget Wi-Fi 6 router. At the suggested retail price of $199.99, it’s not exactly cheap but indeed, for now, the least expensive among Wi-Fi 6 routers on the market.
Update: The full review of the Netgear RAX40 is now available here.
In return, the AX40 comes with modest specs. The table below shows how its specs stack up against Netgear’s previously announced Wi-Fi 6 routers’.
| Nighthawk RAX40 | Nighthawk RAX120 | Nighthawk RAX80 | Nighthawk RAX200 | |
| Wi-Fi Technology | 802.11ax Dual Band Wi-Fi (AX3000) | 802.11ax Dual Band Wi-Fi (AX6000) | 802.11ax Dual Band Wi-Fi (AX6000) | 802.11ax Tri-band Wi-Fi (AX11000) |
| 2.4GHz Specs | 2×2 AX: 40/20MHz, up to 600Mbps | 4×4 AX: 20/40MHz, up to 1.2Gbps | 2×2 AX: 40MHz, up to 1.2Gbps | 4×4 AX: 40MHz, up to 1.2Gbps |
| 5GHz Specs | 2×2 AX: 160/80/40/20Mbps, up to 2400Mbps | 8×8 AX: 20/40/80/80+80MHz, up to 4.8Gbps | 4×4 AX: 160MHz, up to 4.8Gbps | 02 x 4×4 5GHz AX: 160MHz, up to 4.8Gbps (x2) |
| Backword Compatibility | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Wi-Fi security | WPA, WPA2, WPA3 | WPA, WPA2, WPA3 | WPA, WPA2, WPA3 | WPA, WPA2, WPA3 |
| Dimentions | 14.17 x 8.46 x 2.36 in (360 x 215 x 60 mm) | 12.2 x 2.75 x 1.22 in (310 x 70 x 28.50 mm) | 12.0 x 7.95 x 6.34 in (305 x 202 x 161 mm) | 11.7 x 3.07 x 8.3 in (298x78x11mm) |
| Weight | 1.36 lbs (618g) | 3 lbs (1.36kg) | 2.82 lbs (1.28g) | 3.2 lbs (1433g) |
| CPU | Dual-Core CPU | 2.2GHz 64-bit Quad-Core CPU | 1.8GHz 64-bit Quad-Core CPU | 1.8GHz 64-bit Quad-Core CPU |
| Gigabit Port | 4x LAN, 1xWAN | 4x LAN, 1x WAN | 4x LAN, 1x WAN | 4x LAN, 1x WAN |
| Link aggregation | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USB | 1x USB 3.0 | 2x USB 3.0 | 2x USB 3.0 | 2x USB 3.0 |
| Multi-Gig Port | None | 1x 5Gbps LAN/WAN | None | 1x 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN |
| OFDMA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availablity | April 2019 | April 2019 | Now | Now |
| MSRP | 199.99 | $499.99 | $399.99 | $599.99 |
Netgear says the new router features a dual-core processor, 256MB flash and 512MB RAM. It comes with the usual four Gigabit LAN ports and one Gigabit WAN port. Similar to other Netgear’s Wi-Fi 6 routers, the AX40 works with Netgear’s Nighthawk App for those who don’t want to use its web interface.
Though not as beefy as its cousins, the AX40 is still quite fast. It’s a dual-band dual-stream (2×2) router with a top speed of 2.4Gbps and 600Mbps on the 5GHz band and 2.4GHz band, respectively. You do need to have a Wi-Fi 6 client to get this kind of performance. In fact, this router will work very well with devices that use the new 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 adapter Intel released recently.
Like all Wi-Fi 6 routers, the new Nighthawk AX40 4-Stream AX3000 router is backward compatible and will work with all existing Wi-Fi clients. As a result, you can get it now—before having any Wi-Fi 6 devices—and stay future-proof. Netgear says it’ll be available for purchase this month.
Considering you can get a high-end Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) router—like the Asus RT-AC86U –for less than $200, I’d say this new entry-level Wi-Fi 6 router is not budget-friendly enough.
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