Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 router: Pros and Cons

Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 (R6100) pictures

The specifications below are based on the official data published by the manufacturer, but we also take user reviews into consideration. If you found an error or something lacking in the specifications above for the Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100, then don’t hesite and signal the problem to us.

Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 (R6100) specifications

Body

If you have limited space available for your router, such as in a small apartment or office, the dimensions can determine whether it can fit in the designated area or not. It's important to consider the physical size of the router, including its height, width, and depth, to ensure it can be accommodated in your space. The weight of a router can be a consideration in certain situations, but it is generally not as crucial as other factors such as performance, features, and compatibility.

System

The Atheros AR9344 @ 560 MHz CPU, combined with other factors such as RAM capacity and firmware optimization, determines the overall performance and responsiveness of the router. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 comes with 128 MB of RAM. The amount of RAM in a router can impact its performance and capacity to handle concurrent operations and traffic. Higher RAM capacity allows for better multitasking, larger routing tables, and improved overall performance.

The 128 MB flash memory in the router serves as the storage medium for the router's firmware. It is a non-volatile memory that retains its data even when power is removed from the device. The Netgear often releases firmware updates to enhance the router's functionality, improve security, fix bugs, and add new features. Firmware updates can provide performance improvements, compatibility with new devices or protocols, and address vulnerabilities.

Depending on your router model and hardware specifications, using an alternative OS may result in improved stability and performance. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 is an OpenWRT supported router. OpenWrt offers a wide range of features and capabilities that extend the functionality of networking hardware. It includes a package management system that allows users to install and manage additional software packages to add new features or customize the device's behavior. The Netgear provides the appropriate power supply (12 V / 1.5 A) that matches the voltage requirements of the router. The power supply unit is designed to deliver the correct voltage to the router, ensuring its proper operation.

Network

Like many modern routers, the WiFi AC1200 R6100 supports many network standards too. The majority of networking equipment, including routers, switches, and other network devices, is designed to support IPv4. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 router is also compatible with IPv6. IPv6 provides a significantly larger address space and offers various enhancements and improvements over IPv4. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 has 4 x 10/100 Mbps LAN and 1 x 10/100 Mbps WAN ports. The LAN ports of WiFi AC1200 R6100 router are numbered and are used to establish wired connections between the router and devices such as computers, gaming consoles, smart TVs, network-attached storage (NAS) devices, and other network-enabled devices.

The WAN port on a router stands for "Wide Area Network" port. It is used to connect the router to the external network, typically provided by an internet service provider (ISP). If you have a high-speed internet plan with speeds exceeding 100 Mbps, you may experience a bottleneck in wired connections due to the limitation of the Fast Ethernet ports on the WiFi AC1200 R6100 router.

Wireless

This router has 4 x 2 dBi, internal antennas. Many modern routers feature multiple antennas and use Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology. This technology enables simultaneous transmission and reception of multiple data streams, increasing overall throughput and improving the Wi-Fi performance. This router is 2.4 GHz capable. The 2.4GHz band refers to the portion of the radio spectrum between 2.400 and 2.4835 gigahertz. This frequency range is unlicensed and globally available for various wireless applications, including Wi-Fi.

This router operates on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, allowing you to connect devices to the most suitable band based on their capabilities and requirements. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 belongs to the Wi-Fi 5 class. Wi-Fi 5 operates on the 5 GHz frequency band and utilizes wider channel widths and advanced modulation techniques to deliver higher data transfer rates. The AC1200 refers to the maximum combined data transfer rate supported by the router across all Wi-Fi bands.

The WiFi AC1200 R6100 is capable of a maximum throughput speed of 300 + 867 Mbps. The real-world speed of a WiFi AC1200 R6100 router is typically lower than its theoretical maximum speed. The maximum TX power of WiFi AC1200 R6100 router is 23 dBm. Adjusting the TX power of a router can be useful in situations where you want to optimize the Wi-Fi signal strength and coverage. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 router offers several security protocols: WPA, WPA2.

The WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) was introduced as an improvement over WEP and provides stronger security. If WPA3 is not available, WPA2-Personal with AES encryption is still considered secure. Once the guest network is set up on your Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 router, your guests can connect to it using the specified SSID and password. They will have internet access, while being separated from your private network.

Connectivity

USB ports can offer additional functionality depending on the router's capabilities. The USB 2 port has a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 480 megabits per second (Mbps), which is equivalent to 60 megabytes per second (MB/s). The WiFi AC1200 R6100 router has print server functionality. With a USB print server, you can manage printer settings, monitor print queues, and control access to the printer from a centralized interface. This can simplify printer management and administration tasks. The WiFi AC1200 R6100 router allows you to schedule automated backups of your important data to the connected USB storage device.

Administration

The Netgear router setup panel is accessed through a web browser. Connect your computer to the WiFi AC1200 R6100 router via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable. In the address bar of the web browser, type in the 192.168.1.1 IP address. If you are unable to log in to the setup panel of your Netgear router, performing a reset can be a helpful troubleshooting step. It is highly recommended to change the default password of your WiFi AC1200 R6100 router after the initial setup. If you forget the new password in the future, you may need to perform a factory reset on the router to revert to the default settings.

Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 (R6100) comparisons

According to our statistics, the Netgear WiFi AC1200 R6100 router was most often compared on our site with the following routers.

Netgear Nighthawk AX6 6-Stream AX5200 WiFi 6 Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 Netgear Nighthawk AX8 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Netgear N300 WNR2200 Netgear Smart WiFi R6300 v2 Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Netgear N450 WNR2500 Netgear Dual-Band WiFi 5 AC750

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