NETGEAR announced last week the latest addition to their AC router product line, the AC1200-equipped R6100.  Read on for details!

NETGEAR announced last week the latest addition to their AC router product line, the AC1200-equipped R6100.  This marks NETGEAR’s sixth AC router and their first at below $100.  Here is the press release:

NETGEAR INTRODUCES AN EASY AND ECONOMICAL UPGRADE TO NEXT-GEN WIFI WITH NEWEST 802.11AC WIFI ROUTER

R6100 WiFi Router with AC1200 dual-band offers easy and economical transition to superior wireless network performance for video, gaming and voice calls

SAN JOSE, California — July 2, 2013 — NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR) (www.netgear.com), a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, is expanding its market-leading family of next-generation 802.11ac wireless products (www.netgear.com/fastestwifi) with the R6100 WiFi Router. The R6100 is a dual band router that supports combined WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps* with Fast Ethernet wired connections, providing secure and reliable Internet connections for fast downloads, clearer voice calls, uninterrupted HD video, and lag-free gaming. At only $99.99, the NETGEAR R6100 WiFi Router offers the best value and enhanced features for improving your home theater experience and prepares your home network for new or upgraded devices that integrate 802.11ac WiFi support, such as the MacBook Air® and smartphones like the new Samsung Galaxy S®4 and the HTC One®.

The NETGEAR R6100 WiFi Router is an affordable solution for upgrading your WiFi home network to the latest and faster wireless networking standard, 802.11ac, which is up to three times faster than 802.11n and backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n devices. The NETGEAR R6100 offers improved performance and whole-home wireless coverage by incorporating simultaneous dual band WiFi technology. The 2.4 GHz band supports legacy devices while the less interference-prone 5 GHz band is perfect for multiple HD media streaming and online gaming. Moreover, the R6100 works with the free NETGEAR genie® app and software for easy installation and network management, ensuring you a hassle-free transition to 802.11ac.

“In the last couple of years, there’s been an explosion in the number of WiFi devices connected to the home network. If it doesn’t already, your house will soon have smart TVs, gaming consoles, Blu-ray® players, and media servers in addition to smartphones, desktops, laptops and tablets,” said Sandeep Harpalani, NETGEAR’s director of product marketing for core networking products. “To future-proof your network and keep it humming along at peak performance, you’re going to need to upgrade to AC wireless. The newest smartphones and Mac®s already have 802.11ac inside.  It enables you to be more productive at home and to experience the world of entertainment available through the Internet in a seamless fashion.”

The new 802.11ac wireless standard is the world’s fastest WiFi, providing Gigabit WiFi speeds so you can download web content faster and synchronize large video or music files more quickly. The increased speed of 802.11ac technology is ideal for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets by providing up to three times the performance for a similar amount of battery consumption of devices using the current 802.11n WiFi standard. As a result, many companies, such as Samsung and HTC, are now releasing smartphones with 802.11ac WiFi, with additional 802.11ac-enabled smartphones, tablets and TVs from other leading manufacturers anticipated to debut in the coming year.

Advanced Features of the NETGEAR R6100 WiFi Router

In addition to combined 802.11ac WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps* (300 Mbps @ 2.4 GHz 802.11n + 867 Mbps @ 5 GHz 802.11ac) and reliable and secure connections, the NETGEAR R6100 WiFi Router offers many advanced features that are usually available only in high-end routers offered at premium pricing. Below are some of the features that you can enjoy:

NETGEAR genie®: This free app for PC, Mac®, iOS and Android® smartphones and tablets enables you to control, monitor, repair and manage your home network easily through a simple, elegant dashboard. NETGEAR customers can download the utility at http://www.netgear.com/genie or from the Google Play or App Store.

• Play your music anywhere: NETGEAR MyMedia™ provides the ability to find photos, video or music files anywhere on the network and play them on any DLNA® media player.
• Print from your iPad®: Support for AirPrint™ enables you to print to any USB or networked printer directly from an Apple iPad or iPhone®.

Guest network access: The guest network provides Internet access but prevents other people from seeing and accessing your household’s computers, printers, storage devices and other home network devices.

NETGEAR EZ Mobile Connect: This is an incredibly easy way to enable your guests’ smartphones or tablets to connect to your home Wi-Fi network, simply by scanning the QR code from the genie WiFi screen without typing in security keys or SSIDs.

• NETGEAR ReadySHARE® USB Access: You can wirelessly access and share USB hard drives via the USB port.
• Media Server-DLNA: The router is DLNA-ready and can stream to any DLNA-compatible device in your house, including the latest smart TVs, Blu-ray® players, media players, game consoles, handheld devices, tablets and more.
• NETGEAR Live Parental Controls: This is a centralized, flexible, and reliable parental control solution for all the devices on the network, including Mac®s, PCs, smartphones and tablets, for a safe online environment for children and teenagers. No subscription is required.
• Automatic WiFi Security: The router comes with wireless security turned on out-of-the-box, complete with a pre-configured network name and password, protecting home WiFi networks by default.
• Easy installation: There’s no CD required, so you can set up the router with smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and even a MacBook Air®.

The NETGEAR 802.11ac Product Family

April 2013 Retail Tracking Service data from global information company The NPD Group shows NETGEAR to be the U.S. market share leader, in both units and dollars, in 802.11ac wireless routers. The new NETGEAR R6100 Smart WiFi Router joins the growing NETGEAR family of next-generation 802.11ac products:

• The R6300 WiFi Router supports approximate combined Gigabit WiFi speeds up to 1750 Mbps; MSRP $199.99
• The R6250 Smart WiFi Router supports approximate combined Gigabit WiFi speeds up to 1600 Mbps; MSRP $169.99
• The R6200 WiFi Router supports approximate combined WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps; MSRP $149.99
• The new R6100 WiFi Router supports approximate combined WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps; MSRP $99.99
• The A6200 WiFi Adapter, a dual band WiFi USB adapter that enables you to easily upgrade an existing PC or laptop to 802.11ac performance; MSRP $ 69.99
• The D6200 WiFi Modem Router with a built-in ADSL2+ modem supports approximate combined WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps; MSRP $199.99
• The D6300 WiFi Modem Router with built-in ADSL2+ modem for approximate combined WiFi speeds up to 1600 Mbps; available internationally at MSRP €179 euros

All devices in the next-generation 802.11ac product line, including the new R6100, are backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n to provide optimal interoperability with legacy WiFi devices and for maintaining maximum performance on Wireless-N networks.

Pricing and Availability

The NETGEAR R6100 WiFi Router is available now at an MSRP in the U.S. of only $99.99.

More Information

Go to www.netgear.com/fastestwifi for more information on the R6100 WiFi Router, the full range of NETGEAR 802.11ac WiFi networking products such as routers, adapters and gateways, and Beamforming+, a smart, signal-focusing technology that extends coverage, reduces interference and dead spots, and boosts the speed of your 802.11ac WiFi connections.

NETGEAR has done a great job in rounding out a router and accessory line focused on AC.