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Netgear intros sharing-savvy N750 Premium Edition router, powerline and WiFi adapters for media fans
Netgear is giving its home networking the same sort of tuneup going into the fall that you'd give your car -- not a complete overhaul, but enough to keep it running in top form. Headlining the pack, the N750 Premium Edition router you're looking at above upgrades the original N750 through a better ability to play with others: the dual-band WiFi hotspot's ReadyShare file access expands to the cloud, while its USB support now envelops Apple's AirPrint and Time Machine as well as TiVo Storage. Media sharing mavens also get their own, more specific add-ons. The Powerline Media Extender can pipe audio (and USB printing or storage) over a 200Mbps link, with a major emphasis on AirPlay streaming; the N900 4-port WiFi Adapter is a slightly less exotic, 450Mbps wireless-to-Ethernet bridge for multi-device home theaters. If Netgear's refresh is tempting enough to prompt a trade-up, you can snag the N750 Premium Edition immediately for $120 or wait until September and October for the respective launches of the N900 adapter for $80 and the Powerline Music Extender in its single pack ($99) or dual-device starter kit ($139) editions.
Western Digital enters the router market, higher-end models include built-in hard drives
Western Digital is no stranger to media streaming, but until now its specialty has been moving content off a set-top box and onto your television. Now, though, the company is getting into the wireless game as well: it just announced its first networking products, including four dual-band routers and an Ethernet switch. Across the board, the routers use WD's so-called FasTrack technology to prioritize bandwidth-hogging activities like movie streaming, video chats and online gaming. And, like any modern-day router worth its salt, they include options for parental controls, as well as setting up a guest network. At the high end, the N900 Central (pictured) doubles as network-attached storage, suggesting WD was eager to put its hard drive know-how to good use. That'll be available in 1TB and 2TB flavors, and you can use a WD 2 Go website to access the drive remotely. (There are also iOS and Android apps, with a Windows Phone version coming soon.) Rounding out the list, it has four Ethernet ports and one USB connection. Similarly, the N900 router is rated for top speeds of 900 Mbps, except it lacks the built-in storage. In its place, it has seven Gigabit sockets, along with two USB ports. Moving on down the line, the N750 and N600 each have four Ethernet ports and two USB openings, with the N750 maxing out at 750 Mbps and the N600 -- well, you get the idea. Lastly, that switch has eight Gigabit ports if increasing your wired connections is what you're really after. With the exception of the storage-enhanced N900 Central, these are all available today, with prices ranging form $70 for the switch, $80 for the N600, $120 for the N750 and $180 for the N900. The N900 Central won't be available until next quarter, and will cost either $300 or $350 depending on whether you go for the 1TB or 2TB model.
Netgear at CES 2012: Powerline, wireless routers, home networking and more
As it seems to do every year, Netgear's chosen the Consumer Electronics Show to unveil, well... everything under the sun. Up first, the outfit's launching its WN2500RP, a universal dual-band WiFi range extender ($89.99) that runs both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands concurrently. Over on the home networking side, the Powerline 500 Nano and N900 convert a conventional wall outlet into a high-speed network connection, with the former shipping this quarter for $119.99 and the latter this summer for $79.99. Over on the non-product side, Netgear's trumpeting its reception of CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 certification for the industry's first voice and data gateways (CGD3700B / CGE3700B) with concurrent dual-band WiFi. Head on past the break for specifics across the whole line.
Belkin repackages old wireless routers for its new N-series lineup (updated)
This wouldn't be the first time a company repackages old routers for the new year, but to be fair, there haven't been many technological advances recently for them to do much else. Belkin happens to be one such company, which has just announced five N-series 802.11n WiFi routers ranging from $39.99 (N150 at up to 150Mbps) all the way up to $129.99 (N750 at up to 450Mbps with dual band and USB). Frankly, a quick glance at the specifications doesn't show much of an improvement from last year's models, and that "exclusive" MultiBeam range-extending technology seems to be just a fancy name for MIMO. Still, you gotta give it to Belkin's designers for the new chassis design -- we much prefer this rounded look to the previous boxes. You can now grab an N150, N300, or N600 DB in the shops, whereas the N450 and flagship N750 DB will be showing up in mid-May. See press release after the break for the full details. Update: Belkin got in touch to finally shed some light on MultiBeam. Essentially, this is a new antenna technology that beefs up the routers' MIMO signal with a 6db gain, as opposed to just 1.5db on traditional onboard "trace" antennas. Another feature delivered by MultiBeam is an improved, apple-shaped coverage pattern, which apparently bests the standard donut-shaped version. The high end N450 and N750 also come with "implicit beam forming" that focuses the radio signal beam onto client devices for more reliable connection. Let's see if the guinea pigs can prove these claims.
Netgear's N750 wireless router Newspeaks its way to 750Mbps
Believe it or not, blazing-fast WiFi routers don't have to look like anti-aircraft weapons. The new flagship device from Netgear, the N750, keeps its array of antennae stashed out of sight. Even without a gaudy design, this dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n router can hit speeds of 450Mbps over the 5GHz band and 300Mbps at 2.4Ghz, for an "aggregate combined data rate" of 750Mbps. Don't get too excited though, all that means is you can connect one device in either band without dragging down the transfer rate of the other -- you're still bound by the 450Mbps speed limit. The N750 also includes a ReadySHARE USB port for network storage, parental controls, and guest access -- not bad for $150, eh?
