

Netgear also provides a dedicated switch to shut off the status LEDs, which can be immensely useful if the bright lights prove to be distracting.

Around back, you'll find 5 Ethernet ports - the one marked in yellow is dedicated to the input from your modem, while the numbered ports are all Gigabit Ethernet. Connectivity is plentiful, but the ports are scattered around the unit. It shares the same angular design as many of Netgear's other Nighthawk routers, with the exception of four external antennas as opposed to the typical three. The R7800 discreetly packs top-end 802.11ac technology in a case that forgoes the extroverted (and often juvenile, depending on how you look at it) styling touches of so-called "gaming routers", and we couldn't be happier with the result. To be clear, we've selected the Nighthawk X4S, which we'll refer to using its model number of R7800 to avoid further confusion. It's quite possible that Netgear has the largest product lineup of any wireless router manufacturer today, and the fact that half of the lineup shares the "Nighthawk" name and similar external designs doesn't help much. After all, this single piece of hardware serves as the backbone of your entire network, and you need to count on it to provide years of reliable service. Rather than simply choosing the most expensive or cheapest option on the shelf, we recommend narrowing down your picks to the best wireless routers in 2022 with higher-performing options currently available. If you've gone shopping for a wireless router recently, you'll undoubtedly have experienced first-hand how confusing this market can be. Feature lists are getting longer every year, and there's a never-ending stream of new technologies to keep track of. That said, there's a vast array of wireless routers available today, covering a wide price and performance spectrum. A wireless router can make or break a network the difference between a good wireless router and a mediocre one comes down to how much unwanted attention your network draws to itself. These days, it seems that just about everything is network-connected, and requires a Wi-Fi signal to function properly. Wireless routers are an essential component of any network, no matter how big or small.
