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Netgear announces first 802.11ac router, offers up to 1.3Gbps and is coming in May for $199.99

Netgear announces first 802.11ac router, offers up to 1.3Gbps and is coming in May for $199.99

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Early adopters, take note: Netgear is officially going to make your 802.11n router out-of-date next month. The company announced today that it'll ship the first 802.11ac (also known as "5G Wi-Fi") router, the R6300, for $199.99 sometime in May.

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Netgear R6300
Netgear R6300

Early adopters, take note: Netgear is officially going to make your 802.11n router out of date next month. The company has announced that it'll ship the first 802.11ac (also known as "5G Wi-Fi") router, the R6300, for $199.99 sometime in May. If you're not familiar, 802.11ac is the next-generation Wi-Fi protocol, and it promises to offer speeds up to 1.3Gbps — speeds that are likely much faster than your home internet connection, unless you're extremely lucky. Also, to be able to take advantage of those speeds you'll need a laptop or phone that uses 802.11ac, none of which currently exist. Still, if you're in the market for a new router and demand the absolute newest technology available, the R6300 is, for now, your only choice. It uses one of Broadcom's new 802.11ac chips, and of course it'll be backwards-compatible with 802.11n. Other than raw performance, the R6300 has two USB ports for plugging and sharing a printer or a storage device, and it has DLNA support.