Name: Netgear Nighthawk RS700
Brand: Netgear

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It seems more recently, there’s been a lot of updates to the WiFi standards out there. With the latest generation of WiFi 7 out in 2024, which means you need the hardware that supports it. In that case, we look at what it brings to the table, well with what’s supported at the moment as we review the Netgear Nighthawk RS700, also known as the BE19000.

It looks to be as future-proof as possible, especially in the ports and specifications not just in the standards it has adopted. As the inclusion of WiFi 7 is still a rarity, there is still a lot available for you to appreciate now even if you may not utilize it to its full potential just yet. But it certainly looks to be one of the best gaming routers out there for you to enjoy.

Netgear Nighthawk RS700 WiFi 7 (BE19000)

4 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

Standard: WiFi 7
Frequency Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz
Max Speed: 19Gbps
LAN Ports: 1x 10Gbps, 4x 1Gbps

WAN: 10Gbps
CPU: Quad-core 2.6GHz
Memory: 512MB NAND Flash and 2GB RAM
USB: 1x USB 3.0 Type-A
Dimensions: 281.7 x 124.0 x 142mm (11.1 x 4.9 x 5.6in)
Weight: 1.635kg (3.61lb)

What We Think

Overall, the RS700 is certainly not a router for everyone. It’s excellent at what it does and provides a strong future-proof option. With the inclusion of the latest WiFi standard, it means you can take advantage of the little traffic and interference on those networks. Even on its ports, it makes sure that you get the max out of it, with both a 10 Gig WAN and LAN port, you can make sure your router isn’t limiting the available speed at your house. As well as the USB on it being 3.0 and the other 4 LAN ports being 1 Gbps make it a fast pick, including being able to aggregate multiple sources from those ports.

The dedicated app and settings options give you plenty of control over how it is set up and what you do with your network. But the app isn’t all perfect as on boot you get constantly reminded of all the subscriptions you can buy and get reminded of other offerings every few minutes that can get in the way and annoy. It also doesn’t come in too cumbersome of a package and not all too heavy. That is if you can afford it, as in reality with a $700 price tag, it’s certainly an enthusiast-level pick as there are certainly WiFi 6E routers available for similar performance with more compatible devices.

Reasons to Buy

Simple and quick setup that guides through the app
App control offers plenty of customization and changes but is also included on the web page
Excellent performance across the board, including USB
Good size that fits in many places including in design, plus can turn off blinking lights
Future proof standards for WiFi, and 10Gbps WAN and LAN ports

Reasons to Avoid

Over-the-top expensive that means it’s definitely not for everyday users
Still not too much support for the standard so can be better to get a 6E choice

Design

The Netgear Nighthawk RS700 is an intimidating obelisk of a router, coming in at an impressive 281.7mm (11.09in) height it’s a lot more stealthy in design. The wireless router doesn’t stand out and intimidate nor take up lots of space, making it an easier addition to wherever you need it without having to give it a dedicated setup of its own. It keeps things simple with the front adorned with just the status lights and a couple of buttons. With the back offering a line of ports and controls on the slim face.

Whilst it does have a unique shape, not flat and long like most, the gigabit router has six sides but not a hexagon as it gets more elongated at the back. It also includes vents on both the bottom and top at an angle so it still offers flexibility on how you place it down.

The main attraction of the wired router is of course the WiFi 7 standard, but that’s not the only option coming from its 8 antennae built into it. You can easily split apart your network and have a choice of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz to connect to or let it automatically pick the fastest speeds your devices are capable of.

both a 10 Gig WAN and LAN port, you can make sure your router isn’t limiting the available speed at your house

Whilst on the wired network, you get a strong connection as well, starting with WAN (Wider Area Network) and a 10Gbps port available. That is if your internet provider allows for that much which is unlikely but maybe someday it will as speeds keep increasing. As well it offers up a single 10Gbps LAN (Local Area Network) port to match the WAN and bring it to your devices where you need it or interconnect your home setup. Along with four 1Gbps LAN ports and one USB 3.0 Type A for a fast storage connection if you want to have one.

Other features

The rest of the specs and features dress to impress as well. The RS700 brings with it a quad-core 2.6Ghz processor with 2GB of RAM and 512MB of NAND Flash, which is a surprising bit of power for a router but allows it to provide plenty of processing power and working through the tasks it goes through.

You can also aggregate the ports, so the Internet port and a LAN, or two LANs can be combined to get up to 2Gbps speeds from them. But alongside that offers up a guest network that you can set up in case you want to keep two separate and give yourself that security barrier. You can also do with being able to add a VPN to your entire network from the router as it also updates automatically for the latest security patches.

For extra protection and control, there is Netgear Armor and smart parent controls. The first of which is a subscription for a VPN and hacker protection if you’re worried about safety. You can also set up what each device can see and access through the net if you want to ensure that your network is a safe environment.

There’s plenty of control available in the app itself that makes it all the easier to set up and control. But it can be frustrating, as you have to sign in and register the router it automatically starts your subscription trial and warranty. It also keeps throwing up pop-ups for more subscriptions and control it can be infuriating the first time they come up but you’re unlikely to be on it all to often.

Pricing

Well, this is where the big drawback of this Netgear router comes into play, at the edge of technology it comes at quite a steep price. Especially with such high specs, you have to pay quite a bit to be on the enthusiast level of networking. The Netgear Nighthawk is available for $699.99, although you do at least get a year of the Armor subscription, whilst for us in the UK that comes to $799.99. At that point, you can buy yourself a budget gaming PC, and a cheaper router on top.

Overall the Netgear Nighthawk RS700 is an amazing piece of tech

Performance

Unfortunately, our office network isn’t specced for high speeds to reach what the RS700 is capable of. We’re limited to around 300MB/s per port and throttles if used too much too quickly. Along with the varying traffic depending on how many people come in each day it’s not an equal test each time, but we did the best we could. For the testing, we ran Speedtest and WiFiman for each router on a Samsung S21 FE to compare them, which limited us to WiFi 6 so we lacked the hardware to try 6E and 7 but still this should give us a good comparison.

Either way, we still gathered physical speeds, the signal strength, and network storage speeds where possible as well to see how they compare as they’re less reliant on an ISP. These will be affected by how good the antenna is on the router and working at a distance or the hardware inside such as the USB if used as storage.

Signal strength

Signal strength is how well you’re connected to the router wherever you’re connected from. It refers to the power output of the transmitter to the receiver, i.e. from the router to our phone in this test. With the measurement coming in at dBm or a reference above the level of decibels. In this test, it means lower is better, or closer to zero is better as that means it’s better connected. So as we tested it at four different positions we got a good overview from 10 feet, 30 feet, around 60 feet with a wall in between, and around 90 feet with two rooms in between.

In the graphs above you can compare the darker orange RS700 the the others we tested in the same week. As you can see it does well for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, in fact leading the rest of the routers. With 2.4GHz ranging from -41dBm to -62dBm up to 60ft, with 5GHz ranging from -31dBM to -76dBm but this one reaches 90ft.

The RS700 advertises a coverage of 3,500 sq. ft. which our 60 ft range is meant to be on the edge of. It does still reach slightly after that, but that 90 ft and several interferences are the limit, as the 5GHz shows the connection gets too bad as 2,4Ghz gets lost in general.

Speed tests

There are a few tests we did on the internet speed, including the physical speed connection between the phone and router and what to expect from it, along with an internet speed test to see how much the strength has affected it. On LAN the RS 700 achieved a download of 262Mbps with an upload of 254Mbps, which is a strong performance for our setup at the time.

Whilst looking to wireless, the download at 2.4GHz averages 103, 78.4, and 5.6Mbps at 10/30/60 ft. Whilst 5Ghz goes to 273, 269, 117, and 25.5 Mbps. So it shows how much interference can affect it but that’s seen across the board and the RS 700 holds up well. For the uploads at 2.4GHz that sits at 62, 50, and 22Mbps with 5GHz reaching 239, 227, 131, and 8Mbps

For the physical speed, 2.4GHz has a strength of 206, 206, and 137 Mbps at download, and 1200, 864, 288, and 8 at 5GHz. With the upload of 2.4Ghz achieving 286, 258, 149Mbps, and 5GHz running 1080, 1080, 576, and 17Mbps. The latency of this connection at the lower standard ranges between 13 and 20ms with the higher frequency sitting around 11 and 13ms but at the 90ft range jumps to 36ms.

File transfer test

For a more unique test, we look at how well the transfer speed between devices is using the router. The setup consists of an SSD in a USB adapter sled plugged into the router. Then we connect up a PC to a LAN port and make it discoverable, and so we can see all network-connected devices. Then we conducted a CrystalDiskMark benchmark with this setup and got the results below in full.

Out of all the options we tested, the RS700 was the fastest option and got a good result overall. It comes at a 260MB/s sequential read and 159MB/s write with 8 queues and 1 thread. Where in random that falls to a lower speed with the 32 queue and 1 thread achieving 75 and 66MB/s for the read and write with eh Q1T1 falling even further below. But for connected storage, it is a good option if you’re not using a NAS or other ethernet-capable option but is a good way to connect up your whole network to it.

Netgear Nighthawk RS700 WiFi 7 Router (BE19000) CrystalDiskMark SSD speed, source PCGuide

Conclusion

Overall the Netgear Nighthawk RS700 is an amazing piece of tech. It implements the latest tech into it and makes sure your network is the best it can be, as long as everything else allows it. Certainly, the router isn’t going to be the limiting factor, as with the latest WiFi standard and fastest ports it is a good-term solution as we doubt even ISPs will supply it with enough internet anytime soon.

But for those after the latest standards and being on the edge of technology it might just be the choice as long as you can pay for it as it’s not a cheap choice of hardware. As a central hub to your network, it already provides a strong setup choice with a lot of control over it which makes it a perfect pick for WiFi 7 and getting the most out of your network. But for most others, a WiFi 6E box or lower will be plenty enough as the RS700 is certainly for a niche for now.