Netgear A6200 review: A cost-effective and fast 802.11ac adapter - najerawitand

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Very good long-lasting-range performance
• Excellent industrial design
• USB cradle

Cons

• Practically slower than the Asus USB-AC56 at close ramble

Our Verdict

If you call for to connect just a single client, such as a laptop computer operating room a home-theatre of operations PC, to your 802.11ac electronic network, a Wi-Fi client USB adapter is much cheaper than a tune bridge. Netgear's A6200 is one of the best.

If you need to plug in some wired clients to your 802.11ac mesh, you should launch a radio receiver bridge. If you have got just one guest—especially a laptop, or maybe a home-field Personal computer—Netgear offers a better, cheaper unconventional: Plug its A6200 USB Wi-Fi arranger into your PC and give a wireless link that's fast enough to teem Blu-ray-timbre TV.

The A6200 is a multiple-band adapter capable of operative on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequence bands (Eastern Samoa an 802.11n gimmick and an 802.11ac device, severally). We tested both scenarios, comparison its 802.11n carrying out with that of the Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi arranger interconnected into our AVADirect gaming laptop, and its 802.11ac performance thereupon of Lake herring's Linksys WUMC710 receiving set bridge.

Organism a USB adapter, the A6200 draws the power information technology inevitably from the computer, whereas the WUMC710 requires AC power. Netgear's device, however, can transmit and meet alone ii 802.11ac spacial streams (900 mbps aggregate), whereas Cisco's supports three (1.3 gbps aggregate). Bear in mind that those theoretical maximum speeds are nothing just about what you'll get in the real world, and that the USB 2.0 interface the A6200 uses maxes extinct at 480 mbps at any rate (the Coregonus artedi product's physical connection to its clients is either 10/100 ethernet operating theater gigabit ethernet).

In whatsoever event, in our tests the A6200 delivered substantially less throughput than the WUMC710 did, particularly at close range (with the client in the same room As the router, separated past 9 feet). Yet, the A6200 provided to a greater extent than enough bandwidth to stream Blu-ray-quality video from a home server to the client regardless of distance: 221 mbps at 9 feet, 154 mbps at 35 feet, and 152 mbps at 65 feet. (We ill-used SlySoft's AnyDVD HD to rip the picture show Spider-Gentleman 3 from a Blu-electron beam Phonograph recording and preserved information technology as an ISO image on the server. We then used SlySoft's Virtual CloneDrive to climb on the ISO image happening our laptop and streamed IT over the network via CyberLink's PowerDVD 12 Ultra).

Although Netgear's A6200 USB adapter delivered well less throughput than Lake herring's WUMC710 did, information technology was plenty degraded enough to stream HD video over our 802.11ac wireless network.

The A6200 is also a good 802.11n network adapter operating on the 2.4GHz frequency band. Here again, the A6200 supports only deuce attribute streams (300 mbps aggregate), whereas the Intel Centrino Eventual-N 6300 built into our test laptop supports three (450 mbps multiple). Intel's adapter stomped the A6200 at close range (with signal oversaturation being the likely culprit), but Netgear's twist pulled out wins when the client was in a rest home theater 35 feet absent from the router and in a home office 65 feet from the router. Those results are likely due to the fact that the Netgear's cardinal antennas were outside the laptop's enclosure, while the Intel product's antennas were tucked privileged information technology.

The A6200 is too a capable 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter, delivering good operation at long range.

Speaking of antennas, the A6200's USB connecter can swivel from 180 degrees to 90 degrees, and its antenna can rotate from a negative 180 degrees to a positive 180 degrees (this flexibility adds 1 inch to the arranger's distance, which could increase its range depending on the router's location and the antenna orientation). Netgear also provides a USB stand with a 3-foot wire that gives you many more options when it comes to placing the adapter. Netgear recommends using the stand, and that's how we well-tried the adapter.

If you're running an 802.11ac Draft 2.0 router, you have a laptop, and you want the fastest possible wireless connection to your network, Netgear's A6200 is a no-brainer. It's also a great choice if you'atomic number 75 looking at to connect just one wireless PC to your 802.11ac network, because it's outlying less expensive than an 802.11ac wireless bridge deck that has three additional ethernet ports you don't need. If you are looking to connect several clients to your network, and they'Ra all in the same spot, the bridge remains the amended option.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/456259/netgear-a6200-review-a-cost-effective-and-fast-802-11ac-adapter.html

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