Netgear rant
Netgear rant
I've always favored Netgear routers, but after my previous model stopped working (the WNDR3800), I chose to upgrade. I picked the R6220 thinking it would offer all the features I needed—QoS, gigabit LAN—without being too demanding for my home setup. Unfortunately, I was wrong. My old router handled QoS smoothly, supported 2.4/5G coexistence, and was straightforward to configure and connect. The new R6220 fell short in several areas. Its QoS functionality is disappointing. It doesn’t let me pick which connection gets priority; instead, each app needs its own profile. I wanted to prioritize my Linux machine running Plex and Minecraft alongside my gaming PC, but this wasn’t possible.
Additionally, the router lacks 2.4/5G coexistence, which is a fundamental feature. This made it nearly impossible for me to use it effectively. The setup process was also frustrating. My previous Netgear was simple—just plug it in and visit routerlogin.net. Even the Orbi I set up for my parents worked fine, letting me log in via routerlogin.net/orbilogin.net.
The new model required using the Nighthawk app, which felt unreliable. It failed to locate my device, forcing me to manually enter IP addresses. After several attempts, it would prompt me to log out before I could connect. Sometimes it worked, but security questions and password prompts kept appearing even when I entered the wrong ones. The admin panel was confusing, and after a reset, I realized I’d been typing the password incorrectly all along.
If I had stuck with the old router, I might have avoided these issues. Now I’m torn—keeping it because it was affordable, or investing more for better performance.
It makes sense, your old Netgear router was significantly pricier than the R6220. Checking past websites and reviews shows prices for this model ranged from $160 to $270, whereas the r6220 generally stayed under $100 for most of its existence. This suggests that network technology hasn't changed much in the last five years or so. So it's likely you could have achieved a similar or even better experience with a more expensive option if you'd invested more.
I noticed something odd after purchasing the router—it felt quite unusual. In most other industries, older "premium" options become common in newer models, but here it didn’t happen. I’m sure there are equally priced routers with the features I described. It’s also puzzling that Netgear introduced QoS yet made it less effective. I can’t picture any advantage they gained from that change, especially since it involved programming. Edit: I should also note I didn’t test more advanced routers because they might have been too powerful and looked unappealing. Living in an apartment, I assumed a longer range would mean more networks needing to work together, which could hurt performance. A bit paranoid, I know, but the fix was just opting for a cheaper model. Maybe this whole situation explains why it’s not working so well.