Other option for Netgear Nighthawk RAX120
Other option for Netgear Nighthawk RAX120
Hello, I need ideas for an alternative to your RAX120v2. It’s been acting up after installation—keeps rebooting. You’ve tried resets, firmware updates, power backup, cooling solutions, and online advice, but nothing works. Your home is about 3,500 sqft with gigabit internet from CenturyLink. I’m looking for a more reliable router instead of dealing with this issue yourself.
The CenturyLink device is operating in bridged/passthrough configuration. When you restart, it powers down and then resumes operation. The LED indicators will show on and off during this process.
I'm operating in bridged mode and the whole system simply powers off and restarts.
The RAX120 appears to be a difficult wireless router, especially considering its price point. Many users report similar problems online, but no solutions have been identified yet. You might want to consider returning the device to check for a refund or exchange with a more dependable model. If that isn't an option, perform a factory reset by downloading the latest firmware from Netgear to ensure it's not corrupted. Then, reset the router through its interface, log back in, and re-upload the firmware. After flashing and rebooting, repeat the factory reset process. Avoid importing any configuration files—start with a clean setup.
The main challenge you'll face is locating a router compatible with Gigabit Fiber. Even routers offering Gigabit WAN may not support full Gigabit internet access. Consider visiting Smallnetbuilder.com for additional details. You're interested in the performance between WAN and LAN, as well as LAN to WAN speeds. Many users who adopt Gigabit set up routers with PFsense installed. A key drawback of PFsense is that it's not a single-purpose solution—it handles DHCP, firewall, and NAT—but you'll still need a switch and a wireless access point. Besides that, as @Falcon1986 mentioned, keep updating the firmware if a newer version becomes available.
Damn. Sucks to hear about those issues. Wasn't aware a few people were having issues with the RAX120. I have had a RAX120 for almost a year now. It has worked flawlessly for me (touch on wood). The only slight issue I am experiencing is sometimes the fan will spin up to an audible level for about 30 seconds at a time. Probably happens once every 3 hours of so. And it's likely due to the fact it needs a good clean as it tends to collect a lot of dust where its located. Otherwise it has been great. Works well with a gigabit connection and the 5gbe port for LAN is awesome. One of the reasons I chose this model.