Netgear Nighthawk R8000 AC3200 Router

The_Conductor · 05-06-2019 07:20AM #1

Amazon reduced this by another £30 this morning to £139.99- which for the R8000 Nighthawk, while not cheap- is a bargain.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TDV2IS4

Its a really really decent gaming router with a very intuitive user interface panel. Its not cheap- but its a really decent piece of kit.

Mister Gooey · 05-06-2019 08:13AM

Have this router. It's a fantastic piece of kit. Use it instead of the VM Hub.

jaggiebunnet · 05-06-2019 08:32AM

is it easy to get working with eir?

Mountjoy Mugger · 05-06-2019 08:33AM

Use it instead of the VM Hub.

Hub in Bridge mode, or instead of hub?

bromley52 · 05-06-2019 08:40AM

I use mine as well with the VM router in bridge mode. I was going to put dd-wrt onto it but the stock firmware does everything I need.

youcancallmeal · 05-06-2019 09:02AM

Mister Gooey wrote: »

Have this router. It's a fantastic piece of kit. Use it instead of the VM Hub.

You still have to use the vm hub as a modem though right?

The_Conductor · 05-06-2019 09:03AM

youcancallmeal wrote: »

You still have to use the vm hub as a modem though right?

Yes- this is a pure router- not a cable modem. You set it to bridge mode in the user interface- and its incredibly intuitive and easy to setup and use.

lau1247 · 05-06-2019 09:49AM

other than the combined speed of the netgear, is it any better than this Asus unit?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-AC86U-AiProtection-Accelerator-Aggregation/dp/B075WFL15D/ref=sr_1_4?crid=D3ER329DRLER&keywords=asus+rt-ac88u&qid=1559724140&s=gateway&sprefix=asus+rt%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-4

The netgear has a quite high percentage of bad reviews (then again same can be said for Asus unit I've linked)

shamelessidiot · 05-06-2019 10:22AM

Is this worth the 150 odd quid upgrade over a TP Link Archer C5? The 5ghz on the C5 is decent, but I find the 2.4ghz to be pretty terrible lately.

kevinroche3333 · 05-06-2019 10:31AM

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

is it easy to get working with eir?

I would like to also ask is it easy to get working with eir broadband with standard issue modem

The_Conductor · 05-06-2019 10:34AM

kevinroche3333 wrote: »

I would like to also ask is it easy to get working with eir broadband with standard issue modem

Works fine with it *in bridge mode*.
You will have to configure it before use- however, its quite easy to follow- and the UI is intuitive and helpful.

griffdaddy · 05-06-2019 10:49AM

I got this as a warehouse deal from amazon.de for under €100 delivered about 3 weeks ago, so always worth keeping an eye on the other amazons. Can I ask those who have it already, do you leave the SSIDs separate or combine them to one?

beardybrewer · 05-06-2019 10:59AM

griffdaddy wrote: »

I got this as a warehouse deal from amazon.de for under €100 delivered about 3 weeks ago, so always worth keeping an eye on the other amazons. Can I ask those who have it already, do you leave the SSIDs separate or combine them to one?

Don't have this modem, but you want to use the same SSID and that way your phone will jump to the strongest signal automagically.

youcancallmeal · 05-06-2019 11:01AM

Is there any benefit to buying a tp-link router similar to this Netgear router if I have a few tp-link home plugs in the house.

LeakingLava · 05-06-2019 03:16PM

I'm heavily interested in this.

My current issue with VM is that when a few friends are over and we connect wirelessly using our phones and play a game together, there are a few times during our gameplay that the connection to the network is dropped, switches to our data, and switches back to wi-fi. This of course gives us all major lag. Issue also happens to a friend's newly installed VM hub as well. I would understand it if the hub is just pure crap and I would definitely just buy the nighthawk if this is the case. But could anyone confirm that this would help me for sure?

youcancallmeal · 05-06-2019 05:10PM

I've been doing a bit of research and it seems that the cheaper nighthawk x4s is the better option. Just from reading around the x4s is newer, more powerful processor and not as buggy as the X6. The X6 does have the extra band but seems your average domestic setup would see little benefit from it.

beardybrewer · 05-06-2019 06:45PM

LeakingLava wrote: »

I'm heavily interested in this.

My current issue with VM is that when a few friends are over and we connect wirelessly using our phones and play a game together, there are a few times during our gameplay that the connection to the network is dropped, switches to our data, and switches back to wi-fi. This of course gives us all major lag. Issue also happens to a friend's newly installed VM hub as well. I would understand it if the hub is just pure crap and I would definitely just buy the nighthawk if this is the case. But could anyone confirm that this would help me for sure?

Not a chance! It could be a few things.

So in this setup you have your ISP's modem (which usually has a router and wifi built in).

Then you extend your network using another wifi/router, put it in bridge mode, and your modem takes care of the connection to the external internet and assigns out internal IP addresses to all the devices connected to your network.

So a few big things to test would be 1) test if your ISP has the bandwidth to support multiple big downloads at once. You might think speedtest.net shows your throughput is fast but, picture your connection as a pipe, unless the pipe is wide enough it can't move that much concurrent data. Test with a connected device and download 5 big files at once or google it to maybe find an online tester. 2) Test the connection between your broadband modem and your wifi/router. Are you connecting to each other via wifi (extender)? If connecting via cable you should be good but again run the same concurrency test from a connected device. 3) Get a wifi analyser app and check your ssids/channels as you might be affected by your neighbors or even your ISP's modem.

Anyhow, there could be lots of reasons you are having problems and throwing money at a new wifi/router won't necessarily solve anything.

Lenny · 05-06-2019 06:47PM

I got this router last year off amazon.co.uk brand new for 100pounds,it was 129.99 at the time, I got some special price somehow, it was a good router until the latest firmware update, the router is absolutely horrendous, certain internal networks cause my whole router to go down due to some ping send flaw, 5g keeps going down, reading on the forums lots have this problem.. Think it's time to go Back a firmware, I use it as modem mode and it only has 4 ports and I have some port forward setup on the vm hub.... Other than the recent update it was a decent modem

Mister Gooey · 05-06-2019 07:03PM

Lenny wrote:

I got this router last year off amazon.co.uk brand new for 100pounds,it was 129.99 at the time, I got some special price somehow, it was a good router until the latest firmware update, the router is absolutely horrendous, certain internal networks cause my whole router to go down due to some ping send flaw, 5g keeps going down, reading on the forums lots have this problem.. Think it's time to go Back a firmware, I use it as modem mode and it only has 4 ports and I have some port forward setup on the vm hub.... Other than the recent update it was a decent modem

I use the R8000 as router with the VM Hub in modem mode. I have port forwarding setup as well and the latest firmware. I have been using this router for the last 3 years as the VM Hub continuously dropped internet connection and would reboot. It has worked perfectly for me. I have all 4 ports connected and multiple WiFi connections including a X6000 wifi extender due to size of house with multiple WiFi connections off this too. The router has handled everything thrown at it. No issues. I would recommend it to anyone!

The_Conductor · 05-06-2019 07:06PM

I've actually had a few issues with 2.4Ghz- and have turned off some of the additional radios (you'd be amazed at how many SSIDs are visible here- there are over 30- so cross-channel interference is a big issue). One thing I did was reset the router to 'Japan'- to unlock additional channels (that the neighbours aren't using). No issues with 5ghz here (thankfully) even with the latest firmware.

Some IP address conflicts from time to time- reboot the laptop or phone and get a new one- seems a bit random this occuring- and only tends to be on 2.4

Mister Gooey · 05-06-2019 07:08PM

The_Conductor wrote:

I've actually had a few issues with 2.4Ghz- and have turned off some of the additional radios (you'd be amazed at how many SSIDs are visible here- there are over 30- so cross-channel interference is a big issue). One thing I did was reset the router to 'Japan'- to unlock additional channels (that the neighbours aren't using). No issues with 5ghz here (thankfully) even with the latest firmware.

Good idea going into Japan mode!!!

Zilog · 05-06-2019 07:11PM

youcancallmeal wrote: »

... Just from reading around the x4s is newer, more powerful processor and not as buggy as the X6. The X6 does have the extra band but seems your average domestic setup would see little benefit from it.

Hmmm, take this with a pinch of salt.
I "upgraded" from a TP-Link Archer C7 to the x4s last year, due to number of wireless devices - internet access would periodically drop from the C7. The Netgear is touted as capable of serving 32 devices per band (2.4 and 5 GHz).

The Netgear firmware is buggy. For example it won't allow an internal DNS server - e.g. PiHole (running on a local Raspberry Pi). Got around this by using modded 3rd party firmware Voxels R7800 firmware which fixed this and some other bugs. However was a real head scratcher, you'd never think the problem was at the router level!
Still need to reboot it regularly, 2.4 GHz coverage not as good as the Archer C7. Also much preferred the Archer interface, more options and (to my eyes) more logically laid out.

Think for next 'upgrade' it'll be worth looking at a 'semi-pro' Ubiquiti access point system. though there wouldn't be much change from £300 with 2 access points and a security gateway. Would be much more robust I expect though!

Zilog · 05-06-2019 07:14PM

Whilst I'm at it, Netgear also just 'updated' their Android app, from the perfectly serviceable Genie app to their Nighthawk app.

The Genie app no longer works with the x4s and the Nighthawk app needs an online account! An online account to access my local router! No thanks, I'll stick with the local web portal, thanks; I've enough information being gathered about me with my hundreds of other app accounts!

LeakingLava · 06-06-2019 12:07AM

beardybrewer wrote: »

Not a chance! It could be a few things.

So in this setup you have your ISP's modem (which usually has a router and wifi built in).

Then you extend your network using another wifi/router, put it in bridge mode, and your modem takes care of the connection to the external internet and assigns out internal IP addresses to all the devices connected to your network.

So a few big things to test would be 1) test if your ISP has the bandwidth to support multiple big downloads at once. You might think speedtest.net shows your throughput is fast but, picture your connection as a pipe, unless the pipe is wide enough it can't move that much concurrent data. Test with a connected device and download 5 big files at once or google it to maybe find an online tester. 2) Test the connection between your broadband modem and your wifi/router. Are you connecting to each other via wifi (extender)? If connecting via cable you should be good but again run the same concurrency test from a connected device. 3) Get a wifi analyser app and check your ssids/channels as you might be affected by your neighbors or even your ISP's modem.

Anyhow, there could be lots of reasons you are having problems and throwing money at a new wifi/router won't necessarily solve anything.

One of the main reasons why I thought it was the VM hub rather than anything else was because the connection to the wifi network actually disconnects. I was thinking that it wouldn't have disconnected completely if it was just bandwidth that was the issue.

Also, the hub itself is the router as I do not have a separate router installed yet, which is why I'm willing to try this out, if it would help at all.

Also, my friend that has a brand new VM hub set up is in a completely different neighbourhood and experience the same thing when the same group of friends are in their place instead of mine.

stimpson · 06-06-2019 12:10AM

Lenny wrote: »

I got this router last year off amazon.co.uk brand new for 100pounds,it was 129.99 at the time, I got some special price somehow, it was a good router until the latest firmware update, the router is absolutely horrendous, certain internal networks cause my whole router to go down due to some ping send flaw, 5g keeps going down, reading on the forums lots have this problem.. Think it's time to go Back a firmware, I use it as modem mode and it only has 4 ports and I have some port forward setup on the vm hub.... Other than the recent update it was a decent modem

I had an R7000 and R7800. Every time I did a firmware upgrade the speeds went to hell. The fix is to go through each page in the setup and screenshot it. Upgrade firmware, factory reset then manually apply all your settings again.

I swapped it out for a Linksys Velop mesh system. Once I got it working properly I have blistering speeds all over the house. Wouldn’t go back to the Nighthawk, but it was good when it was working properly.

Dr Bolouswki · 06-06-2019 09:42AM

LeakingLava wrote: »

I'm heavily interested in this.

My current issue with VM is that when a few friends are over and we connect wirelessly using our phones and play a game together, there are a few times during our gameplay that the connection to the network is dropped, switches to our data, and switches back to wi-fi. This of course gives us all major lag. Issue also happens to a friend's newly installed VM hub as well. I would understand it if the hub is just pure crap and I would definitely just buy the nighthawk if this is the case. But could anyone confirm that this would help me for sure?

The VM router is limited to I think 11 connections. I had lots of drop outs before I copped on to this. Using the VM box as the modem only and attaching ANY router sorted my problems. I actually had to ask VM not to give me updates on the modem - they needed to set my account for no updates and roll it back to a firmware version that had the bridge mode - hopefully that has changed now. Regardless of any imposed device limit, it simply does not have the resources to handle lots of concurrent connections.

Mountjoy Mugger · 07-06-2019 02:28PM

Dr Bolouswki wrote: »

roll it back to a firmware version that had the bridge mode - hopefully that has changed now.

Is this the Hub 3.0? I wasn't aware they were disabling bridge mode on these.

stimpson · 07-06-2019 02:33PM

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Is this the Hub 3.0? I wasn't aware they were disabling bridge mode on these.

They’re not. I had it enabled a couple of months ago. You do have to call them and get them to put you on an IPv4 address - maybe that’s what he was on about.

Dr Bolouswki · 07-06-2019 04:38PM

Yes it was - thank you for translating

theintern · 07-06-2019 04:55PM

Dr Bolouswki wrote: »

The VM router is limited to I think 11 connections. I had lots of drop outs before I copped on to this. Using the VM box as the modem only and attaching ANY router sorted my problems. I actually had to ask VM not to give me updates on the modem - they needed to set my account for no updates and roll it back to a firmware version that had the bridge mode - hopefully that has changed now. Regardless of any imposed device limit, it simply does not have the resources to handle lots of concurrent connections.

I think you have the right idea. If it's the VM Hub as a router that's struggling, this will help. But it may not, if it's something else that's causing the drops.

TerrorFirmer · 07-06-2019 09:22PM

I have a VM hub and it's a joke. The Wifi is atrocious, almost unusuable, constantly dropping in and out, and some devices working perfecly and others not at all. Just today we were talking about the need to get a router.

Is never more than 3 or 4 devices using it at one time.

Netgear Nighthawk R8000 AC3200 Router

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