The NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands. It has a WAN port rated for 2.5Gbps, two 2.5Gbps LAN ports, and two 1Gbps LAN ports. You can configure the router using the web user interface or with NETGEAR's Nighthawk mobile app.
Note: We've removed the Wi-Fi coverage tests, as we're exploring better ways to convey the results that'll be more helpful to users.
Our Verdict
The NETGEAR RS300 is a great router for apartments, condos, and smaller homes. It has excellent speeds and coverage across a single floor and is suitable for downloading large files quickly and handling multiple devices streaming 4k HDR content at the same time. It also has excellent wired networking with multiple 2.5Gbps ports.
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Excellent top speeds.
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Wi-Fi 7 support.
The NETGEAR RS300 is a very good router for use in a multi-level home. It delivers excellent top speeds and decent range, making it suitable for multiple users streaming high-bandwidth 4k content simultaneously or for quickly downloading large files. While its 6GHz band has great range, the 5GHz band slows down when you're very far from the router. Unlike most similar routers, it lacks mesh expandability, so you can't add more access points to create a mesh network for better range.
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Excellent top speeds.
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Wi-Fi 7 support.
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Decent overall range.
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5GHz band slows down at longer distances.
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Lacks mesh expandability.
The NETGEAR RS300 has excellent top speeds suitable for a multi-gigabit internet connection. It also supports Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), so it can use less congested DFS-only channels to give you better speeds in noisy wireless environments.
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Excellent top speeds.
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Wi-Fi 7 support.
The NETGEAR RS300 has decent range. The 6GHz band delivers excellent speeds at long distances, but the 5GHz band slows down at longer distances. Also, unlike most similar routers, it doesn't have mesh expandability, so you're unable to add more access points to create a mesh network for better range.
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Wi-Fi 7 support.
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Decent overall range.
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5GHz band slows down at longer distances.
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Lacks mesh expandability.
- Updated Dec 06, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Dec 02, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Nov 28, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Nov 21, 2024: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Nov 15, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This router doesn't have any variants. See a photo of our unit's label.
Compared To Other Routers
The NETGEAR RS300 is a mid-range Wi-Fi 7 router with 2.4GHZ, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands. It delivers excellent top speeds and decent overall range. It doesn't perform quite as well as other Wi-Fi 7 routers that we've tested like the TP-Link Archer BE550 or the ASUS RT-BE96U. It also notably lacks any sort of mesh networking or expandability, which is unusual among routers in its price range.
For more recommendations, check out the best long-range Wi-Fi routers, the best Wi-Fi routers, or the best routers for streaming.
The TP-Link Archer BE550 and the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 are standalone Wi-Fi 7 routers. They have similarly excellent top speeds, but the TP-Link has more 2.5Gbps networking ports, better range, and supports EasyMesh, which allows you to add other compatible access points to create a mesh network, making it better suited for larger homes.
The eero Pro 6 and the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 are tri-band Wi-Fi routers. The NETGEAR is a Wi-Fi 7 router with a 2.4GHz band, a 5GHz band, and a 6GHz band, whereas the eero is a Wi-Fi 6 router with a 2.4GHz and two 5GHz bands. The NETGEAR delivers faster top speeds and has much better wired connectivity that supports multi-gigabit connections. The eero is an expandable mesh router with slightly better range performance. The eero is better if you have a larger house and an internet connection of less than 1Gbps. However, the NETGEAR is better if you have a smaller house or an internet connection faster than 1Gbps.
The ASUS RT-BE96U is a better router than the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300. They're both Wi-Fi 7 capable, but the ASUS is faster, has better range and more wired networking ports, and supports AiMesh for mesh expandability. The NETGEAR is physically smaller, however.
The NETGEAR Nighthawk RS300 is a better router than the NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX50. It's Wi-Fi 7 capable, is faster, has more networking ports, and is physically smaller. While the RAX50 has better 5GHz range, the RS300 has better 6GHz range.
Test Results
The 1Gbps LAN ports (1 and 2) can be combined into a single 2Gbps link using link aggregation.
This router has two mounting points on the bottom. NETGEAR sells a first-party bracket on their website.
This is a standalone router without mesh capabilities, so the mesh satellite position line on this graph isn't applicable.
This is a standalone router without mesh capabilities, so the mesh satellite position line on this graph isn't applicable.
Wi-Fi 7 has faster speeds, has lower latency, and supports more simultaneous connections than previous generations of Wi-Fi. However, you need devices supporting Wi-Fi 7 to benefit from these features.