Netgear A6210 Review
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Netgear A6210
Neagear’s A6210 includes a number of features that set it apart from the competition. One is the company’s Beamforming+ technology, which purportedly enhances speed, range and reliability. Again, beamforming is an open standard of 802.11ac designed to enhance the range and speed of compatible devices. Most manufacturers incorporate it into their ac-capable products, and it should be interoperable between them. However, Netgear says that it implemented driver-level improvements for better performance and range, which is where Beamforming+ comes from. In order to derive a benefit from Beamforming+, the router and wireless adapter both need to come from Netgear and support Beamforming+ technology. If you don’t plan on using a Netgear router, don’t write this adapter off, though. Our testing showed it to be adept at connecting with other manufacturers’ equipment.
Figure 7 — The Netgear A6210 with its WPS button at the USB connector end, and the extendable antenna (shown raised). The WPS button has a white LED to illuminate it, although no status LED.
The A6210 doesn’t feature a slim profile. Instead, it sports a high-gain antenna, which flips up to increase the adapter’s wireless range. This was also the only product to include a docking cradle.
Specs
- AC1200, up to 300 Mb/s on 2.4 GHz and 900 Mb/s on 5GHz bands
- USB 3.0, backward compatible to USB 2.0
- Flip-up antenna housing; dual antennas
- Supports 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g and 802.11a
While all of the adapters support 300 Mb/s transfer rates on the 2.4 GHz band, Netgear’s A6210 claims 900 Mb/s at 5GHz compared to the competition’s stated 867 Mb/s. At first I was skeptical that this was just the marketing department prettying up its numbers or trying to one-up the rest of the field. But in our testing, Netgear indeed proved quicker.
What’s in the Box?
Figure 8 — The outside of the Netgear A6210 box.
The Netgear A6210 ships with:
- A6210 Wi-Fi adapter
- Resource CD
- Quick-start guide
- Desktop dock, including integrated extension cable
Figure 9 — The contents of the Netgear A6210. Note the desktop cradle with the integrated USB 3.0 extension cable for optimal positioning both of the adapter and the antenna.
Features
The A6210 features an extendable antenna, a docking station, a WPS button and Netgear’s Genie software.
That antenna is a double-edged sword in that it improves reception, but also makes the adapter more prone to getting knocked out of the USB port since it’s pretty big.
This is also the only adapter in our round-up with a desktop cradle. Although it’s superfluous for most notebooks, it is quite useful on a desktop; any adapter will work better when it gets a little distance away from the metal case of a full-size PC.
Standouts
Figure 10 — The Netgear inserted in its desktop cradle. This elevates the adapter, and makes it easier to position for a stronger signal.
Again, Netgear’s A6210 is one of two adapters we’re testing with a flip-up antenna for better reception. What makes the adapter’s design unique is its flip-up form factor and dual antennas required for client-side beamforming.
General Observations
Figure 11- Screenshot of the Netgear Genie software. Note the graphical representation of the network map, with data presented, including the signal strength, the channel connected on, and an estimate of the throughput.
Netgear’s Genie software can be used to manage the A6210. Part of its interface has a similar-looking network map as what’s built in to Windows. You also get signal strength in a five-bar metric, a throughput estimate, Wi-Fi channel information and the currently-connected network. While Windows’ native network settings show the same statistics, you click around more to find them.
Netgear Genie, in comparison, puts everything in one place.
The A6210 has a dedicated hardware WPS button, which is back-lit. Unlike the other adapters, there is no status LED.
Figure 12 — Anatomy of the Netgear A6210
1: USB 3.0 connector
2: RF shield
3: WPS button
4: Dual antenna connection
5: Flip-up antenna array
Management
I installed the software from a bundled CD. It prompted me to connect to the Internet and offered to download a newer build. There is also an option for standalone driver installation for power users. The software version used for our testing was version 1.0.0.30. Since you’d probably want the latest version anyway, Netgear provides plenty of prompts to get you to update.
Availability/Warranty/Pricing
The Netgear A6210 has a list price of $70, with a street price on Amazon.com of $50.
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Jonas P. DeMuro is a freelance reviewer covering wireless networking hardware.
Netgear A6210 802.11ac Wireless Adapter Review
Introduction
We’ve been running an 802.11ac network for a while, but the only client we’ve trusted to provide true 802.11ac speed thus far has been a wireless bridge. You see, we had a lot of experience with 802.11n USB adapters, and most left us unimpressed. Quite a few have simply under-performed from the start, while others had poor driver support and did not work properly under Windows 8.1. How could moving up to the more taxing 802.11ac standard help the situation? Well, several years have passed since 802.11ac hit the stage, and while a number of half-hearted attempts at an 802.11ac adapter have been introduced over that time, Netgear has finally delivered a robust USB adapter worthy of running an 802.
11ac network. In other words, we have a new favorite!
Description and Features
The Netgear A6210 AC1200 WiFi USB 3.0 Adapter is a two-stream 802.11ac device, offering a rated 867Mbps on the 5GHz band and 300MBps on the 2.4GHz band (hence the AC1200 in the official model name). Perhaps living up to its somewhat lengthy name, the A6210 is quite a large device, measuring 3.25″ x 1.25″ x 5/8″, and nearly 6″ fully extended, not including the USB jack. It includes a custom-designed base to allow for desktop use, and the effort that went into creating this slick piece of equipment suggests the reality that Netgear likely had in mind; this is really a USB adapter intended for desktop PCs. While it can be inserted directly into a USB port, on many systems, it actually won’t fit due to its width, at least if you have anything in adjacent ports. Furthermore, it’s so large and heavy that installing it in a laptop is begging for it to be knocked out or to fall out on its own accord.
Unless your laptop is sitting firmly on a desk and not moving anywhere, you simply won’t want to use this adapter for laptop networking.
Performance
Of course, all is forgiven when you plug the A6210 into its form-fitting cradle, fire up a desktop PC, and realize that it can hit sustained transfer rates of over 25MB/s, or faster than is possible on most USB 2.0 thumb drives. Paired with our Linksys EA 6900 router, we measured the time it took the A6210 to transfer 1GB of JPEG files between two PCs on our network. We acheived 234Mbps, or nearly 30MB/s, meaning it’s faster to transfer files over your intranet using the A6210 than to plug in a USB 2.0-based device and copy it over the old-fashioned way. That also means that the A6210 really does utilize the bandwidth provided by the USB 3.0 standard, and maximum throughput will not be achieved when plugged into a USB 2.0 port. In fact, the A6210 is so fast that it nearly matches the fastest client tested here at The Tech Buyer’s Guru, the Western Digital MyNet AC1300 wireless bridge, which has the benefit of a three-stream, rather than two-stream design, dedicated AC power, and the form factor of a router, not a USB stick.
Now before we get too carried away, we should note that transfer rates were not as fast once we got further away from the router, as one would expect. In addition, we actually couldn’t install the A6210 on one of the five test systems we tried it on – a new ultra-small Zotac ZBOX BI320 desktop PC. The installation application could not find the adapter despite it being plugged into a USB 3.0 port. We contacted Netgear about the issue but did not hear back. We’re guessing it was an issue with the desktop, rather than the A6210 application, but it was somewhat unusual.
Conclusion
In the end, the Netgear A6210 is the best laptop wireless adapter that you’ll never want to use in a laptop, or the most elegant desk ornament that happens to warp your desktop PC to wireless lightspeed. To say we like it would be an understatement, but it comes in just under a perfect score because Netgear is marketing this to laptop owners, who are going to be better served by a more compact 802.
11n device.
The Netgear A6210 is available for $56.99 shipped from Newegg and Amazon, as of our most recent update.
Special thanks to Netgear and Newegg for providing this review sample.
NETGEAR A6210 specifications, video review, reviews
- Connection type Wi-Fi
- Device type adapter
- Built-in 3G (UMTS) No
- Built-in WiMAX No
- Built-in Advanced LTE No
4
- ADSL2+ No
- USB interface
- Wi-Fi standard 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
- Wi-Fi frequency band 2.4 / 5 GHz
- Show all
Video reviews NETGEAR A6210
- All 13
- Reviews 3
- Unboxing 3
- Tests 1
Specifications NETGEAR A6210
Key features
*
| Type of communication | Wi-Fi |
| Type of device | Adapter | Building Support 3G (UMTS) | No |
| Guest Network | No |
| File Server | No |
VPN
*
| VPN tunnels (VPN Endpoint) | No |
| VPN (VPN pass through) | No |
VoIP
*
| Built-in VoIP adapter | No |
Router
* 9External Antenna
*
| Quantity | 1 |
| Type | fixed |
Receive/transmit
*
| WPA | Yes | ||||||||||||
| WPA2 | Yes | ||||||||||||
| WEP
Dimensions
|
0 card, you get exceptional wireless speed through your USB port. Speed up your Windows® PC or laptop with the world’s fastest WiFi technology. NETGEAR® genie® software makes it quick and easy to set up your network settings, while Beamforming+ technology helps you maintain the best connection possible, increasing the range and reliability of your wireless network. 