NetGear has shipped the US$299.99 Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band WiFi Router (R8000) (www.netgear.com/R8000), the first tri-band WiFi router available for purchase incorporating the new Broadcom 5G WiFi XStream platform. It sports six high-performance antennas and three network bands, one 2.4GHz and two 5GHz.

The Nighthawk X6 delivers the industry’s fastest combined WiFi speed, up to 3.2 Gbps (1300+1300+600 Mbps). It balances the network load to ensure the best WiFi performance for each device and deliver the maximum wireless range available today. Today’s homes that combine many new and old WiFi devices need tri-band routers such as the Nighthawk X6 to optimize the speed of each device, whether it's an old laptop or the newest smartphone.

Nighthawk X6 intelligently segments slower and faster devices into the most appropriate WiFi band. This network load balancing and segmentation enables the X6 to mitigate interference and more effectively support all WiFi devices, including more "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices.

In a typical dual band router, for example, the video streamer and the Internet gamer have to effectively “time-share” the 5GHz band. With the Nighthawk X6 Tri-Band Router, however, video streaming and Internet gaming traffic can each operate on separate 5GHz bands so that each of them gets double the speed of a dual band router.

The Nighthawk X6 supports NetGear Beamforming+, a smart, signal-focusing technology that improves WiFi connections by locking onto a wireless device on the network and pinpointing WiFi signals directly at the device. As you move, Beamforming+ adjusts for distance.