Netgear Nighthawk C7000 Review

We bought the Netgear Nighthawk C7000 so that our professional reviewer could put it through its paces. Continue reading for the full our product review.

Wireless modems such as the Netgear Nighthawk C7000 are crucial these days, when ISPs demand excessive rates for hardware rentals. A modem might be costly at first, but the money you save over time will allow it to pay for itself.

You might have some concerns if you're thinking about buying your own modem. What, if anything, will you have to give up in order to buy your own modem? Will you be able to achieve the same speeds? Will the wireless performance meet your expectations? What would it look like in your home?

We recently received the Netgear Nighthawk C7000 for testing, and we can address all of these and other questions. Let's see whether this modem is worth the price of admission

Design

The Netgear Nighthawk C7000 is remarkably small and light for such a high-end modem. It's a tremendous improvement over the Xfinity modem we have laying around.

The C7000 Nighthawk is a beautiful contemporary plastic device. The modem's performance is shown by a series of LED lights on the front panel. A USB 2.0 port, four Gigabit Ethernet connections, a coax cable port, and a power cord port are all located on the rear panel.

While this modem has wireless capabilities, the antennae are housed within the device, giving it a more streamlined appearance.

Performance

As this modem includes an integrated router, we expect the wireless performance to be rather disruptive. In general, all-in-one devices tend to do worse than specialist devices. For the Netgear Nighthawk C7000 this is absolutely true, however we were pleasantly pleased how well it worked given it is a complete.

We tested this modem on a house of 2500 square feet and had dependable functioning in all corners, except on the farthest end of the house. Network performance decreased from around 230 Mbps to 130 Mbps. It's not very quick, but still useful.

On the other side, the wired performance wasn't as good. In most of the cases we were able to achieve constant 210 Mbps — more than adequate for our traditional use — but we were unable to obtain our advertised speeds, even with Cat7 Ethernet connection.

We should also mention out that the C7000 is not supported by Netgear Nighthawk MU-MIMO or QoS, which is a deceptive omission in such a pricey equipment. We have 6 different gadgets, all of which stream HD video on YouTube in our living room. However. We next performed a speed test to check how the network was affected. Even under all that stress, we still have approximately 152 Mbps. When everyone hits the network hard, you won't get full speed, but it is still adequate.

Setup

It's crucial to realize right away that modems aren't as simple to set up as your ordinary router. Before we could begin, we needed to gather all of our ISP information—account number, login, and so on. Then we connected the Netgear Nighthawk to electricity and a coax cable.

To set it up, we used an Ethernet cable to connect one of our PCs to the modem, then started a web browser, logged into the modem's backend, and activated it using our Xfinity service. The instructions for completing this setup are included with the Nighthawk C7000.

Software

While the Netgear Nighthawk C7000 doesn't offer the most robust software, it's more than adequate for managing your network with minimal effort.

You'll be welcomed by six tiles on the home page when you log in and complete the setup. You can manage your cable connection and associated devices, establish parental controls, and modify your WIFI settings by clicking via this link. Even less tech-savvy customers should be able to handle everything from setup to security without getting too confused, thanks to Netgear's easy-to-navigate and comprehend interface.

There's also a "Advanced" option where you can get more in-depth information about your connection or set up dynamic DNS settings if you're a power user who likes to have exact control over your network. Most individuals who use the Nighthawk C7000 won't need or desire these features, but they are available if you need or want them.

Connectivity

As far as physical ports are concerned, you get four Gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port. This isn’t the richest array of ports we’ve ever seen, but it should be fine for most people— we were able to connect a few different game consoles and a desktop.

The Netgear Nighthawk C7000 has three antennae built in, too. This means it has dual-band connectivity and a rated speed of AC1900, which can deliver up to 600 Mbps and 1,3000 Mbps on the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands, respectively. So, even with our extreme 250Mbps internet connection, the modem was able to keep up during even the busiest times.

This is thanks to the 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding. This means that it has 24 channels available for downstream data and eight for upstream data. That might sound like a lot of jargon, but it means that this modem is going to be overkill for the average user’s internet needs. Netgear claims that this modem can handle up to a 960Mbps connection, and we believe it. But if you don’t need this much bandwidth, you can pick up the 16x8 or 8x4 DOCSIS 3.0 modem and save some cash.

Price

The Netgear Nighthawk C7000 will save you $209, which may sound a lot, assuming you've already set up your modem. Look at your cable and internet account, though, and check how much you rent a modem from your ISP per month. With the Nighthawk C7000 you'll no longer have to pay that. In fact it can pay for itself over time. Over time.

Verdict

It is indeed the major attraction to pay for this cable modem/ router combos in due course. However, the Nighthawk C7000 is no brainer, with excellent performance and a good design.