Netgear R6300 802.11ac Wireless Router Review

Netgear R6300 Power Consumption

Since power consumption is a pretty big deal these days, we wanted to run some simple power consumption tests on the various routers that we had. To measure idle usage, we reset each wireless router to the default settings and plugged them with no devices connected to them. We then measured the power draw from each router at the wall with our P3 International P4400 Kill-A-Watt electric usage monitor.

Benchmark Results: The Netgear R6300 is the second 802.11ac router we have tested and the power consumption is consistent with that of the Buffalo WZR-D1800H AC router. The 802.11ac protocol looks to be very power hungry at idle.

Since most people will have their routers turned on for 24-hour a day operation, we think that examining power usage is an important benchmark. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is an important financial estimate that helps consumers direct and indirect costs of a product. In our TCO calculation we will be figuring up how much it costs to have a wireless router running per year in an idle state with the unit being installed 24-hours a day. We will be using 12.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) based on the bureau of labor statistics report from April 2012 showing that amount as the national average.

Benchmark Results: It looks like the cost associated with running an 802.11ac router might be a tad bit pricey. We were hoping that the results we saw with the Buffalo WZR-D1800H were an anomaly. Unfortunately, the Netgear R6300’s power consumption confirms that this new generation of routers are pretty power hungry.