NETGEAR Nighthawk Cable Modem and WiFi 6 Router Combo (CAX80) - Compatible with All Major Cable Providers incl. Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox - Cable Plans up to 2 Gbps - AX6000 WiFi 6 Speed - DOCSIS 3.1

I originally had the Xfinity gateway with three of the Xfinity 'mesh' extender pods and yet I was getting inadequate WiFi coverage (not even close to my available 1.2Gbps connection). As a complete home networking rookie, I finally managed to do something about it after some basic self education. I was specifically looking for gateways (modem+router in one) due to limited physical space in my living room for two separate devices. The CAX80 was expensive compared to Xfinity-compatible Arris or Motorola gateways. However, the theoretical specs seemed superior and it is likely 'future proof' (provided it will last 3+ years). Setting up the CAX80 router was easy enough with the Nighthawk app on my phone. Right off the bat, I noticed an increase in throughput with a wireless connection to my gaming laptop located about 30 feet away from the router (from 300-500Mbps to 600-900 Mbps averaged through the day). I live in a two-level 2700 sq ft condo with thickly insulated walls. Previously (with Xfinity gateway), I got zero signal at the furthest end of the house from the router. After adding three 'daisy chained' Xfinity X-Fi mesh pods, I was getting 20-60 Mbps throughput with frequent loss of signal through the day. After switching to just the CAX80 router, I was getting a weak but consistent signal at the far end of the house with 3-10 Mbps throughput. I then connected a Netgear EX15 extender halfway between these points (again, setup was easy with the phone app). I decided to extend only the 2.4GHz frequency (saving 5GHz for working and gaming laptops in proximity to the router). I am now getting 110-130 Mbps throughput at the far end of the house consistently which is adequate for what I needed here (TV box, 3-4 phones/tablets, doorbell, smart lock, thermostat etc). Overall, I am happy (and proud of my first such set up) with nearly $600 worth (yikes) of hardware upgrade (CAX80 and EAX15) for what I needed my home network to do. Of note, saving $15 in monthly rental fees for the Xfinity modem should make up for this upgrade in about 3.5 years lol Couple of issues to be mindful of if you have Xfinity internet and TV: These may be related to my own naivete or my home's wiring rather than misleading specifications from the manufacturer. I had a main TV box (connected by a split coaxial cable) and an additional wireless (WiFi) TV box. After changing from the Xfinity gateway to the CAX80, the wired TV box stopped working while the wireless one worked after a reboot. Comcast auto-assistant was unable to rectify and sent a technician over who diagnosed the following issue: CAX80 is not MoCA compatible and the simplest fix would be to get a wireless main TV box. I ordered such a box via Comcast (local store is easier and quicker than online). Now, both TV boxes (Xi-6 via ethernet cable and Xi-5 via WiFi) are functional albeit with a delay in displaying my channels after powering on (anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds). May be this delay is from something I overlooked during the connections or whatever but it is a minor gripe at this stage (after nearly 96 hours of toiling to get all of the above done) and I will figure out a fix someday soon. Hope this helps the next amateur in a similar situation as I was. Happy networking!

I’ve been using the NETGEAR Nighthawk CAX80 for a little while now, and I’m genuinely impressed with how well it performs. Setup took only a few minutes — just plug it in, activate with my ISP, and WiFi was up and running. The speed and coverage are the biggest highlights. I get strong WiFi in every room, even in areas where my old router struggled. Streaming, video calls, and gaming are all smooth with no noticeable lag. It handles multiple devices at once without slowing down. I also appreciate that it combines a modem and WiFi 6 router into one device — less clutter and fewer cables. So far, the connection has been stable and consistent. Overall, it’s a great upgrade and has made my home internet much faster and more reliable.

The first one I ordered, appeared brand new, but would not activate. I bought this one after moving to a new apartment and didn't have any internet so I kept trying to activate it with comcast. And when all else failed, they finally told me that its been pre-activated to another account. And it actually cannot be released. So I ordered replacement. This one activated right away. Sadly, we live in a one bedroom apartment, not much concrete in these walls, but when you go from the living room - where the router is located - to the bedroom, the service drops to very low speeds. I was fine with it because it was working and I just accepted that netgear doesn't make great products. Then a few days after the 3 months mark, the WiFi SSID was nowhere to be found. I couldnt connect to the router, and even when I tried to go wired, it wouldn't give me an IP. The router was stuck with 2 LEDs constantly on, and no other LEDs would work. I tried rebooting it and nothing. I tried resetting it and nothing. I tried several times and it was the same outcome. At this point, I decided to call the tech support. That's where the real fun started. After tracking down their number and connecting, I couldnt hear the service person. And this wasn't just because of the very thick accent. Apparently Netgear support sounds like they're in the heart of India. I would hear 1/2 a second and then nothing, and then 1/2 a second and then nothing. And then half a second and nothing. Starting to get very frustrated I hung up and called again -- this happened 3 times, with the same outcome. I was trying to tell the tech that there is something wrong with their phones, but apparently they said that "ev------wa----- f----e" ... So i'm to believe that it's on my side. So I called from a completely different line, and got connected with someone completely different. THANKFULLY I could hear this person... Aaaaaaand EVERYONE Around them. It was very very very diffucult to make out a word they're saying because they were surrounded by other techs less than a few feet away. And each one is yelling into their headset in their native accent. And everyone is using the same diagnostics script that they're reading. "Have you tried resetting the router" one said. "please disconnect the power and wait 30 seconds". "This is Netgear support how can I help you". And more than 10 other voices echoing in the background. The tech then instructed me to try to reset the router and wait. Not only have I tried that, and explained it to her, I've spent a better part of my morning doing that. But I decided to entrust the professionals. Moments pass, router is reset, and nothing worked. No surprise here. She paused and then told me that we'll have to reset it to factory settings and reconfigure it. Moments pass. Pin stuck in router for 30 seconds. Power comes on. And she would guide me through it "and the light should now be turning Amber"... no lights were turning amber. She pauses puzzled. "Okay we'll try again... Reset holding the pin for 1 whole minute".... A whole minute? What the heck difference is that between that and 30 seconds. I know how to count. But Okay, one minute of pressing a tiny little pin against my finger and into the stupid hole.... Moments pass.. Router being reset.. 20 seconds... 40 seconds... 60 seconds. Relieved to be done. I let it power up naturally, and she explains "and the light should now be turning Amber". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."how about now?" . . . . . . . NOTHING turned amber. 2 lights. Turning white. Same as before. Same as this morning. Very puzzled. We run though the cabling to make sure that its still good. And then she comes back with the brilliant idea... "Okay Mr Tamer. We will try one more reset. This time you'll hold the pin for TWO minutes." TWO WHOLE MINUTES! At which point i opted to put the phone down on speaker so I can two-hand this operation. 2 minutes passed and nothing. Same result. I.. wanted.. to... die.. Thank you NetGear. It's been great. She asked about the date of purchase, and being that it was slightly over the 3 months mark (within a few days) they could not accept a return. However they will send me a replacement. She took down my information and we parted. I wanted to write a review then and there, but I decided to wait until I cool off and see how things progress. An hour later I get a call back from them, they are informing me that the warehouse has no available routers in that model, and they will send me one as soon as they have any in stock..... Whaaaaaaat?? So not only do I have a broken one that they wont take as a return, but they cant even send me a replacement. It's been 3 months and half on this $450 piece of crap. Two days later, I get another call. It's NetGear support for the replacement router. The warehouses are STILL out of stock and they can't send me another. So I ask her, can you send me a cheaper model or something else in return? I dont even need the same model. She actually YELLS BACK, "No. They will Send me one. Once they have more in stock". I could not be more in shock, so you called me up, out of no where to Yell at me for not having stock? And I bought the expensive model, and because of that, they cant give me a replacement? It's now been over a month since they've called. And I STILL never got a replacement for this. So after my first call with them, I figured I'll go straight to Costco for a spare comcast wifi router. And maybe I'll return it once I get my replacement. Unfortunately the only one they have was Netgear Nighthawk, the lesser model. After spending yet another few hundred bucks and a few more hours to get it to activate - with comcast as well. It's been working with very very bad signal, even 15 feet away from the router. Yet another nighthawk disappointment. And now it's passed the return date, so even if I get a replacement I'm screwed. It's been by far the worst experience ever. Do not get anything nighthawk

Title: Disabled, senior citizen. Description: Beans I had to go and spend money on a brand new Nighthawk modem router combination c a x 80 because refurbished one went out on me like 4 months after I had it. Well it didn't make me happy at all because I just lost $290 something like that. And I couldn't get one bit of help from Nighthawk next year with a refund or even a partial refund would have been nice like $200. Very very disappointed in that. Then I have to turn around and borrow bag to get help to raise money to buy the brand new Nighthawk CX80. Very disappointing now I have to pay that back. There was no reason Nighthawk next year couldn't help me out and taking care of my refurbished one I'm on a fixed budget disabled senior and it was just like it took advantage of me and scam me or prodded me. That's how it feels. And I still have it it's all boxed up I don't know what to do with it now. It's no good to me with it not working. And I'm out around $290.

Setup was quick and straightforward, and I was up and running in no time. The 5 GHz Wi-Fi is fast and has been very reliable. I’m very happy with the performance and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a solid modem/router.

I bought this Netgear CAX80 to replace my older pair of Motorola SurfBoard SB6121 cable modem and Netgear WNR2000 Wi-Fi router; the old pair routinely adapted my ComCast (Xfinity) internet-only cable hookup to work with one desktop computer, two notebook computers (usually all three working at the same time doing bandwidth hogging stuff like watching hi-def YouTube videos or streaming music & movies), plus another work computer that mostly has Teams audio-video meetings going on, plus three internet radios that seem to be on all the time, plus an Arlo home video monitoring system, plus a home security system, plus a few "IOT" gizmos. I had no problem with this setup for many years, and never ran out of bandwidth in the house, never got noticeable slowdowns, etc. ALSO, my home office has a large copycenter, a small Canon desktop copycenter, a large format laser printer, and a color laserjet printer, all of them connected to the computer(s) by Wi-Fi. So the router was quite busy yet never behaved like it was overloaded. But finally, early in 2023, I noticed that some of the Wi-Fi printers kept dropping offline. This was blamed by tech support on the old firmware in the Wi-Fi router, so probably time for a new Wi-Fi router. Also, my internet upload speed on all computers dropped in speed tests from the 10+Mbps it used to be, to about 0.01Mbps; still usable but very noticeably slow. ComCast tech support said that their diagnostics showed my cable modem's output signal strength (at least when viewed from their end) was at the lower end of acceptable.....time for a new modem! ComCast's recommendation for my situation and setup was that, if I wanted to stick to NetGear products, that the CAX80 was their first recommendation. This is a combination cable modem & Wi-Fi router with tons of speed/bandwidth and lots of connections and options. It is also quite pricey at around $500. However, when shopping for brand name separates, it looked like I would end up spending about that much anyway if buying separate modem and router. The CAX80 is also kinda huge. It is twice as tall as my older devices, and about half again as deep (front to rear) as they were; its width is about the same as either of the older devices. Taking into account minimum bend radius of a coaxial cable connected to the rear, it needs a space of 4.25"W x 12"D x 10.5"H, and its top is full of air vents, so if you want to stick it under a shelf or something, you better count on at least 12"H. I won't go into all the myriad features and specifications of this unit, but I will highlight the ports and indicators: STUFF ON THE FRONT - Power LED - Upstream & Downstream activity-status LEDs - 'Online' LED - Multi-Gig port status LED - Ethernet ports (1-4) status LEDs - 2.4GHz Wi-Fi status LED - 5GHz Wi-Fi status LED - Wi-Fi button with status LED (allows turning on/off all Wi-Fi radios at the same time) - WPS button with status LED (lets you use WPS to join the WiFi network without typing the WiFi password. The WPS LED blinks during this process and then lights solid.) STUFF ON THE REAR - socket for AC power adapter (wall-wart) - cable connector - 4X Ethernet jacks (two of which can be aggregated together -used together in parallel- to increase speed to a similarly connected computer) - 1X Multi-Gig Ethernet jack (2.5Gbps/1Gbps), which can also be used as an extra Ethernet jack for slower equipment) - USB3.0 port - LED on/off switch (when OFF, all front panel LEDs except for the POWER LED, can be disabled if their flashing annoys you) - Reset button (recessed, use a paperclip to operate....but you need to press for a tedious 60 seconds) This modem is CRAZY sophisticated, with so many features and options that the manual to describe them all is 136 pages long (it is downloadable, does not come in the box); it is certainly overkill for many situations. All of these features can managed by logging onto the modem with a connected computer's browser, and/or via a smart phone running the NetGear "Nighthawk" app. The included 'quick start' manual is a good idea, but I got confused and ended up needing to call ComCast tech support to take care of the final activation; the guide includes the appropriate phone numbers for most major cable internet carriers. I immediately found that my download speeds were screaming at something like 220Mbps, and download speeds were over 10Mbps (of course, these numbers can be less, depending on several factors, not the least of which is the level of service you pay for with your cable internet provider). I took one of my laptops out to the far corners of my good sized suburban property, and had no connection or speed issues over Wi-Fi. An no issues anywhere in my house (2 levels plus basement). My desktop computer, which I initially connected via Ethernet cable (a short one is included) to the modem, was getting considerably slower UPLOAD speeds than my other computers, until I tried connecting it to the modem via Wi-Fi just like the others, and then its upload speed matched the them; I don't know why this is, and decided to by a new Wi-Fi/LAN card for that computer since they are not expensive and something might off iffy about it. At the time of writing this review, I have not installed the new card in my computer. After verifying that all the computers were working with the new modem, I ran into a very aggravating problem. My OUTLOOK email client on my main desktop computer could not connect to receive or send. One hour spent with a ComCast tech support engineer doing tests but with no result, followed by an hour and a half with my email service provider's tech support guy taking control of my computer and trying everything, again without result, and then finally calling NetGear tech support, and when the gal there tried logging from the computer into the modem's administration portal, she got a 'page not found' type of errors. She had me press and hold the modem's reset button for a full minute, which results in a wait of about 10 minutes while everything in the modem gets its act together again, then we were able to log into the modem's admin page, and at the same time the OUTLOOK email started working again. She had not seen this problem before, and noted in my account that the situation had occurred. It was probably just a glitch in the initial configuration, but if it happens again, she adjusted my extended warranty (previously good for a couple of years, now extended by a few months) should this modem need to be replaced for this reason. I should note that this modem comes with a shorter warranty; I think it 1 year for hardware, and 90 days of phone support. So, I am happy and impressed with this device, and fully anticipate it will probably exceed and outlive my needs. I only marked down my rating a notch because of needing to engage ComCast when it should have been easier according to the quick start guide), and because of the glitch mentioned above.

My internet was not able to keep up with the demand of multiple gaming devices, streaming and working from home, so we upgraded our internet to 2 GB and as a result had to upgrade our router. My office is above the garage, so we chose this for its range and to future proof our internet for when we inevitably have even more devices online. This router is so powerful we were able to stop using all 5 of our wifi extenders and the security features are also great. I like that I can see all devices connected to my internet and can block devices accordingly. Its quite futuristic looking, and very easy set up. Its a bit pricey, but worth it in my mind to have a router that will be able to handle 4 GB if/when we need to upgrade our internet yet again and to be able to use the internet around our entire home and garage without any extenders. Very happy with this purchase!

I have several Netgear devices and have been happy with them until this one. I purchased this pricy model for an overall upgrade to the home office. It worked well for a short period of time - maybe a month or so then the signal started to drop. Often. Very often, to the point is wasn't holding for more than a few seconds at a time. I called my ISP first because that seemed most reasonable. They ran some tests and said everything on their end was good & it looks like the connection problem was with the equipment. I called Netgear support. The fellow I spoke with asked me a few questions, did the usual unplug it, wait, plug it in, ran some tests on his end, put me on hold SEVERAL times to "check with" his co-workers and told me everything looked good on their end & it I was still having issues to call back. That call was about 20 minutes AFTER the long hold time. I kept having issues. I called back and the hold seemed infinite and I gave up and called my ISP back. This is day 2 or 3 without working Internet. These days that means the work and entertainment portions of life come to a screeching halt. My ISP folks came out and retested the lines etc. - even climbing in the attic [this is FL in the summer folks that was a JOB!]. All was found good again and they replaced the modem & router with theirs and - lo and behold - it worked like a charm. I started a chat/email with Netgear and went back & forth with them for MONTHS. They even changed the case # on me for some reason that now seems nefarious. Finally, after more than a month I get an "upgraded" email from someone at Netgear who will "make this right". To me that means HONOR THE WARRANTY AND GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK. Nope they wanted to have me reconnect the old modem, call my ISP & have them activate it so Netgear can run tests. Um NO. That is ridiculous. It is also what the first guy did. Not my problem he didn't do everything you think he should have - maybe train your folks better? That was all back in June folks - it's October now and they have taken to ignoring my emails so - here we are. If you get one that works, they work well but if you are unlucky enough to get a lemon - like I did - the warranty is trash and means nothing. For that reason alone I cannot in good faith ever recommend any Netgear product. Our world runs virtually these days and this device is PRICY. You're screwed if it doesn't work & your ISP isn't as accommodating as mine was. Seriously, all they had to do was refund my money. They can afford it. Now they've lost anymore money I may have given them but I'm sure it doesn't matter to them because they can afford that too. Plenty other options folks - keep looking.