Netgear plans to be the first networking company with a next-generation 1.3 Gbps router (May, $200), based on the as-yet-unratified 802.11ac standard, which is theoretically three times faster than the preceding 802.11n standard.

The R6300 router uses the less-crowded 5 GHz band, can combine its channels to access up to 80 MHz of bandwidth at once, and uses “beam forming” to maximize signal strength.

Chips to make devices 802.11ac-compatible are expected at the beginning 2013.