ARRIS W6B Surfboard Thruster Review: An Expensive 6GHz Alternative to a Network Cable | Gamer Tech

The ARRIS W6B Surfboard Thruster Wi-Fi 6E Gaming Acceleration Equipment is a distinct segment product — it’s not for everybody.

Particularly, it’s just for these too lazy to run a community cable. And by that, I don’t imply the entire job of getting your property wired; only a comparatively lengthy ready-made cable will do.

That stated, when you’re in search of a fast solution to get one wired system — a desktop, a sport console, or any Ethernet-ready {hardware} –linked wirelessly at doubtlessly Gig+ sustained charges, the ARRIS W6B Surfboard will turn out to be useful. I may even be beneficiant and say it’s a good selection.

However contemplating the present avenue value of over $300, I’d remind you that it’s a super-expensive different to a community cable or a easy Wi-Fi 6E add-on card.

So, whether or not or not this Equipment is definitely worth the funding will depend on how tough it’s so that you can settle for that little wire that snakes round your property and how a lot your pad permits you to benefit from Wi-Fi 6E.

The underside line: The ARRIS W6B is a giant if.

ARRIS W6B Surfboard Thruster vs W6U: A Wi-Fi 6E wired answer

The ARRIS SURFboard W6B jogs my memory of the W6U. The {hardware} appears to be like the identical, however as an alternative of 1 unit, you’ve two, and as an alternative of white, you’ve them in black.

In actuality, the W6B is completely completely different from the W6U. The latter is a wi-fi entry level — it hosts a number of wi-fi purchasers and is a wonderful solution to improve an present router to Wi-Fi 6E. Alternatively, our W6B is designed to exchange a single wired connection.

The Equipment consists of two identical-looking items which have solely completely different roles. One is the Foremost Entry Level, and the opposite is the Satellite tv for pc. Because the names recommend, you join the previous to your community (a router or a change) and the latter to the tip system you wish to be a part of that community.

A comparatively uncommon use case

Often, while you wish to join an Ethernet-ready system to a community, like a desktop laptop or a server, you hook a community cable to the system’s community port and the opposite finish of that cable to your router (or change).

The longer the space between the 2, the longer the cable must be. And if for some motive, that lengthy cable just isn’t an choice and you’ll be able to’t improve your system to a Wi-Fi shopper through an add-on card, such because the Intel AX210 chip or the Netgear A8000 USB adapter, the ARRIS SURFboard W6B comes into play.

Particularly, as an alternative of that one lengthy cable, you utilize two shorter ones. First, use one to attach the Foremost Entry Level unit to the router, then use the opposite to hook the Satellite tv for pc unit to the system. Plug each into energy and mission achieved.

In a nutshell, the ARRIS W6B is a Wi-Fi 6E-to-wired adapter. It permits a wired shopper to connect with a community through the brand new 6GHz Wi-Fi band.

Easy, plug-and-play design, zero customization

And what I described above can also be the way you arrange the W6B. The 2 {hardware} items are pre-synced out of the field — all it’s important to do is plug them in.

Every unit comes with a 2.5Gbps Multi-Gig port on its again, and on the within, they help 4×4 Wi-Fi 6E to supposedly ship the backhaul velocity of as much as 4800Mbps. “Supposedly” as a result of we are going to by no means know for the reason that 2.5Gbps port is the bottleneck.

In contrast to the W6U, which has a easy internet interface, the W6B has no consumer interface in any respect.

You need to use the SURFboard Central cell app, however on this case, all you are able to do is register the {hardware} together with your account, view its standing, and replace the firmware.

There’s no solution to customise the Foremost Entry Level unit’s Wi-Fi community. Consequently, you’ll be able to’t join any additional 6GHz purchasers to it — it’s the one entry level I’ve identified that may host only one shopper, the Satellite tv for pc unit.

Contemplating the cell app requires a login account with ARRIS, it’s greatest to skip it — there’s no worth in utilizing it in return for the potential privateness threat.

In brief, the SURFboard W6B package works actually as a substitute for a single community cable. As is, the 2 {hardware} items are pre-programmed to work with one another; when you lose one, the opposite turns into ineffective.

ARRIS SURFboard W6B: {Hardware} specs

Mannequin	W6B
Identify	ARRIS SURFboard THRUSTER Gaming Acceleration Equipment
{Hardware}	an Entry Level + a Satellite tv for pc
Wi-Fi Requirements	Single-band AXE4800
Wi-Fi Band (channel width)	6GHz 4×4 AXE As much as 4800Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz)
Backward Compatibility	N/A
Community Port (every unit)	1x 2.5Gbps Multi-Gig port
Safety	WPA3
Internet Interface	None
Cellular App	SURFboard Central
Working Function	Various to a single community cable
Visitor Community	N/A
Weight (every unit)	.79 lb (360 g)
Firmware Model (at evaluation)	Unavailable
Processing Energy (every unit)	Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 Processor
Energy Specs	Socket: 100-120V, 60Hz, .7A Enter: 12VDC, 2A
Energy Consumption (per 24 hours)	≈ 175 Wh (predominant entry level unit)
Launch Date	June 6, 2022
US Retail Price (at launch)	$310

ARRIS SURFboard W6B: Element images

---

---

---

---

6GHz-only, tough {hardware} administration

As talked about above, it’s tremendous simple to arrange the ARRIS W6B — it’s about as sophisticated as hooking two community cables.

Nonetheless, ensuring you get the perfect efficiency will be fairly tough. That’s as a result of the Equipment solely helps Wi-Fi 6E, which operates on the 6GHz band. This band has confirmed my expertise to be shorter than 5GHz and a couple of.4GHz.

That stated, ideally, it is best to place the Foremost Entry Level and the Satellite tv for pc no farther than 50 ft (15 m) away inside a line of sight. If that’s not doable, the efficiency degrades an ideal deal. And that was additionally the case in my week-long trial, identical to the 6GHz band of all different Wi-Fi 6E broadcasters.

And that brings us to the “lazy” notion I discussed firstly. When you have positioned the 2 items inside a line of sight or a brief distance, likelihood is you’ll be able to run a community cable and save your self an excessive amount of money.

ARRIS W6B SURFboard Thruster’s efficiency: Quick however could possibly be sooner

The ARRIS W6B SURFboard labored as anticipated in my testing, contemplating the {hardware} configuration. For the reason that Equipment doesn’t help any Wi-Fi shopper, I examined it with a pc linked to the Satellite tv for pc unit’s 2.5Gbps port.

That stated, whereas the 2 may need linked at high Wi-Fi 6E velocity (4.8Gbps), 2.5Gbps is the ceiling velocity. On high of that, it’s powerful to search out out which {hardware} was the bottleneck, one of many items, their ports, or the port on the check laptop.

Nonetheless, the performances you see on the charts above are these you’ll get when you’ve got a Multi-Gig community and a Multi-Gig shopper. In any other case, 1Gbps is the quickest you’ll be able to count on from this set.

The ARRIS W6B handed my 3-day stress check with no disconnection. So it proved to be dependable. Nonetheless, it was noticeable in my electoral check that its efficiency can fluctuate an ideal deal — between 320Mbps and 800Mbps when there have been a few skinny partitions between the 2 items. However that’s fairly regular for the 6GHz band.

Conclusion

The ARRIS W6B Surfboard Thruster Wi-Fi 6E Gaming Acceleration Equipment is a super-expensive solution to keep away from a community cable. It’s even idiotically so.

However even when it’s justified in some way, contemplating it’s primarily a single Wi-Fi connection, you’re higher off upgrading your wired system to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E through an adapter. In reality, it’s cheaper to get the ARRIS W6U and a Wi-Fi 6E card.

However for some motive, when you insist on spending over $300 to get this inflexible method of getting a single wired system linked, the ARRIS W6B Surfboard Thruster will work out effectively (sufficient) regardless of the very fact it is senseless.