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Home » Netgear Cax30 vs Motorola MG8702 Which One is Better Value

Netgear Cax30 vs Motorola MG8702 Which One is Better Value

Netgear Cax30 is a wifi 6 router product with a built-in Docsis 3.1 cable modem in one compact device. This product is an addition of previous most popular product offered by Netgear – the Nighthawk Cax80.

In this article:

When the cax30 was released, Arris and Motorola still had not released similar products based on wifi 6 standard. Today you can find Arris products with wifi 6 standard were released with its flagships Surfboards g36 and g34 following its success with Arris surfboard Sbg8300 that come with wifi-5 standard. Meanwhile, Motorola has also released the Motorola mg8725 wifi 6 product continuing its success with Motorola mg8702 that still come with wifi5 standard.

Now back to this cax30 product and compare it with Motorola mg8702, and see which one is more valuable to your business?

Netgear Nighthawk Cax30

Previously, netgear had released the nighthawk cax80 in addition to the mesh gateway version with its product Orbi cbk752 ax4200 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. Netgear always strives to be in the forefront with new technology-based products including modem gateway products with wifi-6 technology where its competitors such as Arris and Motorola had not released similar products at the same time.

Netgear cax80 vs cax30

Unlike Orbi cbk752 which is a mesh gateway with wifi-6 router, both Nighthawk cax80 and cax30 series are wifi 6 routers with built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem, not mesh routers. What is the difference between cax30 and cax80? Please refer to table 1 below which provides specs comparison between the two wifi gateway series.

Netgear Nighthawk cax30 wifi 6 ax2700 cable modem gateway

Different wifi 6 Network Segment

Both are wifi gateway products based on wifi 6 routers, both of which have built-in DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem but have different wifi network segment design. For the needs of a small to medium size home wifi network and for those of you who need an all in one device product, the netgear cax30 is sufficient.

For those of you who need a wifi network with a wider range of around 3000 sq. ft then you can choose cax80 series, of course with faster network performance with ax6000 network. Both support mu-mimo with different number of concurrent data streams. Few models of usb wifi 6 adapters are now available in the market to upgrade your laptops and pc to connect to wifi 6 network.

Of course, cax80 with 8-streams can send data streams to multiple clients faster than cax30 which only 6-streams. Fortunately today you can find there are few models of usb adapters available in the market with wifi-6 technology such as Asus usb-ax56 with 2×2 mu-mimo supports, or few products that you may have never heard of them before such as Mymulike ax1800 usb adapter that the price is almost half the price of asus ax-usb adapter.

Cax80 with 4×4 can send two data streams to two connected devices with USB ax1800 adapters that support 2×2 mu-mimo concurrently.   

Hardware

Although the nighthawk cax80 is designed for higher network segment (ax6000), both of these product series use the same processor in their machine board, embedded with dual core 1.5ghz CPU. Probably we might expect the cax80 series to be equipped with a quad core processor.

Besides that, on the cax80 there is an additional 2.5Gbps super multi Gig Ethernet port that you can use to connect to high speed NAS that comes with 2.5Gbps port as well such as the Asustor Lockerstor 2 AS6602T – 2 Bay NAS.

Table 1 Netgear cax80 vs cax30

Gateway modelsNetgear Nighthawk cax30Netgear Nighthawk cax80
Cable modem certifiedDOCSIS 3.1 cable modem / compatible with 32×8 DOCSIS 3.0DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem / compatible with 32×8 DOCSIS 3.0
Internet speed  Max1Gbps1Gbps
Wifi technologySimultaneous dual band ax2700 wifi -6 with smart connect with 6-streamsSimultaneous dual band ax6000 wifi -6 with smart connect with 8-streams
Signal rate0.9Gbps @2.4GHz 3×3
1.8Gbps @5GHz 3×3
1.2Gbps @2.4GHz 4×4;
4.8Gbps @5GHz 4×4
Coverage2,500 sq ft up to 25 connected devices3,000 sq ft
Ethernet Ports4x Gigabit Ethernet Ports, dual gigabit aggregation4x Gigabit Ethernet Ports, dual gigabit aggregation
1x 2.5Gbps Ethernet Port
USB port1x USB 3.0 port1x USB 3.0 port
Processor1.5GHz dual core processor1.5GHz dual core processor
Dimension10.0 in x 8.3 in x 4.3 in ( 254 mm x 211 mm x 110 mm)10.4 in x 8.5 in x 4.3 in (264 mm x 215 mm x 110 mm)
Weight2.10 lb / 0.95 kg2.55 lb / 1.16 kg
Price in Amazon (Mar 2022)$379.99$369.99

We’ll take netgear cax30 to compare with latest product offered by Motorola which is still based in wifi5 technology – the Motorola mg8702. See also popular cable modem wifi router combo products available in the market today.

Netgear Cax30 vs Motorola MG8702

When the Motorola mg8725 had not been released to the market, the Motorola mg8702 was quite successful in the market and became the main competitor product of this netgear cax30. And today you can find the new release of Motorola mg8725 which works @ the ax6000 network segment with a built-in modem. In this article we only discuss the comparison between cax30 and mg8702 so that you can have an idea which product suits your business needs at home. See also Arris sbg8300 vs netgear c7800.

Motorola Mg8702

Table 2 below shows you spec comparison between Netgear Cax30 and Motorola mg8702 that can be used as reference for spec comparison between the two products.

Network segment

Both products are single wifi router devices with built-in Docsis 3.1 cable modem that can support internet plans up to 1Gbps from your cable provider. The main difference is the wifi technology applied to each product. Motorola mg8702 is still using legacy wifi-5 (wireless ac), while netgear cax30 is already using the latest generation wifi-6 (wireless ax).

There are many questions which is more profitable between a router with wifi ac3200 and a router with ax2700. Regarding total aggregated bandwidth they are certainly different, moreover they are also different in terms of wifi technology applied.

If all your connected devices at home are still based on wifi-5, of course the choice of Motorola mg8702 is more profitable with a wider aggregate bandwidth. However, your gateway router cannot be maximized if some of your new devices are already based on wifi-6. You will find that wifi-5 devices connect faster to wifi-6 router than connect to the same wifi-5 router.

Take a look more details on the following spec comparison table below.

Table 2 Netgear cax30 vs Motorola mg8702

Gateway modelsNetgear cax30Motorola Mg8702
Cable modem certifiedDOCSIS 3.1 cable modem / compatible with 32×8 DOCSIS 3.0 2×2 OFDMA2×2 OFDM DOCSIS 3.1 up to 3.7Gbps downstream / 800Mbps upstream 32x 8 DOCSIS 3.0 compatible
Wifi technologySimultaneous dual band ax2700 wifi -6 with smart connect with 3×3 MU-MIMOSimultaneous dual band AC3200 wave 2 with 4×4 MU-MIMO
Signal rate0.9Gbps @2.4GHz 3×3
1.8Gbps @5GHz 3×3
Up to 2167Mbps @5GHz 4×4
Up to 1,000Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4
Internet planUp to 1GbpsUp to 1Gbps
Ethernet Ports4x Gigabit Ethernet Ports, dual gigabit aggregation4x 1Gigabit LAN Ports  with Auto-MDI/MDIX
USB port1x USB 3.0 port1x USB 3.0 port with DLNA
Compliant withXfinity from Comcast, Spectrum, Cox & moreXfinity from Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox  & more
Processor1.5GHz dual core processorUnknown
Dimension10.0 in x 8.3 in x 4.3 in ( 254 mm x 211 mm x 110 mm)9.5 in x 2.8 in  x 8.8 in (241 mm x 225 mm x 71 mm)
Weight2.10 lb / 0.95 kg30.43 ounces / 862 grams
Price (Dec 2022 in Amazon)$299.99$229.99

In some retails shop you will find additional ‘s’ suffix on cax30 to cax30s means netgear cax30 plus free subscription of 90 days Netgear Armor, network threat protection powered by BitDefender.

Now you will judge which one gives you best value between the two products. Netgear cax30 is ready with the latest wifi 6 technology and works at ax2700 network segment. Click the product link below to read more details and get best deal in Amazon (#ads).

Related products

You may also like to have insights of DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem products offered by Arris and Motorola, see also Motorola vs Arris docsis 3.1 cable modem products.

See also newer wifi 6e technology applied to Asus and Linksys products – Asus et8 vs Linksys Atlas mesh wifi 6e routers. See also middle network segment offered by netgear – Netgear mk83 vs deco x68 ax6600 mesh wifi 6 router.

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