One of Acer’s first forays into home networking tech, the Acer Predator Connect W6 Wi-Fi 6E router certainly has some issues, but the company seems to be on the right track to be an interesting enthusiast option. Still, to win over the nerdier gamer crowd, Acer Predator needs to prove that it’s more than an ROG copycat, and to be frank, the Predator Connect W6 doesn’t quite clear that bar. With an impressive tri-band AXE7800 Wi-Fi 6E configuration, I expected good things — but with dropped connections on my smart TV and weaker than expected coverage, I’m a bit disappointed.

Acer has laid the foundation for a great router with a good, common-sense configuration for a gaming router with Intel’s Killer Prioritization Engine and security from Trend Micro. While playing and downloading games, performance was generally strong and reasonably lag-free considering I primarily play with friends in other time zones. However, I can’t ignore the frustrating experience I had with some devices, like my smart TV, that frequently lost connection to the Acer, which isn’t common at all when I test routers.

About this review: Acer provided the Predator Connect W6 for the purpose of this review. Acer had no input into the content of this review.

Price and availability

The Acer Predator Connect W6 has been available since early 2023 with a suggested retail price of $300, though the router can often be found for less on sale. It can be found at multiple retailers such as Amazon and Walmart as well as on Acer’s own web store. For an AXE7800 router, the price is very competitive, especially with the free security software included. That being said, it lacks the powerful parental controls of some best Wi-Fi routers from brands such as Asus and TP-Link.

Design and hardware

Compact design with plenty of speed for gamers

The Acer Predator W6 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6E router with a fairly beefy AXE7800 connection. That breaks down to 574Mbps at 2.4GHz, 4804Mbps at 5GHz, and 2402Mbps at 6GHz for its total capacity. Acer has allocated more bandwidth to the 5GHz band with 160MHz support, which I feel is a good move since most of our devices still use 5GHz. If you have a Wi-Fi 6E gaming machine, however, 6GHz is a better choice as it will have way less congestion to deal with.

It’s worth keeping in mind that 6GHz Wi-Fi isn’t the silver bullet many of us were hoping for when Wi-Fi 6E first came out. The problem is that 6GHz Wi-Fi simply doesn’t have as much coverage as 5GHz. You’ll find that 6GHz coverage falls off more quickly than 5GHz and 2.4GHz, so if you’re trying to get connected multiple rooms away from the router, it may not be the right option. Still, moving some of your tech over to 6GHz frees up capacity at 5GHz, so it can still be a benefit to gamers.

Getting back to the router, I like the physical design with its fairly compact layout and high-quality plastics. It feels sturdy and well-made. In the center, the ventilation holes are lit up with RGB lighting in the shape of the Acer Predator logo. One thing to note is that the RGB shows the quality of your signal and available channels, so for most people, it will be green or blue most of the time. Interestingly, each antenna also gets a light to assist with manual calibration.

On one side, there’s a standard barrel jack for power and five Ethernet ports. The primary WAN port is capable of 2.5Gbps speeds, so if you’re upgrading to an internet connection over 1Gbps or already have a multi-gig wired network set up, you just need to plug in. The 2.5Gbps port must be used for your incoming connection, and you can’t use one of the other Ethernet ports for WAN. Still, it's a nice option to have, as more ISPs, including cable providers like Xfinity and fiber providers like AT&T, are offering internet packages over 1Gbps.

One of the four open gigabit Ethernet ports is marked specifically as a game port, so you can easily prioritize your gaming PC or console if you have an Ethernet run.

The antennas are fairly small, but fully adjustable, so if you’ve got the patience, you can set it up for your home’s layout. I did notice that, in general, the Wi-Fi signal wasn’t particularly strong around my home with my phone and computers showing a lower signal strength than I normally see. The signal quality was more similar to a compact mesh router than a full-size router. That, however, doesn’t tell the whole story, and we’ll need to look at the actual speed results before passing judgment.

What was a greater concern is that my Vizio smart TV had trouble staying connected to this router, which I haven’t really experienced on another router before. Even after forcing it to the 2.4GHz band, the issue persisted. I connected the TV to my backup connection, and it worked like normal. It wasn’t until I tried to connect the TV back to the Acer that the issue returned. I have to say, compatibility issues with a new router and the random cheap Wi-Fi chipsets found in smart TVs aren’t unique to this router, but it could be very frustrating to a novice user.

I noticed a few other devices dropping connection for just a moment, but it seemed to resolve before there were any issues. And when it really mattered, the connection was as reliable as I could ask for. For example, I had a couple of multi-hour online gaming sessions with my friends on this router and didn’t have a single issue. In fact, gaming performance on this router is a highlight and, with the right QoS settings, could be a big improvement for those gaming on a shared connection. The issue is that the same statement could be said about most of the best Wi-Fi routers available.

Setup and software

Set it up with or without the app

During my time with the Acer Predator W6, the router received a firmware update to version w6_2.11.340517 which didn’t provide any major improvements that I noticed, but it’s encouraging to see Acer supporting this router.

Setup was reasonably quick and easy with the web browser or app. The software guides you through the necessary steps to get started, so even if you haven’t set up your own router before, you should be able to follow along with some patience. Despite using plenty of high-contrast colors, the interface keeps things simple, and that’s a good thing. With some other brands trying to shove subscriptions down your throat every time you open the app, it’s nice to see that Acer’s Wi-Fi router sticks to Wi-Fi.

I have no major complaints about the design and performance of Acer’s user interface and found it reasonably easy to find the settings I was looking for. If I had to pick something to complain about, I’m not necessarily a fan of having so many hover menus when there’s plenty of screen real estate available.

The Wi-Fi settings feel complete with advanced options allowing the user to choose which channels they would like, and the width of that channel. This is important for users looking for 160MHz support at 5GHz, as DFS will need to be enabled. DFS uses spectrum typically reserved for other uses, such as RADAR at an airport, that can be used if there are no other signals detected. For most people, that just means a longer startup time for the 5GHz band after a reboot since it has to scan for other signals first, but it’s a worthwhile trade-off for the extra speed and your tech can simply use 2.4GHz or 6GHz in the meantime.

While the app also has access to most of these settings, some of the more advanced options are lacking, such as setting the channel width or checking for firmware updates. If you want to make sure you're using the latest software, make sure you connect from your PC.

If you want to build a mesh, it’s possible with Acer’s software, though I didn’t have a second router to test it. Acer allows you to set the main router as a controller with up to three other routers acting as agents. It’s worth remembering, though, that you will be sharing your Wi-Fi capacity between your connected devices and the mesh connection, so you may lose some speed if used as a mesh. It's a bit of a drag that Acer didn't use something like EasyMesh with a healthier selection of potential nodes, but I don't blame the company for putting its software developers' focus elsewhere on this router.

When it comes to security, you get lifetime security powered by Trend Micro which features malicious site blocking to keep people from visiting known bad sites, network attack blocking to add protection to devices with known security flaws, and IoT security. This is a welcome addition as IoT devices, like smart plugs and smart lights, can have vulnerabilities that can’t or won’t be updated.

A decent set of parental controls are included, but they’re far from the most powerful I’ve seen. By device, you can filter adult content, instant messaging and communication, P2P and file transfer, and streaming sites. I would have liked to see some scheduling, timeout, and time reward options here as well. I would also have liked to see the ability to create profiles, so I could assign devices and control access per family member rather than per device.

Acer’s QoS is a high point with its Hybrid QoS that allows you to assign devices to a category. You can set devices to extreme, high, normal, and low with the extreme option being intended for games. The second option is for GeForce Now optimization for game streaming with Nvidia, though this feature disables the TrendMicro engine used for security. Finally, the Max Throughput setting more or less disables the QoS giving as much speed as possible to all devices.

For the most part, I stuck with the Max Throughput setting and was happy with the performance. With my gigabit fiber connection and Wi-Fi 6 gaming PC, I didn’t notice any significant lag spikes or prioritization issues, but these QoS settings are still welcome for those with a slower connection and more people using it.

Wireless performance

It's fast, but may not cover the whole house

I tested the Predator Connect W6 on a gigabit home internet connection and was generally satisfied with download speeds, though upload speeds left a lot to be desired. Speed tests were conducted with the router’s QoS set to Max Throughput for optimal speeds. While I didn’t expect to get full gigabit upload speeds on a phone, I saw speeds under 100Mbps more often than I’d like, especially in the bedroom testing location where I also have my gaming PC.

Since this is a gaming router, ping times are important, and I saw little difference in internet tests compared to other routers. While wired latency was always a bit lower, that’s to be expected. Pinging the router directly from a Wi-Fi 6 Windows and Mac laptop, results between 1ms and 2ms were returned, which should be fine for gaming, considering most of your latency will occur outside your home.

While 6GHz Wi-Fi is making its way to more devices with Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 phones, most people are still using 5GHz most of the time. Smart home tech, like smart bulbs, and smart switches mostly use 2.4GHz. While the 2.4GHz results look low, they’re in line with other similarly priced Wi-Fi 6 routers and still plenty fast for the smart home tech that will use it most of the time.

Acer Predator Connect W6 5GHz speed test (upload/download)

Acer Predator Connect W6 2.4GHz speed test (upload/download)

Overall, the performance of the router was solid with speeds that weren’t great, but fast enough for working from home, downloading large files, and online gaming. Performing a few tests using the Fast app from Netflix yielded similar speed results and is suitable for 4K streaming.

The Predator Connect W6 has a total capacity of AXE7800 which breaks down to 574Mbps at 2.4GHz, 4804Mbps at 5GHz, and 2402Mbps at 6GHz. Acer has chosen to prioritize the 5GHz band which makes sense for most homes that will only have a handful of 6GHz-capable devices for the next few years. If you're upgrading to get the best 6GHz Wi-Fi experience, a Wi-Fi 7 router with up to 320MHz of bandwidth might be a better fit. Even so, with 160MHz support, this router supports the full connection speed of most Wi-Fi 6E devices, such as the Asus PCE-AXE59BT, at 2402Mbps.

Acer Predator Connect W6 6GHz speed test (upload/download)

While these speeds were generally high and should be fine for game downloads, online gaming, and even simultaneous streaming to Twitch, these results also outline the Predator Connect W6’s biggest issue — its coverage. At 6GHz, speeds fell off sharply in the garage where a thick insulated wall stands between the router and testing location, which isn't too surprising.

Even at 5GHz, this router simply doesn’t have the reach of most other routers I’ve tested in this category. When I’m moving around my home, signal quality is generally lower. I hooked up a mid-range Wi-Fi 6 router, the Asus RT-AX82U, to confirm and in all three testing locations, the Acer fell short.

It must be said, Acer has included an interesting optimization tool using the LED lights on the top of the router to help you calibrate your antennas. With this tool, users place the laptop or phone that was used to connect to the router's software in the location they're trying to optimize. Then the antennas and router orientation can be adjusted. This tool can be quite useful for stationary devices like a gaming PC, but can’t fully make up for the underwhelming coverage which makes this router impossible to recommend for a large home, but still could be a good fit for someone in an apartment or small house.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Connect W6?

You should buy it if…

• You want a fast gaming router with a 6GHz band.
• You want free network security from Trend Micro.
• You want to set up your router without an app.

You shouldn’t buy it if…

• You have a large home.
• You have multi-gig wired LAN devices.
• You want in-depth parental controls.

There’s no doubt that the Predator Connect W6 has issues that need to be ironed out with some updates, and there’s a good chance that Acer will pull off those updates, but I’m not ready to recommend this router over something from Asus, Netgear, or TP-Link. In my extended period testing this router, Acer did release an update that seemed to improve the overall experience, but not entirely.

When it comes down to it, the Connect W6 feels like an attempt to capture more of the gaming market that was being dominated by ROG and Nighthawk-branded routers. A couple of years ago, the level of sophistication brought by Acer’s routers would have been praised, but competition has grown so much, that it feels like too little and too late. The biggest problem with the Acer Predator Connect W6 isn’t the router itself, it’s the competition.