Acer Predator Connect W6 review

The upside-down insect look is a popular one among Wi-Fi router manufacturers, who seem to assume that they're something you're going to keep behind the couch or in a cupboard rather than attempt to balance on a narrow shelf near the point at which the internet cabling enters your home.

The aggressive styling can make these devices look incongruous among the other tasteful artefacts you've gathered from trips to Ikea and Habitat, though the use of words such as 'Predator' and 'Killer' don't help either. The names of PC hardware components have been the butt of multiple jokes, but networking equipment has to be some of the most boring kit to receive the kind of title you might expect from an Air Force drone.

Still, they're necessary if we insist on living in the early 21st century, streaming, downloading and otherwise internetting it up. And if you've got a fast fibre connection and the need to transfer data quickly, these so-called 'gaming routers' have a lot to offer. 

Acer's Predator Connect W6 is a Wi-Fi 6E router with the requisite number of little leg pointed into the air (though it can also be wall-mounted, in which case the legs splay out further, giving it the appearance of a large bug that's just hit the paintwork at high speed). There are vents carved into the plastic body (the quad-core CPU is passively cooled), with some LEDs in the shape of the Predator logo buried underneath (these are quite bright, but can be turned off), and a row of five Ethernet ports at the back. 

Wireless standard: Wi-Fi 6E
Max speeds:  600Mbps (2.4GHz), 4.8Gbps (5GHz), 2.4Gbps (6GHz)
MU-MIMO: Yes
Ethernet ports: Four gigabit, inc Game port
WAN: 2.5Gbps
Processor: 2.0GHz quad core
RAM: 1GB
USB: 1x USB 3.1 Type-A
Dimensions: 111 x 265 x 260mm
Weight: 875g
Price: $300 | £300

It's all very standard, though the design of the router means it takes up even more space than you'd expect from something that's basically square, as by having the power input and USB port on one side, and the Ethernet