Acer Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: super-fast Wi-Fi 7 router for hardcore gamers

Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: One-Minute Review

Acer is well-known for its Predator range of gaming PCs and displays, but the company also makes a number of Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems that are designed for gaming as well. There are several models in the Predator range, including some very affordable Wi-Fi 6 routers, but at the top of the range is the blazing fast Predator Connect T7 Mesh Router, which Acer claims can provide ‘wired-level latency’ for serious gamers with lightning fast reflexes, potentially making it one of the best gaming routers money can buy.

Its rigidly rectangular design may not be much to look at, but the T7 provides state-of-the-art Wi-Fi performance, with tri-band Wi-Fi 7 that offers a top speed of 11Gbps. And, as the name suggests, you can buy additional T7 routers and use them together to create a far-reaching mesh wi-fi system for larger homes.

Admittedly, those features will probably be overkill for many people – especially if you’re still using older computers and mobile devices that don’t have full support for Wi-Fi 7 – but the T7 is competitively priced for a high-end router, and will certainly appeal to the hard-core gaming audience.

Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Price And Availability

• How much does it cost? $329.99/£236.22/AU$699
• When is it available? Now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Tracking down Acer products can sometimes be a little tricky, as it often relies on third-party retailers to stock its products. Customers in the US are fortunate as they can buy the T7 direct from Acer’s own website for $329.99, which is a similar price to Netgear’s Nighthawk RS300 that runs at 9.3GBps.

We were also pleased to find that the T7 doesn’t require an additional subscription for parental controls and security features, so it’s certainly competitively priced for such a high-end model. Customers in the UK, Australia and other regions will have to look around online, with the T7 selling for £236.22/AU$699 on Amazon and other sites.

Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Design

• Mini-tower design, available in black or white
• 2.5Gb Ethernet for broadband connection
• 2x Gigabit Ethernet for wired (LAN) connections

The T7 has a fairly subdued design for a gaming router. You do get a choice of a black or white for the main casing, and there’s a stylised ‘mask’ LED on the top panel, but this is primarily used to provide status information, and the T7 doesn’t have the over-the-top RGB lighting and effects offered by some of its gaming rivals.

Instead, the T7 opts for a rather staid rectangular obelisk that stands an imposing 212mm high, so you’ll need a shelf or table with quite a bit of room available when you’re setting it up.

One minor oddity is that the On/Off switch is cunningly hidden on the base of the router, while the power connector is more visible on the back panel. The Quickstart guide and the longer PDF manual that we downloaded from Acer’s website both fail to mention this, simply telling you to plug in the power connector and then download the Predator app. That left me wondering why the router wasn’t working when I first plugged it in – until I turned it upside down and found the power switch lurking below.

The back panel isn’t exactly overflowing with other ports and connectors, either. There’s a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port for a high-speed broadband connection, but it’s disappointing that such a high-end router only includes two 1Gb Ethernet ports to provide a wired connection for a PC or games console. There’s a USB-C port on the back as well, which will allow you to connect a hard drive or other storage device to you network. Again, though, this only supports the aging USB 2.0 standard, which is disappointing.

Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Features

It’s also slightly irritating that you’re forced to create an account with Acer before you can use the Predator Connect app to get started. However, the app does provide a number of useful features that will appeal to gamers and more experienced users. Many routers aimed at a more general audience will try to keep things simply by merging the router’s different frequency bands into a single network, but the T7 creates three separate networks using the 2.4GHz, 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands. This allows you to reserve the high-speed 6.0GHz band for gaming, while you connect other devices to the 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz bands.

There’s a QoS option – quality of service – that allows you to prioritise high-bandwidth tasks such as gaming or streaming video for specific devices. The T7 even provides useful security features and parental controls without requiring an additional subscription as some of its rivals do.

The app is a little jargon-heavy at times, and if you don’t know what ‘band steering’ or ‘NAT acceleration’ mean then you might struggle with the app at times. Acer’s manual also makes the rookie mistake of simply listing features without really explaining how they work, so you will need a bit of network know-how to make the most of the Predator app.

Predator Connect T7 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router: Performance

• Tri-band Wi-Fi 7
• Top speed of 11Gbps
• QoS to prioritise gaming

The T7 creates three networks on different frequency bands, but with its top speed of 11Gbps it comes as no surprise to find that it walks all over my aging office router even on the slowest 2.4GHz band.

Our office Internet service provides a top speed of 150Mbps, but my normal router can only manage 80Mbps on the 2.4GHz band when running the Ookla speed test even for devices that are close by in the same room as the router.

Steam downloads are even worse with a sustained speed of only 40Mbps. The 5.0GHz band is slightly better but can still only manage 120Mbps on the Ookla speed test, and 100Mbps for Steam downloads. Even worse is the fact that both frequency bands struggle to reach an office at the back of the building, forcing me to use Ethernet cables to provide a wired connection instead.

Unsurprisingly, the T7 takes this in its stride. Its slower 2.4GHz band hits 125Mbps for both Ookla and Steam downloads in both locations, while the 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands simply shrug their shoulders and give us a pitying look as they breeze along at the maximum speed of 150Mbps even in our back office deadzone.

Admittedly, the T7’s top speed of 11Gbps will be massive overkill for many homes, but if you’re a keen gamer who wants fast, lag-free Wi-Fi for competitive gaming, then the Predator T7 is hard to beat. Then again, it’s a router that’s not strictly going to be for today’s gaming (or business) market, but for the near future (or enthusiasts) instead. If you want to be on the cutting edge, you can be for a price.

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

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