Linksys WRT1900AC Thoughts?

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I am going to be buying a new router soon for my new place and I am not sure what I want.

 

I was going to go for a nice design, with still being fairly high end with the DIR-868L from D-Link, but of course the new WRT1900AC came out.

 

I am still using one of the old WRT54GL routers, and loved using it. I know it does not exactly have third party firmware yet, that's of no concern. It seems to have amazing specs, but, does anyone have experience?

 

I have read reviews, they are all fairly good, just wondering if anyone here has used it, bought it? Is it worth the higher price point, or will it be worth that price point.

[tbarnett]

the WRT1900AC is just not worth that much money.  Wait for 802.11ac to be ratified before even thinking about buying one.  It's not like your devices are using it...

 

And consider buying a router you can use DD-WRT on.  I've flashed all my routers with DD-WRT for a much better experience.

[T3X4S]

It all depends on what you want out of a router, or basically what you want to do with it.

If it is just a firewall & a way to connect everything - than the high end isnt needed.

If you want the best consumer stuff - I can think of 3 that are @ the top:
1.) Asus' AC router
2.) Netgear Blackhawk
3.) The Linksys you mentioned

Of course these are all the most expensive of consumer routers.

The Linksys is open source, so there is a real good chance it will be ported to DD-WRT
But, as barnett mentioned - unless you have AC or plan on doing AC - then its kinda pointless in a way.

If you plan on tweaking every config, something already ported to DD-WRT might be necessary.

However, to say something is not worth it is not something others can tell you if it is or isnt.   Only you can answer that
If $250 is no big deal for a router - then its probably worth it.
But if you are going to connect your desktop, your phone, and maybe 1 tablet or laptop in a small area - it might be overkill if $250 is above your budget...

 

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Thanks guys on your reason to get the router, but that is not what I asked.

I was seeing if anyone here has used it and what their thoughts are. I guess they can't tell me if it's worth it or not, but they can tell me what they think of it.

 

I have the Asus AC router, and it's a dud, basically does not work, I know it's probably just the one, but I now have a  bad feeling with it so I will not get another one.

 

:)

[Jeston Veteran]

I pre-ordered the WRT1900AC and have had it for a few weeks now. It is a very nice router to begin with. However, I did have a couple problems with it. I had a very hard time getting my phone to connect via wireless AC. It seemed to keep trying to connect to the AC radio via 2.4GHz causing problems. I'm not sure which device is to blame as this marks the first time I connected my phone to an AC connection. Anyway, a few wipes of the router and phone later, everything works perfectly.

 

I was very bummed when I started reading about the lackluster "open source firmware compatibility." Since the WiFi chip is made by Marvell, Linksys, and in turn, the OpenWRT developers, are having a difficult time getting the source for the driver as Marvell is known not to release them. This is the main reason DD-WRT doesn't come to a lot of routers. If they aren't Broadcom, they aren't worth trying for them. However, Linksys claims to be working with Marvell on getting them to release the source for it, and if that happens, this thing will be perfect. There have been a few builds made using the binary blobs that Linksys have supplied, but they are having WiFi connection problems. See here.

 

The router itself is great, but it can really use some third party firmware. The stock firmware is just too limiting. I'm holding on to mine in hopes that things will eventually really start rocking for this thing.

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Awesome thanks. That is what I was looking for.

So when you say "limiting" or the stock firmware, what exactly are you referring too?

 

As for the phone, I have used my phone on AC routers, and no issue, so it may be the device, but I'd say it's the phone.

 

 

I pre-ordered the WRT1900AC and have had it for a few weeks now. It is a very nice router to begin with. However, I did have a couple problems with it. I had a very hard time getting my phone to connect via wireless AC. It seemed to keep trying to connect to the AC radio via 2.4GHz causing problems. I'm not sure which device is to blame as this marks the first time I connected my phone to an AC connection. Anyway, a few wipes of the router and phone later, everything works perfectly.

 

I was very bummed when I started reading about the lackluster "open source firmware compatibility." Since the WiFi chip is made by Marvell, Linksys, and in turn, the OpenWRT developers, are having a difficult time getting the source for the driver as Marvell is known not to release them. This is the main reason DD-WRT doesn't come to a lot of routers. If they aren't Broadcom, they aren't worth trying for them. However, Linksys claims to be working with Marvell on getting them to release the source for it, and if that happens, this thing will be perfect. There have been a few builds made using the binary blobs that Linksys have supplied, but they are having WiFi connection problems. See here.

 

The router itself is great, but it can really use some third party firmware. The stock firmware is just too limiting. I'm holding on to mine in hopes that things will eventually really start rocking for this thing.

[Jeston Veteran]

Awesome thanks. That is what I was looking for.

So when you say "limiting" or the stock firmware, what exactly are you referring too?

 

As for the phone, I have used my phone on AC routers, and no issue, so it may be the device, but I'd say it's the phone.

I'm talking about the stock firmware from Linksys that ships on the router. My main problem with it is the small number of port forwarding you can do. I have a lot of devices and services that I forward to the appropriate ports and I've had to shave off about half of the lesser used ones because of the limit they put on it.

 

There's also a lot less info you can learn on stock versus what I'm used to with dd-wrt. I can't even find out what connection all my devices are using. I just have to assume my phone is connecting to AC instead of N. By the way, there is no option to force the 5.0GHz radio to be AC only. Can only set it to be N only, A/N only, or mixed (the only way to even make AC an option). Same goes for setting channel bandwidth for the radio. Can't select just 80MHz for AC connections. Only 20, 40, or auto, with auto being the only way to get 80MHz for AC connection.

 

I'm sure there are other things I'm not mentioning that have irritated me, but that's all I can think of right now. Despite these problems, I still don't regret buying it.

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Good to know, but interested in the exact amount of forwarded ports they allow. As for now, that would actually be my only requirement, at least in terms of anything that could be missing.

 

I need at least 4.

 

 

I'm talking about the stock firmware from Linksys that ships on the router. My main problem with it is the small number of port forwarding you can do. I have a lot of devices and services that I forward to the appropriate ports and I've had to shave off about half of the lesser used ones because of the limit they put on it.

 

There's also a lot less info you can learn on stock versus what I'm used to with dd-wrt. I can't even find out what connection all my devices are using. I just have to assume my phone is connecting to AC instead of N. By the way, there is no option to force the 5.0GHz radio to be AC only. Can only set it to be N only, A/N only, or mixed (the only way to even make AC an option). Same goes for setting channel bandwidth for the radio. Can't select just 80MHz for AC connections. Only 20, 40, or auto, with auto being the only way to get 80MHz for AC connection.

 

I'm sure there are other things I'm not mentioning that have irritated me, but that's all I can think of right now. Despite these problems, I still don't regret buying it.

[Jeston Veteran]

Good to know, but interested in the exact amount of forwarded ports they allow. As for now, that would actually be my only requirement, at least in terms of anything that could be missing.

I need at least 4.

There's either 12 or 16, so you're covered there.

[JJ_]

Wait for 802.11ac to be ratified before even thinking about buying one.

It already has been.. months ago

[primexx]

I wonder if Belkin managed to take the quality back along with the asthetic.

[T3X4S]

I wonder if Belkin managed to take the quality back along with the asthetic.

You mean Linksys ?

[sc302 Veteran]

Stay far away from all linksys models. 

 

We have 4 of the ea6900 models and all of them suffer the same issue regardless if it is on dd-wrt or the standard linksys firmware....they stop passing traffic after about a day and require a reboot to send packets again.  Oh and the dd-wrt sometimes reverts back to the linksys firmware, that's fun.  The routers are junk, we have since gone to netgear nighthawks and have been solid we have 4 of them to replace the linksys garbage, believe me it was an utter disappointment that these were garbage. 

 

read the reviews on new egg about the ea6900...it really is a piece of crap

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124505

 

Many others stating that this needs to be restarted constantly on dslreports and other forums.  I would stay far away from the ea6900 or the ea6500.

 

The old linksys stood for quality, the new linksys stands for garbage.   I have a ea6500 first gen that behaves the same way.

 

netgear nighthawk

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122581

 

This is the largest soho router I have come across. 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Stay far away from all linksys models. 

 

We have 4 of the ea6900 models and all of them suffer the same issue regardless if it is on dd-wrt or the standard linksys firmware....they stop passing traffic after about a day and require a reboot to send packets again.  Oh and the dd-wrt sometimes reverts back to the linksys firmware, that's fun.  The routers are junk, we have since gone to netgear nighthawks and have been solid we have 4 of them to replace the linksys garbage, believe me it was an utter disappointment that these were garbage. 

 

read the reviews on new egg about the ea6900...it really is a piece of crap

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124505

 

Many others stating that this needs to be restarted constantly on dslreports and other forums.  I would stay far away from the ea6900 or the ea6500.

 

The old linksys stood for quality, the new linksys stands for garbage.   I have a ea6500 first gen that behaves the same way.

you do realize that the wrt1900ac is the first new Linksys model since Belkin took control of Linksys from Cisco right?

 

basically saying none of those models you listed have any basis on this new router model

 

all those bad models were from when Cisco owned Linksys

 

You mean Linksys ?

Belkin bought Linksys from Cisco. that's what he's referring to. this is their first new model since the purchase

[sc302 Veteran]

Is it still on preorder?  Would like to see linksys get their quality back. 

 

Based on the previous track history of their hardware/firmware I would still not bank on them releasing a quality product.  Different owner, same name does not always equate to a better product.  cisco, in the early linksys years, did a great job with the routers...when they went to their cloud based firmware it all went to hell, not everything belongs in the cloud.

[Steven]

I've had mine since release day. I'm not a overly savy user when it comes to networking.  It's fast, I can watch movies and play games without a hitch. I bought it for the nostagia from having the original WRT54GL for the last 10 years and wanted an upgrade.

It's a solid router. I updated the firmware when I first installed it.  It's nice to see all my devices such as my TV, iPhone 5S, iPad Air AppleTV, and Dish Hopper DVR running in 5GHz mode. :)

[T3X4S]

I had no idea Cisco sold Linksys.  The Exec VP of North America consumer products for Cisco  (he ran Linksys) was a neighbor of my parents - I hadnt seen him in a while when I'd visit my parents - I guess he moved, for all I know - he was a drug dealer and made up that title :/

Regardless, it seems like a smart move on Belkin's part - Linksys has been sucky for the last couple of years, so they get Linksys and a fair price since Cisco wants to dump the dead weight - and Belkin's first move is to bring back the old workhorse design that everybody recognized as the flagship for consumer network gear --

Or did this go down differently ?  Heck I dunno

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I just picked it up. Won't be able to set it up or play with it until the 20th of May, but I am excited.

 

Definitely expensive, but awesome.

[Brian M. Veteran]

I had a Linksys EA6700 for a short while but I returned it because of the horrific "smart" software it came with. It was by far the worst router interface I have ever used.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

i'll be picking one of these up this afternoon and should hopefully be able to play with it this evening

[Brandon H Supervisor]

so i got it set up today and this thing runs wonderfully. was using a motorola modem/wireless router combo before that could only do g speeds. now i just disabled its wireless and am using the linksys

 

the linksys hasn't increased my speeds for internet much (didn't really expect it to due to having the "preferred" plan on cox) but my internal network is so much faster now. only have a few devices that can make use of the ac but even the rest now can at least now use n instead of g so it helps. even plugged in a usb 3 harddrive to the router and can flawlessly stream HD mkv files (even w/ built in subtitles ). tested this w/ xbmc on an apple tv 2

[tbarnett]

It already has been.. months ago

you are correct - January - I was not aware.  make sure your hardware supports the new standard, and not the draft...