New Linksys Routers are doing it old skool

By Roger H.
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Grand Master

Roger H. Veteran

Posted
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Posted

Yes i spelled skool wrong there :p

Dunno if i'm loving them or not but seems they are trying to relive the glory days of Linksys home routers. Belkin bought the outfit from Cisco recently and now seem to think they can tug at some old hearts regarding the nostalgic look.

Obviously totally different beast on the inside.

 

The 2.4GHz and 5GHz simultaneous dual-band WRT1900AC is powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 256MB of DDR3 RAM. To maximize its range it's got four removable and upgradeable antennas instead of the more common three, as well as USB 2, USB 3, and eSata ports for sharing access to external storage devices.

More importantly, though, is the fact that Linksys is working with the OpenWRT community to ensure that open source firmware is available for the $300 WRT1900AC as soon as it's available sometime this spring.

emphasis added

post-698-0-07201100-1389023532.jpg

post-698-0-52744900-1389023542.jpg

Source: http://gizmodo.com/linksys-revives-a-classic-design-for-its-newest-wireles-1493940643

Grand Master

Brian M. Veteran

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Funny and if Linksys wasn't really annoying me lately i'd consider it. But i'm in the market to replace my EA6500 due to its inability to allow you to log on using Internet Explorer 11. I HATE developers that do checks like that.

I had a recent Linksys and returned it - it was awful. I don't know what direction they were taking with that "cloud software" crap - but it's the most appalling interface I'd ever seen.

Grand Master

scumdogmillionaire

Posted
Posted

I had a recent Linksys and returned it - it was awful. I don't know what direction they were taking with that "cloud software" crap - but it's the most appalling interface I'd ever seen.

 

Yeah, I skip the cloud piece. Don't want any part of that. But I agree, the local UI is still pretty bad, too.

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Yeah that does tug at the old heart strings ;) I still have a wrt54GL running as my G AP so just need to look on top my desk if feel nostalgic - $300 is a bit much for something I would just use as an AP anyway..

But I do like the style ;)

Grand Master

Ironman273

Posted
Posted

I had a recent Linksys and returned it - it was awful. I don't know what direction they were taking with that "cloud software" crap - but it's the most appalling interface I'd ever seen.

I was using an E1500 (I think?) which was giving me a little trouble.  Then I installed Tomato on it and it's been a lot better.  Still looking around, though.

Grand Master

Lord Method Man

Posted
Posted

Funny and if Linksys wasn't really annoying me lately i'd consider it. But i'm in the market to replace my EA6500 due to its inability to allow you to log on using Internet Explorer 11. I HATE developers that do checks like that.

 

Really? :(

 

I was planning on upgrading my old N router to an EA6400 soon. All my systems have IE11. Does changingthe browser mode to IE10 work?

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

Really? :(

 

I was planning on upgrading my old N router to an EA6400 soon. All my systems have IE11. Does changingthe browser mode to IE10 work?

I didn't know that - I upgraded from WNR-3500v1 to WNDR-3700v4 for price/capability reasons - the fact that I can administer it with any router (or from any OS) is a bonus.

Grand Master

TPreston

Posted
Posted

AC is nice but 300$ will buy you an enterprise grade fully managed cisco 802.11N router on ebay.

No. Compatibility mode doesn't solve it unfortunately.

Try changing the IE user agent using gpedit.msc, google it
Grand Master

Praetor

Posted
Posted

300$? woow... for that value i can get an small business wireless router; forget eSata and USB3 (because most don't need it) and the price can go down a lot.

WRT54GL was a great router because of the great 3rd party firmware that could make the router go well beyond; that and it was cheap.

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

My WRT54GL is still going strong. Faster wireless would be nice but I can't seem to find a suitable (not terribly expensive) upgrade.

A while back I picked this up

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WDR3600-Wireless-Gigabit-300Mbps/dp/B008RV51EE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I got it for $42 after a $10 rebate which I could not pass up - the native firmware was horrendous!!! But dd-wrt went on it very quick and easy and its been quite stable and for $42 quite a bargain. $55 not all that bad - but I see your not in the US, so not sure what it might cost where your at.

I still use my wrt54gl for G (son's older laptop) - but all other devices in the house support N, some even 5ghz so works out fine for my needs. Been happy with the performance (with dd-wrt, not native firmware). Also I just use it as wireless AP - its is not my edge device.

Grand Master

D. S. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

A while back I picked this up

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WDR3600-Wireless-Gigabit-300Mbps/dp/B008RV51EE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I got it for $42 after a $10 rebate which I could not pass up - the native firmware was horrendous!!! But dd-wrt went on it very quick and easy and its been quite stable and for $42 quite a bargain. $55 not all that bad - but I see your not in the US, so not sure what it might cost where your at.

I still use my wrt54gl for G (son's older laptop) - but all other devices in the house support N, some even 5ghz so works out fine for my needs. Been happy with the performance (with dd-wrt, not native firmware). Also I just use it as wireless AP - its is not my edge device.

 

I can get it for around 60-70? so it's not a bad price. Can't be bothered to make the upgrade though, I have Cat6 to everywhere and it's not worth it just to have the laptop in the room. Maybe when I finally pick up a tablet :D

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Can't be bothered to make the upgrade though

I hear yeah - I don't really use wireless for anything other then simple browsing and tablet access, etc. I would of been fine with just G since my internet speed is only about 25Mbps and G is only a few mbps slower.

But for the price I couldn't pass it up for a way move to N ;) My devices that move data are all wired.. But ###### $40, I drop that in after work beers sometimes so figured what the F...

With Belkin behind it, its going to be an uphill battle to get people to buy it, and at $300 I find it highly unlikely.. Now if they would sell it at closer to ~$100 they would prob fly off the shelves with those specs and 3rd party firmware support.

Proficient

grunger106

Posted
Posted

I had a WRT54G back in the day, but for $300..... (?230) you can easily snag a Cisco 800 series ISR (in fact more like ?100 for one) and an Aironet N AP (possibly even with cash to spare for antennas of your choice) which will give you far more flexablity,,,

 

I don't understand this kind of stuff, its too expensive for home users, and anyone in the SME market would go Cisco, Sonicwall, Zyxel, Juniper, for that kind of money.... (or PfSense)

Grand Master

_neutrino Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
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I saw this a few days ago and i am not a fan of the design compared to the current models. not to mention it looks as though it is going to take up a fair bit of space. However, i am loving that they are working with OpenWRT that is fantastic. they have a much more active community than either Tomato or DD-WRT (which i am currently using on my Linksys 3000)

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Praetor

Posted
Posted

I had a WRT54G back in the day, but for $300..... (?230) you can easily snag a Cisco 800 series ISR (in fact more like ?100 for one) and an Aironet N AP (possibly even with cash to spare for antennas of your choice) which will give you far more flexablity,,,

 

I don't understand this kind of stuff, its too expensive for home users, and anyone in the SME market would go Cisco, Sonicwall, Zyxel, Juniper, for that kind of money.... (or PfSense)

 

you are dead right: it's not for the home user and it's not for the SOHO/SME, so i don't know which is the target for this product.

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