So, my Linksys EA4500 is pretty much toast. It has a mind of its own and it will only go through the boot cycle whenever it feels like it. I've tried every way to reset it. Sometimes, it will reset but it is easily disrupted if a power interruption or unplugged. In such situations, it becomes a useless piece of junk until I can get it to go through the boot cycle and start working again. I'm assuming it may be damaged as it only works when it wants to. I have been trying in vain to get it to boot for several days now. I am pissed off about it because it is relatively new and was plugged into a surge protector. I don't know if it overheated and blew a circuit or what. So, I'm thinking about giving the big F U to Linksys (albeit the WRT54G was the best router back in the day) because of this situation. Any suggestions on the best performing dual-band Wi-Fi N router available that doesn't have shoddy firmware and has the best performance mostly for both bands? I'm not sure if I should upgrade to Wireless AC at this time or not given not a lot is using it at this time. Don't really need the Gigabit router as I don't do file transfers on my local network. It seems every router I see reviews for...there are two sides with one side saying how great it is and the other side saying how it is unreliable with dropped connections, etc. . I honestly expected the EA4500 to last for years but now I think Linksys is just making bad product these days and people have been complaining about their firmware / cloud set-up they do these days. I think their quality has gone to crap. I'm thinking Netgear. I was open to paying the big bucks for the Netgear Nighthawk Wireless AC router but it's pricey. Can anyone speak on that one and if it's worth it? I'm so mad about my Linksys EA4500 router that I can't even think straight. Paid upwards of $200 for it at the time.
I had a Linksys crap out on me a few years back. I called thier "tech support" and went through all thier worthless troubleshooting. They did however send me a new one at the end of it all. I ended up giving it away because I bought a Netgear before it was delivered. Maybe try that?
I've had this one for the last year... not the biggest fan of it. when you have a lot of connected wifi devices (i have 15-20 in my house) the connection drops intermittently. i've upgraded the f/w and still have this problem. i'm considering replacing it for another router and will bookmark this thread for CF's ideas.
Thanks for the info. We would have 13 devices (five laptops, four phones, three tablets, a Roku box) so the number of devices would be at that level. Right now I am using an old, slow, Cisco Valet Plus, so anything would be an upgrade for me. The Comcast technicians always seem to suggest NetGear routers.
If I still trusted Linksys, then I might try their Wireless AC EA6900. The ad in this thread is telling me it won the PC Editor's Choice Award. LOL. But, I'm not sure I do trust it enough to go with it at this point. I have heard rumblings of overheating issues. I figure it's probably best to get an AC router and fork over the extra dough to be ready as this is the new standard. But, that assumes the router holds up for several years. The top home AC routers seem to be (may be others): Asus RT-AC68U vs Linksys EA6900 vs Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 I'm leaning to the Netgear but need to look into the Asus. The thing about newer model routers is the firmware is usually buggy and hasn't matured.
I have had one of these for at least 2+ years and it has been very good has 8 to 12 devices on it most of the time. It was a very easy setup.
I found a review on Amazon with the following user comments pertaining to the Netgear Nighthawk router: "I was a cisco diehard for so long but after some frustrating experiences with the Linksys "EA4500" I went this route. I have had this router since October 2013, and to this day I haven't had to manually restart the router! It just works... There are a steady stream of firmware updates, that have only improved my experience." This must be a "sign".
ASUS RT-N66U or Apple Airport Extreme AC routers and NIC are still rather new. I would wait for better development from them before spending double the price for one. And unless you have an internet connection greater than 100Mbps, its not very useful.
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-AirStation-HighPower-Wireless-WZR-600DHP/dp/B0096239G0 Buffalo Airstation WZR-600DHP This is what I use. Comes pre-installed with DD-WRT so you get amazing features. I would also recommend the ASUS RT-N66U
Netgear WNDR3400 N600 Dual Band Wireless Router. I get 90+mbps from it. Streams flawlessly. Rarely need to reboot it. And makes any printer AirPrint capable.
I'm throwing my vote for "NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router (R7000)" I had a D-Link DIR-655 before but just continued to have problems for over a year and finally got fed up.. So I did some research and was deciding between the Nighthawk VS Asus RT-N(models)... It was tough decision because both are very similar based upon the review... So I headed down to Fry's and chose the Nighthawk. Also you can pricematch anyprice from NewEgg,Amazon,BestBuy @ Frys.. Ok setup was a breeze and the interface is so user friendly a Grandma can configure it. Just DAMN AMAZING!!!!! Why? Here is my setup. 2.4 Ghz on (2) Android Phone, (2) Iphones, (3) Tablets, (1) Desktop Wi-fi, (2) Laptops Hard-Wired: WesterDigital TV, (3) Ethernet Over Power (2 Desktops and 1 Roku, Xbox One) 5 Ghz on 1 Laptop ( Mine ) ================================ I had 4 Netflix streams running at the same time while downloading 6 seperate torrents for a total of 6.5mb, while surfing youtube on the "SAME" damn laptop that was d/l 6 torrents That has never happened before... I could not even d/l 1 torrent and surf but this thing does it somehow?? No one else is affected by my torrent d/l as well... I couldn't believe it and I still don't.
This is the router I had to replace. I had an earlier revision so that's probably why. I know there's a new hardware revision but the first version was a complete piece of ****. But when it did work, it was excellent.
I love my N66U. It's the best router I've owned. It's definitely the most consistent in terms of performance, and I have yet to have an issue with it in owning it for the past 2 years. I've tried a few different firmwares on it but at the end of the day I ended up sticking with the stock Asus firmware. I agree with you regarding AC routers, I think I'll probably wait another year or so until I look towards one of those especially since I don't own many AC devices.
Yea...but if the capability is there in the router hardware and it's just a matter of maturing the firmware....then it seems reasonable to go ahead and get an AC capable router now rather than wait. However, if the company doesn't mature the firmware as more AC capable devices come on the market in lieu of just putting out newer routers and focusing more on them versus the initial offerings, then...yea...it wouldn't make sense to upgrade now. All I know is if I buy a new router...I expect it to last longer than a year and, ideally, could last up to five years or so. Therefore, to me, it makes sense to buy an AC capable one or else then I would be stuck with a router that can't take advantage of AC at all without having to now buy another one in a year. I dunno...I'm torn. I understand there are a lot of people complaining about firmware and the AC capability now...like it's not working properly meaning it hasn't matured enough. But, the standard is there and the hardware capability is there. So, then it just becomes a function of having properly working software to take advantage. So, if I bought the Nighthawk now...for example...then a year down the road I would expect the firmware to be more mature and be ready for AC devices. But, on the flip side, there would likely be newer routers coming on the market with better processors and even more capability. But, they would still be working with the AC standard unless an even newer one came out (which could happen). I hate dealing with this router stuff. Just reading all the reviews and all....there are always naysayers. You just got to ignore the naysayers in lieu of the overwhelming majority of reviewers who say they like something. But, you always find somebody complaining about a product even if it is a great product. Many users say connectivity range is great and then you have a few who say connectivity range sucks. Who do you believe? The majority if you are smart I guess.
AC is not really an advancement. Its an aggregation of the 5Ghz spectrum. It can bond up to 8 channels at once. Its capability is up to 1Gbps or 500Gbps Full Duplex. AC is not designed for home WiFi. Its designed for wireless backhauls and high traffic coverage. Unless you think you're going to have an internet connection of 600Mbs or greater, its a bit pointless to pay extra for something you cant use. One of the primary reasons why I do not encourage home AC routers is because you are saturating much of the 5Ghz spectrum. All you are doing is creating a bunch of noise and degergating everyone elses connection. If all you have is a 50Mbps or 100Mbps internet connection, an N router handles all of that plus more. With an AC router, you're just creating noise that you can't and will never use until you have an internet connection greater than 600Mbps.
Completely agree with everything you're saying. I've deployed Meraki AC units before and they're hands down amazing, but then again the place I did it for was a hospital and it definitely had gigabit internet service. At home I have a 105mbps connection and just use a Buffalo Airstation. Completely capable.
thanks. i understand the bandwidth constraints at home versus enterprise based on what you are saying. so, yea...you're right. i won't bother forking over the extra cash for the latest in routers. the buffalo model looks like it might be the winner for the price given the 3 year warranty on it (compared to 1 for a Linksys). i may order one of those.
What are folks thoughts on gigabit routers like the Netgear 750 versus the Netgear 600. is the Gigabit connection worth the extra $$?
I got the Asus RT-N66U. It is noticably faster than the Linksys EA4500...especially its 2.4 GHz performance. I did notice the XBox One performs better on the 2.4 GHz band. So, I am not running it on the 5 GHz band due to poor download test speeds. I'm just running everything off the 2.4 GHz network. Even my wired computer connection seems faster. So far...so good. I'm back up, baby! I'm back!
