Linksys EA9300 Max-Stream AC4000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router Reviewed

[thiggins]

Linksys' EA9300 Max-Stream AC4000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router tries to spiff up the 3x3 "tri-band" router market with higher link rates, MU-MIMO and a much more powerful CPU.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

 

[mokodi]

The EA9200 had poor test results for 5ghz. Not sure I’d recommend it.

Costco has the R7900 with the same processor for $199

 

[thiggins]

The EA9200 had poor test results for 5ghz. Not sure I’d recommend it.

The review does not recommend the EA9200.

 

[sfx2000]

5 GHz downlink clearly shows something wrong with the EA9300's performance. I've been working since early June with Linksys and octoScope to try to track down the source of the problem. The BCM4365 radio SoC was suspected at first. But the NETGEAR R7000P uses the same device and clearly doesn't have a problem. This could just be an incompatibility between the QCA-based octoScope Pal test client and Broadcom's new 3x3 AC radio SoC that won't be seen in real-world use. But since the R7000P works fine, there could also be an issue in Linksys' implementation. I've told Linksys I'll retest the product if they resolve the problem.

At first glance...

That doesn't look like an issues with the PAL cards as clients, that looks like a channel estimation issue - leakage somewhere along the path perhaps, or a bad link estimation threshold on the driver used in the Linksys firmware...

 

[thiggins]

That doesn't look like an issues with the PAL cards as clients

Linksys is still pursuing the issue.

 

[pete y testing]

and at the normal mans level , i think linsys may have lost its place in the chewing order and in reality has a quite lower playing field these days , the days of the wrt54gl are gone and if linksys dont do something special imho its all over linksys and im sad about that , there was a day that linksys was the head of the field , these days it just feels they are chasing the pack

pete

 

[Jam2]

Agreed, Linksys used to be high quality routers with good performance. It appears that for several years now, they have released routers for sale that the end user is the beta tester. Some have had problems with units that are never resolved. They just intro another model of router and hope consumers just move to the new model. This great brand will eventually be damaged by consumers that will move on to another brand. I have been a loyal Linksys supporter and router customer for years. The cost of routers have continually increased to the point that they are not just throw away products in hopes that the next model will be better than your current model. Thanks Tim for your router testing to keep us informed.

 

[thiggins]

Linksys is by no means alone in using its customers as beta testers. The unfortunate state of the consumer Wi-Fi router business is that the industry doesn't wait for specs to be finalized any more. Even when specs are finalized, there are so many opportunities for different spec interpretations and implentations that interoperability problems are almost inevitable.

The interoperability test matrix is mind-boggling at this point and will continue to get worse with 802.11ax around the corner. Even with the very limited testing I do, I'm finding test time increase to the point where I'm reviewing fewer products. So I feel a tiny bit of the pain Wi-Fi router makers do.

Chip vendors race to get to market first, then push their customers (the router manufacturers) to get new technology (11ac, MU-MIMO, etc.) into their products ASAP.

Router makers, in turn, push not-fully-baked products to market, bowing to pressure on one end from the chip makers and retailers (BestBuy, Amazon, etc.) on the other end, to get new stuff on the shelves with higher numbers on the boxes because that's what sells.

Behavior will not change unless buyers break the cycle and leave stuff on the shelves. Unfortunately, with social media and YouTube "stars" pumping the hype machine, and people still being sucked in by inflated speed numbers, things won't change anytime soon.

All knowledgeable buyers can do is do their homework, choose carefully, upgrade their devices and don't get fooled by the numbers on product boxes.

 

[ndrp]

What is the idle power comsumption?

 

[thiggins]

What is the idle power comsumption?

I don't measure power consumption. These things typically draw under 10W.

 

[ndrp]

I don't measure power consumption. These things typically draw under 10W.

It's easy to measure and is interesting information. Another thing I'm missing is the simultaneus throughput.

Power comsumption when transfering data varies alot.
TP-Link Archer C7: 23 W
Tenda Wireless AC1750: 42 W
D-Link DIR 868L: 25 W
Asus RT-AC68U: 46 W
Linksys EA6900: 34 W

 

[thiggins]

Another thing I'm missing is the simultaneus throughput.

Simultaneous throughput of what?

I no longer measure it for wired or wireless because I found the measurements were misleading, especially on wireless. Wi-Fi is half duplex.

 

[ndrp]

Simultaneous throughput of what?

I no longer measure it for wired or wireless because I found the measurements were misleading, especially on wireless. Wi-Fi is half duplex.

Routing performance.

 

[psychopomp1]

Typo in 6th paragraph?

The EA9300 looks pretty much like the EA9300,

I guess that should say it looks like the EA9500?

 

[psychopomp1]

Agreed, Linksys used to be high quality routers with good performance. It appears that for several years now, they have released routers for sale that the end user is the beta tester.

All manufacturers' routers when first released will be in beta as bugs are normal in newly released routers. That is a fact of life and will never change. In my experience, Linksys routers are amongst the least buggy when first released, with Asus being the worst. Have a look at the thread for the Asus GT-AC5300 for confirmation...

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rog-rapture-gt-ac5300-owners.38794/

 

[thiggins]

Typo in 6th paragraph?
I guess that should say it looks like the EA9500?

Thanks for the catch. Fixed.

 

[hungarianhc]

Behavior will not change unless buyers break the cycle and leave stuff on the shelves. Unfortunately, with social media and YouTube "stars" pumping the hype machine, and people still being sucked in by inflated speed numbers, things won't change anytime soon.

Well said. I was chasing the newest router technology for years... I ended up with the Asus RT-68U w/ Merlin firmware, and it was pretty good... way better than most, but then I went the Ubiquiti route. Setup sucked. It was a pain. Also, it's not as easy for me to go in and make quick changes. The UI just isn't as intuitive. That being said, my wireless performance has never been more rock solid, uptime is expressed in months, and routing performance is amazing as well. Also, it wasn't expensive... Just an edgerouter X + one of their access points.

 

[sfx2000]

Well said. I was chasing the newest router technology for years... I ended up with the Asus RT-68U w/ Merlin firmware, and it was pretty good...

Generally WiFi performance has not improved since the release of 802.11ac, and the subsequent WiFi Alliance Wave 1 level devices... which is going now, for what, 5 years?

Which explains why a 5 year old design still works fairly well...

 

[pete y testing]

Generally WiFi performance has not improved since the release of 802.11ac

i would say not improved , but more only improved marginally thats mainly due to fine tuning and beamforming as the ( for example ) rt-ac88u does cover a greater area than the rt-ac68u as far as client connectivity goes

in testing here at 25 meters and through 3 or 4 walls my wemo switch wont connect to the rt-ac68u but will connect to the rt-ac88u and other 2156M wave 2 routers

i have read testing where the ubiquiti stuff doesnt actually cover as much as normal wireless routers as they are designed to work in multiples and so provide better coverage because of this multiple ap setup

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wouldn't blame the router makers alone when it comes to buggy solutions, the chip makers rush things to the router makers as well and deliver poor code that's barely fit for purpose in many cases. Features are half baked and with the chip makers not wanting to invest in delivering better software, it's down to the router makers to try and fix things as good as they can on their own. Sometimes there are serious software bugs that prevents the hardware from working as expected and the chipset makers are not even interested in solving the issues, as it's taking up too much of their time and resources. So I would say that until the chipset makers do their job properly, it's not really fair to blame the router makers as the first point for these issues.