Any AC68U owners going to blindly jump for the Linksys WRT1900AC?

[hungarianhc]

I ask just because I've had nothing but problems with my AC68U since I've purchased it, and I know that many of you here are the same! At $249, I think I'll hold out and wait for reviews, but I'm definitely on the verge! Or... maybe that next Asus firmware update will be a miracle, but based on their track record, I'm guessing not.

 

[jim769]

I ask just because I've had nothing but problems with my AC68U since I've purchased it, and I know that many of you here are the same! At $249, I think I'll hold out and wait for reviews, but I'm definitely on the verge! Or... maybe that next Asus firmware update will be a miracle, but based on their track record, I'm guessing not.

Myself NO i have owned the linksys ea4200,ea4500 and they are garbage compared to Asus routers. Low signal output and the fact of using a cloud to access a device thats in the next room, No thanks !! I would buy Netgear first before ever giving Belkin/Linksys another try.


Wanted to add i also use the 68U and there are no issues with Merlin build firmware 374_40-alpha4. Rock solid no reboots no issues.

 

[cmillar6]

Perhaps things might have changed since the Belkin purchase but I will never go back to Linksys. Firmware support is terrible, updates for newer models last a few months and then they seem to focus on the next model and move on and leave users of a new router less than one year old with no firmware updates. This happened for both the e4200 and 4500 series routers I owned and I gave up and moved on to Asus and will never look back. Yes, Asus firmware has its share of bugs but at least they attempt to resolve them and continue support for years after a model is released.
The 1900AC is too expensive anyway, its their attempt to get back into the game and its overpriced. I'm holding out for the ac87u which will be a better router.
The Linksys cloud based firmware is slick, its nice to be able to fire up your guest network or see connected devices through the app. The firmware is really basic however and targeted to the average home user. If your used to the features in AsusWRT or Merlins firmware you will be terribly disappointed going to Linksys firmware.

 

[Elvis7]

nope, never going back to Linksys, ive had the 610n,e4200,e4500 and the ea6200... All garbage, bad wifi,low range,network display bugs, bad routing, and the routers stopped system linked console gaming, the ac68u is amazing, im so glad bestbuy allowed me to return my ea6200, I love the ac68u, it byfar the best router ever...

 

[TonyH]

Hmm,
Only thing I had fun with Linksys(Cisco) consumer router was the old WRT-54G. Rest passed through my house upto
EA4500.

 

[microchip]

Never going back to Linksys routers. Unless they fix all their issues, not just software ones but hardware too, I'll spend my money on something else. Currently, from personal experience, I prefer routers from ASUS and TP-Link

 

[nagle3092]

I'll wait for reviews before I make a decision.

 

[KGB7]

I will make a jump if i see a better 3rd party firmware support and better drivers from manufacturers. As of now, i cant wait to get rid of two of my routers.

 

[RMerlin]

I will make a jump if i see a better 3rd party firmware support and better drivers from manufacturers. As of now, i cant wait to get rid of two of my routers.

At this point, I suspect only OpenWRT will potentially support that device, unless Brainslayer decides to support the Marvell Armada platform used by it.

 

[speedingcheetah]

Older Cisco branded products, e2000, e3000 models I have used and still use for many clients. They run Tomato firmware (toastman builds) and are absolute rock solid. Super fast and great range. U can get them cheap off ebay(or even find them at a thrift store) and flash the firmware yourself. If I had to go back to an N router, aside from my Asus N56U, those Cisco models are the only ones.

 

[Kris404]

Older Cisco branded products, e2000, e3000 models I have used and still use for many clients. They run Tomato firmware (toastman builds) and are absolute rock solid. Super fast and great range. U can get them cheap off ebay(or even find them at a thrift store) and flash the firmware yourself. If I had to go back to an N router, aside from my Asus N56U, those Cisco models are the only ones.

Yup, my E3000 with Kong-optimized DD-WRT build is rock solid as well. I have even installed Astrill applet on it.

 

[speedingcheetah]

I also had the Cisco Valet series. (The M20 I did find Tomato for that). I really liked how they had the USB setup dongle....even my 80yr folks was able to setup a Valet series router just fine.

The last newer Linksys I have used is the EA2700 smart router. I did like the look of the firmware and the nice smart phone app. But it took a while to boot and the range was not quite as good compared to the e2000 with tomato on it. Also, the EA2700 is not 3rd party firmware compatible. I sold that model on craigs.

I also have used a few Belkin routers, and I have nothing but bad things to say about them(except for the tiny Belkin travel router I have). And most of the major retail sites have mostly bad reviews on Belkin routers. I wasn't happy to hear that Belkin took over Cisco/Linksys consumer networking products. Most of what I have read in reviews etc about Linksys routers since then were not that positive.

I have had too many Netgear products fail on me so I will never use them again. I ran my trusty Cisco e series routers for a while, until I wanted to upgrade. Asus started making routers and what good reviews they have. Got my N56U and was/is awesome(padavan firmware makes it much better).

Then upgraded my laptops card to an Intel AC7260 and got a Asus AC56U. Was a bit bumpy start until they worked out some bugs in firmware, but now its the best router I have ever used. I LOVE the look of their firmware.

I have no intentions to purchase another router anytime soon. Why? Because my laptop is maxed out already. It is only a 2 antenna laptop and thus can not make use of the higher bit-rate AC wifi. (866mbps is what the Intel AC7260 and Asus AC56U supports on the 5g band) I have tried adding an antenna, but that seems to have made things slower and more unstable in my tests. Also, my wired systems all perform fine. (Even my the Cisco E series handled wired routing fine). Also, I do make use of the OpenVPN feature in my AC56U. (I am not sure if this new Linksys WRT1900AC has built in OpenVPN support like the Asus routers do.)


I am very curious about Belkin/Linksys "re-launch" of the WRT series.
(I loved the old "blue boxes" that were the Linksys WRT series. I see those things at thrift stores all the time now. Those old B/G routers always had excellent range and still every one I have fired up just for kicks works perfectly.)

I love tinkering with the newest stuff and certainly want to see what the community will think of these new batch of WRT's and see if they are deserving of the historic model title. Plus, it is always good to be ready for the future.

For those who don't know much about the old WRT series...watch this vid I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwCenZMp-gY

Update: New beta firmware available for the AC68U that is reported to fix the recent issues. (and btw, the issues was caused by Broadcom's sdk, not Asus).

 

[cmillar6]

It's in stores today.. Will anybody pull the trigger??

 

[hungarianhc]

It's in stores today.. Will anybody pull the trigger??

Gosh i'm really considering drive to Best Buy tonight and doing it. My AC68U (even w/ the most recent firmware) had a reboot last night. It had been over two weeks since it happened, but I'm getting really sick of always having to check for new firmware updates, etc. That being said, I guess there's no point in going to get it today... Reviews will be out this week... so i'll probably wait. Being an early adopter of the AC68U had zero advantages.

 

[ualdrivr]

I ask just because I've had nothing but problems with my AC68U since I've purchased it, and I know that many of you here are the same! At $249, I think I'll hold out and wait for reviews, but I'm definitely on the verge! Or... maybe that next Asus firmware update will be a miracle, but based on their track record, I'm guessing not.

Nah! I went to the Asus router 68U from a Linksys E4200 V2. No comparison, the Asus runs circles around the Linksys. I am very happy with the 68U, range, power and with Merlin's Alpha 4 Firmware, I have great stability. Over 11 days since the Firmware upgrade with out any reboots or drop outs. I like it a lot.

Staying the course, here.

 

[TonyH]

I will make a jump if i see a better 3rd party firmware support and better drivers from manufacturers. As of now, i cant wait to get rid of two of my routers.

Hi,
The stock f/w is based on OpenWrt(I heard) and it depends how actively OpenWrt folks will engage in future f/w, right off the bat, they seem to have radio driver issue(s) which I hope will be taken care of B4 release date of Apr. 13th. All in all, first impression counts a lot. Whoever plugged it in first, what his impression will be? Belkin is publishing their source code as well. By end of this year ASUS will have AC87U, then is good time to compare and decide?

 

[speedingcheetah]

I just want to know if this new Linkys has built in PPTP and OpenVPN server feature like my Asus does. (I don't mean a pass-through setting)

Also, what about a DDNS client built in. I do make use of the built in free Asus DDNS service.

Edit: Read on the Linksys forum that is only has pass-through.

 

[jerry6]

No , though it's tempting , looks great and like the fan . Still have a linksys WRT 600 v1 running at my fathers house , been running for 6 or more years now with no problems , only needs a reboot once in a while , no idea why . Don't like the fact FW development was never really developed (2 or 3 updates) by linksys , they dropped support after releasing the WRT 601 , never got all the features working 100%(I know other FW available ) . As a basic router it's fine though .
Then there is parent company Belkin , what can I say , had 2 routers from them that were garbage in my opinion , never worked well
I'll stick with Asus , they don't drop development on a product every time something new is released , my rt-16 still has FW updates , great little single band router .
Also don't think there is enough , or any performance improvement over my AC 66 AND RT-66 , though again , it LOOKS GREAT .

 

[thiggins]

I just want to know if this new Linkys has built in PPTP and OpenVPN server feature like my Asus does. (I don't mean a pass-through setting)

Also, what about a DDNS client built in. I do make use of the built in free Asus DDNS service.

Edit: Read on the Linksys forum that is only has pass-through.

No VPN server, just PPTP, IPsec, L2TP passthrough.

There are Dynamic DNS clients for DynDNS, TZO, NO-IP.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
After all it is a war of firmware(software) not hardware like other products. Stable reliable
performance with feature(s) you want/need and user friendly GUI.