Linksys Announces First Contiguous 160 MHz Router

[RMerlin]

What are you looking for from this router?

Is that Marvel's first MU-MIMO product? If so, it will be interesting to see if they are pulling a Qualcomm or a Broadcom there...

 

[metalSHOCK]

I like to stroll around Best Buy once in a while to see if there are any good deals. They had 3 of these stocked with no pricing last weekend.

 

[TheManFromUncle]

What are you looking for from this router?

Stabile firmware, at some point. I wont make the same mistake I did with my 1900AC V1, purchasing it on release. It took months before a stable firmware was released. I'll wait a while before now. I have a v2 ACS I've not tested yet. Probably uncertain it will perform as I expect it to. Hope it will be slightly better than the AC V1 with working wireless drivers. What I'm trying to say is... I want something to work as advertised. I know most things don't... but I can hope.

 

[thiggins]

Stabile firmware, at some point. I wont make the same mistake I did with my 1900AC V1, purchasing it on release. It took months before a stable firmware was released. I'll wait a while before now. I have a v2 ACS I've not tested yet. Probably uncertain it will perform as I expect it to. Hope it will be slightly better than the AC V1 with working wireless drivers. What I'm trying to say is... I want something to work as advertised. I know most things don't... but I can hope.

Upgrading for "slightly' better performance seems like a waste of money. 160MHz bandwidth is not going to improve performance for clients that don't support it.

NONE of these products work "as advertised". You should know that by now unless you are a complete noob, which I assume you are not.

 

[TheManFromUncle]

Upgrading for "slightly' better performance seems like a waste of money. 160MHz bandwidth is not going to improve performance for clients that don't support it.

NONE of these products work "as advertised". You should know that by now unless you are a complete noob, which I assume you are not.

I'm not. But extremely curious and slightly naive.

 

[sfx2000]

Is that Marvel's first MU-MIMO product? If so, it will be interesting to see if they are pulling a Qualcomm or a Broadcom there...

I believe this is their first consumer Router/AP that supports MU (Marvell) - perhaps their first in production...

I think Marvell has been working on this for a while though - there's hints of MU even in the WRT1900ac - can see it in the VHT capabilities stanza within the beacon frames when using the closed source drivers..

That was a concern of mine if one actually put a couple of MU clients on to a WRT1900ac for interop purposes (the clients ID themselves as MU capable or not in the association handshake when attaching)

 

[TheManFromUncle]

I believe this is their first consumer Router/AP that supports MU (Marvell) - perhaps their first in production...

I think Marvell has been working on this for a while though - there's hints of MU even in the WRT1900ac - can see it in the VHT capabilities stanza within the beacon frames when using the closed source drivers..

That was a concern of mine if one actually put a couple of MU clients on to a WRT1900ac for interop purposes (the clients ID themselves as MU capable or not in the association handshake when attaching)

Is all further development of the 1900AC's drivers for nought or is work still being done that Linksys isn't taking advantage of? To greater interest of the "open" community perhaps? I know Linksys isn't touching the software of it any more.

 

[sfx2000]

Is all further development of the 1900AC's drivers for nought or is work still being done that Linksys isn't taking advantage of? To greater interest of the "open" community perhaps? I know Linksys isn't touching the software of it any more.

IIRC the open source drivers that have been pulled into DDWRT/OpennWRT are from Marvell directly...

 

[FattysGoneWild]

Say it aint so! Another buggy router release by Linksys? GASP! I am shocked! Not even a full review yet and they are even saying to stay away from it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/linksys-wrt3200acm-mu-mimo-gigabit-wi-fi-router/preview/

 

[whsbuss]

Say it aint so! Another buggy router release by Linksys? GASP! I am shocked! Not even a full review yet and they are even saying to stay away from it.

https://www.cnet.com/products/linksys-wrt3200acm-mu-mimo-gigabit-wi-fi-router/preview/

Wow what ever happened to Linksys

 

[sfx2000]

Wow what ever happened to Linksys

Nothing... WRT's are always a bit different

And speaking of intent, I'm sure Linksys didn't plan for the WRT3200ACM to be as buggy as it was in my testing, but here we are. To be sure, most routers are pretty buggy when first released (especially Linksys WRT ones) and only smooth out once the firmware is updated weeks or months after launch.​

Sounds like the editor wasn't paid enough... subject comments without any justification or specific issues...

In terms of raw speed, I was unimpressed. When connected to dual-band 80Mhz clients (again, there are no Tri-band 160 clients on the market) the router delivered a sustained speed topping out at around 550Mbps, about average compared with other high-end routers. Range was also about average, maxing out at about 150 feet after going through a few walls. Wi-Fi range depends heavily on the environment, the more walls, for example, the shorter the range gets, so your mileage may vary.​

That's pretty much the same with any router beyond AC1900 class....

To be honest - many would be well put to stick to AC1200 class, as this is where the clients generally are this days...

All things considered, like most high-end routers, the WRT3200ACM solves Wi-Fi problems that most users don't have. Namely, the ever-increasing boosting of speed and power on the router side. On the other hand, it doesn't really provide anything that would clearly improve your life in the real world like, say, exceptional range for a large home.
​

Basically - any router/AP beyond AC1900 class solves a problem that most folks do not have...

To be honest folks - the WiFi with 802.11ac is pretty much solved... these days, in the SOHO/Consumer biz - bigger numbers are not a bigger value...

Need to focus on the routing side these days - too many routers/AP's are short-sighted there as we have many more clients in 2016 than we did in 2011...

Big-Honking-Routers (BHR's) tend to solve the 2011 problem, but run into issues in 2016...

 

[Gascogne]

Any review on the Linksys WRT3200ACM coming soon?

 

[thiggins]

Hope this week or next. I've been bogged down fighting server hacks. Sorry