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Linksys WRT1900AC First User Reports

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No one said you can't do it here. Point is, people that did buy it aren't telling us anything here. On linkys forum there is already some user feedback from initial use.

Screenshots, customer service experience, newer firmware came out on Friday.. etc.

Here so far we got that its cool looking....

Well, there has been a tad more than that, but yes, momentum has been slower to kick-off...
That doesn't mean it won't also become a good source of info eventually, if SNB's track-record is anything to go by, no doubt it will.
 
What are you using to determine -12dbm? I've never seen a signal that powerful. Not saying it can't happen...

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

Check out SignalCheck Pro for Android. There is a lite version, but I bought the Pro and use it every day. It tells you your wifi signal in dBm, as well as your link speed.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
 
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I installed and used the WRT1900AC last night. I like it and am glad I took the plunge but its not without its faults.

My goal was to replace a router-only RTN-56U and WNDR4300 AP with one single router.

I had tried a few weeks ago to replace the two pieces of equipment with an R7000 but I could not get either of my media bridges, both netgear WCE4004's, to work through it. They work fine on any other old router I tested with so I sent the R7000 back and returned to my old setup.

The WRT1900AC is physically awesome. It's a solid brick and doesn't feel like cheap materials. The metal connectors of the antennas and the 'LINKSYS' on the antennas are a nice touch, even if irrelevant. The whole product just feels like its worth the $$$ before you even turn it on.

I don't heavily test routers, I just use them and decide if its going to work out or not. I quickly could see that having two PS4s playing online was not being hampered by Netflix streaming which told me the router has good stock software and QOS actually works. On top of this there was also a VPN connection to work running as well as an always-on security camera setup.

The user interface looks great. It's how a user interface should look in 2014. It's snappy as well. I've never understood why router GUIs are so slow. This one is much faster than the ones I've used recently.

My 1600sq/ft home has never been a problem for wireless signal. I could get 4 bars with the WNDR4300 at any place in the home and a useable signal outside. The WRT1900AC is 5 bars everywhere for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks.

Biggest complaints:

QOS - You can only input three QOS options as 'High'. Everything else is treated as 'Normal'. This means after you input two PS4's and the generic option "Playstation Network" in your QOS, you've now run out of slots. You can't place remote desktop sessions, DNS, or Skype, etc on the list below your 'high' choices. You only can place three choices in QOS. I liked how the R7000 allowed a long list of QOS priority to be created, even if I didn't like that router overall.

NAT options - NAT is on or off. There is no "Secure" or "Open" or "Full Cone" or anything else. With multiple gaming consoles in the home, I guess just turn NAT off. After all, the internet will only see you as one IP no matter what. Turning NAT off has worked for me.

Lack of monitors - There is no CPU monitor or memory monitor which would be nice for someone who constantly uses external storage or hosts VPN connections. There is also no UPNP port request monitor.

Constant wireless resets while using the GUI - I can understand connections resetting when a change is made but the WRT1900AC seems to reset connections when the user simply browses into certain areas of the GUI. Its as if the router needs to prepare itself for a possible change. For example, selecting the option to view the screen to reserve a DHCP address will reset wireless even though you haven't actually entered any info and might even cancel out of it.

What I like:

Build quality

Ease of using QOS (Even if you only get three slots to use)

QOS seems to work

Network Map - Once you name all of your network devices and select cute pictures to represent them, the network map ends up looking very nice and understandable and can be sorted using device connection type.

Fast, good looking GUI

Great looking box

Wireless signal strength

Works with the WNCE4004 media bridge unlike the R7000

No issues out of the box or with latest LINKSYS firmware which is a plus that is hard to find with the advanced routers these days
 
I read that Linksys firmware is based off of OpenWRT....but is there an official OpenWRT or other custom firmware release for this model yet?

I would assume it will take some time for other firmwares to be built, like Tomato, DD-WRT etc.
 
I have the 68U and just picked up the WRT1900AC...
I'm actually surprised how well this device is put together.. It's a very
high quality device.. build wise... I love the LED's over the 68U..
I tested out USB and it works great.. only issue I had was I couldn't get the accounts/permissions.. seemed bugged out... everything else such as wireless etc is fast and stable... no crashes... the firmware is very lacking on features but that doesn't matter once we get some custom firmware going on this thing...

I had lots of issues with USB on my 68U interfering with Wifi... I also get a stronger signal with the WRT1900AC...


Do you have any of the other issues the r7000 and 68u have with wired and wireless connections where they will just drop out for a few packets and reconnect? Would you recommend it over the r7000 or 68u? I am trying to decide if i wanna return mine and get the linksys. I have until saturday to decide.
 
I installed and used the WRT1900AC last night. I like it and am glad I took the plunge but its not without its faults.

My goal was to replace a router-only RTN-56U and WNDR4300 AP with one single router.

I had tried a few weeks ago to replace the two pieces of equipment with an R7000 but I could not get either of my media bridges, both netgear WCE4004's, to work through it. They work fine on any other old router I tested with so I sent the R7000 back and returned to my old setup.

The WRT1900AC is physically awesome. It's a solid brick and doesn't feel like cheap materials. The metal connectors of the antennas and the 'LINKSYS' on the antennas are a nice touch, even if irrelevant. The whole product just feels like its worth the $$$ before you even turn it on.

I don't heavily test routers, I just use them and decide if its going to work out or not. I quickly could see that having two PS4s playing online was not being hampered by Netflix streaming which told me the router has good stock software and QOS actually works. On top of this there was also a VPN connection to work running as well as an always-on security camera setup.

The user interface looks great. It's how a user interface should look in 2014. It's snappy as well. I've never understood why router GUIs are so slow. This one is much faster than the ones I've used recently.

My 1600sq/ft home has never been a problem for wireless signal. I could get 4 bars with the WNDR4300 at any place in the home and a useable signal outside. The WRT1900AC is 5 bars everywhere for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks.

Biggest complaints:

QOS - You can only input three QOS options as 'High'. Everything else is treated as 'Normal'. This means after you input two PS4's and the generic option "Playstation Network" in your QOS, you've now run out of slots. You can't place remote desktop sessions, DNS, or Skype, etc on the list below your 'high' choices. You only can place three choices in QOS. I liked how the R7000 allowed a long list of QOS priority to be created, even if I didn't like that router overall.

NAT options - NAT is on or off. There is no "Secure" or "Open" or "Full Cone" or anything else. With multiple gaming consoles in the home, I guess just turn NAT off. After all, the internet will only see you as one IP no matter what. Turning NAT off has worked for me.

Lack of monitors - There is no CPU monitor or memory monitor which would be nice for someone who constantly uses external storage or hosts VPN connections. There is also no UPNP port request monitor.

Constant wireless resets while using the GUI - I can understand connections resetting when a change is made but the WRT1900AC seems to reset connections when the user simply browses into certain areas of the GUI. Its as if the router needs to prepare itself for a possible change. For example, selecting the option to view the screen to reserve a DHCP address will reset wireless even though you haven't actually entered any info and might even cancel out of it.

What I like:

Build quality

Ease of using QOS (Even if you only get three slots to use)

QOS seems to work

Network Map - Once you name all of your network devices and select cute pictures to represent them, the network map ends up looking very nice and understandable and can be sorted using device connection type.

Fast, good looking GUI

Great looking box

Wireless signal strength

Works with the WNCE4004 media bridge unlike the R7000

No issues out of the box or with latest LINKSYS firmware which is a plus that is hard to find with the advanced routers these days
IS there no port forwarding'? I dont use QoS but I just port forward for RDP, etc. also does it have dyndns?

Would you recommend it over the r7000?
 
I would also like to know if its possible to use this with 2 xbox ones at once and have the NAT stay open. apparently this is difficult for most routers.
 
IS there no port forwarding'? I dont use QoS but I just port forward for RDP, etc. also does it have dyndns?
The feature set is essentially the same as the other EA series routers, with a few tweaks. There is single port forwarding with separate source/destination ports, port range forwarding and triggered port forwarding.

DDNS support for Dyndns (www.dyndns.org), TZO (www.tzodns.com), NO-IP.com
 
I read that Linksys firmware is based off of OpenWRT....
I would say that's highly unlikely. The GUI and feature set is too similar to other EA series routers.

I think the OpenWRT implementation will be awhile...
 
DDNS support for Dyndns (www.dyndns.org), TZO (www.tzodns.com), NO-IP.com

Dyndns and TZO are the same now....DynDNS acquired them...and they are both PAID services.

No-IP does have a free version, but host-name expires every 30days.

So....Asus wins in this feature, hands down. It suports far more DDNS clients, plus the free one provided by Asus.

Can't imagine why Linkys wouldn't offer such a DDNS service, I know DLink does, and a few others do.
 
I would say that's highly unlikely. The GUI and feature set is too similar to other EA series routers.

I think the OpenWRT implementation will be awhile...

I read it from this post, not sure where he read it from: http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=115170&postcount=16

Also, I read somewhere else (Linksys fourm I think) something about Linksys submitted new changes to OpenWRT....

And I have used one of the EA series. Their firmware was...refreshing, but then I got my Asus and was blown away. Linksys Smart wifi, good for average users, not that good for tweakers and pros like me.
 
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I read it from this post, not sure where he read it from: http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=115170&postcount=16

Also, I read somewhere else (Linksys fourm I think) something about Linksys submitted new changes to OpenWRT....

And I have used one of the EA series. Their firmware was...refreshing, but then I got my Asus and was blown away. Linksys Smart wifi, good for average users, not that good for tweakers and pros like me.
To be fair... tweaker and pro using a wireless router thats 250 isint pro :). but thats a different discussion. And for home use its a bit overkill to go into anything better.
 
Do you have any of the other issues the r7000 and 68u have with wired and wireless connections where they will just drop out for a few packets and reconnect? Would you recommend it over the r7000 or 68u? I am trying to decide if i wanna return mine and get the linksys. I have until saturday to decide.

I have not used the r7000 but I was rather disappointed with the reset crashing on the 68u.. Wired connections were solid.. Some of the issues I had with the 68u were hardware related.. Such as the USB interference with WiFi..
The WRT1900AC is a good buy I would buy it over the 68u..

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Do you have any of the other issues the r7000 and 68u have with wired and wireless connections where they will just drop out for a few packets and reconnect? Would you recommend it over the r7000 or 68u? I am trying to decide if i wanna return mine and get the linksys. I have until saturday to decide.

I've observed a similar issue on my AC66U. I got 2 wired computers and 1 wireless ones, smartphone. Whenever a wireless device makes a connection to the router, both my wired computers drop a single packet. I do not know why but it's easy to see with ifconfig on my 2 Linux computers. Also my smartphone (an LG Optimus L7 II) will disconnect after a certain time and reconnect back really fast. Sometimes it goes for many hours, usually 9-10, without dropping connection, but on other days it has difficulty staying connected for a few hours. I can't figure out if this is a router problem or a smartphone problem. However, I have a suspicion that it's the smartphone as I tried it on the TP-Link router and it behaves similary
 
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