Wifi Certified question

[Riekopo]

I've been thinking of replacing my old Netgear N300 router. Luckily someone recommended me this website on Reddit. While reading the reviews I keep seeing "this router is not Wifi certified" or the opposite. Can someone explain what this means and if it's important?

 

[sinshiva]

http://www.wi-fi.org/certification

you may recall the days of draft-N; the wireless AC spec was only certified somewhat recently.

i wouldn't let this deter you from choosing what you want to buy, though. if you have AC devices, the best options are probably either the Asus AC68 or the Netgear R7000.

If those are what you are deciding between, i'll make this simple for you; choose the Asus.

And be sure to upgrade to the latest firmware. either official or asuswrt-merlin. consider any previous reviews obsolete, for both the r7000 and the ac68.

 

[Riekopo]

http://www.wi-fi.org/certification

you may recall the days of draft-N; the wireless AC spec was only certified somewhat recently.

i wouldn't let this deter you from choosing what you want to buy, though. if you have AC devices, the best options are probably either the Asus AC68 or the Netgear R7000.

If those are what you are deciding between, i'll make this simple for you; choose the Asus.

And be sure to upgrade to the latest firmware. either official or asuswrt-merlin. consider any previous reviews obsolete, for both the r7000 and the ac68.

The review says the Netgear R7000 isn't Wifi certified. Many other expensive routers are also not Wifi certified. I find that very strange. The reviews seem to correlate the frequencies with the Wifi certification. You say to get the Asus AC68, but this website recommends the Netgear R7000. Can you explain why?

 

[sinshiva]

the r7000 may have marginally better specs, but the asus easily has superior firmware. also, i've seen numerous complaints about netgear's technical support and real-world performance. Asus, however rolls out updates and fixes for products that have been out for much longer, where i hear netgear has a habit of quickly dropping support in lieu of newer devices. also, this community is predominantly asus, so you have access to the experience of the users as well as the sole developer of the customized/optimized version of the official asus firmware, here. with asuswrt-merlin, you gain extra features along with the official drivers, rather than generic stuff you'd have to put up with installing dd-wrt on the netgear. (still love you, dd-wrt. you guys make things useful when the manufacturers can't.)

also, despite their shoddy support, netgear drew first blood against asus. glass houses, netgear.

if you need to know more, just peruse the forum a bit.

 

[thiggins]

I've been thinking of replacing my old Netgear N300 router. Luckily someone recommended me this website on Reddit. While reading the reviews I keep seeing "this router is not Wifi certified" or the opposite. Can someone explain what this means and if it's important?

WiFi Certification ensures that products pass a test suite intended to confirm compliance with both 802.11 and WiFi specs. It is not a guarantee that products will be bug-free. But it is something usually done by all top-tier manufacturers.

NETGEAR told me they have been not waiting for WiFi Certification before shipping some products. But they do intend to get all products certified. You can check the WiFi certification database to check on any product.
http://www.wi-fi.org/certified-products-advanced-search

With all respect to Sinshiva, the R7000 is worthy of your consideration. Yes, ASUS has a large following in this forum and special support from RMerlin's tireless work. But their firmware has needed all the support and many revisions due to its many bugs.

No product is perfect or bug-free. I just wouldn't dismiss the R7000 as quickly as Sinshiva suggests.

 

[sinshiva]

i won't deny my personal bias thiggins does a great job with his reviews, it's what brought me here in the first place, so his advice is sound

[edit/] i've just never been as happy with a network product as i am with the n66, and i know this is nearly a middle of the road product from asus, now.