Linksys AC1900 Wi-Fi Wireless Dual-Band+ Router with Gigabit & USB 3.0 Ports, Smart Wi-Fi App Enabled to Control Your Network from Anywhere (EA6900)

The short:Pros:- MEGA fast (connecting, streaming, transferring)- USB ports (with 1 supporting faster USB 3.0)- Powerful signal (no longer in competition with apartment complex neighbors--consistently strongest signal)- Sleek interface (easy setup, easy maintenance and setting changes)- Very convenient (Phone app allows remote support, meaning you can manage your router from anywhere)- Lots of functionality (client management, parental controls, media prioritization, NAS management)- Competitively priced- Aesthetically pleasing, much softer lighting than typical routers (esp. Linksys)Cons:- Mounting holes are in an odd spot (hangs router such that cables protrude to the left)- Power cable is a little shortFor reference I am on Charter (cable broadband like Comcast or Time Warner) with advertised 60 Mb/s. I live in a 2-level apartment with lots of 2.4 GHz noise from surrounding networks. We have the following wireless devices: 2 laptops, 2 desktops, 2 smartphones, Chromecast, and a game console. I used to also use a wireless range extender (TP-Link N300), however now I don't need it!The long:What a great router! I upgraded from an old Cisco N300 router that had done the job fine, but was beginning to need periodic resets in order to be functional. This combined with a shotty modem provided by my cable internet company and a range extender on another floor made for a frustrating dissatisfactory internet experience about 50% of the time. I upgraded to a new modem (Archer SURFBoard), and noticed the connection on wired devices was faster and more consistent, however my wireless signal was still spotty and intermittent especially with the noisy surrounding networks. I decided it was time to upgrade.I am definitely a techie so I did a lot of research before on different routers, and heard rave reviews from a relative and a coworker on the management app, signal strength, and overall router performance. The setup was super simple, just plug and play if you just want a router that works! The quick-start guide lists the pre-set strong password and unique SSID. I, however, had to make sure I knew every setting and feature well, and was very impressed with the settings for Media Prioritization (very useful for streaming) and External Storage (NAS, FTP server and user permissions!). I also set the wireless channel to 9 after bringing up a WiFi analyzing app on my phone and seeing that 1-6 or so were jam packed.The difference was, well, underwhelming! Before I was consistently annoyed, and now I hardly even notice it's there! The external storage is super useful if you haven't used that before. Me and my wife can transfer files between computers much faster now--our own personal cloud! I no longer use a range extender and I never lose connection.Overall, very pleased. Job well done, Linksys.P.S. My SSIDs: TellMyWiFiLoveHer and BillWiTheScienceFi

I’ve been a fan of Linksys over the years and stay with them because it is easy to configure using the address to the wireless router: 192.168.1.1 on your browser. I’m a computer tech and have my own computer business. Now I’m using this EA6900 for my home and had no problems. I’m getting 3 bars from my shop, which is 75 feet from my base. First of all let me make it clear that your wi-fi speed will always be lesser than the wired speed no matter what.Wi-Fi has gotten significantly faster over the last few years thanks to new standards like 802.11ac and 802.11n, which offer maximum speeds of 866.7 Mb/s and 150 Mb/s, respectively. This is a maximum speed for all the devices on your network to share, and you likely won’t get anywhere near close to these speeds — but Wi-Fi is much faster than it used to be.A dual band wireless router features both a 2.4 GHz band and a 5.0 GHz band, allowing for connections on both bands, and providing higher speeds in general. Dual band routers are important for those who are certain that multiple users will need to be connected to the internet at one time.Generally speaking, many wireless devices run off of the 2.4 GHz signal band, like cordless phones and other electronic devices. Users who have multiple computers, phones, or electronic devices that run on this signal band may experience congestion on their router. There are, in general, only a few devices that run on the 5.0 GHz band, making a dual band wireless router a faster option overall.Now I’m using the Linksys PLWK400 powerline home plug AV kit with Wi-Fi. You use your existing EA6900 and use one of the ports from it to the PLWK400 that’s plug to a nearby power outlet. Take the other to any part of the house and plug it to a power outlet and plug it to your computer or SmartTV using a Cat5. Now it’s connected direct to your Linksys EA6900, in my case is 60Mg across the house. The best part of the second plugin is that its wireless too from the power outlet. It’s an extension from your EA6900.

I only had this router for a couple of days, but so far it works good. The setup was easy; I didn't time it, but I'd say it was about 10 minutes. I kept my network name and password the same to make the transition easier since I have numerous devices that use wifi. The one device I use is something called an ISY994i, which is used in home automation to control light switches around the house. I had to do a number of tweaks to get that working again. However, the one area where I have an issue is my iPhone 5. Every so often, it loses the connection. The only way to resolve this is is to go into the iPhone 5 settings and turn off wifi, then turn it on again. Once I do that, it works again. But I have to repeat that every time I have an issue. I even tried assigning my iPhone a high priority, but that has no effect. I was reading online that the iPhone does not have the wireless AC chip in it, since the wireless AC standard is still new. I don't know if that is the cause of the issue or not. Everything else seems to work fine. I also have an iPad 3 that only has wifi and that seemed to work fine. But I don't use the iPad 3 that often. I'm hoping the vendor or fellow reviewer perhaps may be able comment on the issue with my iPhone 5, and perhaps suggest a work around. Maybe there will be a future firmware update that will fix the issue. Hopefully when the iPhone 6 comes out, perhaps Apple will include the AC chip in it.