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Review: Linksys WRT1900AC router

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If there is a legend in the world of wireless routers, it has to be the original Linksys WRT54G. First sold in late 2002, it supported the then-draft 802.11g Wi-Fi protocol with an, um, “blistering” throughput of 54 Mbps. It sold in the millions.

Unfortunately, it was less than sleek. Made of blue and gray plastic in a blocky design, it was not the kind of device you’d want on display in your stylish living room. As routers evolved and became more important in the home, Linksys moved away from the ugly WRT design and made its routers more streamlined.

Still, the geekerati had a fondness for the WRT’s awkward look. So when Linksys – now owned by Belkin – set out to create a new line with the WRT name, it drew on the blue-and-gray theme, but modernized.

The result is the WRT1900AC, now the company’s highest-end (and most expensive) router. It is, quite simply, a beast – towering specs, remarkable speeds, exceptional connectivity and one of the best settings interfaces on a home router. It may be the ultimate router for cord cutters, with zippy Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and a powerful, 1.2-GHz, dual-core CPU driving it all.

The WRT1900AC is built around the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, with a theoretical throughput of 1.3 gigabits a second. Of course, you’re not going to actually get a pure 1.3-Gbps connection even when talking to a device’s 802.11ac adapter, but because you’ve got more headroom, you’ll ultimately have a better connection than with an older Wi-Fi protocol. (See this post for an explanation of the benefits of 802.11ac.)

As with most newer routers, you can connect via 2.4-GHz or 5-GHz bands, though 802.11ac only works on the latter. In addition, there are two guest networks – which lets visitors connect to the Internet but not the other computers on your home network – that operate on the two bands. That means you can connect wirelessly to the WRT1900AC four different ways.

Previous high-end Linksys routers had three external antennas, but the WRT1900AC has four, one at each corner. This helps with an 802.11ac feature called beamforming, in which the router can direct a Wi-Fi signal directly at a device that supports it.

On the back of the router are four Gigabit Ethernet ports; a WAN port for connecting your DSL or cable modem; a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port that also doubles as an eSATA port.

The front of the router has a festival of lights, with a slew of indicators for both 2.4- and 5-GHz bands, the USB/eSATA connections, each Ethernet port and more. The settings allow you to turn all these off, except for the power light. You might think the proliferation of blinkenlights would be distracting, but the display is tastefully done. I have the router sitting on a lower shelf in my TV stand, and it’s not at all distracting when I’m trying to watch a movie or a show.

You might also think that this design, harking back to the WRT54G of old, might render it unwelcome in living room or den by those with a sense of style, but not so. My lovely wife, who would have seriously squawked at putting our WRT54G on such public display back in the day, says she doesn’t mind the newer router’s presence at all. That’s the ultimate test!

We recently moved, downsizing from our three-story townhouse to a one-bedroom apartment in the same neighborhood. (I’ll be doing a blog post soon about the challenge of downsizing personal tech in this situation.) The three-level setup was a great way to test the range and strength of a router, but while I no longer have that, I’ve got a great alternative.

Our apartment overlooks a large courtyard that’s two stories below, and the router is positioned close to the door to the outside patio. I can take my MacBook Pro to a table down below and still get a strong signal from the WRT1900AC. In terms of range within this apartment, which is about 900 square feet, this router is a bit of overkill.

But since we’re also cord cutters who watch most of our TV via Internet streaming, all that muscle comes in handy. The router delivered a quality connection to a Roku 3, an Apple TV and the new Amazon Fire TV perfectly. (I’ll be reviewing the Fire TV, which is an excellent streaming device, later this week.) Unfortunately, all three boxes use the older 802.11n standard – I’m anxiously awaiting the first 802.11ac streaming device.

I also connected a Toshiba Canvio 1-terabyte hard drive to the WRT1900AC’s USB 3.0 port. The Canvio is a USB 3.0 external drive, so it’s well-suited as a shared storage device with this router. Transfers of files were remarkably fast, even over Wi-Fi with devices using 802.11n adapters.

The WRT1900AC is managed using Linksys’ Smart Wi-Fi system, which lets you access your router’s settings from anywhere on the Web. Unlike older versions, you can get directly into the settings without going through Linksys’ Smart Wi-Fi servers, though the interface is identical. But if you choose to set up a Smart Wi-Fi account, you can also use handy Smart Wi-Fi apps for iOS and Android devices for remote management.

The software is similar to that used with other recent Linksys routers, but this adds a network map that lets you see at a glance what’s connected and how. You can see which devices are using the 2.4- or 5-GHz bands, for example. The software also has rudimentary parental controls and the ability to indicate what devices take priority on the network. I’ve got the three streaming boxes in the priority queue.

All this power comes at a price, though. The list price for the WRT1900AC is $279, but if you hunt around the Web you’ll find it selling for more than that. It’s in high demand and apparently short supply. A tip: Buy it direct from Linksys, where it’s currently selling for $249.

Is it worth it? If you’re a cord cutter looking for the best streaming router and you’ve got the cash, then yes. If you’re  a tighter budget but still crave power, you may want to look at Linksys’ EA6900, which also uses 802.11ac, has the Smart Wi-Fi interface and is more affordable.


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