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WRT1900AC/S what to think?

Which one would you choose?

  • WRT1900AC

  • WRT1900ACS (v2)

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Since i received great help on this forum today ... i have another question

It's the second day of reading reviews and comments about WRT1900AC. 90% of them are completely negative. Hundreds of people mention about its unstability, countless reboots, disconnecting, bad firmware, not working 5Ghz and tons more.
I always wanted Linksys router but form when it's not a part of Cisco i became suspicious. Especially when i see exact same models right after another.

At first i was completely hyped and fell in love to this router. My Asus RT-N10U has only 25mb of ram and he barely manage to handle mega DD-wrt and i really cannot mess up more or he will overheat or reset. Btw its stock firmware is trash so i don't expect anything form Linksys.

I'm moving out and changing all my hardware beside smartphone. So what i'm expecting from my router:

- Very stable and fast when managing ... saving options, rebooting etc ... basic things you know.
- huge range that covers whole one floor apartment (total 50m2)
- never disconnect when streaming to smart tv
- flawless wireless connection with newest generation consoles and my printer (Epson WorkForce WF-7620DTWF)
- open vpn support that actually WORKS ... can't get it to work on my current asus.
- bit torrent and external disc support

Got local ISP not modem ... straight antenna connection. Gonna switch on fiber optic cables soon.

Is Linksys WRT1900ACS (acv2) an good option or is ACv1 enough? Are there better replacements? What do you think ...
 

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I actually bought the WRT1200AC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124575 about a month ago, and I am very pleased with it. It is night and day better compared to my old e3000. Can't speak to all of your requirements, but I know it is strong, hasn't dropped anything yet, has good range, and was very easy to set up. It also has external drive support, which I'm implementing this week.
 
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I actually bought the WRT1200AC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124575 about a month ago, and I am very pleased with it. It is night and day better compared to my old e3000. Can't speak to all of your requirements, but I know it is strong, hasn't dropped anything yet, has good range, and was very easy to set up. It also has external drive support, which I'm implementing this week.
Yes I know about all of his features but just cannot decide seeing so many different opinions. Software actually doesn't matter since I need dd-wrt anyways.
 
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I own "ASUS RT-AC87U" - Best router i ever had =P ....
 

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I'll sound like a broken record and say ditch the home-grade stuff, and get Ubiquity gear... an ERL + UniFI AP would work well here, or if you need AC, get a UniFi-AC-Lite AP, 400ft range.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

Enterprise grade gear that kicks ass, performs well, you can create an OpenVPN server on it if you so desire (though for that task, I do prefer firing up a PFSense VM/rig).

The AP is POE so you can place it where you want instead of it being built into the router assembly.

The WRT gear from Linksys is decent, but even with DD-WRT you have limitations and bugs/issues. For most users it might not matter, and depending on your willingness to learn some CLI, the ERL might or might not be good for you. I replaced my expensive Asus WRT router with an ERL and haven't once regretted it. Reliability, packet filtering, management, speed, QoS speed, control, firewall abilities (super huge plus here...ERL has a stateful firewall), and a decent GUI and very powerful command line interface (CLI). Why go with home-grade when you could get some affordable enterprise-grade gear that kicks ass and can handle some serious traffic, tunneling, and network managing? Again this depends on your experience with devices, and do realize an ERL will take a little more time to config that an home-grade router, but it will pay off greatly with a reliable device...and their AP's are "set it and forget it" in my experience.

:toast:
 
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I'll sound like a broken record and say ditch the home-grade stuff, and get Ubiquity gear... an ERL + UniFI AP would work well here, or if you need AC, get a UniFi-AC-Lite AP, 400ft range.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

Enterprise grade gear that kicks ass, performs well, you can create an OpenVPN server on it if you so desire (though for that task, I do prefer firing up a PFSense VM/rig).

The AP is POE so you can place it where you want instead of it being built into the router assembly.

The WRT gear from Linksys is decent, but even with DD-WRT you have limitations and bugs/issues. For most users it might not matter, and depending on your willingness to learn some CLI, the ERL might or might not be good for you. I replaced my expensive Asus WRT router with an ERL and haven't once regretted it. Reliability, packet filtering, management, speed, QoS speed, control, firewall abilities (super huge plus here...ERL has a stateful firewall), and a decent GUI and very powerful command line interface (CLI). Why go with home-grade when you could get some affordable enterprise-grade gear that kicks ass and can handle some serious traffic, tunneling, and network managing? Again this depends on your experience with devices, and do realize an ERL will take a little more time to config that an home-grade router, but it will pay off greatly with a reliable device...and their AP's are "set it and forget it" in my experience.

:toast:
Very interesting ... want know more about it
 
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I'll sound like a broken record and say ditch the home-grade stuff, and get Ubiquity gear... an ERL + UniFI AP would work well here, or if you need AC, get a UniFi-AC-Lite AP, 400ft range.

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-lite/

https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

Enterprise grade gear that kicks ass, performs well, you can create an OpenVPN server on it if you so desire (though for that task, I do prefer firing up a PFSense VM/rig).

The AP is POE so you can place it where you want instead of it being built into the router assembly.

The WRT gear from Linksys is decent, but even with DD-WRT you have limitations and bugs/issues. For most users it might not matter, and depending on your willingness to learn some CLI, the ERL might or might not be good for you. I replaced my expensive Asus WRT router with an ERL and haven't once regretted it. Reliability, packet filtering, management, speed, QoS speed, control, firewall abilities (super huge plus here...ERL has a stateful firewall), and a decent GUI and very powerful command line interface (CLI). Why go with home-grade when you could get some affordable enterprise-grade gear that kicks ass and can handle some serious traffic, tunneling, and network managing? Again this depends on your experience with devices, and do realize an ERL will take a little more time to config that an home-grade router, but it will pay off greatly with a reliable device...and their AP's are "set it and forget it" in my experience.

:toast:

Pretty sure I've posted my support for this setup in multiple forums, but again +1 to this. I work with Enterprise networking for a living and I run this exact setup at home. More than that I sell this exact setup to many small businesses who don't have the budget for a Sophos/Juniper/Cisco router + Xirrus/Meraki/Cisco wireless solution. Really the only reason I don't push similar setups to larger customers is support... Other than that the feature set and performance for the price.... You can't beat this setup! It will cost a little bit more in the short term (marginally), but the solution is VASTLY superiour and should have a significantly longer lifespan....
 
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Really the only reason I don't push similar setups to larger customers is support.
Well I don't know if I manage to set it up alone.

This set up is pricier than linksys acs?
If yes then I don't know if it's a good option just for 50m2 (+ garden). But would be amazing if this cover my needs

@Nvm it's cheaper ... and actually all my antennas are form ubiquity (outstanding signal even over many buildings)
 

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Well I don't know if I manage to set it up alone.

There's tons of guides, and the 1.7.0 firmware for the ERL has some setup wizards so you can setup 1 or 2 WANs, and 1 or 2 LANs (bridging). It's pretty easy, I did mine through CLI more for the VyOS CLI experience. It's not bad to do, but for inexperienced users, the setup wizards works perfectly fine. Just make sure you upgrade to the 1.7 firmware before you try anything...mine shipped with 1.2...which sucks in comparison.

It has 3 ethernet ports, and they need setup to be LAN/WAN assignments. If you need more ports, get a cheap TPLink switch. Most home users don't as many rely on wireless.
 

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Not sure how many ports you need, or if you need managed (for VLANs and such)...but if you need a simple and reliable switch for cheap, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A121WN6/?tag=tec06d-20

I realize you're out of the US, but if you can find this, I've used dozens of em w/o any issues. We prefer to use UBNT or D-Link switches, but when the budget is tight...TPLink to the rescue. Never had one fail, never had an issue and they run cool.
 
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Well I always used my old routers as switch (extra options) so switch is not a problem really.
Just don't know how well it gonna works with ddwrt and maybe bit torrent (work alone connected to hdd)
And wireless console in future.
 
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Well I don't know if I manage to set it up alone.

This set up is pricier than linksys acs?
If yes then I don't know if it's a good option just for 50m2 (+ garden). But would be amazing if this cover my needs

@Nvm it's cheaper ... and actually all my antennas are form ubiquity (outstanding signal even over many buildings)

I mean support in the sense of "router goes bang, 4 hour replacement" type support. Mostly this is only a concern for businesses where down time is a massive cost that they really want to avoid/minimise. This kind of support normally comes in ~$500 to $4000+ per year depending on the device/s being supported, not really a concern for any home user.

Conversely their support forums are excellent, with UBNT staff and lots of knowledgeable people posting there on a pretty frequent basis:

https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX/bd-p/EdgeMAX

Ubiquiti's Unify AP's don't have external antennae options. They are designed so that if you need to extend the wifi range, you just add another AP. They have a new AC wireless range out now, which is pretty awesome.
 
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Just weighing in here, I work with a lot of Ubiquiti AirMax gear (external radios, very long range links) and am quite happy with them. Haven't tried their UniFi gear, but I'd like to.
 

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I haven't owned a consumer router in a while. My current router is a dual xeon I7 server that houses Windows server 2012 R2, that runs as a domain controller and I use hyper V with a virtual machine running Untangle firewall. Only time its ever been rebooted was during a power outage and the UPS ran out. The server has 12x1gig nics and a fiber card :)
 
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Back in the day, I had an eMachine with a 633MHz Celeron and not much memory at all running Server 2k3 Enterprise (thanks TechNet Student Advantage! :p) that was handling all routing, DNS, and was even a caching proxy. Handled everything quite well.
 

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Windows routing isn't very good, especially by modern standards. PFSense, VyOS, Cisco IOS, etc. handle routing far better than Windows can. I'm sure you knew that though. :)

Though I will admit, @xvi , I did the same thing to test it out, but with Server 2012 and R2. I still use my VM's for DNS, DHCP, domain services, GPO, print server, file server, plex server, etc. etc.

I tried Untangle, seems pretty damn good too. Would be a sweet build to have in my home lab @brandonwh64 , very nice! :D

Frankly, I gotta give UBNT some major credit, VyOS works quite well on the ERL, it's come a long ways. I was able to cut down on hardware, power bill, wiring, and keep a switch or two, the ERL as my gateway/firewall, and am using my old Asus AC66R as an AP (I really need to order that AC-lite AP!!!).
 
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Honestly, the most bullet-proof combo I have used in a home router is both the Netgear R7000 or the Linksys EA6900 flashed with Asus Merlin firmware (satisfies all your needs)

R7000 - http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-on-netgear-r7000.71108/
EA6900 (guide I made) - http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-tomato-shibby-on-linksys-ea6900.71718/

If needed I have both models available BNIB, and can pre-flash for you if required. (and you are located in the US)
 
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I tried Untangle, seems pretty damn good too. Would be a sweet build to have in my home lab @brandonwh64 , very nice! :D.

Oh it is great. I went from IPfire to IPcop to PFsense then to Untangle and I like untangle for the ease of use but I prefer PFsense in a commercial environment due to its advanced features. I figured at home all I need is a simple router that has a site to site PTP to my work PC and I should be fine.
 
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I have the WRT 1200AC. No issues at all from day one.
 
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Honestly, the most bullet-proof combo I have used in a home router is both the Netgear R7000 or the Linksys EA6900 flashed with Asus Merlin firmware (satisfies all your needs)

R7000 - http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-on-netgear-r7000.71108/
EA6900 (guide I made) - http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-tomato-shibby-on-linksys-ea6900.71718/

If needed I have both models available BNIB, and can pre-flash for you if required. (and you are located in the US)

That netgear looks very promising but i'm not 100% sure about Asus WRT ... is this stable? My current asus was running on original firmware and god it was complete crap ... cant even login or anything ... resetting and losing ssid nonstop.

Also does it have a ban function? Block devices form using my wifi based on mac? Or restricting usage of specific sites for certain devices?
 
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Asus Merlin is the most stable home router firmware I have ever used (beating DD-WRT and Tomato, as well as OpenWRT for one reason or another).

Just go read about him and his firmware in smallnetbuilders, sky is the limit with what you can do, and the community is ferociously active.

Also does it have a ban function? Block devices form using my wifi based on mac? Or restricting usage of specific sites for certain devices?

There are many ways to skin this cat. Most basic routers support MAC authentication, so effectively banning any mac that is NOT on the list. I believe there is also a deny as well (can't check since I am at work, going off memory). But if a user doesn't have your password, than what is the point of banning the mac, as they cant log on anyways unless you are running 0 wifi security.

And yes, you can restrict devices on an MAC/IP level. As well as alternate DNS services and parental filters.... Or anything you can think of as it supports scripting as well.
 
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Asus Merlin is the most stable home router firmware I have ever used (beating DD-WRT and Tomato, as well as OpenWRT for one reason or another).

Just go read about him and his firmware in smallnetbuilders, sky is the limit with what you can do, and the community is ferociously active.



There are many ways to skin this cat. Most basic routers support MAC authentication, so effectively banning any mac that is NOT on the list. I believe there is also a deny as well (can't check since I am at work, going off memory). But if a user doesn't have your password, than what is the point of banning the mac, as they cant log on anyways unless you are running 0 wifi security.

And yes, you can restrict devices on an MAC/IP level. As well as alternate DNS services and parental filters.... Or anything you can think of as it supports scripting as well.
Ok im sold ...
 

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Oct 15, 2006
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Location
Missoula, MT, USA
System Name Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition | Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor R7 5800X @ Stock | i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 | Stock Cooling
Memory TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v | 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB | CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage 4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD | 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s) Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 | 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low | Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s) Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) | Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 | 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse Logitech G502 | Logitech M330
Keyboard HyperX Alloy Core RGB | Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 | Windows 11 Home x64
+1 AsusWRT Merlin is fantastic if you want an easy home-grade UI that has more capabilities...not as much as DD-WRT or Tomato offers...and nothing close to VyOS or PFSense or Untangled. I enjoyed using Merlin's firmware on my Asus AC66R, which I still use as an AP at this point. It'll stick around as a backup gateway should my ERL ever fail or need taken down for service/repair.

Most devices, even with stock firmware have some sort of MAC filtering, that is a fairly standard feature, and many offer "Parental Controls" which usually offers website filtering, though for that, you should really look into OpenDNS Home, you can have your router point to that. Excellent filtering, excellent DNS service, and you can manage your DNS filtering with good control, plus you can just use their DNS servers like Googles and be good to go.

https://www.opendns.com/

https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

Then if you want a PC to NOT use OpenDNS, set them to use Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). That way anyone that connects is filtered and protected, and if you want to bypass it you're good. :toast:
 
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