There is a reason why this router gets such high reviews. It is a well-made (mine was made in America, by the way, although some others report other manufacturing locales), well-operating router/wireless combination that ticks off all the boxes. I switched to this router from the router I was renting from my cable provider because the wireless on that system (an Arris router less than three years old) was so poor and undependable that it was causing all kinds of problems. When I connected this unit and got it initialized, the entire house could easily pick up the wireless signal, and transfer rates were significantly improved.
Set up was a breeze. I simply plugged it into a/c power, connected my cable line to it, and turned it on. After waiting about five minutes or so, I connected a computer directly to the router with an Ethernet cable, and when I opened up a browser, it automatically took me to my cable company's activation page. I logged in to my cable company's page, and that activated the unit. From that point on, I was connected to the Internet via the router.
The only next step was to set up a wireless network, which was also easy. I used the web browser again, went to the router's address (given on the instructions page) logged in with the default credentials (also on the login page), and named a new wireless network with a password, selected "save," and that was it!
Here's a neat little trick. You can easily set up two wireless networks, one at 2.4GHz and one at 5.0GHz. If you put "2.4" and "5.0" at the end of the name of each of the two networks, you can easily log into the wireless system of your choice. (2.4GHz networks are sometimes impacted by microwave ovens, etc., so it's nice to have a separate 5.0GHz network set up separately: so, if you set up two wireless networks with different names, one ending in "2.4" and the other ending in "5.0," doing so FORCES your client, i.e, the computer or tablet, etc., to connect at 5.0GHz if you select that network. Nifty!) You can set individual specifications (bandwidth, power, etc.) for each wireless network once you have the networks established.
That leads me to another thing about this router that is very nice. The web interface on this router is actually pleasant to look at and is laid out so that you don't have to be a networking expert to customize settings. There is help available for most every setting, and if you hover your mouse over an option, a pop-up window comes up and explains the setting. Really, really nice touch. The interface makes it a pleasure to use, the first time I can ever say that of a router, and I've set up plenty of them over the years. It makes the Arris router I was using look like it came from the Stone Age.
So, great wireless coverage, lots of options, wonderful interface with built-in help make this easily a five-star rating. It is well worth what it costs!
| Wireless Type | 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11ac, 802.11g |
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