Linksys AC1900 Dual Band Open Source WiFi Wireless Router (WRT1900AC) Renewed

This is absolutely a beast of a router. Industrial-strength capability and reliability (and the styling looks like it -- which I like). Have had absolutely no hiccups or hangs in this first eight months of use; always-on and always working 24x7. Works terrific, speedy and reliable for a variety of devices including PC's, iPads, iPhones, Amazon Fire Stick, etc. We have it located in an upstairs centrally-located room in our 2900 sq. ft. home, and it covers the basement and two floors easily. The standard software package for administrator functions seems fine for most general users like me and I particularly like the ability to visually review all the connected devices. As some have noted, the "guest" network appears unsecured, but is actually under password control on a window that pops up when you open the web browser on your connecting device (similar to what you see in many hotels with guest wireless access). After some time working with this, I find I do prefer, however, to have the "guest" network simply appear as a separate WiFi connection with it's own configurable password. Needing the browser interface to access the guest network authorization is sometimes awkward on devices like tablets and smartphones.Note --my original refurb unit turned out to be bad on startup and was replaced under warranty with a brand-new unit after about an hour of troubleshooting over the phone with Linksys. Phone support was very accessible and diligent on a Sunday afternoon to work through all this. Had to jump through a few administrative hoops to get all the swapping and return logistics worked out, but it was all fine and overall the Linksys support was wonderful.Update - quick take Feb 2021:Still running as strong as ever. Have relocated the unit to a new home in another state. Router is now nearing 4 years of age, still running as strong and reliably as new. I am also using a 128GB USB thumb drive plugged into the router to share files across platforms (PC, iPad, iPhone).I also will mention that this router has a setting within the Linksys Smart WiFi app that must be adjusted to allow the router to pass thru the full available download bandwidth from the ISP. I found this recently after troubleshooting why the router seemed to be achieving a much lower throughput - despite our "basic tier" of Comcast Xfinity service increasing bandwidth substantially over the years. That setting is found in the Smart WiFi app under the "Media Prioritization" category. Overall, this product is still strongly recommended.

Linksys WRT1900ACS Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Gigabit Router (Certified Refurbished) Actual ACS not AC V2The unit is working very well, received an AC V2 as per label but hardware wise and software the unit is the same as the ACS. It's a little confusing but if you look up the hardware specs of both the AC V2 and ACS (and not the ACS V2) they are the same hardware with the ACS firmware on the unit.I've flashed a version of OpenWRT Chaos Calmer 15.05.1 on the unit currently that is working very well for it's purpose. The signal strength and range are a tad better then my Asus RT-AC3200 even.If you are looking for a router that has many different firmware builds such as dd-wrt, openwrt, lede, and other variants then this is the router for you. I cannot speak to the stock firmware however as it did not suit my needs and immediately flashed the unit to a different firmware.

This package took a long time to get, but I was very excited to see that it was a true ACS V2. The box contained the router, 4 antennas, a power supply and a CAT5e cable. There was no internal packaging or documentation. I connected it and typed 192.168.1.1 as the URL and had no luck. I did some reading and found that this router didn't have the typical Linksys default URL. It was 192.168.42.1. I connected and the interface was unfamiliar to me. It had third party VPN firmware. I figured out the password by doing some more reading. It was a number on the bottom of the router, not "admin." It wanted another number to enter the interface so I clicked on the link. It then wanted me to pay for a VPN service. I just wanted the native Linksys firmware. I went to the Linksys site and downloaded the current firmware into the router. This sounds simple enough, but I wasted an evening. I was expecting a quick/routine setup like I have done many times before on Linksys routers. This router was obviously a return and not checked. I have issue with it being called "Certified Refurbished." It should have come with Linksys firmware. I doubt it was even tested. It appears slightly used. For example, there is ink on the reset button. I would have rather paid full price for a new one. Frustration is an understatement!After a month of usage, I decided I am going to return this router as the wi-fi keeps turning off which requires a reboot. It can occur daily or once a week. Now I know why it was returned and resold. Lowered rating from two stars to one star.

I ended up returning this after giving it a try for about a week. It wasn't any better at providing coverage and performance over the ASUS rt-n66u wireless router I was using previously. Being in a semi large home (2800 sq ft) performance degradation was still a big problem. We have a 300 Mbps internet package from Time Warner and with the router on the 2nd floor I was seeing real speeds of 50-90 Mbps from the floor below. I decided to go big and bought the Netgear Nighthawk x8 as a replacement. The coverage and performance is a night and day difference. I'm able to get 200-300 Mbps real speed in the same areas with the Nighthawk x8 were I was getting 50-90 Mbps with the Linksys WRT1900ACS and old ASUS router.