Product Showcase

Product Showcase

So lets have a closer look at the product, packaging first of course.

So the Linksys (Belkin really as they bought Linksys) WRT1900AC delivers a decent bundle. Next to the router you'll see a CAT6 Gigabit Ethernet cable, power adapter, a manual, Instruction CD and a nice four antennas. Everything is packaged rather nicely there hardly any chance of damage during transport.

Above you can see an overview of the hardware. And yeah, that's a nostalgic design alright. The WRT1900AC has been equipped with powerful hardware such as a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 128 MB flash memory, eSATA and USB ports. the router comes with 256MB of RAM memory. This much is needed among others for IPv6 - the IPv6 stack is likely loaded completely into memory. It's a small computer slash server on its own really. The WRT1900AC is Wi-Fi Certified for 802.11a,b,g,n and ac. The unit is huge btw, 8.7 x 6.3 x 3.3 inches.

Specs wise you are looking at the following.

• 802.11ac Wi-Fi (backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n)
• Speeds up to 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band
• Speeds up to 600 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band
• GbE WAN & LAN ports
• 1 x eSATA/USB 2.0 port
• 1 x USB 3.0 port
• 1.20 GHz dual-core ARM processor
• 128 MB flash memory
• 256 MB DDR3 RAM
• Four exchangeable external antennas

Unlike other 802.11ac routers the new WRT is equipped with four adjustable and removable antennas.

Love it or hate, the design I guess, but you are looking at one of the most powerful consumer routers on the planet anno 2014. Not only the hardware though, check out the software features as well.

• Browser-based setup for installation from device PC/Mac, smartphone or tablet
• Can be configured as: router, range extender (aka repeater) or wireless bridge
• Ability to hide SSID broadcast
• Setup wizard sets up two SSIDs, one per radio band
• Linksys Smart Wi-Fi can be accessed from a browser or the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi app for iOS and Android
• Share printers or storage devices through USB or eSATA
• Built-in DLNA-certified media server and FTP server to share files
• Drag-and-drop media prioritization to prioritize bandwidth for devices, applications or games
• Parental controls to prevent access to websites or block access during certain hours
• Dynamic DNS services supported: No-IP, DynDNS and TZO
• Built-in speed test to test broadband upload and download speed
• OpenWRT ready

A bit hard to see on the photo, but there is even active cooling in the router thanks to a small fan. You can't hear it though.