This is a great router. It replaced an older Netgear router that was in the process of dying, and the change was amazing. If you're on the fence, go ahead and get it.
This router is EASY to set up. I ran through the guide quickly enough, changed the SSIS and access paskeys, and was off and running. the signal is strong and reliable, and covers the house quite well, and the signal extends outside onto the deck and yard nicely enough.
The router comes with a family protection feature that allows you to set up an account that will check and filter every request going through the router, both on WiFi and through the ethernet. Nothing is fool proof, but it provides a great layer of protection for our family.
We have a "Micro-Cell" signal booster from AT&T. We connected it to a port on the router's ethernet, and it receives a strong, reliable connection to the internet. I've connected an external hard drive to a USB port, which makes the drive available on our network, which is handy when we're at home. Its great having a shared drive for pictures, songs, documents and other files we like to share. I haven't used the "cloud" feature, but I'm planning on getting a bigger drive and hooking that up as well. I doubt it will be too difficult, but I can't speak to that yet.
In addition to the MicroCell, I typically have 2 computers wired on the Ethernet, 1-3 laptops (including work laptops connecting through VPN - without difficuty), 2 kindle fire's, a windows tablet, a windows phone and an android tablet and phone. Everything can be connected at once, and it works just fine. We've had study groups over, and they connect their phones, tablets, and computers to the Wi-Fi as well. I'm not sure how many concurrent connections it handles, but we haven't capped out yet, so it seems it is more than 10 or 12.
I have a 'normal' sized 3-bedroom split-entry house, and this router adequately covers the house, although I did get a signal booster to increase the speed in the back bedroom. The bedroom, however, is on a different floor, and the signal travels through not only the floor, but the stairs and a couple of walls. It makes it, but with the signal booster at the top of the steps, there's improved bandwidth in that back corner. I'm sure if I centered the router better in the house, I wouldn't need it, but the way its laid out, putting it in the middle would be awkward, so its off to one side.
I'm VERY glad I picked up this router, and I heartily recommend it.
| RAM | 256 MB |
|---|---|
| Wireless Type | 5.8 GHz Radio Frequency, 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
