Update:
It's been about a year and a half since we purchased and I have grown less happy with this router over time. One of the biggest issues is that our cell phones regularly drop the connection (they still connect to the wireless but drop internet access). This happens on both android and iPhones. My wife also reports that her laptop drops the wireless signal from time to time. This doesn't happen with the other devices (2 Rokus, other laptops) but it's really a pain in the butt for my phone. Given the cost for this item I am not sure I would recommend it. I will say that it does not need to be restarted very often (I have only done it a few times over the year plus).
We purchased this to replace an older wireless router which was needing to be reset frequently to keep up with the demands of 2 adults and 3 kids. We have 5 laptops, 1 roku, one DVD player (not wireless), 3 kindle fire HDs and 4 phones that all compete for wireless access and while we were frustrated with our bandwith it turned out to be the old wireless router and not the cable internet connection that was the issue.
This wireless router is easy to set up (I have set up a bunch of different routers and this was about the same as others). I wanted to keep the same network name as my old router since changing the SSID would mean going to each device and making changes - no thanks) and after figuring out the user screens it didn't take much work.
We do have a wireless signal booster near the roku because the old wireless router wasn't reaching the roku with the speeds needed to stream video. With the Trendnet router we can turn that off and still get what we need - the signal reaches all parts of our house (a 3 story row home) and my kid who has the back bedroom states that she gets at least 1 more bar now than when using the older system. In the few months since getting the trendnet router I think I have only reset it (unplugged) it once and I am not even sure that was needed. We have only had one issue where I had slower speeds on my work laptop than I wanted and I think this was when everyone was home and one kid was both watching a video online and skyping. Damn digital natives.
I know the price is more than what I would have wanted to spend on a home wireless router and was tough to deal with given that when you search for wireless routers you can get them for under 30 bucks, but this is a case where you get what you pay for. A few negatives have come up although none are deal breakers:
1) The lights (blue) are very bright. We have the router in the bedroom and it's like a disco ball. Some black tape would end this, but it's a thing worth knowing.
2) It can run hot. I mean not just warm to the touch but hot. It needs to be in a place where it gets plenty of air flow.
3) It's kind of big - three sets of antenna and it is about as big as a dvd player.
Hope this review was helpful
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
