Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've had this router for about a month & performance has pretty much matched the excellent reviews online. My previous router was an Airport Extreme and the set up was just as easy. One plus, my upload speed has doubled with the Linksys unit. My only negative is the 5G speed at distance is very similar to the Extreme, I was hoping for a faster, stronger signal. But all in all, I'm very happy with it.

Excellent router for my network! Wifi coverage with the 4 antennas is great, and setup was very simple. The mobile app lets you check on your network remotely and adjust settings as needed.

Love all the features and options on the app but have found 5g crashes now and then and it just won't work until you unplug the router still appears to work with 2g, not sure what causes it but definitely the unit. Waiting for an update to fix that. Still better than others I've tried.

I have a small office (20+ employees) at our Colorado location that have had consistent issues with a local service provider's wireless router. This one has such a good range and is so dependable, I have purchased another for our San Diego office and plan to get a few more for other locations. Great dependable product!

I received this router free from Linksys for evaluation and could not wait to get it up and running. I have always been a linksys router user. I started with wrt54g, then E4200 and now WRT1900ACS. I have tried others for a week or two but always ended up returning and buying Linksys routers. IMO linksys router management interface has always been the best and easy to navigate and setup. This router is also capable of the new Smart Wifi which allows you to just go to www.linksyssmartwifi to access your router using a email/password combination. Linksys has made it so easy that you don't need to be a geek like me to use this powerful router. You can also download the app from your mobile device app store and manage your router from there. I spend much time these days on my iPad or IPhone (as many do) and not having to use the small browser screen on our iDevice or looking for your laptop is awesome. The app also allows you to add more features using free/purchased tools which adds to your laptops security/performance/management. The router setup was easy as ever, connected to the wireless using the password on the router and it walked me thru a quick setup. No more need to use a CD or connect thru a cable (though the manual recommends it). The router supports the same basic features and also advanced features and settings that I am used. I like the new Network Map feature which tells me which devices are connected and internet bandwidth usage by device. I was able to set up priority by device and application, which meant set my office laptop as a higher priority followed by my XBox. The router also supports VLANs which is something I want to leverage in near future to segment my office, guest and personal networks. I already do that on my switch for LAN, but my Wifi was lagging that feature. The range on this router is amazing. I have both my routers currently on and the previous router will barely give me any signal if I was in my car outside my apartment. Which meant I had to turn off wifi on my phone to access internet. This routers covers a much wider range and I was able to easily access my home wifi sitting in my car. The signal strength is stronger with both my laptops and desktop reporting a 300Mbps connection which I believe is the limitation of my laptop. Prior to this I only used to get 200Mbps connections using the E4200 which was considered strong for its time. The signal also seems to be steady with no fluctuations and I have not had any dropped connections anywhere in my house on any device. The 4 antennas also support beamforming which I believe is the reason for my improved experience. The download and upload speeds also seem to have improved over WiFi compared to my old router. I switched between both routers and tested it a few times with consistent results (pics attached) The WRT routers are created with support for open source router software in mind. I had tried to use ddwrt on my E4200 with no success, luckily did not brick it. From the looks of it the OpenWRT installation seems straight forward and stable. Will give it a try in near future if I need features which the stock router software cannot support or just for testing. For now I am very happy with the standard software for my needs. The only issue I had was the size. While I have seen it on shop floors, I did not realize how big it is until I had to move thing around to make space for this. I can understand the reasons for the big package, due it's powerful dual core processor and the cooling requirement and performance, but in a world where gadgets and devices are going smaller and powerful, these routers are going the other way. Now this will not be a issue with many others but I live in a apartment which is too crammed. I do think the cooling works because its running cooler than my well maintained old router. I will definitely recommend this router to anyone. The basic users will enjoy the additional range and signal strength and stability, but its the advanced users, who will really appreciate all the features this router has to offer.

My old router failed and after reading the reviews we chose WRT1900 ACS as a replacement. Startup was a snap.

I recently moved to a new residence and with that came a new ISP and increased download speeds. Unfortunately, my old Linksys E3000 router capped out at about 50 Mbps, while the speed at the cable modem was ~180 Mbps. This device handles all the increased speed just fine and wireless coverage is better too. I did not like is the built-in user interface to the router. Very consumer-oriented, but if you just want to set it and forget it, it's fine. After about 3 days, the speed on the router inexplicably dropped to around 2 Mbps and then less. A factory reset cured that. Another couple of days later, the same thing. Minus one star for that -- A little bit of Googling shows I'm not the only one experiencing that issue. Linksys needs to get that fixed. The fix (and one of the main reasons I bought this router) is that Linksys now fully supports DD-WRT on the WRT1900ACS. No more 30-30-30 resets or worries about bricking the router -- just download the .bin file and install it. Performance has been rock-solid with no degradation after upgrading to DD-WRT -- even though the DD-WRT firmware is still technically in beta. I recommend the router, but if you aren't technical, be ready to dig in and learn how to upgrade your firmware.

The Linksys WRT1900ACS is an outstanding well-built router. The speed and performance of both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands put this router at the top of its class. Additionally, with the included features of fast network storage (USB 3.0, and USB 2.0/eSATA), remote Smart Wi-Fi access, and being open source, this router is a must have for both basic and advanced users. I have personally used Linksys routers for years, with this one replacing a WRT600N running DD-WRT, and I must say the quality Linksys puts into its products makes them last for years. *I did receive the WRT1900ACS from Linksys for free for my unbiased review of the product. Below you will find a quick list of things I found to be pros and cons when testing out the WRT1900ACS. You will notice that of the three cons listed, two really have to do with cosmetics and personal preference. This is because with the weeks I have spent using the WRT1900ACS, I have had zero issues with the performance and reliability of the router. Pros: ~Throwback retro design and colors. ~Physical setup of the router was a breeze. Everything is solid on the WRT1900ACS, it’s built like a tank…no need to baby it when setting it up. ~Wall mount ready for any type of orientation. ~AC power rocker switch. No more physically unplugging the router and losing/dropping the cord when manually power-cycling. ~Status LED indicator positions on the front of the router actually correlate to the location of the Ethernet ports and USB ports when reaching behind to check a connection. No more guess work. ~The status LED indicators provide ALL the information you will need to know for status of your network and attached devices. Additionally, all lights can be turned off from inside the GUI. ~Remote access to the router’s Smart Wi-Fi GUI gives you the ability to access and change router settings from anywhere, either though the web based interface or phone app. Note: Ensure a strong router password to avoid any privacy breaches. ~Open source ready! The router comes ready to put your favorite firmware in. Personally, I would give Linksys’s own Smart Wi-Fi firmware a try first. After you get over the learning curve of the GUI, the Linksys interface is very well built and suited my needs perfectly. There was no need for me to even flash in DD-WRT. ~The signal and range of the WRT1900ACS is amazing! I have no problem receiving a signal anywhere within my two-story home; even with having the router located upstairs on one end of the house. Focused beamforming at its finest. I can only imagine the signal strength and range with the high-gain antennas (WRT004ANT) installed. ~Extremely fast network storage capabilities. I have not played with the network storage feature much but was very impressed with the read and write speeds. Remember the read and write speeds is dependent on the storage device…if using a standard mechanical HDD you will not notice much, but with a USB 3.0 SSD you will be amazed. I personally would stick with a dedicated NAS device due to the redundancy with a RAID 1/5 setup. ~No heat issues. After having numerous devices connected to the router at once and running the network storage, this router is still running relatively cool. ~Since receiving the WRT1900ACS, there has only been one instance where it seemed like the 2.4GHz band dropped off. All this took was a quick router reset from the Smart Wi-Fi phone app and everything was back up and running. Thank you Linksys for including this feature! Cons: ~This will not be the same for everyone, but it did take a little bit of time to get use/learn the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi GUI vs their previous UI, or other UIs (e.g. DD-WRT, OpenWRT). Once you pass the learning curve of the overly simplistic GUI and figuring out where all the router options are, the GUI becomes easy to navigate. ~The WRT1900ACS does not offer the new Multi-user MIMO that newer routers are starting to provided. That being said, after using this router for a few weeks now, for my uses I do not see how much of a benefit Multi-user MIMO will provide for me. And trust me, I have numerous devices connected. ~That power adapter! Make sure you have enough room on your power strip, or at least a 12-inch extension power cord. With Linksys removing the AC in-line power supply for a wall adapter, the resulting wall adapter is HUGE!

I received this product for free as part of Belkin's Friends + Family Program. This router has some of the best build quality, and hardware performance for an AC1900 router. Through my use, I had the opportunity to perform some extended testing where I was able to benchmark and stress test the router. My review will focus mostly on WiFi performance, storage performance, and the stock firmware. I will also touch on the 3rd party firmware support, as for pretty much the only negatives that this router has, with are centered around the limitations of the stock firmware for when you want to do more advance tasks. you can simply replace the firmware with alternatives such as DD-WRT or OpenWRT. :::::::::::::: WiFi Performance: For the WiFi testing, I used an AC1900 (with MIMO support) client located approximately 10 feet (3 meters) away from the router. The reported speeds are the average sustained speeds, as that better represents the real world experience. 5GHz band throughput: Download: Download performance was rather good with an average speed of 576.662 Mbps. While download throughput was high, it could potentially be higher, as during my testing, I noticed that the router refused to use 400ns GI, and the channel width periodically fluctuated between 80MHz and 40MHz. This stems from a software issue where there are not enough advanced controls. -=-=-=-=-=-= Upload: Upload performance was slightly lower, though it was still very good with an average speed of 481.206 Mbps. The root cause of this issue is clearly shown with the included image where it fluctuates between 80 and 40MHz channel width, as well as only using 800ns GI. While some of the issue can be mitigated by setting the 5GHz band to ac only and forcing 80MHz, that comes at the cost of device compatibility. Hopefully a software update will be released that addresses this. Simultaneous upload and download: For this test, I was able to achieve 688.460 Mbps. Simultaneous upload and download performance is very good, and some of the fastest that I have seen from AC1900 routers. Furthermore, that is with the minor software issues of the stock firmware. There is room to make this already fast router, even faster. In taking the multiple connection testing further, I did 2 upload and 2 download pairs. This further improved throughput to an extremely high 777.090 Mbps. ::::::::::::::::::: 2.4GHz band throughput: The 2.4GHz band was harder for me to test, and my results may not what you will experience on this band, as I am un a rather uncommon WiFi environment. There are almost 200 other access points on this band which are in range of me. The surveying functions offered in firmware such as tomato, list the interference on all 11 channels as "Severe". Since the stock firmware does not allow me to force 40MHz mode, the router remained in 20MHz channel width for this test, thus causing lower than normal speeds. Download: Downloads head steady with an average of 187.665 Mbps. While not the fastest capable of this band on this router, the throughput is easily adequate for many demanding streaming tasks. Upload: Upload performance was very close to that of the download with an average speed of 187.924 Mbps. This is fairly quick, and still faster than most internet connections. While higher speeds will be desirable for tasks such as backing up to a NAS, it is easily fast enough to handle almost any other task. Simultaneous upload and download: In doing a simultaneous upload and download test, speeds were fairly good with an average speed of 240.478 Mbps. Unlike with the 5GHz band, on the 2.4GHz band, when I increased the number of test pairs (2 upload and 2 download), I did not gain additional throughput; in fact, I lose a little bit of throughput. The speeds are still fairly good. :::::::::: Storage performance: This router truly shines when it comes to storage performance. With a 2TB WD green hard drive connected to the eSATA port of the router, I was able to achieve sustained write speeds of 115MB/s, though read speeds were strangely lower at about 82MB/s. while 82MB/s is still very fast, it is strange that it would be lower, especially since it is more difficult for a router to write to storage as compared to reading from it (far less CPU load for reading). Hopefully this will be improved in a future firmware update. Aside from that, the storage performance is the highest of any router that I have seen on the market. Furthermore, it is higher than many dedicated 1-2 bay NAS devices (some of which are more expensive than this router). :::::: VPN server: The stock firmware comes with a built in OpenVPN server, along with one of the best implementations of it that I have seen in a consumer router. The entire setup process is GUI driven, with very few steps to get up and running. It also allows you to manage up to 5 separate users connected to the VPN server. If you use public WiFi hotspots, or really any outside network where you are not in control of the local network, then you should be using a VPN. A VPN connection bypasses filtering, and prevents monitoring and spying on your traffic, as everything is run through an encrypted tunnel to your home network which you can put more trust in. VPN performance is relatively good with throughput approaching 100 Mbps. :::::::::: Overall user experience: For this section, I will be examining the UI and various other user facing functions. Due to the nature of this, this part will be more subjective. Web UI: Upon first booting the router, it provides a simple and straightforward browser based setup wizard. This then leads you to one of the best router home screens that I have seen in a long time with lots of useful and relevant information being displayed on a single page. Items on the home screen can be moved around by simply clicking and dragging them around, and unwanted tiles can be removed if you want. While the web UI has many positives, there are a number of areas where it is lacking, and in need of improvement. Functions like the "Media Prioritization" (QOS), have an incomplete setup process, where it does not guide you through the most important step of specifying your WAN speed. Without the WAN speed being specified, the media prioritization has no effect. It will look like it is working fine, but it is not shaping the traffic. In examining the web UI in more subjective terms, the use of available screen space is rather inefficient. For example, the menus present on the home screen are very inefficient If you select any setting menu, the side bar automatically collapses, displaying only an icon instead of the icon with the text label. This happens even when there is ample screen space available. This all can make navigation slightly more frustrating. Some of the more advanced menus are missing a number of common usability enhancements. For example, when doing port forwards, you are unable to specify port ranges and individual ports in a single rule (e.g., 1024, 2500-2504, 20000). When a specific service requires a number of ports to be forwarded in a manner where they may not be contiguous, you end up having to make multiple separate rules for the service. This can make entering port forward rules take longer than it really needs to. WiFi controls are extremely limited in terms of advanced settings. The user is not giving control over forcing specific channel widths for different client types (often you will see options such as 20 MHz or Auto, when what you really want to select is 40MHz). Other than that, there are a number of web UI functions that I feel will be a welcome addition to this router. The router will benefit from real time bandwidth monitoring, as well as the logging of data used for the month. For users who are stuck with ISPs that cap their monthly data usage and charge steep overages for going over *cough* comcast *cough*, it would be great to have an option to warn when nearing a monthly cap, and then offer the option to restrict WAN access, or throttle it down to ISDN speeds for the last gigabyte. ::::::::::::::: Open source support: One of the best features of this router, other than the great hardware performance, is the support for 3rd party firmware. This is something that I feel should be a requirement for all routers, as they provide you alternatives to the stock firmware if it is not offering all of the functions that you would like. Furthermore, they improve the effective life of the device. Modern routers are essentially fully functional ARM based computers, but unlike your desktop or laptop PC, they are exposed directly to the WAN. Due to the job of the router, this makes it important to stay up to date with the latest firmware, as many security vulnerabilities are often fixed. The issue is, what happens when the product reaches "End of Life" by the company, and no new firmware updates are released? With routers with no option for 3rd party firmware, when new vulnerabilities are discovered, they become at risk for exploit by malicious users. On the other hand, routers with 3rd party firmware support, will often continue to receive updates for many years after. For example, the classic Linksys WRT54G received 3rd party firmware updates for over 10 years after the product's "End of Life". All in all, 3rd party firmware support allows you to gain additional functionality, and also receive extended support. The WRT1900ACS is currently has strong, active development for OpenWRT and DD-WRT currently taking place. Depending on demand, we may also see Tomato firmware make its way to this router :-) .

Started out working really well. Best router I've had to date. It suddenly went belly up. It refused to power on, no lights, no connectivity. What really earned the single star was the Linksys support or lack of it. 3rd party purchase was the reason they gave. They did honor the 1 year warranty. Obsolete, EOL product. I hope I have the same user experience with the replacement I initially had with this router. Support is dodgy, almost fraudulent at best. I had a lot of difficulty getting an RMA number from them. Linksys support issued me a useless case number. The support staff would not email me the shipping address. I had to go thru several levels of customer support to get a shipping label and the shipping address. In my opinion Linksys has gone down the tubes since being sold off by Cisco to Belkin. I had given them 1 star. The AC1900 was by far the best router I had owned to date. It went belly up, no lights. It happens sometimes. AC1900 is an EOL product. They (Linksys) sent me an EA8500 as a replacement. It works as well or better than the AC1900. My advice is to be persistent and don't let some of those telephone support people pull a fast one on you or let them upsell you service you don't necessarily need if a warranty is involved. Linksys Customer Advocate redeemed themselves (Linksys) with me to a large extent. I know how it is. I worked in a support department for a computer manufacturer. A lot goes on between the front door and the back door. Sometimes you get certain types of people in the middle who ruin the whole experience for a lot of people, both customer and support rep.

I always paid to have my wireless routers installed and my devices hooked up. I didn't want any problems with set up or security. When I purchased this one I decided to do the set up on my own. It was very easy, very fast and I have no concern about the security I have set up. Connectivity and signal strength are great on all devices throughout my 2 level 2000 square foot home. Very pleased with this Linksys.

Exceptional performance and extremely wide coverage range. Extraordinary throughput speed when testing with a WiFi Extender [Linksys RE6500] please see attached screenshots for details. Very intuitive setup, remote access, and router management. Great iOS app to manage the router from anywhere! Falshable firmware from OpenWRT. QoS feature cuts down the time required to buffer video streaming.

I have a lot of concrete walls in my house so service range is an issue for me. This router has better range in my house than any previous model I have used. Setup was very easy as well. Not the cheapest unit by far but it is an Editors Choice winner on CNET reviews which I have used for years and respect.

Super simple setup out of the box. Intuitive web-based admin panel. Was unable to add a USB printer on Mac OS X 10.11. USB Control Center software would not run. Large footprint and tall antennae great for range but make it difficult to find a unobtrusive spot for it. Clunky, dated industrial design. This is a BEAST. Smart Wi-Fi Apps promising... but seem like an after-thought. Currently the number of them is too limited to be a selling point. Easy to add Guest Accounts and devices. Network map is a nice feature. Would not recommend to a non-tech savvy friend. But if you are looking for speed, want open source firmware or don't care about the large size, this is recommended (as long as you don't need to network a printer using a Mac). I received a free sample from Linksys in exchange for my honest feedback.

The Linksys WRT1900ACS Wireless-AC router is a significant upgrade from my previous routers. Pace 5031NV-030 (AT&T U-verse router) - used standalone Linksys EA6900 AC1900 (Bridge Mode) - used as Access Point Motorola 2247-N8 (AT&T DSL router) - used standalone I moved from a 1300 sq. ft. town house to a 3000 sq. ft. home. I changed from AT&T DSL to AT&T U-verse. Since AT&T U-verse uses a proprietary modem/router, I needed a router that supported Bridge Mode. I initially had a lower model Linksys which improved the range but did NOT allow simultaneous streaming of media without pauses, dropouts, etc. The Linksys WRT1900ACS Wireless-AC works flawlessly as an Access Point in Bridge Mode covering the whole house. The wireless is turned off on the AT&T U-verse router, although I am using it for DHCP to assign IP addresses. The WRT1900ACS is streaming media to the following devices: 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 3 iPads, 2 iPhones, 1 DirecTV receiver, and 3 AppleTV's. The AppleTV's, DirecTV, and iPhones receiver are on 5 GHz wireless AC bandwidth. The laptops, desktops and iPads are on 2.4 GHz wireless N bandwidth. The AT&T U-verse plan I have is 19 Gbs which is ~ 2.2 MB/s download. I'm sure the WRT1900ACS can handle much higher speeds. Bridge Mode (LAN, wired AT&T router to WRT1900ACS) - http://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=137888 Bride Mode (Wireless AT&T router to Wireless WRT1900ACS) - http://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=141083

I have had many wireless routers and this is the best by far. I usually don't write reviews but this was the easiest router to set up also allows you to set up wirelessly with an app. on my I-Phone. The previous two routers that I owned had to reboot over and over usually from overheating. We usually have up to 10 devices using the wireless router at any given time with no complaints of drop outs or no service or slow speed. If you want a fast, reliable, easy to set up router this is the one to consider. May be a little pricey but well worth it in the long run.

Check the specs, compare the reviews, and buy this router. We've tried some tri-band devices from NetGear, Asus, and Linksys after buying this one to compare, and this is definitely the best router for home use. Main reason is this allows our iPhones clean, quick, and glitch free WiFi throughout our home and even outside. Noteworthy too is that even our weaker and older laptops access this router anywhere inside the home. Add in great security and the ability to easily hookup an external hard drive to get share pictures, videos, and other files with anyone on the network, and well this is simply the best router for home use you can buy. Period.

Effortless setup. Smart software exceeded expectations. Easy to adjust for best performance. Excellent range, streaming Hi Def at 70 feet with signal to spare.

Purchased this router to improve on my network wireless range. Easy to use and install. Signal is great and performs well. I streamed music, had two laptops and netflix running and the router did very well. Love the look and feel of this device. The price may be a bit steep for many, but if you're in the market for a high end router look no further than this Linksys. Happy shopping TecHeads

The Linksys WRT1900ACS is a good router for the price (It was reduced to 178 dollars when I bought it at Best Buy). It does require an occasional reboot when the network download speed drops, but I see this with other brands, as well. I have 3 computers, 3 tablets and 2 cell phones and all of them together do not slow this router down at all. I can reconfigure and reboot the router from mobile devices, if needed, which is a nice feature. This router is a real workhorse and is pretty reliable.