Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've been using and evaluating consumer 802.11 WiFi since the a/b days. While WiFi has come a long way, in many ways, it also hasn't, always over-promising and under-delivering -- our first designed-to-be-discarded/obsolete tech pre-dating cellular telephony. The Linksys EA9500 MAX-STREAM Tri-Band AC5400 MU-MIMO gigabit router finally brings the alleged benefits of the WiFi alphabet soup into the real world. I'm writing this review in an area of the basement of a two-story single-family residence, using the dual 5GHz radios of the EA9500 diagonally one floor above me, where my (equally reputable name brand) 802.11 AC1900 MIMO WiFi router has never been able to cast even a usable 2.4GHz signal. The eight antennae (4 dual-band on the left, 4 5GHz only on the left) on the EA9500 really do leverage both the Multi-User and Multiple-Input/Multiple Output aspects of MU-MIMO. I can't stream HD/UHD to where I am in the basement, but the fact that I can use my WiFi at all for Internet/e-mail access from a single WiFi device is huge progress. The MU-MIMO of the EA9500 is a promise fully kept. For the time being, the dual 5GHz radios are also a tactical urban advantage of the EA9500. When I scan for channel competition, I routinely encounter dozens of competing 2.4GHz WiFi radios crowding those channels. I also see a dozen or so 5.2GHz WiFi radios, but only one or two other 5.8GHz radios. Dynamic channel selection for all three radios helps some, but lack of crowding in the 5.8GHz band probably helps a lot more with the EA9500. Out-of-the box, the EA9500 base-unit is fully assembled, with all eight antennae permanently attached and origami folded down for packaging/shipping. The dense foam padding and internal cardboard compartment framing are impressive and fully functional making the EA9500 less likely to be damaged in transit. There is one ridiculously short Ethernet cable (3'), which is easily replaced to permit intelligent placement of the EA9500 away from other potentially interfering devices. There's a 12VDC AC power block with detachable AC outlet power cord of reasonable length (fully extended ~6'). There's a small 4-page QuickStart fold-out with default WiFi net name and password sticker-imprinted for reckless fast-start installation and there is a CDROM disc with more documentation. The on-disc documentation is disappointing. The >700 page PDF UserGuide has only 21 pages in English and it leaves far too many questions completely unanswered. There is a scatter-shot collection of Linksys support website mini-guides for the EA9500 and there is a listing of all(?) of these generally well written mini-guides under the Support Toolbox link on the Linksys site. You still tend to stumble on the next document(s) you might need, Alice In Wonderland style, as you read through any given mini-guide. All of these docs should also have been on the CDROM. I NEVER use default settings, assignable names and/or passwords for ANY device on my network (and neither should you) for safety and privacy reasons. I always prefer to manually configure away vendor created avenues for attack/compromise that are gifted to lowest-denominator consumers in the name of "convenience." In order to dumb EA9500 configuration process down, Linksys really wants you to use their cloud-based router management platform. This is the one thing that I hate about the EA9500 at the time of this writing. I want NO information about my network configurations/settings accessible anywhere on the Internet and not sitting in anyone's "cloud" infrastructure. I want to configure/manage locally and then locally save/back-up those settings for quick restore and/or template modifications of router setups. Linksys can and should make what I want a lot easier to accomplish. Instead, the Linksys Smart WiFi Android app does not yet fully support the EA9500 in direct WiFi connect mode; you only get severely crippled access to a tiny subset of EA9500 configuration settings. The current Android app only officially supports up to the EA9200 and I can find no way to locally backup to file what few things that the app allows me to configure on the EA9500. Not cool, at all. In direct Ethernet cable connection mode, I could not access the EA9500's internal configuration settings server using MSIE9 or 10, nor could I do so using Firefox 38.x or 46.x -- all returned unexpected JavaScript disabled errors when JavaScript wasn't disabled. The only browser available to me that successfully accessed the EA9500's internal configuration setting server was Opera. Not what I expected and something else that Linksys needs to fix. (The 8 Ethernet LAN ports are all switched 10/100/1000 MHz.) You almost get Enterprise-level router configuration settings for things like QoS, VPNs, etc, but you do have to hunt and peck your way through the server pages to find out what you can (and can't) do. Right now, Linksys seems to be favoring a lot of hand rolling of settings that other vendors more quickly implement via check boxes that eliminate a lot of manual tedium for commonplace configurations. There are a lot of missing conveniences in the EA9500's settings that I currently get from other, lesser, WiFi devices. No check boxes for quick WiFi and/or LAN port grouping/isolation. No common-port check boxes to support limited tunneling between Guest and production WiFi. Linksys expects me to hand roll those things from scratch. No internal help/man pages for any of the sections of the configuration settings server. No local backup of EA9500 configuration settings for quick restore (after factory reset) and/or creating settings library templates for different router roles/deployments. These are also things that Linksys really needs to fix. As with most other consumer WiFi devices air cooling is passive. I make sure that all passively cooled electronics are placed on suitable shelving that permits ample, unfettered access to environmental air and away from environmental heat sources. That said, the EA9500 never gets hot to the touch in my use of it (which is 24x7, always on). But, the gripes aside, there is a lot to like about the EA9500 (and I haven't even talked about the dual USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0, which I wished was USB C). So much so that the EA9500 is going to become my primary, "internal"/private net WiFi router and the pre-existing AC1900 router is going to be for private WiFi subnetting/occasional "Guest" use and/or for an eventual second external broadband connection (affordable GB fiber-to-the curb is coming to my neighborhood in 2016). Bravo, Linksys. Let's get the rough edges, noted above, buffed out and this will be the AC5400 to beat.

I was skeptical in buying a better router than my old trusty G router since my internet speeds is only 50MBPS down and 5MBPS up. I typically get around 40MBPS down and 5-6MBPS up with my old router. Never thought of upgrading to a newer router because I figured my G router would do the job considering my data speeds. Boy I was wrong. I am now getting around 60MBPS down and 6-7 MBPs up with this new router and now since it is an AC router no more interference from devices around my house like microwaves lol. My old router was a nether one and while I never had any issues with setup page I find Linksys is to be quite easy to use and navigate. Would I suggest my friends to buy this router ? If they have large households who have a lot of different devices and has $400 to spend I would say this is a fantastic choice for a router and well worth the price tag.

Received the Linksys EA9500 AC5400 Wi-Fi Router on Friday (5/13/16). I quickly without any hiccups whatsoever installed this router into my home network. This router has been nothing short of amazing and blazing fast. Installation took all of 5 minutes. After installing I updated and tweaked my network settings, and updated them in my Smart WiFi app which is highly recommended for Linksys Smart WiFi routers. After updating my network settings, I noticed immediate boost in speed as well as range throughout my spacious apartment. Areas where I previously received little to no coverage are not only now covered but are just as fast as the area where my router is centrally located. All of my mobile & streaming devices connected seamlessly to my router. Drastic improvement through and through. Thank you Linksys for an awesome router.

First off, I would like to commend Linksys on the ease of usage in setting up this product! At first glance with all the antennas, which make the product appear to be somewhat intimidating; however, they are needed in order to optimize the best coverage in your home. As a person who has multiple devices within my home and several are in usage at a time, I found this product to meet all of my Wi-Fi connectivity needs immensely. Sometimes, I use my IPad Air for writing purposes late into the wee morning hours and with my old Wi-Fi Router, which was issued through my Internet provider; I would receive a message that says, “WEAK INTERNET CONNECTION!” However, since using the Max-Stream AC5400, I have NOT received this message. I am sure the multiple antennas cover the dead spots, which have made my life much easier and efficient.

I have a Netgear R6400-100NAS(AC1750) router, however I wasn’t getting strong signals in the corner of my house. I connected the RE7000-AC1900 range extender. Setup took about 10 minute after I tried twice. The range extender creates another SSID. For instance, if my SSID was Home/Home-5g the extender would create Home_ext/Home-5g_ext. I was worried about was the printer (Epson workforce 845) setup on my network. I had no problem printing was the printer was connected to Home and my laptop was connected to Home-5g_ext. One bad thing I can say is how big the extender hangs from the wall plug. I hope Linksys reads my review and take my advice. I am pretty sure they can not shrink. SOO I recommend building its to cover both wall plugs and have additional wall plugs on the units so users can plug other devices.

I took my time to really evaluate this router before submitting a review. I have a lot of perticular standards when it comes to routers. #1 It has to be easy to set up period. When I say easy, I mean my 70 year old father could do it without calling me. Next it has to work, without having to be rebooted or having it cut out unexpectedly. It must have some serious range, and lastly must look good. I found this router met all of these demands well. I won't go into the tech specs you can read off the box however I will say it handled 4 smart T.V.s, 3 media players, 3 cellphones, 2 iPads, a desktop, and 2 game consoles all running at the same time with ease. While most people don't pay attention to the speed of their WiFi I will say I did notice a very nice speed bump after switching over from an N class router.

Maybe I just had bad luck, but I bought this and had 2 DOA, and the third die after a year. Switched to a Linksys mesh system and couldn't be happier

In all fairness, I do have to say that, with my Cable Provider, setting up this router had me questioning if it was even worth it. But now I can say I would have suffered more if I knew it was going to be this good. I'm a solid 200 feet away from my router. (I have a house on a property with 2 houses on it ) Having to go through wood, brick, glass, metal, weather, and any other interference that would come up, my Internet was very slow with just me on it, so you can imagine when 5 people try 8+ devices connected. For a while, i used a range extender and had that as a midpoint. It worked for a while, but it recently went out. Luckily, I was able to find this bad boy. It is still linked to the main router which is still 200 ft away from me, but now, an extender isn't even needed. I get faster speeds, better coverage, and we connected 9 devices to it at once and we could barely tell a difference. It is worth every penny! Try it, you won't be sorry!

Quit working after 12 months and switch to a Netgear Orbi and love the Orbi!

I have used a variety of wireless routers (Apple, Netgear, and Linksys) in recent years, and I'm pretty picky about them. But the Linksys EA9500 really stands out. This is a beast of a router. If you don't mind the price, I wholeheartedly recommend this router.. When I consider a new router these days, there are a few things that are really important to me: 1. Of course, the basics: reliability, speed, range, security features, guest network,etc. 2. Dual band 3. AC standard. 4. MU-MIMO. 5. Beamforming (or similar) technology. 6. Print server capability 7. Reasonable port selection The EA-9500 has all the basics in spades. Dual band? Even better; this is tri-band. AC? Yes, but not just 1900 (like the Linksys I replaced with this one); 5400. MU-MIMO? Yes. Beamforming? Yes. Print server? Yes. Ports? Plenty; one USB 2, one USB 3, and 8 ethernet ports. After using this router for quite a bit on my 300Mbs cable connection, I am impressed. It never sputters or strains. We use a variety of devices: two different gaming consoles, multiple laptops (Windows and Mac), desktop computers, tablets (Windows and Mac), connected home devices (Nest and such), and a variety of cell phones. But we have not experienced a single blip in signal since installing the router, and the coverage is phenomenal. Setup is fairly typical for Linksys Smart WiFi devices, which I like in the current generation of devices (prior iterations of the portal were clumsy, but the current portal is relatively easy to use and gives lots of options for setup). One caution, when choosing your network name, it will also give your device this same name. You can change all the names later,. The network names are changed in the wireless settings, but the device name is changed via a dropdown menu in the top right of the screen (sadly, that took me a little while to find that particular menu). However, if you've ever set up a wireless network, you'll find setup a breeze. I have to admit, when I took this out of the box, it looked frighteningly huge. That's because it is huge. But it works beautifully. I am completely sold on this router and highly recommend it.

Lost WiFi for the first time in years and it happens randomly now with this router. Going back to my tried and true Apple AirPort Extreme.

This item is great. I use it in my home, and it not only provides great service in my house but in the garage, front yard, and backyard as well. I live in a 3 story house. Additionally, it was really easy to set up. It took me less than five minutes to set up. I gave this a 4 instead of a 5 because sometimes it will stop working altogether. But I unplug it and plug it back in and it is working great again within mere minutes. It is definitely something I would recommend buying. Before I started using this I got pretty good wi-fi in the house and on the front stoop but that was it. So it has definitely increased where I can use wi-fi at. Also, I am not very tech savvy most of the time so when I get a product like this that is set up and ready to go in under five minutes it means it is REALLY easy to set up. Additionally, on the box it says it has a 3 year warranty and 3 year tech support.

In summary - At first I was excited about buying this router. After I went through the setup and started using it I noticed that I was losing my internet connection occasionally. It turns out the the router was randomly rebooting itself. I called support, it did not help. I am not sure if any new firmware updates have fixed the problem. I returned the router.

Couldn’t handle large home. Constant reboots then WiFi failed.

I had bought this router for a couple of days. After a frimware update, it locked itself in a reboot loophole. Tried everything to get it to stop, but nothing helped. Sent it back to the store for a refund. I was hoping this router would replace my 3 year old one that still runs good.

Hardware feels sturdy and setup was a breeze. Following the wizard for setup is a piece of cake and I was up and running in less than 5 minutes! All I had to do was naming the connection and the desired password, that was literally the hardest part. I have quite a few gadgets in the house, three PCs, two laptops, 3 tablets, and 3 smartphones, along with SmartTV, and gaming consoles. All of the connectivity in the past week seems to be quite stable and the speed is fast! Please note, in order to obtain the fastest speed based on the specs, you have to have the latest hardware supporting it. But yes, this is something I would install in my house that has high demands for wireless reliability and connectivity.

For the past several years I have been using the latest model of Apple Airport Extreme WiFi router. It's easy to use, setup and stylish plus it works very well. I was hesitant to try a new router but decided to give EA9500 a chance. The features on this router are excellent even surpassing the Apple Airport Extreme. The setup is easy and the design is great. I have not experienced any degradation in signal or network speeds. The mobile app is useful to manage the usage and connected devices. The only downside is price when compared to other high end routers like the Apple Airport Extreme. If you are in need of high end router, give this a try. If you are looking to save money, wait for it to go on sale.

Purchased this with a new modem. Had geek squad install. The modem was useless, but they did connect the router. I kept getting dropped signals, other equipment would not connect to it, gave it a couple days. Ended up getting all new equipment from my provider and haven't had a problem since. Now I can't return it. Absolute crap.

Internet starting dropping out intermittently immediately, which was very upsetting to my League of Legends playing son. After two weeks it got into a loop where it would reboot every 2 minutes, which was too quick to log into the router. Online articles said it had something to do with the power supply. I returned it and bought a Netgear router.

The setup on this router was very easy. I had it up and running in under 10 minutes. The only gripe I have is the password they gave me to initially connect to the router did not work, but I was still able to run the setup smoothly based on the instructions given. The router, once up and running is a BEAST. I get 90mb downstream on my cellphone downstairs and my connection isn't even supposed to be that fast. I would highly recommend this router if you're looking for streaming from a network HD. It allows you to plug a HD directly into the router itself and the software is very intuitive. Overall i would highly recommend this router to anyone looking for a great and powerful router!