Review on Ultimate Connectivity: NETGEAR AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Router (R6300) by Aaron Jimison

***********PLEASE READ THE LATEST UPDATE FIRST. SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS ROUTER! ********* The router arrived in the mail today. Setup was very easy and quick. The instructions were clear and simple. Disconnect the modem, connect the router to it, turn both on, go to the laptop, open the browser, go to routerlogin.net, update the firmware and you're done. The whole thing took no more than 5 minutes. It took me 5 hours to set up my first Netgear router. Performance: I haven't tested the AC speed yet, but wirelessly it's really great and stable. I've found download speeds to be around 25Mbps on all devices with a few tweaks. I've also found that the speed remains relatively stable on other devices, e.g. B. streaming videos on an iPad, or syncing large files with Dropbox, etc. If you have never used Netgear routers, this is very important. Previous models used scanning speed on other devices after streaming video or syncing to a cloud service. Coverage: I live on a 900 square meter property. Feet and I'm protected from parking. Software: This is nothing new, but creating software for Netgear is like having a chicken write poetry. This is my fourth Netgear router in about 8 years and they still have the same crappy, constantly freezing, unresponsive, unintuitive software. If you haven't guessed, we're talking about the so-called "genius". It is very bad. I've tried it online, on desktop, and on iPad. And it's frustrating and confusing in every way. Also, he doesn't like chrome. It works much better and freezes a lot less in Internet Explorer. He's doing his job, but you want to get away from him as soon as possible. Personalization: This is a new generation device designed for the non-technical public. As you may know, the router gets a bad rap from early adopters who tend to push knowledgeable users. The router is preconfigured with typical settings, right down to the network name and a unique, randomly generated password. As you start messing around with tighter security, more control, custom channels, device priority, etc., you'll run into a lot of problems. However, if you keep the typical settings, it works perfectly. Don't try to bake a cake on a toaster, use it as is, a shiny toaster. Appearance: I need to set up a router in the living room next to the TV because I need a wired connection for various Netflix streaming. Devices. And I have to say it's BIG and TERRIBLE. It has fewer lights than previous models and no flashing lights, but has large NETGEAR branding on the front and center. It feels like I'm running a Netgear commercial in my living room. Note: Its large footprint makes it much stronger than previous models and much less likely to tip over. I've owned this router for about 12 hours now and will be updating it over the next few days and weeks as I gain experience. Update 12/07/12: one can say stable. This router never ceases to amaze. Wi-Fi connection on both bands, multiple channels just stable. I can't believe how fast my iPad loads apps. Note: My frame of reference is my previous Netgear WNDR4300. UPDATE 01 11 13: I've had the R6300 router for a little over a month. It worked well initially, delivering a consistent 25Mbps downstream and 4Mbps on my Windows laptop, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and Asus Android tablet. A few days ago, the speed on all devices dropped significantly for no apparent reason. I hardly get 1-2 MBit down and 4 up. It's like a slow death where the download speed drops every day. I called Comcast and they advised me to connect my laptop directly to my modem (Motorola SB6141) via Ethernet. This returned 25 Mbps down and 4 up, suggesting it's not a modem or Comcast. So I turned off my router and unplugged it for a minute, then turned it back on and the same problem persisted (1-2 Mbps). I then rebooted the router using the orange reset button and set it up again, updating the firmware with genie and keeping the same network names, passwords, and security as factory. Again, I still have the same problem, the download speed is terribly slow (1-2 Mbps traffic in and 4 out). Note 1: I tried streaming Netflix from a router to a Sony Blu-ray player using a wired connection and it streamed just fine. 2: I disabled my laptop's wireless adapter and connected to 2.4 and 5G via the A6200 USB wireless adapter, but also got 2.33Mbps down and 2Mbps up. The connection is not lost, the router does not reboot, the indicators do not blink. All my devices show a good signal on the local router. Just slow down the internet and keep slowing down as we speak. I don't know what to do next. Something suddenly went wrong with this router and I can't figure it out. I have contacted Netgear but haven't received anything from them yet. I've also posted on their forum but haven't gotten any good replies yet.