Review on 🔗 Enhanced Linksys WRT1200AC Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router with Gigabit, USB 3.0 Ports, and eSATA Support by Matt Wigfall

This review is for those who want to use OpenWRT instead of the Linksys firmware. DEFAULT FIRMWARE: My only comment on the Linksys firmware: And you don't need to sign up for "Linksys Smart Wi-Fi": Below the login window is a tiny link "Sign in to local router". Use it instead of logging into Smart Wi-Fi. BACKGROUND: If you're looking for a high-performance 802.11ac OpenWRT router, your options are limited. You can get an Atheros MIPS-based product, but the processing power is years old. Broadcom options do not work with OpenWRT. You can upgrade to full x86. Or finally there are some new ARM variants with non-Broadcom chipsets, like this WRT1200AC with Marvell chipset. OPENWRT: I installed OpenWRT Chaos Calmer 15.05rc3 (mvebu-armada-385-linksys-caiman) with no problems. Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz work great. PERFORMANCE: This device offers great connectivity throughout my home, 5GHz 802.11ac has a true throughput of 400Mbps+, up to 300Mbps at 25ft. My experience with 802.11n is 50Mbps on 2.4GHz, 130-180Mbps on 5GHz, real performance. Sending 30Mbps SQM QOS WAN->LAN consumes 3% CPU. Compare that to 50% on a device like the Archer C7. When using OpenVPN, 30 megabit traffic takes only 20% of the processor time. Such speed of traffic is unattainable even on a lower-end device like the Archer C7. It looks like the WRT1200AC is drawing around 7 watts of power. Using the USB 3.0 interface, I was able to extract about 700MB from the external drive. This unit may "only" have a 2x2 802.11ac radio, but actual performance seemed to match the 3x3 radio in the Archer C7 (the client was a MacBook). Pro with 3x3 radio) BUILD QUALITY: The WRT1200AC is built very well with quality materials and feels solid. It has a heatsink on top of the SoC and a large copper area under the radio chips. BAD: The supplied ethernet cable is not twisted pair, it is flat. The included power adapter feels oddly cheap. I suspect the power will fail long before the router fails. GENERAL INFO: Powerful, impressive router, almost a dream: dual-core ARM with 512MB RAM, dual Wi-Fi bands, many gigabit ports, USB 3.0, SATA and OpenWRT ready. You will love it!