Reliability of Linksys ea6900 and ea6350

[Dr.Dial]

Hi!

I'm currently looking for a new router as I'm upgrading my ISP speed. So far I've been using my old WRT54G which works well with a 32 Mbit Line. I don't care that it's old as it proved very reliable (I hardly ever had any freezes or connection drops in 15 Years).

But now that I'm upgrading to a 500Mbit line, I need a Router that can handle the speed. I was at looking at the ea6900 at first as, according to the SNB charts, it's WAN-LAN Throughput is among the highest (>900Mbs). Eventually I did find out, however, that the ea6900 has overheating problems, causing the router to freeze or drop connections which keeps me from buying that one.

What I was wondering ,however, is whether all three of the ea6900s HW Revisions (1.0, 1.1, 2.0) are affected?
While the HW-Ref. 1.0 and 1.1 appear to be pretty similar, the 2.0 has whole different chipset (Mediatek MT7621AT) (see here ) and none of the reviews of the ea6900 that discuss the overheating issue name the HW-Ref.# of the unit tested.
So does anyone know if the overheating issue occurs with all or just with some hardware versions?

Secondly, in case I can't find a good and reliable build of the ea6900, I was considering the ea6350. Although it's WAN-LAN throughput isn't as high as the ea6900's it should be good enough for a 500Mbps line, and I couldn't find any stability complaints about that model so far.

Nevertheless, I would like to ask you guys if anyone is aware of issues regarding the ea6350?

Thank you for your help

 

[Tech9]

I was at looking at the ea6900

Look somewhere else. This router is from 2013. Hardware equivalent to original RT-AC68U and no firmware updates from 2018.

Get the popular RT-AX86U instead or its cheaper brother RT-AX86S. This is what you should be looking for in 2022, if the budget allows.

If the budget is low, get RT-AC66U B1 router. It's similar hardware as Linksys EA6900, but still actively supported by Asus. About $100 price.

 

[Dr.Dial]

I see, so you're recommending ASUS...

but generally speaking, how important ARE those regular firmware updates really? We, the internet users. are constantly being told to install the latest updates all the time, at least when it comes to Windows...

On the other hand my 15y old WRT54G never got hacked or anything....

Is the lack of FW updates the main reason why your advice would be to stay away from the older linksys series?
See I don't really need the latest features when it comes to WLAN speeds and standards. Of most importance to me is a decent routing throughput (via LAN Cable). Basically a solid and simple but powerful unit...

I was even considering a used Cisco small business router as these are know to be more fail-safe...

 

[Tech9]

I see, so you're recommending ASUS...

Yes, in this specific case. Main reason - longer firmware support. See below.

Is the lack of FW updates the main reason why your advice would be to stay away from the older linksys series?

Yes. Intrusion techniques evolve every day, this is not a secure device anymore.

One example:

KCodes NetUSB bug exposes millions of routers to RCE attacks

A high-severity remote code execution flaw tracked as CVE-2021-45388 has been discovered in the KCodes NetUSB kernel module, used by millions of router devices from various vendors.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

One more:

Cyclops Blink Sets Sights on Asus Routers

www.trendmicro.com

 

[Dr.Dial]

Ok... and as far as you know does ASUS say anything as to how long they're gonna supply FW updates for their devices ?

 

[Tech9]

We can only guess, but I would say 5 years minimum - longer than any other consumer routers manufacturer. RT-AC68U from 2013 is still actively supported. Asus has even new 2020 hardware revision of this router. Original RT-AC66U from 2012 had a firmware update in 2020. If you buy a popular model, it will be supported longer. I expect RT-AX58U and variants to be supported longer. Asus has 7x different routers built on this platform.

 

[Dr.Dial]

Sounds good. Can these ASUS Routers connect to a VPN? It's not a necessity but a nice to have...

 

[Tech9]

Yes. If you choose a model with Asuswrt-Merlin firmware support, you get the best VPN support in consumer routers - 5x clients, 2x servers + policy based routing. If you choose a model using CPU with AES support, it can do about 200Mbps on OpenVPN. This is the best you can get from consumer router hardware. RT-AX86U is popular because it has good reliability rating so far, fits the requirements above, has good range radios, 2.5GbE port, quad-core 1.8GHz ARMv8 CPU and 1GB RAM - something custom scripts users are happy with. The cheaper model RT-AX86S has Gigabit ports only, dual-core 1.8GHz ARMv8 CPU, 512MB RAM and the same radios.

I'm not trying to sell you a router. I don't even use Asus routers on my network. I know hardware though and I'm familiar with Asus firmware.

 

[Dr.Dial]

No prob, I know you're not a sales agent

However, you DID get me courious about what router you're ARE actually using...

Not saying I doubt any info about ASUS that you gave me.

 

[Tech9]

I'm using separate firewall, switch, network storage and access points. This hardware is unrelated to your original question though. You are obviously looking for a good consumer router, all-in-one device and on acceptable price.

 

[Dr.Dial]

Right. I think what I'm , in addition the my original question, really asking is what the purpose of the (for eg.) Ciscos small business router line would be. As you recommended some ASUS products, I was browsing around in the SNB router charts to compare their performance to high-end hardware, just to find out that the ASUS beats most of the SBS product lines. As for functionality, the ASUS seems to be better at that, too.

See, I'm a beginner in that field and I'm trying to figure out what those high-prices things can do that the ASUS can't. All I can come up with now, is that (I read the review of the RV-345) the Cisco is expensive, hard to configure (the author of the review even had to contact Cisco to get a VPN-Connection set-up) and needs annual subscriptions to use some of its functions.

So as stupid as this question may sound to an expert, why on earth does anybody even buy these things? They seem to be just more difficult to handle and more expensive.

(BTW: I'm NOT talking about the large network equipment for 200 PCs. Take the RV-160W for eg. , it's made for small set-ups. where's that things better at than the ASUS?)

 

[Tech9]

Business products offer different set of features, generally not needed or rarely used in consumer products. Expected service life and support are usually longer too. Don't look at RV34x series though, they are End of Support products. If you still have WRT54G in use, your requirements will be covered by basically any modern consumer Wi-Fi router.

 

[Christos]

my 15y old WRT54G never got hacked or anything

How do you know? If a hacker has exploited your router to inject ads to your webpages or redirect you to malware sites, you -as a non professional engineer- cannot know it happened because of your exploited router.

 

[Dr.Dial]

@Christos
Well there would be some signs of infection, though. A thing about malware is that it never 'runs' that smoothly as to not cause any weird behavior such as connections drops or freezes. Also I could not find any infections on my computers either...

I just can't image that a mass malware would be so professionally engineered that it would run totally flawless and smooth over years.

@Tech9

Don't look at RV34x series though, they are End of Support products

I'm not considering buying any of these, I guess I'll go with a ASUS as you recommended. I just want to understand what features those SBS routers actually have that the ASUS do not and that make make them that much more expensive. The reason I brought the RV34X up it because it seems like a good unit to compare with. It's a small all-in-one router that is made for about the same number of clients that you would expect in a home. I'm not bringing up large routers with 20+ ports here, as their area of use is obiviously in large networks and backbones.

But take a small business branch office for eg. which is the RV-34X's intended field of operation. What EXACTLY (other than the longer service life) can the RV-34X do better there?

 

[Tech9]

But take a small business branch office

I have in use 3x Cisco RV345P routers with total of 16x Cisco WAP571 access points in my business. The routers offer excellent Dual WAN capabilities, PoE ports to power the access points, native VLANs support. Access points have so called Single Point configuration, support up to 256 clients per radio, clusters of up to 16x access points. There are 80-120 active clients on my networks. The hardware reliability is excellent, the compatibility is guaranteed, the software is better tested, the configuration is super easy. Consumer market is mostly turning users into beta testers. Products get released as fast as possible to beat the competition. Asus bricked some of their own routers with firmware update recently and folks had to RMA their routers. They also had higher than usual hardware failure rates with one of their products. Asus is still one of the better consumer gear manufacturers out there. Some others are worse, dropping product support after 2 firmware updates or never implementing promised in advertisements features.

Keep in mind we are talking about older equipment around 2016. I already ordered upgrade equipment.

What most home routers don't have:
- hardware built to last, new products are mostly disposable with planned obsolescence
- firmware with all features working properly at release
- longer than 2 years support
- native VLANs support
- PoE ports, power from PoE or providing power to other devices
- reliable multi-WAN support, fail over or load balancing
- firewall and access control configuration options
- more advanced routing options
- wall or ceiling mounting options
- more than 30 users per radio support
- more than 4x LAN ports
- VPN options, number of connections, type and performance

You have to look at what fits your requirements and select the proper equipment for your application. Business and consumer markets are different.

 

[Tech9]

much more expensive.

In order to keep the cost low, most consumer routers are close to SoC manufacturer reference design. Broadcom/Qualcomm makes the design, hardware manufacturers make devices based on it. Asus RT-AC68U, Linksys EA6900 and Netgear R7000 routers all use the same SoC with very close hardware design. They can even run the same firmware, with some modifications. See for comparison what the antenna array on a $700 business class access point looks like. The level of engineering and production cost are very different.

 

[Dr.Dial]

Yap, THAT was a decent explanation. Thank you for your effort, you really gave me a great amount of valuable info.

 

[Tech9]

There is also much simpler and shorter explanation - everything containing the word "business" in description is usually more expensive.

I had to purchase a sensor recently for a commercial vehicle. The same sensor is used in large number of vehicles, including passenger SUVs. The manufacturer is Hitachi, the part number is the same. Depending on what vehicle you need it for, the price is between $112 and $320. It's exactly the same part, but if you use the wrong keyword "business", you are going to pay more for it. Marketing tricks are applied everywhere.

 

[Dr.Dial]

Yes and that's EXACTLY what I was thinking. Intel's Xeon e3-12XX series (Haswell) for e.g. is identical to the i7-47XX series with the exeption that a few features and ECC support are disabled on the i7. Still basically the same CPUs, but compare their price...

Then on the other hand, somethimes the word 'business' really does translate to rock-solid. I have a HP laserjet p3015dn which is obliviously made for business use and I'm telling you I couldn't think of a more reliably device. "Equipmet" like that is exacty what I love, even if it means spending a few more bucks.

 

[coxhaus]

You probably don't want to run a WRT54G router nowadays as they were designed for old 6 meg DSL connections and they are very slow. Almost any router would be faster now. I owned 3 of them back in their day. There is no 5 GHz wireless as it was considered business back then. If you are going to run it, then look to tomato for an OS.