RT-N66U vs EA4500

[sectornine]

I ordered the RT-N66U, however it is on back order with a week or so lead time. I have read some decent reviews on the EA4500. Looking to replace a WRT54GL. Primary purpose is streaming of HD video alongside other basic tasks.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I ordered the RT-N66U, however it is on back order with a week or so lead time. I have read some decent reviews on the EA4500. Looking to replace a WRT54GL. Primary purpose is streaming of HD video alongside other basic tasks.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I am no expert on these matters, so please take my comments on face value. However...

I have tried both and I have found the wireless signal strength and coverage to be MILES better on the RT-N66U. I mean like no comparison. I had an old Netgear DGND3300 originally and struggled to get 5GHz N upstairs in the house, and my Samsung Galaxy S2 (which has a pretty rubbish wifi antenna) could barely connect downstairs.

I found the EA4500 to be hugely disappointing, and not much better than the DGND3300.

The RT-N6600 is in a different league. I get full signal on 2.4GHz and 5GHz all over the house! I cannot understand why it is so much better, but it is. I reckon half the street could connect to my wifi now... which is hardly an advantage, I know, but the signal is so strong everywhere it's bordering on ridiculous.

I am completely delighted with it, I have to say./

 

[jerry6]

I am no expert on these matters, so please take my comments on face value. However...

I have tried both and I have found the wireless signal strength and coverage to be MILES better on the RT-N66U. I mean like no comparison. I had an old Netgear DGND3300 originally and struggled to get 5GHz N upstairs in the house, and my Samsung Galaxy S2 (which has a pretty rubbish wifi antenna) could barely connect downstairs.

I found the EA4500 to be hugely disappointing, and not much better than the DGND3300.

The RT-N6600 is in a different league. I get full signal on 2.4GHz and 5GHz all over the house! I cannot understand why it is so much better, but it is. I reckon half the street could connect to my wifi now... which is hardly an advantage, I know, but the signal is so strong everywhere it's bordering on ridiculous.

I am completely delighted with it, I have to say./

+1 getting signal where 3700 , 4500 had zero signal . So far 66 has the best sinal of all the routers I've tried . the asus rtn-16 was as good but only 2.4 band .

 

[TonyH]

Ditto, here, Had WNDR3700 V1. V2, WNDR4000, WNDR4500. I quit on
Linksys after E3000. Now using RT-N66. I think external antenna is
superior compared to internal one.

 

[AnthonyArmato]

I currently own the Linksys E4200 but purchased the EA4500 when it first came out. Personally performance wise I saw no difference between the two. My other half bought the Asus RT-N66U for me for my birthday but I cannot play with it until tomorrow. Hoping to see a nice improvement in range and performance.

 

[sectornine]

I appreciate all the great feedback. Looks like I am sticking with the n66u and the back order just got bumped up; should have Tuesday. Thanks again and will report back after up and running for a while.

 

[PiCASSiMO]

I appreciate all the great feedback. Looks like I am sticking with the n66u and the back order just got bumped up; should have Tuesday. Thanks again and will report back after up and running for a while.

My ASUS RT-N66U is still back-ordered through Amazon... with a Delivery estimate: April 27, 2012 - May 9, 2012. Waiting patiently to replace my 2-year old Netgear router that is reliable as the weather man.

And no... I'm not going to bother buying the EA4500 from Amazon.

 

[RogerSC]

My ASUS RT-N66U is still back-ordered through Amazon... with a Delivery estimate: April 27, 2012 - May 9, 2012. Waiting patiently to replace my 2-year old Netgear router that is reliable as the weather man.

And no... I'm not going to bother buying the EA4500 from Amazon.

I finally got tired of waiting for Amazon to deliver, and got it near me from Fry's, off the shelf.

 

[fstubbsjr]

Do you need port forwarding?

I ask this because I can't get it to work on the RT-N66U. So needless to say it may be a good router, but it does not port forward, I'm thinking about getting the EA4500. I want to keep this one, but if ASUS is not thinking enough about fixing something that's broke, I don't know about this router. By the way, I'm running version .108.

 

[AnthonyArmato]

112 has been released and there's also 116b available so you can clearly see they're actively working on bugs.

 

[doi2]

uhhh. Port forwarding works perfectly for me. I'm using firmware 112. It's a bit tricky to setup though. what got me at first was that I had to first press the "+" that was next to the port address to add the line to the list, THEN hit apply.

THEN go back and "Enable Port Forwarding" under the Basic Config on the "Virtual Server/Port Forwarding" tab. Not sure why they had it off by default.

 

[gundrted]

I'm also going between the EA4500 or N66U

Hello

I'm currently trying to decide between the same to routes. I'm replacing my WRT54G and yes I bought it when it was top of the line. I know its older than sin and either the ea4500 or n66u are light years newer.

As you can tell I'm not someone that buys a new router every time a new model comes out. I need it to last years. What are people's thoughts on the longevity of these two?

Does anyone know if either router supports a USB hub on the USB port? I would like to run 3 hard drives (2 Time Machine backups and 1 Storage), maybe a printer and maybe a 4G USB dongle.

I have ran DD-WRT for years and I think its the only reason my router even still works. Is there any real need for a custom OS on the N66U?

Has anyone used the VPN server on the N66U? I'm not sure if I would use it, but the stock option is nice. The EA4500 would require DD-WRT to have this option.

Has anyone used a 3/4G cell dongle? Do you know if you route traffic both WAN and 4G network the same time. I could use this to split work and personal traffic.

The last item would be the router or home integration app Cisco is teasing. Has there been any real info around this or is it vaporware. I do have z-wave currently so this could be a bonus for me.

Thanks for any and all help

 

[gary8vi]

Hello

I'm currently trying to decide between the same to routes. I'm replacing my WRT54G and yes I bought it when it was top of the line. I know its older than sin and either the ea4500 or n66u are light years newer.

As you can tell I'm not someone that buys a new router every time a new model comes out. I need it to last years. What are people's thoughts on the longevity of these two?

Does anyone know if either router supports a USB hub on the USB port? I would like to run 3 hard drives (2 Time Machine backups and 1 Storage), maybe a printer and maybe a 4G USB dongle.

I have ran DD-WRT for years and I think its the only reason my router even still works. Is there any real need for a custom OS on the N66U?

Has anyone used the VPN server on the N66U? I'm not sure if I would use it, but the stock option is nice. The EA4500 would require DD-WRT to have this option.

Has anyone used a 3/4G cell dongle? Do you know if you route traffic both WAN and 4G network the same time. I could use this to split work and personal traffic.

The last item would be the router or home integration app Cisco is teasing. Has there been any real info around this or is it vaporware. I do have z-wave currently so this could be a bonus for me.

Thanks for any and all help

If it was me I would buy them both on Amazon and return the one within 30 days that does not meet your expectations. Opinions are nice but nothing like testing them both on your network with you devices.

Both are very new routers with unknown long term reliability. Cisco recently spent over a billion $ for company that developed this Internet based (cloud) home router control software. I'm betting that it's available no later than December.

I really like the RT-N66U for many reasons. It does the basics and many other things very well for me. I also had a friend return his because it did not work as well as the 4200v2 he was also testing.

 

[gary8vi]

$168 at Amazon

Just noticed the RT-N66U for $168. (US) delivered on Amazon today. If you have a Prime account you can get it in 2 days at no extra charge.

That's the lowest price Iv'e seen so far.