WRT1900AC(S?) vs R7000

[Trip]

@htismaqe - were OpenWRT and/or DD-WRT solid on the 1900AC? Just curious, for reference' sake and perhaps additional options for the OP.

 

[htismaqe]

I flashed OpenWRT, looked at the GUI for about 5 minutes, and then flashed back.

I've been up on DD-WRT for 5 days with no issues. It runs a little hot but the cause seems to be known so it will probably get sorted out soon.

I honestly couldn't be happier. I ran on stock for a long time and it was fine but there were just some minor annoyances and I got tired of waiting for Linksys to update the firmware.

 

[xtremesniper]

Thanks guys. These experiences are useful.

@htismaqe What were those minor annoyances, if you don't mind me asking?

I think I've decided that I'm going to have to just buy both the WRT1900AC and the R7000 and just try them both. I've been doing more testing with my current Hitron and I've found that it actually does a pretty decent job except in certain areas. The router is in the basement and overall I get decent 2.4 GHz signal around the house except in areas where the fridge is in the way or (for some reason) the kitchen table which is purely made of wood... Not sure why that's happening but it kills signal either way.

The 5 GHz range on the Hitron is fairly poor but I'm not sure if another router is actually going to make that any better, as either way it will have to go through a few walls and/or floors. This is sad because on the 2.4 GHz network I can't seem to get more than 65 mbps download speeds. My 5 GHz network hits 150 mbps easily as long as I'm within range.

In regards to the WRT1900AC, because the ACS is not in Canada I will have to do some box shopping and find either a v1 or v2 model. From my understanding, despite not having a solid word from SNB about v1 vs v2, I think I'm supposed to go for the v2 as it has better hardware... What that means for stability or actual performance is something I can't seem to find consensus about online.

 

[htismaqe]

The guest network on stock firmware has a hard timeout (client gets disconnected regardless of traffic being generated) and it's not configurable. It's supposed to be set at 24 hours but I had instances where it would log out after 2, 3, or even 10 hours. Also, the Network Map portion of the stock firmware is quite buggy still and I'm not sure they'll ever get it fully functional.

 

[xtremesniper]

The guest network on stock firmware has a hard timeout (client gets disconnected regardless of traffic being generated) and it's not configurable. It's supposed to be set at 24 hours but I had instances where it would log out after 2, 3, or even 10 hours. Also, the Network Map portion of the stock firmware is quite buggy still and I'm not sure they'll ever get it fully functional.

Hmm, interesting. I'm not planning to use either feature much so I guess it's not too concerning... Thanks.

 

[htismaqe]

If you're not going to use the Guest network, make sure you leave it off completely. It's an open wireless network and there are some issues with how it is implemented, making it fairly vulnerable to attack. I live in a remote area so it wasn't a concern for me. Erratic functionality was my issue.

As for the Network Map, you may not use it but it's always enabled. I'm not fully convinced that the underlying daemons are completely stable.

 

[xtremesniper]

If you're not going to use the Guest network, make sure you leave it off completely. It's an open wireless network and there are some issues with how it is implemented, making it fairly vulnerable to attack. I live in a remote area so it wasn't a concern for me. Erratic functionality was my issue.

As for the Network Map, you may not use it but it's always enabled. I'm not fully convinced that the underlying daemons are completely stable.

I would have thought the guest network would have a password option just like any other network... If it's completely open that's kind of ridiculous! And most of my tech life I've used a WRT54G as my router and it didn't have any fancy features at all, so I've come to just expect similar things from new routers. I just want it to work, and to work well. Once it's set up, I don't plan on logging into the router unless there is a problem. I suppose my use case differs a bit then the usual third-party firmware tinkerers on these forums.

 

[sfx2000]

If you're not going to use the Guest network, make sure you leave it off completely. It's an open wireless network and there are some issues with how it is implemented, making it fairly vulnerable to attack. I live in a remote area so it wasn't a concern for me. Erratic functionality was my issue.

As for the Network Map, you may not use it but it's always enabled. I'm not fully convinced that the underlying daemons are completely stable.

These two items are probably the biggest nits...

That and mixed mode in 2.4GHz, which can cause some interop issues with other chipsets - B/G/N-only mode fixes that one - and improves overall performance compared to Mixed mode..

 

[sfx2000]

I would have thought the guest network would have a password option just like any other network... If it's completely open that's kind of ridiculous!

Linksys Smartwifi uses a captive portal with open WiFi on their guest network - and yes, it's a big deal from a security perspective..

 

[htismaqe]

I would have thought the guest network would have a password option just like any other network... If it's completely open that's kind of ridiculous! And most of my tech life I've used a WRT54G as my router and it didn't have any fancy features at all, so I've come to just expect similar things from new routers. I just want it to work, and to work well. Once it's set up, I don't plan on logging into the router unless there is a problem. I suppose my use case differs a bit then the usual third-party firmware tinkerers on these forums.

It is password-protected but not encrypted.

Instead of using security at the SSID level, it uses a captive portal with HTTP.

So the guest SSID is open rather than protected and since the HTTP daemon runs as root, it would be fairly simple to compromise the router via the guest network.

I'm like you - once I set it up, I don't plan on messing with it further. Unfortunately, I just got tired of some of the minor things that kept forcing me to mess with it, which is why I've gone to DD-WRT.

 

[xtremesniper]

Interesting... I suppose they thought they were being clever when they came up with that captive portal.

@sfx2000, so if b/g/n-only mode improves things, does that mean AC is out as an option for the 2.4 GHz radio? Does that even really matter in the 2.4 GHz context since it's not a very high bandwidth capable frequency anyway?

 

[sfx2000]

so if b/g/n-only mode improves things, does that mean AC is out as an option for the 2.4 GHz radio? Does that even really matter in the 2.4 GHz context since it's not a very high bandwidth capable frequency anyway?

802.11ac was never meant to be used in 2.4GHz - causes more problems for many clients... TurboQAM (QAM256) doesn't offer much benefit in any regards, so not a problem putting the device into B/G/N-only mode... and there, it's an excellent performer..

 

[xtremesniper]

802.11ac was never meant to be used in 2.4GHz - causes more problems for many clients... TurboQAM (QAM256) doesn't offer much benefit in any regards, so not a problem putting the device into B/G/N-only mode... and there, it's an excellent performer..

True.

I went to Best Buy today with the intent to buy both but there was only one WRT1900AC on the shelf and it was the v1 model... so I just opted to get the R7000 and see how it does. I'll set it up tomorrow, and if the range and signal strength isn't head and shoulders over my Hitron, I'll have a hard time not returning it. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a WRT1900AC v2 at other Best Buy locations but honestly I was not expecting to see a v1 on the shelf in the first place.

 

[sfx2000]

The R7000 is a fine device and now that the factory firmware is fairly sorted...

 

[xtremesniper]

The R7000 is a fine device and now that the factory firmware is fairly sorted...

So I've heard. Maybe I bought into the marketing jargon but I was thinking the WRT would be better in my house because of its 4 antennas. I haven't unboxed the R7000 yet but the first thing I'll be trying to figure out is how to position the 3 antennas to maximize range given its location on one side of the house in the basement.

 

[htismaqe]

The 4 antennas definitely make a difference in my setup. To illustrate, let's say I have 4 locations in my house where I need connectivity, particularly on 2.4Ghz: A, B, C, and D

With the R7000, I could get A, B, and C to say 90% perfect signal/throughput but D would only be 30%. If I got D to 90%, B would drop to 30%. No matter what I did with the antennas, I could only get great signal at 2 or 3 spots while one spot would suffer greatly because of it.

With the Linksys, I can get A, B, C, and D all to 75 or 80%. While I don't have the high performance at extreme range like I could get with the R7000, I don't have any dead spots either, so the trade off was worth it.

 

[sfx2000]

It's not just the numbers of antennae...

The WRT1900 line is a 4 radio platform, and there is gain to be had there at the very basic RF level - both transmit and receive - it's the only AC1900 class router/AP that has this function in consumer space...

It's still a beast of a consumer AP - not the most feature rich, and a couple of issues with 2.4GHz (easily configured around), and a couple of pain in the a** bugs (guest network and network map) - contrasted with strong 5Ghz performance, routing, and storage performance...

 

[xtremesniper]

*sigh* This makes me wonder why SNB ranks the R7000 at the top of pretty much every metric in the Router Ranker. Seems like this stuff should be re-tested once in a while with updated firmware, no?

 

[Trip]

I'd focus on whichever unit meets your wireless needs the most, and leave it largely at that. You can always offload routing and packet handling to a proper dedicated box to get the kind of features and reliability you desire in that department. I know that's not what you want to hear because everyone wants the silver-bullet to handle all services, but if it were me, I'd never leave the core stability of my network up to the latest consumer wifi box... for all the reasons we've hashed out so many times here.

And you don't have to get fancy/expensive right away, either; it could be something as simple as a $50 mass-market box running Tomato, DD-WRT, etc., which isn't too bad considering what the higher-end all-in-ones are costing. Just some food for thought there.

 

[sfx2000]

*sigh* This makes me wonder why SNB ranks the R7000 at the top of pretty much every metric in the Router Ranker. Seems like this stuff should be re-tested once in a while with updated firmware, no?

The R7000 is the test device that SNB uses to test other AP's...