Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Summary: A great router if you need one now, and are looking to futureproof your setup; and the Cloud services are optional (after the initial setup) My previous router: DIR-655 for about 5 years. Review: My last router stopped working after many years of great service. I was in a pickle: do I buy an 'n' router, the standard created over 5 years ago (ancient by computer standards), or do I get the newer (and untested) 'AC' standard for more $$? What convinced me was the reviews for the EA4500 v2. My thinking was, if this thing is basically the EA4500 with support for the new wireless standard, then why not pay an extra 40$ for the increase in technology? I assumed it would not be faster since I was still using g/n, but as it turns out, this thing smokes my old router (see speeds below). The big selling point that Linksys tries to push is the 'App' feature. I'll put it to you like this: have you ever wanted to check your home internet status while you were, say, on business in another country? Or did you ever think, 'geeze, i forgot to change the parental settings!' and wanted to up the porn filter at home from your office? Yeah, me neither. Routers to me are like the cement foundation of your home: I appreciate they might be the most critical part of the house, but hopefully I'll never have to bother with them. A bad router (or cement job) is one that requires attention after the initial setup. Hopefully the first and last time I looked at my EA6500 router screen was a few days ago when i took it out of the box. Basically, the programs ('Apps') that are accessed via registering for their Cloud service (free) is an attempt to be more Macintosh, which the kids find trendy these days. Your ea6500 MUST connect to Linksys for the initial setup, but after that you can choose not to create a Cloud account, which is what I chose to do. Be warned that as a Comcast customer, I had to update to the latest firmware for the router to work; something about hybrid IPv6 usage. That is RIDICULOUS, setting up a router should be easy. Although not technically difficult, it was still a pain and frustrating because I could have manually setup the connection myself if given the opportunity; sometimes these automated setups are more trouble. I imagine as time goes by, this will no longer be an issue as newest firmware ships. This is why I didn't subtract stars. Granted I've only had this for a couple of days, but there have been no dropped connections thus far. I usually wait longer to write reviews, but I wanted to let people know who are in my position: this is a great router. Pros: +Very fast wireless transfer rates ('g'= 4.0mb/sec up from 1.9mb/sec, 'n'=14 mb/sec up from 7 mb/sec). Note that I lack dual channel clients. +Very fast wired tx rates (gigabit ethernet at around 75 mb/sec compared to the DIR-655 at around 30 mb/sec) +Excellent range (not a place in my 3 level townhome that I don't get signal) +Much smaller than the picture makes it look. Sleek design. +Linksys name to back up the product. +Great attention to detail: for example, you can disable the blinking lights on the router so my living room doesn't look like a discotheque. Cool! Cons: -I had to update the firmware in order to setup the router: most complicated router setup since my 802.11a router! -Need internet access to Linksys to setup the router. -'AC' standard not widely available yet. I have no way of testing to check speeds, and Cnet and others have not yet reviewed this product. And the Apps are for me are neither negative nor positive; they are there if you want them. EDIT: 10/14/12 The router is still working great and have had no problems thus far. A friend reminded me that I forgot to include another frivolous feature: the 'Simple Tap' card. It allows you to add a compatible phone to your network without having to type in a password. Push a button on the router, swipe the card on your phone, and you're connected. Again, I don't think this feature offers any real convenience (what's so hard about typing in a password?), and you have to wonder, how much do all these silly features add to the price of the router? Still, you can disable all of these, and I'm sure someone somewhere will find the Simple Tap and Cloud features useful. EDIT:1/21/12 Still working with no problems. Because I'm accustomed to the DIR-655, I changed the location of the router page. It's now 192.168.0.1, and that was a breeze to do (I'm old and don't want to have to remember a new string of numbers). I did setup a new media server with a reserved IP with no issues, remote access is working well. The speed is still amazing (gigabit ethernet WAN as well). I have now mounted the router vertically behind a chest and it's completely hidden. I can only speak from my own experience (n=1), so take this statement with a grain of salt: this is the best router ever. EDIT:5/10/13 Still no issues or disconnects at any time. We have added a lot of wireless clients, 16 total (laptops, iphones, ipods, etc), and there are no connection problems. However, this new 802.11ac wireless standard has been slow to catch on and there are as of yet no decent 'ac' wireless adapters. So, buying this now is still an investment in the future. It's a bit frustrating, it's like having a helipad ready to go, and now I just need helicopters to come down in price. :) Technology moves quickly though, my DIR-655 was the same way with the then draft 'n', and now it's everywhere. There are rumors of the 2013 Apple computers supporting the wireless new standard, so we'll see.