Linksys WRT back with a vengence ?

[Elixer]

And I thought that Belkin wouldn't do anything like this...
It gets some open source love as well!


http://www.linksys.com/en-us/press/...inksys_wrt_revolutionizes_wireless_networking

Irvine, CA and Las Vegas, NV– January 6, 2014 – Linksys® today announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, that it is bringing back the heritage of the best-selling router of all time – the Linksys WRT54G but updated and modernized it with the most leading edge available Wireless-AC technology on the market. The new Linksys WRT1900AC Dual Band Wi-Fi Router is inspired by the original WRT54G iconic blue/black stackable form factor but with a modernized spin as well as more powerful hardware such as a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, four removable antennas (instead of the standard three) and eSata and USB 2.0/3.0 connectivity ports. The new WRT1900AC ships with Linksys Smart Wi-Fi set-up and management tools and will be the first Linksys router to include the Network Map feature. Linksys has also been working with the OpenWRT community to make an open source firmware downloadable when product is available.

“Our new Linksys WRT1900AC Wireless Router will be the most powerful router in its class on the market. We have spared no technology expense to make this router a prosumers’ dream,“ said Mike Chen, vice president product management for Linksys. “The launch of the new WRT router is not only a celebration for the Linksys brand but for our customers too. We have brought back the WRT because our customers have asked for a router that had the reliability, functionality and open source capabilities but with today’s AC wireless technology. The WRT1900AC is the result of all these requests. “

The new WRT provides the most robust specifications in its class and will be the world’s first open source compatible router to support a dual core 1.2 Ghz processor, 4 removable and customized antennas, 128MB flash memory and an eSATA port.

World Class Performance Comes Down to the Sum of its Parts:
•Open Source Support •WPA/WPA2-Personal and Enterprise
•1x Gigabit WAN port •4 External Antennas, adjustable and removable
•4x Gigabit LAN ports •FAT, NTFS, and HFS+ File System support
•1x USB 3.0 port •Smart Wi-Fi
•1x eSATA/USB 2.0 port •Network Topology Map
•1.2GHz dual-core ARM-based processor •3 Spatial Streams
•128MB Flash •Certifications: FCC, IC, CE, IEEE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Windows 7, Windows 8, DLNA
•256MB DDR3 RAM •Much More!
•2.4GHz and 5GHz simultaneous dual-band
•64/128-bit WEP

 

[JackMDS]

Name is meaningless anybody who has (or borrows) the money can buy a name that is for sale.

Even Linksys themselves where just using the "name" past the v4/GL version of the Router, while altering the inside technology to less than mediocre hardware.

Belkin per-se does not have any serious reputation when it comes to price/quality offers.

I would wait patiently, and see what really is going to happen past the Marketing Drama.



😎

 

[VirtualLarry]

First of all, they only claim OpenWRT support, which does me no good. I prefer Tomato and/or DD-WRT. Although they name-drop those projects, it remains to be seen if they will actually be supported. Tomato does not, I believe, support anything but Broadcom-based hardware. DD-WRT supports Broadcom and Atheros (and maybe one or two others, no RealTek though).

Also, did you see the MSRP? $299.99? Way too much, even if it is AC1900 with an eSATA port.

And Jack's right, if Belkin owns them now (which I believe that they do), then it remains to be seen how craptacular this whole package will be.

It would be a nice touch to be housed in the "classic" WRT shell though. The form-factor immortalized in a South Park episode, with a giant WRT router representing "the internet".

Edit: Heck, for $299.99, you could throw together a PFSense box using a Gigabyte ITX board with an IB Celeron integrated, with two Gigabit NICs, I'm pretty sure. And it would blow away this little box for capabilities.

 

[Lat]

Likely the exact same Broadcom hardware as the ASUS RT-AC68U or the Netgear N7000, at an MRSP that is 50% higher.

Considering both the ASUS/Netgear AC1900 routers do support DD-WRT and probably will support Tomato, there's no reason to get a Linksys purely from its legacy.

 

[JackMDS]

there's no reason to get a Linksys purely from its legacy.

And its Legacy actually came from DD-WRT. After 10 years of products the E2500/4200 were the first Wireless Routers from Linksys that could stand on its own Basic Merit with stock firmware.


😎

 

[RU482]

I am patiently optomistic that this router is decent, and will plummet in price.