New Tenda AC1900 router, supposedly available at Microcenter for $80.

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.tendaus.com/AC1900_Advanced_Smart_Dual-Band_Gigabit_WiFi_Router.htm

Looks pretty slick. (I saw this mentioned on SmallNetBuilder forums.)

I wonder if this is third-party firmware compatible? Would be sweet to be able to pick up an AC1900 router for $80, and run Tomato or DD-WRT on it. Anyone know? Do any Tenda routers run third-party firmware?

Edit: Of note, on the specs page, it claims support for 15K Jumbo Frames. Most routers, only support MTU of 1500 Bytes. That could make this an interesting choice for a Gigabit LAN with NAS units.

 

[JackMDS]

It is available on Amazon prime for $78.

https://www.amazon.com/Tenda-AC18-W...?ie=UTF8&qid=1485981186&sr=8-2&keywords=tenda

Two main complains.

1. Inflexible firmware settings.

2. Problems with Wireless printers.

As always YMVV

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks Jack!

Being Tenda, and not a more well-known brand (they're basically a cheap Chinese brand that is sold at Microcenter), I do wonder about the firmware.

 

[JackMDS]

There is only 6 manufacturers world wide that design and produce Wireless chipsets.

They also write oem drivers and core chipset control , then sell it to everyone else.

Every one else in the Wireless business buy these chipsets and make them into consumer Wireless hadrware.

The inexpensive devices consist on.

1. Vendors that buy chipsets at the lower level of the quality control and do a flimzy fast design to sell it out at reduce price (a favorite Chinese practice).

2. Old hardware from years ago that was left with the known vendors and sold in auction at very litltle money by the weight, then repackaged and resold by the lower tier vendors.

3. Higher tier Vendors that here and there (when they need cash) would sell "Junk" cashing on their reputation. Linksys was the champ of it (that is why today they actually Belkin), Netgear and D-Link might do at times too.

 

[Ichinisan]

It has a Broadcom chipset. I'd probably give this a shot, but I've got good-enough wireless-AC with my Asus routers (T-Mobile Cellspot modified to run with retail firmware).

 

[razel]

I wouldn't bother playing with that Tenda. You won't get anything beyond what your Tmobile already has. If you do want to play with something toy around with the command line gigabit switch settings off dd-wrt instead to set jumbo frame size.

 

[PliotronX]

Some of those tenda models don't allow changing from the 192.168.1.0 subnet (and in fact cannot be changed from .1 causing fun with existing routers!) just so you guys know. As Jack said, inflexible firmware but for a basic router it might work well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It has a Broadcom chipset.

Well, that opens some possibilities up, for Tomato and DD-WRT. Let's hope this device gets supported.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenda-AC15-...141637?hash=item58de539505:g:2cMAAOSw5ZBWGROy

Here's their previous AC15 model, which is also an AC1900 router, with a Broadcom dual-core chipset.
It's only $53.99 from Newegg on ebay, new.

That seems like a decent deal. Anyone know if the Tenda AC15 router is supported by DD-WRT or Tomato?

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/tenda-ac15-ac1900-tomato-firmware-support.71709/

Tomato (preliminary) is supported on the AC15! Same hardware (mostly) as the AC68U! (But much, much, cheaper.)

 

[JackMDS]

FWIW

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/tenda-ac15-ac1900-tomato-firmware-support.71709/

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, I ordered a bunch of Tenda FH1206 AC1200 "high power" routers. Newegg had some refurb on their ebay site, for $19.99 FS, and for 24 hours, they have them on their main site, refurb, for $11.99.

Firmware could be better, no way to shut off WAN port, unless you select "WISP Mode". Makes it really hard to use the "Universal Repeater" and "WDS" Modes. In fact, I haven't gotten them to work at all between two of these devices yet.

Came across something on the web, that a purchaser of these routers, flashed firmware from the Tenda web site, while it turned out that the firmware that shipped on the router was newer, and was not downloadable anywhere.

I'm hoping that these routers might get supported by third-party firmware, as they are Broadcom.

Was tempted to try flashing some DD-WRT firmware image for other Broadcom AC1200 hardware platforms, but according to the supported-devices DD-WRT Wiki, all of the other Broadcom AC1200 devices, all have gigabit LAN, whereas this unit has 10/100. I didn't want to flash, and end up bricking it, because the LAN chipset wasn't supported.

 

[JackMDS]

All nice and informative.

That said what really important - How they perform (given in real Bandwidth/Distance numbers) ?

 

[jlee]

Well, I ordered a bunch of Tenda FH1206 AC1200 "high power" routers. Newegg had some refurb on their ebay site, for $19.99 FS, and for 24 hours, they have them on their main site, refurb, for $11.99.

Firmware could be better, no way to shut off WAN port, unless you select "WISP Mode". Makes it really hard to use the "Universal Repeater" and "WDS" Modes. In fact, I haven't gotten them to work at all between two of these devices yet.

Came across something on the web, that a purchaser of these routers, flashed firmware from the Tenda web site, while it turned out that the firmware that shipped on the router was newer, and was not downloadable anywhere.

I'm hoping that these routers might get supported by third-party firmware, as they are Broadcom.

Was tempted to try flashing some DD-WRT firmware image for other Broadcom AC1200 hardware platforms, but according to the supported-devices DD-WRT Wiki, all of the other Broadcom AC1200 devices, all have gigabit LAN, whereas this unit has 10/100. I didn't want to flash, and end up bricking it, because the LAN chipset wasn't supported.

"High power" fast ethernet router?

Does not compute...

If you have a bunch of them, losing one wouldn't be the end of the world, no? It may be worth trying it just to see what happens.

 

[VirtualLarry]

"High power" fast ethernet router?

Does not compute...

Not sure what the wattage and antenna gain have to do with the speed of the wired ethernet.

Anyways, I tried flashing the tomato-K26-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-132-MiniIPv6 firmware, but it wouldn't take. (Gave me 'error' during upload. Probably header error?)

 

[Ichinisan]

100mbps wired connections would kill it for me. Wireless is faster than wired.

[edit]

The product page on Tenda's web site says the wired ports are Gigabit Ethernet (1,000mbps).

 

[Ichinisan]

Aesthetic & modern design

The AC18 has a special appearance design like a fighter airplane . It radiate simplicity and elegance with a hi-tech fashion.

LOL! "Elegant" is not how I would describe it.

It's a harsh / intimidating design.

The Asus RT-AC68U stands up and has a small footprint. It also helps to elevate the antennas slightly. The successors from Asus now lay flat -- having a much bigger footprint. Many Netgear routers are the same way. This Tenda router too.

Why? The only reason to have such a big footprint would be for the designs that have a ring of antennas all around for better beamforming and splitting of bands for load balancing. If all the antennas come from one side, why not give it a standing design with a smaller footprint? Makes me appreciate the design of my TM-1900 / RT-AC68U routers a bit more.