Linksys EA7300 Max-Stream: AC1750 Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router, Gigabit Ethernet Ports, 1,500 square-foot Range, 10 Devices, MU-MIMO (Black)

I decided on this router to replace my Verizon Fios "Quantum Gateway" router, model G1100, which I was paying $12/month for. I am an engineer by trade but I am by no means a networking expert, in fact this is one technical field that I don't have a lot of experience or knowledge about. Despite that fact I was EASILY able to replace my Fios router with this one, literally within minutes. No problems to speak of. Once you disconnect the Fios router (there are instructions for doing this on the Fios website) this router will automatically connect to the service and activate within a couple of minutes. It is that simple. In addition, the Linksys website and app are both useful and very easy to use.The main reason why I decided to get this, aside from saving myself from the monthly payments, is because I was having connectivity issues in my home. I discovered that there were several reasons for this. But in terms of a direct comparison to the Fios unit, I can tell you for certain that this router is slightly better in terms of overall range. After I switched the Fios unit with this (in the exact same location) my televisions and other devices in my home were receiving a slightly stronger signal and also stayed connected in circumstances when they used to disconnect. I also ended up moving the router location in my home and added a Linksys ethernet switch to further improve the network in my home for streaming, but that really has nothing to do with this review.Overall I am happy with this purchase. This router has improved the overall stability and range of the wifi network in my home and has reduced my Verizon monthly payment amount, which means it will pay for itself in about a year. Any investment that pays for itself that quickly is probably worth it.

I bought this to replace an old Linksys WRT54G, and the huge increases in both wired and wireless speeds let me know that I should have upgraded a long time ago. I live in a standard 1500 sq. ft. ranch house and I connect three wired and four wireless devices, only one or two of which will be active at any one time, so my wireless needs aren't extremely demanding. I think the EA7300 is a good choice for average users like me. I get reliable full speed connections in the back bedroom about 50 ft. away through two walls and some other obstructions.The setup isn't too different from my old WRT54G, except that this model has a nice graphical interface called Linksys Smart Wi-fi. I found setup to be quite easy, but inexperienced users may find the setup of any wireless router to have a significant learning curve. Firmware updates are easily handled with the setup program. I have seen one or two instances where the Smart Wi-fi interface was fussy and didn't want to connect on the first try, but other than that I haven't seen any problems.The only other noteworthy issue I have had is that an old external HDD I had hoped to use as network accessible storage through the USB port failed to work reliably with the EA7300. After some discussion board investigations, I found that this was a common problem and not limited to Linksys routers, so I can't really deduct a star for that. So, as a word of warning, don't assume that the old drive you have laying around is automatically going to work with the EA7300 or any other router. I bought a 128 GB thumb drive to use with the EA7300 and I haven't had any problems with it. In more than two months of use, I have not experienced dropouts or other downtime, other than when the incompatible external HDD was connected, which did indeed cause significant flakiness.

I've had this about 18 months now and overall I've been very happy with the router. No issues streaming 4k to two tv's simultaneously and running multiple other devices from media server, NAS, laptops, ipads, and desktop all at once. The setup is pretty easy and signal strength is good through all of my property even out in my backyard.Where I had issues is with our Android phones all of a sudden not wanting to stay connected to the wifi and with one of our smart tv's constantly dropping the connection. They would connect quickly and obtain an ip address and then within maybe 15 seconds disconnect and have a message stating "Wifi connection error" and then not reconnect. I tried everything to fix this from resetting the network cache on each phone to doing a factory reset on the router and manually reconfiguring everything and nothing worked.HERE IS WHAT FIXED IT FOR ME:On curiousity (because phones were connecting to other wifi no problem) and out of any other ideas I decided to separate the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands into 2 different SSID's with different passwords since prior they've always shared the same SSID & password. I then logged the phones and tv in again and now have zero connectivity issues. I don't know why or how this made a difference but it has solved the problem so I am happy. All tv's, phones, and everything else connects with outstanding speed. I can't quite get gigabit wireless out of it but I was hovering around 750mbps on my laptop which is good enough for me. It makes for excellent usability of the media server on the network, playing videos from mobile devices on tv's, and greatly exceeds anything my isp is capable of coming in.Overall since I've been able to resolve hiccups on my own I say its a solid 4 stars. I was hoping to get 3-5 years out of this when I bought it so if it gets me that I am happy.