Customer Ratings & Reviews

Spectrum’s new “smart router” that switches the band from 2G to 5G was a pain... I spent last couple months calling and visiting their local site over dozens of times, and in the end, the technician recommended buying my own router. My home is little over 2000 sqft, two story, and this router covers most of spaces! It overs 4 ring camera, 4+ phones, and computer, tv, tablet, and etc. No lagging or disconnection so far. Set up was quick and easy cuz I already had my modem connected. The router is located in the second floor, and still covers most of the house. Overall, very satisfied with $200 spent.

I was on the market for a WiFi router because my old router was outdated and would crash ever so often. I am not a super tech savvy guy. I knew I needed a good router but aside from that I knew nothing. After reading multiple reviews on routers and watching a video Best Buy made discussing the topic, I decided to go middle of the road. I didn’t want the cheapest router I could find, but I really didn’t want to spend $200 either! I have a 1400 sq foot single story house with a 1000 sq foot basement. I placed this router in the basement where my cable tv runs into the house and was pleasantly surprised I didn’t require a WiFi extender for any part of the house! What I like about the router is the range of the WiFi, it easily handles my household devices with zero buffering. I have 8 devices connected to it, one being my sons xbox one. I can stream Netflix on 2 devices while my son is gaming online and I have literally no latency. Other things I love is the app that Linksys has for the router. I can control every perimeter of the router with this app, best of all I can control every device and the connectivity to the router. Basically I add limits to devices my kids use and I can pause internet access at anytime. Would I buy this again? Absolutely! Would I recommend this product? In a heartbeat!

i had this router befor. loved it. so happy to get it again. just love the software that lets you see every device in app. and let you control it from any were.and so easy to use.most of all. i really love the geek squad plan for 200 dollers a year. covers all the devices i buy.thanks best buy for makeing my life so mch easyer.

I bought this on sale for $99 to replace a Verizon router that cost me $15 per month. In six months it will have paid for itself. It works well, although I still need a booster for TVs on the far end of my house. Set up fairly simple. I spent almost five hours resetting the passwords on all of my devices, but that was my inexperience, since I could have avoided the issue by using the same user name and password as the Verizon router. I need to do some research to learn how to reset the router from “Mixed” to 2Hz. That would be easy if the router came with a manual, but it doesn’t. Overall I’m s satisfied with this purchase .

Great router! It has worked very well since we bought it a couple years ago.

I had a NETGEAR AC1795 it keeps crashing so we Decided to upgrade to Linksys AC2200. The set was easy it only took about 15min right away we notice the improvement Internet speed we have around 10-15 devices connected It handled all it all like a CHAMP! My wife and I are both working from home & our daughter is doing home school & streaming video & gaming and it didn’t crash not even once with the old router we had to reset about 3 times daily so I would Recommend this router to anyone. GREAT PRODUCT LINKSYS!

Linksys tri-band router with the supplied wi-fi extender is sure to reach everybody in your home no matter where you place the main router. There are some key features that set this unit apart from most other tri-band set ups out there and hopefully this will help to clear up any confusion on rather or not this is the right set up for you. Lets talk about what you can expect to receive right out of the box. Your going to receive the wireless router, power cable, Ethernet cable, wifi extender, and a instruction booklet. Right off the bat i was a little concerned on how well this unit would work due to its small size and only having 4 antennas instead of 8 as my previous router had. I have a 4000 sq foot house and my main router is placed in the basement so wifi signals have always been a struggle for anyone on my second floor. This unit combined with the given wifi extender(which plugs directly into a wall socket) was able to give everyone in my house full bars no matter where they were. Before i talk about performance i really want to talk about setting this unit up because i feel it deserves some praise as to how easy the set up was. The set up on this unit was by far the fastest and easiest set up i have ever done on a router. Most of my previous routers required me to hook them up directly to my pc or either access them via the wifi signal on my pc which required me allowing a pass through on my firewall to even begin the initial set up. I have always found setting up a wireless router tedious and sometimes overly complicated then what is necessary. This Linksys set up was very easy to do and took me a matter of 5 minutes to do. The nice thing about the set up was everything was done through the Linksys provided phone app. I was able to set up both my wifi device and extender all while sitting on my couch. Through the app you can also set up wifi passwords and wifi signal name. This app is also one of the most integrated app i have seen so far. Let me explain what i mean by this. Through the app you see every device that is connected to your router. Not only can you see them but you can rename them to help identify where they are coming from i.e. "Julie's Tablet." You can also set up parental controls and wifi schedules if you have kids. This means that you can block whatever websites you want and set up a schedule as to when the wifi will be available to the kids. For example my kids get home from school around 4 pm so i have the schedule set to turn the wifi off monday through friday between 8am to 6pm. This means that after 6pm they will be able to get on the wifi. Whats also nice about this feature is that it does not effect everyone in the house it is device specific. Through the app you can also set up device priority. This means that if you get a heavy stream of devices on your router you can set certain devices to take priority meaning they will get the fastest signal. For me i set up my wireless home security cameras to have priority seeing as how my home safety was more important than my kids streaming Youtube. Lets talk performance. What makes this unit really perform so well is the fact that this is a tri-band device combined with the router extender. Let me talk briefly about the tri-band for those that are not too familiar with what that means. With out getting all technical and confusing you this basically means that your router is running three signal frequencies to help prevent traffic on the lines. You have your standard 2.4 ghz line and two high speed 5 ghz lines. So let me break this down for you as to how this means efficiency and speed. Your 2.5 ghz line is the one that has the biggest signal and the one that most devices will grab on to. This means that if your on your phone or tablet just surfing the web or posting on Facebook you will be directed to this line. Now lets say you have a smart tv and decided to stream a 4k movie off of Netflix. Obviously your going to need faster speed with less interruption so you can get the full quality of the movie. The router will automatically pick up on that and put you on the high speed 5 ghz line this way you can have the fastest speed available without being held up from your kids watching Youtube or posting on social media. They will be on one band and your tv will be streaming on another band. During heavy congestion i had about 10 devices on my router and when i checked signal strength and speed i was still at full bars while being 60 feet away with a speed of 160 mps. I was impressed to say the least. Here's the bottom line. As of writing this review i truly can not find any flaws so far. Time will be the real test as to how well this unit continues to perform. But as of right now im loving this device. As a person who loves to stream videos and game it up this router is a godsend. Given the added parental controls to keep your family safe without limiting your personal internet usage is a nice touch that i think any adult with kids can appreciate. So should you buy this set up? Lets see, do you game? Do you have a big house? Do you have kids? Then yes buy this unit and you will not be disappointed. In all reality this router should suit just about everyone's needs.

Easy set up and flawless performance. I tried a similar NetGear unit, and was never able to successfully set it up. Linksys never disappoints. I have been using their routers for 10+ years.

Got the AC2200 the other day while looking at the google WiFi system and then also looked at a few others in the same family of AP’s. Bottom line is all the others only had 2 radios or much lower speeds at a higher cost. Been awhile since I used Lyksys but just as solid as I remember the old blue boxes. Admin interface is lacking a lot of advanced features but the app works great and getting almost triple speeds after moving from my Metals MR42. I also could add a mesh to this AP though the one has strong signal through my 1800 sqft home. I would buy this router again and recommend to friends.

I love this router! I've had no issues with it! One thing I didn’t know: make sure the router is in a location where the antennas can extend/radiate.

Great product. Replaced an old router with this and the difference was seen immediately. The coverage was so much better.

Easy to connect, easy to set up & fast connections

At first i wasnt sure buying this router but after all the reviews and i tested my speed i was really surprised im getting 522mbps downloads and 928.36 mbps uploads if you have xfinity or ATT this router would do the work and increased your speed internet

Last year I replaced my router with a Linksys Velop Mesh router which so far has been a solid performer. WiFi speeds and coverage has been excellent. This year my internet was upgraded to a fiber gigabit connection. I wanted to take advantage of those speeds as much I could with wired connections for my 4k Tv and game consoles. The only thing lacking from the Velop router was the lack of gigabit ethernet ports. With this model, I still retain all the good features from the Velop Mesh technology but with 4-gigabit ethernet ports. Setup was quick and easy with the Linksys app. The Linksys app allows you to make some adjustments and see connected devices. It also offers a built-in speed test to help with troubleshooting slows speeds. Wifi coverage has been good without any nodes connected to it. Since this model has more a traditional wifi router look the signal output is much stronger thanks to the 4 antennas that stand out. Both Wired and WiFi speeds have been excellent. Of course, wired speeds will be faster compared to WiFi speeds. Games like the Resident Evil 2 one-shot demo (25gb in size) took less than 5 mins to download on my PS4 Pro via wired. Wifi Speeds are fast even with multiple devices on at the same time. The router does a very good job of distributing WiFi bandwidth throughout the multiple devices connected. You also have an option to enable a guest network to keep devices from seeing your local area networks like network drives or wireless printer. It performs well just as a standalone router but with the flexibility of adding nodes to remedy dead spots locations. It’s a router that can be easily be adapted to a bigger place if you happen to move. It’s pricey but well worth it for how well it performs and the features it brings to the table.

I've been using the Linksys MR8300 Max-Stream AC2200 Tri Band Router for the last 10 days. The MR8300 is the next gen version of Linksys’s well like EA8300 router. I recently tried out the Linksys Velop Dual band system (Model WHW0103 – also available at Best Buy), and Velop Tri-Band system (Model WHW0303P – also available at Best Buy), so I am familiar with some of Linksys’s current mesh offerings. I decided to see what their more traditional router setup had to offer. So far, I have been happy with the performance of Max Stream router. My house is 1700 sqft split between 2 stories, and an attached garage. I have gone through and performed a couple of network benchmarks and random tests to see how the MR8300 performs, and how it stacks up to the Dual and Tri-band Velop systems. The MR8300 Max-Stream AC2200 This is an AC2200 router (2 bands of 867Mbps @ 5Ghz, 1 band of 400 Mbps @ 2.4Ghz) with simultaneous tri-band radios and MU-MIMO. MU-MIMO allows multiple WiFi users to communicate with the router simultaneously without taking the performance hit - this is the latest and greatest router technology until 802.11ax gets fully released in 2019. There are 4 adjustable antennas with 6 amplifiers (2 per band I’d assume), as well as 4 gigabit LAN ports, and 1 WAN port. There is also a USB 3.0 port to be used for a networked printer or a storage solution. A single ethernet cable (cat 5e) is included. The router sports the same processor (quad core 716Mhz) as the Tri-Band Velop node, but has a sixteenth of the flash memory (256Mb vs 4Gb). Setup, just like I experienced with the Velop systems, is pretty easy. You need an Android or IOS device to download the Linksys app to do the setup. The app utilizes Bluetooth to speed up the setup process. I logged in to my Linksys account to add the router system, and then I logged into the new Wi-Fi as instructed by the app. However, I ran into a bootloop in the app with the error message “your cloud session has expired.” I tried removing the disconnecting from the Wi-Fi, cycling my Bluetooth, resetting the app, and restarting my phone. All failed to remove the bootloop. It wasn’t until I hit the reset on the router and restarted the process did I get through it. Once it started working the router was setup very quickly. Just like with the Velop systems, when in doubt just reset the router and start again. Max Stream Tri-Band vs Velop Tri-Band (Single) The biggest difference between the 2 Tri band offerings from Linksys, that I have used, is the number of antennas (4 vs 6), Flash storage, and the ports offered in the Max Stream. The Velop node required me to connect a gigabit switch directly off the router. The Max Stream, on the other hand, has enough LAN ports to handle all of the main branches of my network. It also has the USB port, which comes in handy to a lot of folks. Wi-Fi speed wise, there shouldn’t be much difference between the Max Stream and the Velop since they operate at the same speeds. Like the with the Velop, I hit 106 Mbps at 5 ft with the Max Stream. I checked the speed of the router from the same locations as I did with the Velop. For the Velop the lowest speed I obtained inside was 45Mbps, and down to 24 in my garage. At first with the Max Stream saw 42, and 24. I fiddled with the orientation of the antenna a little bit, and got a bit of a speed boost – 48, and 26. With a little more tweaking I might be able to find a better antenna orientation, but for now I’m happy with the little extra boost over the fixed antennas of the Velop. Performance I wanted to test the performance of the Max Stream in the same way I tested my Velop system. I booted up LAN Speed test from Totusoft and performed some dummy file transfers between my computers. My transfers went between 2 computers with NVME ssd drives. The PC's were connected wirelessly to the router, each at 15 ft. I achieved 136 Mbps Up and 244 down (pretty similar to the Velop). With a single file transfer between 2 connected devices, I found there was little difference between the performance of the Max Stream and the Velop Tri Band. Like with the Velop I tried to load up my network with as much traffic as possible. I figured the decreased flash memory of the Max Stream might prove to be a bottleneck. I had music streaming on my Sonos, Netflix on my Xbox and 2 Roku’s (1080p), Netflix on a laptop (4K), Youtube on a Chromebook (1080p), Hulu on my PC (1080p), and a Steam Download. For both systems I had QoS rules in place to prioritize traffic to the laptop, Xbox, and PC. On the Velop Tri-band system none of my video streams experienced any buffering or stuttering, but the Steam download speed was knocked down – 39 Mbps (106Mbps with no traffic). With the Max Stream I again did not experience any stuttering or buffering. However, the Steam download was hovering around 35Mbps – a 10% drop in the Steam download speed. The decreased memory appears to have bottlenecked the traffic, but not to a significant enough degree to rule out other reasons for the slow down. This amount of traffic may not seem like that much to some households, but this was the most I could put up with just my consuming data. Households with several users could easily match this much traffic, or more on a day to day basis. From what I can tell though, the Max Stream should be able to handle it fairly well. I didn’t have a chance to test the USB port. My network NAS drive has been offline due to a failing hard drive, so I couldn’t test this feature. Reliability Like with all routers, uptime is a necessity. If you have to constantly reset or reconnect your router or whatever, then it becomes a hassle. In the 10 days I have ran the Max Stream I have had perfect uptime. I done hard shutdowns to simulate a power outage. The router takes about 30-45 seconds to fully come back online, which is pretty quick in my experience. Compatibility with Velop The Max Stream contains the same AI Mesh technology as the Velop system. Using the Max Stream as the primary router, you can add additional Velop nodes to expand you Wi-Fi network. I currently have the Max Stream (as primary) so I can eliminate a gigabit switch from my network. Using the app I added several additional nodes around my house – dual and tri-band. With the Max Stream in the basement I added my Tri-Band Velop node to my main floor, and my dual band tower nodes were left in positions where they be used as wireless backhauls. I also have a couple of plug in nodes from my Tri Band kit they I need to find suitable locations for. One will be located in my garage once the weather warms up a bit (operational range is 32° to 104°), and the other I’m not sure. Overall, adding these nodes with the Max Stream as primary was incredibly easy. The Linksys app walks you right through process, and your expanded mesh network is up and running in no time. Interface I said this in my reviews of the Velop systems - the app interface is pretty slick and simple to navigate. This is no longer the router configuration of the old days. Some networking pros may not like the simplicity, but most folks just want their router to work without much effort needed. If you do want that old school interface you can still access the router GUI through your PC browser. Enter 192.168.1.1 into your browser URL (I had to access from Microsoft Edge instead of Firefox). From here it’s a little easier to navigate more advanced features of the router (port forwarding, DHCP reservation, etc). For initial login the password is located on the serial label on the underside of the router. I didn’t particularly care for the web browser layout though. Locations for port forwarding and the MAC/DHCP lists are kind of buried under ambiguous main tabs. Overall, I am very happy with the performance of the Max Stream. It addressed my biggest gripe with the Velop nodes – lack of additional LAN ports. Its speed is fairly comparable to its Velop counterparts. If needed, Velop nodes can be added to the Max Stream at any time if you require better coverage – I am doing this with my extra Dual and Tri - Band nodes to have a node in (almost) every room (and garage in during the nicer months when the temps fall within the operating range). So, if you have a small-medium size house in need of better Wi-Fi coverage, or are looking to build a mesh system yourself - the MR8300 is worth the look.

Out of the box easy to set up and now online for three weeks without a glitch. Much better than the NETGEAR router I was using. Average 16 computers/iPhones/iPads/printers/garage door opener. We have not witnessed any slow down on internet use.

This review covers the MR8300 and one Velop Wi-Fi extender. I have mixed feelings about rating this product. On the one hand, it performs extremely well. On the other hand, using the Linksys App for setup and administration is not as good as it could be. For the reasons stated below, I will rate it a 5 for performance and coverage; and, only a 3 for set up and administration. Splitting the difference, I will rate it a 4. Setup: Whenever I add a new device to the network, I typically will reboot my modem and then install the router (connect CAT cable and turn it on). However, the directions you receive will direct you to install the Linksys App and follow the instructions. In the interest of doing what you are likely to do, I followed the instructions exactly. Of course you need a smartphone for this. The phone (Android 9 if that matters) connected to the router fine using Bluetooth but then I got stuck on the router connecting to the internet step. I tried starting from the beginning doing exactly the instructions on the App. And failed again and again at the same step. I then deviated to follow what I normally do with a new router. I exited the App. I disconnected the power for the router. I rebooted my modem. Once my modem was back online and functioning correctly, I connected the CAT cable from the modem to the router and powered up the router. I then started up the App and waited for the router. This allowed me to connect to the internet and then you are asked to create a Linksys account using the App. One thing the setup also does is there is one name for your 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz bands. As I wanted to test each separately, I had to use the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi website to complete this set up with a different name for each. So on my computer I entered 192.168.1.1 in the browser (see image). There is a “Continue to Linksys Smart Wi-Fi” option near the bottom of the page. Select this link and login to your Linksys account (you created it in the App when setting up your router). Your browser should tell you that you are NOT SECURE. I did not like this as this is the site for my router. I completed the remaining changes I like for my router using this website. Performance: I tested both the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz radios for the router using 6 different locations. It is very cold where I live so I did not check the maximum range outdoors. Here is the information for each location: Location A: On the desk with the router. Location B: Out of the line of sight of the router about 26 feet away in a different room with one wall in the way. Location C: Within the line of sight of the router but 42 feet away in a different room. Location D: On a different floor almost directly below the router about 15 feet away. Location E: On a different floor on the opposite side of the house about 45 feet away. There are many obstructions in the way. Location F: On the same floor as the router in a garage with many obstructions in the way about 50 feet away. I also put the Velop extender on the top floor for some tests. I have 150 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up for my service using cable internet. I typically speed test around 180/6 up/down. I do not quite understand why but the use of the Velop range extender did not make much of a difference on my tested speeds. I would need to play with this Velop more to understand why. Each location tested at 6 Mbps up. Here are the download results for each location: Location A: 2.4G 87 Mbps, 5G 180 Mbps – fast as expected. Location B: 2.4G 94 Mbps, 5G 180 Mbps – the difference could just be traffic related. Location C: 2.4G 86 Mbps, 5G 180 Mbps – I am used to seeing a 5G drop-off at this distance. This surprised me. Location D: 2.4G 96 Mbps, 5G 180 Mbps – sending the signal through the floor had no impact. Location E: 2.4G 84 Mbps, 5G 180 Mbps – Much faster than I expected. I typically get a marginal 5G coverage at this location. Adding the Velop on the same floor made a small difference for the 2.4G coverage. Location F: 2.4G 75 Mbps, 5Ghz 176 Mbps – Again the 5G signal and speed is very strong. Conclusion: The setup and administration functions direct you to the use of an App. This did not allow for all of the functions I wanted. This resulted in using the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi web page which is not secure per the browser (Chrome and Firefox). For many people, this may not be a concern. If you are a tweaker, you will not like this. Also, no DD-WRT or Tomato support for this router. Once it is set up, the performance exceeded my expectations. You should be able to have this in a 2,000 sq. ft. multi-level home and it will cover it all. So like many things in life, it has its advantages and disadvantages.

This triband works great and has amazing range. It was hard to setup because of my type of service and the customer support was non existent. Yet stay with it and you will figure it out and you will be happy. Will set up a mesh system soon to increase bandwidth in bedroom.

Already recommended to a few friends! Ease of Use is no joke. App allows easy Bandwidth Distributions up to three devices without going into the Advance Settings of the Modem. Extremely transparent App Usage.

Very Nice i would have given it 5 stars but difficult to understand the directions say to download the app to your phone and setup, not true I had tech support from linksys assist me and we configured everything through the computer. DJ walked me through the steps very helpful. attached with pictures see my setup Im using the T-Mobile Internet as my modem and the linksys as the wifi Router Check out my speed.