Linksys WRT3200ACM
A powerful router with open-source compatibility
$249.99 Manufacturer Linksys, linksys.com Features 1.8GHz dual-core CPU, MU-MIMO, 2.4/5GHz bands, Tri-Stream 160, open-source ready
This is a router with few style pretensions. It looks like a piece of kit that would be more at home in a small-to-medium sized office than a stylish San Francisco apartment, but its big, brash design enables Linksys to pack in some pretty meaty hardware.
The WRT3200ACM boasts MU-MIMO that allows for simultaneous streaming, file sharing, and gaming on multiple devices over the AC band. It also includes “Tri-Stream 160” technology, which doubles the available bandwidth for each channel from 80MHz to 160MHz; in other words, it can handle more data, more quickly.
Also impressive is how readily the 3200 embraces custom open-source firmware such as OpenWRT. This allows you to install an entirely different OS to the default, giving you almost complete control over the features and functions of this router down to a very low level of hardware. It’s an advanced technical feature for sure, and the built-in software is perfectly fine as it is, but the option is there for technical users. So how does it perform in practice? With our wireless device connected to the 5GHz network, we recorded a speed of 133Mb/s and 13ms ping when close to the router. Testing from around 30 feet away, we got even better results with 159.73Mb/s and 13ms.
However, once we started putting walls between us and the router, performance dropped off, with the device sometimes struggling to keep a WI-Fi connection. With one wall, speeds dropped to 67.29Mb/s with a ping of 8ms. With two walls between, they dropped even more dramatically to 3.97Mb/s.
This is a surprise – we had high hopes for this router in terms of Wi-Fi performance. If you have a large house or office, and rely on consistent and fast Wi-Fi, you’re going to need to look at extenders, or carefully consider the position and antenna arrangement of the 3200.
the bottom line. This is an excellent router that’s packed full of features at a good price. Sadly, though, Wi-Fi coverage isn’t as impressive as we had hoped.