Linksys brings back the iconic WRT router with a revamp

[Himanshu Arora]

The iconic blue and black WRT line of routers from Linksys, which was largely discontinued in 2004, is making a comeback in the form of the WRT 1900AC, the company announced at CES 2014 in Las Vegas. The new dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi router is aggressively designed and has all the essential features for the demanding modern user.

It features one USB 3.0 port, one eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port, one Gigabit WAN port, four Gigabit LAN ports, and four external and removable antennas. The beast is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM processor, and has 128MB of flash storage as well as 256MB of DDR3 RAM. It supports up to 1300Mbps on the 5GHz frequency band and up to 600Mbps on the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

According to PCWorld, all four antennas will be used by the router to determine the best combination, and the one which delivers the least throughput will be turned off.

Just like the original WRT line, the company is working with the OpenWRT community to have an alternative open source firmware (like DD-WRT, Open WRT, and Tomato) ready for WRT 1900AC by the time it starts shipping. This will give users the flexibility to build custom software builds, introduce new features, and more.

The new WRT 1900AC router is designed to be stackable and weighs approximately 5 pounds. It has a list price of $300, and according to the company, it will be available this spring.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55220-linksys-brings-back-the-iconic-wrt-router-with-a-revamp.html

 

[GhostRyder]

That is a sweet looking router, I love my current linksys router though so no upgrade for me yet.

 

[Lionvibez]

That's a pricey router.

It has to top the ASUS AC1750 RT-AC66U router which I think is the number 1 consumer model at the moment and over $100 cheaper.

 

[Vrmithrax]

At that price point, it's only going to appeal to people with specific router needs (that they can get with the open WRT firmware libraries), or with hackers. The price seems rather excessive, when compared to other routers in the same class. Nostalgia for consumers only goes so far when it comes to cost.

 

[Camikazi]

If it's anywhere as good and reliable as the original WRT it will sell well and I am sure the price will fall into the same range as others soon enough.

 

[mctommy]

Too pricey for what it offers... especially like someone else said, you can buy the rock solid asus for $200 MSRP.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Open source firmware is the best. Great move Linksys.

 

[Guest]

Ridiculously expensive considering the low cost of the internal components. Reminiscent of Apple phones

Darren

 

[SNGX1275]

It is too expensive. And 5 lbs! holy cow, what is in that thing?

I had an old one (the 54g) that did die on me. Bought a replacement on ebay and put ddwrt on it, but it was one of the 'newer' ones so I couldn't run the full version. Someone at work was getting rid of a v2.2 so I picked it up. Haven't used it yet but I think I'm going to use it as a hub for my AppleTV, Mac Mini, and Bluray player. Needs more ports! I have a few more things I could wire in (Wii, HD DVD).