WAVLINK AC1200 WiFi Router,Dual Band 5Ghz+2.4Ghz Wireless Internet Router with Gigabit Ethernet Ports,MU-MIMO Beamforming for Game & HD Video,Router/Access Point/WISP Mode, Long Range Coverage

My old router was dropping signal to the point of ridiculous when I was watching youtube at night. Studied all the pertinent standards (Qos, tri-band, FBI, Wi-Fi 6E, McNuggets, etc.). After reading some amazon reviews, I settled on this model for price/feature balance. Install was reasonably painless. Definitely less buffering on downloads. One weird thing. My TV is hard wired to the router. I occasionally get a message on the screen that says "Signal is lost. Switching to Wifi", or something like that. There is no glitch. If the TV didn't flash a message I wouldn't know any difference. Not blaming the router. I get a strong signal inside and outside of my house. Would recommend.

I own several of the wavlink smaller versions with only 4 antennas acting as room routers on 3 story house. We rely heavily on excellent wifi signal for many things. So when I recently upgraded my modem to Motorola new docsis 3.1 I wanted to have a higher quality router to distribute to all my other routers. I was successful in doubling my speed by getting both new devices. This router did make a big difference on speed as well as I tested with the new modem and old router. For the price this is the best in its class. 3 networks all reliable.

UPDATE: Over the last week, I have received 7 different emails claiming to be from a WavLink Representative in China. The emails stated that "Bad product reviews have had a negative impact on the sales of our products".
I was offered various bribes (ranging from $15 to $30 + a free router) if I would be willing to remove my negative Amazon Product Review.
My response is posted below...
------------------------- Original Review ----------------
I'm a network guy. I have been building networks for nearly 30 years. I recognize that a "no name" Chinese made network appliance is not going to compare with an established product line. But I do expect it to provide some basic functionality. This router is comparatively cheap. I figured I would give it a try.

Based on my experiences, I would say that, If you need a basic Wifi Router and you understand networking well enough that you won't need a User Manual, this is a cheap option. This is a BASIC Wireless Router. Expect nothing more than that.

Details follow...

And be aware of a few minor nuisances that I identified:
* NO USER MANUAL: Normally, this would not be an issue for me, but when I started having other issues, there was no way for me to find answers.
* No MAC Filtering
* Router frequently fails to respond to the built-in URL (wifi.wavlink.com) after reboot. That makes it challenging to load the Administrative Tools after reboot.
* DHCP Server seems to randomly reset to the default IP range, or a different IP range on reboot, making it a chore to guess the new IP address when the built-in URL fails to resolve. I frequently had to rely on netcat just to find the Admin Tools website again.
* Password often fails to reset to the default when you do a full reset, requiring the need to systematic run through previous password settings to login
* In Wireless Client mode, there does not appear to be any way to communicate between the Internal Network and the External Network. This is kind of the ENTIRE REASON one would need to use a router as a Wireless Client.

Due to the Wireless Client issue, I reached out to WavLink Customer Service, asking for a User Manual. The first CS Rep I spoke with, assured me that I could find everything I need to know on in the Online FAQ. However searching the FAQ produced NO REFERENCE to my product.
The next CS Rep who I spoke with insisted that a User Manual existed, but could not tell me where to find it. Based on the long hold times after each question, it became apparent that CS Rep had no information on this product. They finally admitted that they were asking other CS Reps and searching the website for answers. Eventually he explained that he could not tell me how to fix the issue, but if I opened my network to him and gave him access to a Windows or Mac computer on my network, he could fix the router.

Based on his proven ignorance regarding this router, there was no way that I was going to give him the "keys to the kingdom." As we continued to talk, I realized that he had no idea how to fix the issue, but merely planned to poke around and see if he could figure something out.
Since refused to provide him with full access to my network, he began to ridicule me and my "unfounded paranoia". I finally requested to speak with another agent. He refused. I asked to speak with a supervisor, and he explained that he is not required to pass me to a Supervisor.

Overall, I found the Wavlink Customer Support options to be a huge waste of my time.

I am finished experimenting with the WavLink product line. In my opinion, they are not worth the cheap cost, and the customer service is useless.
Both routers will be returned and I will avoid their products in the future.

Bought as a replacement. The first one lasted just about a year and a half. Great wifi signal throughout the house.

Needed a router to improve streaming and initially spent $250 on a major vendor and ended up with junk. This router was fairly easy to configure for WISP (though the video was out of date), just select repeater mode provide the SSID for your ISP (and password if appropriate), provide the names and credentials for your other access points and you should be good to go. So far I'm getting excellent streaming performance and still getting fast downloads. Well worth the $89!

Was a great upgrade from what we had. Much better signal. However we have just over 2,000 sq ft and I think that it's at its max. Far corner of house still has a weak ish signal. Overall I'm happy!

Very strong wifi, claims to be beamforming tech onboard. My biggest issues - no vpn support, and my external hard drive despite being self powered and formatted correctly WILL NOT WORK ON IT. Wavlink suggests that, without saying so, that my hard drive is at fault. Everything I plug in with the same format does work. The big drive works on every PC I use. Is there an unspoken size limitation for the router to read? How long would it take for the router to see it? A 32gb thumb drive took a second or two to show up, one 4x that big took a hair longer. What about 8TB?

I work in software and have done plenty of network and hardware installations and troubleshooting over the years. This router had me stumped. From the get-go, the instructions were confusing (too many options without clear intent). Once it connected to my Webpass (Google Fiber) port, it did get an internet signal but it kept dropping. Also, connecting to either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz wifi was spastic, at best. I never was able to get my phone connected to either band, even after a restart of the phone. I did a factory reset on the router, tried setting up my own SSIDs with the same results. Fortunately, I received and tested this with enough time to get a replacement TP-link router from Amazon the next day. It has worked like a charm.

Not sure if I got a lemon or if it's a software issue with this router and my configuration. Regardless, life is too short to bang my head against a router than can be quickly and easily replaced with a working version from another manufacturer. I gave it two stars because it does offer great features at a great price...if you the one you receive works with your configuration.