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Previously, I was using StrongVPN on their StrongVPN Special PPTP which I paid US$55/year (S$75/year).

After my one year contract with them ended, I didn’t renew it because I felt that their server switch quota is kinda limiting though I have never hit the limit before. Server switch basically allows you to switch to different VPN servers.

The new Linksys WRT1200AC router will provides users with the high-end features of the Linksys WRT1900AC router at AC1200 speeds and a lower price point. The Linksys WRT1200AC will retail for S$329 from 4th June 2015 at Challenger stores and at other consumer electronics retail stores by the end of June 2015.

I attended the launch of the new Linksys WRT1200AC in Singapore yesterday and I realised that the WRT firmware received a new update (service pack 4) which includes one of the features that I am looking for, which is a VPN server (Linksys is using OpenVPN server).

The Linksys EA9200 Wireless AC3200 Tri-Band Smart Wi-Fi Router was launched in Singapore on the 6th February 2015 and the recommended retail price of it is S$399. It is only available at Challenger stores for now.

Linksys EA9200 is the new flagship router after the Linksys E8350 AC2400 Dual Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router and personally I think the EA9200 is the true successor to the Linksys WRT1900AC Router which was launched last May.

The Linksys E8350 AC2400 Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router was available from 7th November 2014 at a recommended retail price of S$399 exclusively at Challenger and their online store. This is the second router to be priced at S$399 after the Linksys WRT1900AC Router.

Personally, I think Linksys should stop pricing their router so high because at that price point, no one in the right mind will get a Linksys. Gone are those days that Linksys is a top consumer brand for router. Their features just pale in comparison with the Asus RT-AC87U which is also priced at S$399.

Western Digital (WD) produces the best hard drives and Synology produces the best prosumer Network Attached Storage (NAS). I have two NAS at home, both are from Synology and using WD hard drives.

My Synology DiskStation DS210j is on 2x WD Green 1TB running 24/7 since 2010 and my Synology DiskStation DS413j is on 4x WD Red 1TB running 24/7 since 2013. After all these years, both NAS and their hard drives did not give me a single problem at all.

The Asus RT-AC87U is the world’s first AC2400-class dual-band 802.11ac wireless router with a four-transmit, four-receive (4×4) antenna configuration. It is also the first in the world to employ multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) technology. It offers 5GHz speeds of 1.7334Gbit/s along with 2.4GHz speeds of 600Mbit/s for a combined total of 2.334Gbit/s. It comes with feature such as Asus AiRadar universal beamforming, adaptive Quality-of-Service (QoS) and AiProtection with exclusive Trend Micro security.

It was announced back in January 2014 at CES 2014 and it will finally be launching in Singapore at COMEX 2014. COMEX 2014 will take place at Level 4 and 6 of Suntec City Singapore from the Thursday, 28th August 2014 till Sunday, 31st August 2014. Opening hours are from 12pm till 9pm and admission is free. After COMEX 2014, you can get the router from all authorised Asus reseller like Challenger.

The Linksys WRT1900AC box got to be the biggest box for a router that I have received. When I opened the box, everything is held in place with foam instead of cardboard and there is sponge sticked to the top of the box to protect the router. I have not seen such premium packaging before for a router.

The Linksys WRT1900AC will be retailing for S$399 which makes it the most expensive consumer router that I come across. It is even more expensive than the Asus RT-AC68U. It will be exclusively available at all Challenger outlets from 22nd May 2014 (yesterday) to 22nd June 2014. After that, it will be available at all other leading IT stores in Singapore from 23 June 2014 onwards.

I was using the Huawei MiFi E585 which I bought 4 years ago till the battery life decided to give up on me. The battery will go flat after about an hour of usage. On top of that I am spoilt with 4G because the 3G speed is way too slow in Singapore, due to bandwidth congestion.

I wanted to get a 4G mobile wi-fi modem last year but it was still pretty expensive, but this year it seems the prices has drop quite a bit. I bought the Huawei E5372 4G Mobile Wi-Fi Modem from a reseller (romz1983) in HardwareZone Forums for S$230. If you are interested in getting it, check out the forum thread, WTS: Great MIFI sale from $90 Huawei E589 E5776 E5331 E5220 E5151 ZTE MF60 Wifi Router. He offers other models as well.

The D-Link DIR-868L Wireless AC 1750 Dual-Band Gigabit Router is retailing for S$319 (Challenger’s member’s price: S$279) which is pretty steep for a router. It is still cheaper than the Cisco Linksys EA6500 AC Router when it was first launched.

The DIR-868L is a draft IEEE 802.11ac router that supports simultaneous dual band (2.4GHz + 5GHz) and can give you speed up to 450Mbps + 1,300Mbps. It is also a “cloud router”, in the sense that you can access your router basic settings via mydlink Lite app on iOS or Android.