Three years ago, Linksys launched their first MU-MIMO router with the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router.
Fast forward to today, Linksys launched their first DFS router with the Linksys EA8100 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router. DFS stands for Dynamic Frequency Selection. More on that in the later part of the review as that is the only selling point of this router.
The Linksys EA9300 Max-Stream AC4000 Tri-Band Router was launched in August 2017 and is currently retailing for S$399.
The EA9300 is not the highest end router from Linksys, that title still belongs to EA9500.
The Linksys Max-Stream AC5400 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router (EA9500) has been available in Singapore since 1st August 2016. It is retailing for S$539.
The EA9500 is the highest-end router of the Linksys Max-Stream family. I did a review of the mid-range model which is the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 Router back in October 2015.
The Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900 Wi-Fi Range Extender has been available in Singapore since 1st August 2016. It is retailing for S$199.
The RE7000 is an AC1900 dual-band range extender with a Gigabit Ethernet Port and four internal antennas.
The Linksys WUSB6100M Max-Stream AC600 MU-MIMO USB Adapter is the world’s first MU-MIMO enabled adapter. It was launched in Singapore on 1st August 2016 and is currently retailing for S$129.
The WUSB6100M adapter allows you to connect your PC to a wireless-AC network as well as a MU-MIMO router.
The D-Link DAP-1860 AC Wi-Fi Range Extender was launched in Singapore last month and is retailing for S$189.
The D-Link DAP-1860 operates on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless bands using concurrent dual-band technology with four MIMO external antennas. It supports MU-MIMO.
The ASUS RT-AC88U was launched in Singapore at SITEX 2015. SITEX is a consumer lifestyle IT event in Singapore and is usually the last major IT event for the year. It is always held at Singapore Expo and this year, the event took place from Thursday, 26th November 2015 till Sunday, 29th November 2015.
The retail price of the ASUS RT-AC88U Router is S$429.
The Linksys Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router or Linksys EA8500 Router in short was released on 4th August 2015 exclusively at Challenger and is now available in most electronics stores. The recommended retail price of the Linksys EA8500 is S$399.
Despite having a model number of EA8500, it is not exactly a lower end model when compared to the Linksys EA9200 Router. The Linksys EA9200 is a AC3200 router and hence it is capable of speeds up to 3,200Mbps while the EA8500 is an AC2600 router capable of speeds up to 2,530Mbps. But let’s be honest here, even in the perfect case environment, we will not be able to get up to the theoretical speed.
