Netis AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router

A wireless router is an important centerpiece to a home network, and forms the backbone of distributing the internet broadband connection.  The latest standard is the 802.11ac, which incorporates the older 802.11b/g/n standard that works off the 2.4 GHz frequency.  It also add additional frequency in the 5 GHz range, which is capable of even faster speeds.  The other advantage of the 5 GHz frequency is at least for now, there is less gear there, and hence less congestion and interference.

In order to take advantage of the 802.11ac, a new router is a prerequisite.  Today, we take a look at the Netis AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router which incorporates all the latest standards.  Netis is a company that makes a wide variety of networking gear.  This router currently retails for $89.99 on Amazon.

Netis AC1200 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter (WF2190)

The latest WiFi standard is the 802.11ac one, and more products are being introduced that utilize it.  This provides support across two bands, the first, the crowded 2.4 GHz, and the second, the newer 5.8 GHz portion of the spectrum.  As it becomes more pervasive, 802.11ac gear is becoming quite affordable.

While many devices come with built in WiFi networking capability, such as any late model notebook, there are still two scenarios where a USB networking WiFi adapter will come in handy.  The first is for a desktop that needs to be connected and is either not located near to the router, or Ethernet cable cannot be easily run throughout the house.  As I position my router in the basement, and my desktop on a higher floor of my residence, I am in that category, and have connected my desktop to the internet that way for years now.  The second scenario is on an older laptop, the computer still works, but the WiFi does not, and by using a USB WiFi adapter you can get some extra mileage out of an otherwise functioning piece of hardware.

Netis Beacon N300 Gaming Router

Netis Systems has been making networking products since 2000, but only recently did I hear about this company.  Netis was willing to provide their new N300 Gaming Router for testing.

The N300 Gaming Router is model WF2631.  It is a standard WiFi router with the usual 4 LAN 100 ports, and internet connection.  There is no USB port, but it does have 3 external antennas.  It uses the 802.11n protocol, and is backward
compatible to 802.11b and g, but does not support the newer 802.11ac protocol.  There is also support for WPS, with the push button on the rear of the unit.  It should be noted early on that this unit retails for a budget friendly $49.

Dlink DIR-820L Redux

My Dlink DIR-820L after a few weeks turned my network into a total mess.  I was running 3 networks simultaneously, including an 802.11n on 2.4 GHz, a guest network on the same frequency, and an 802.11ac on the 5 GHz frequency.  For whatever reason, it worked for a time, and then I was in the situation where all my devices were having issues:

• Sony Bluray player that connected but was too slow to stream anything
• Android 2.3 phone that consistently disconnected from the WiFi
• Windows 8.1 tablet that could only connect to the 802.11ac network
• Windows 8.1 notebook that could only connect to the guest network

As the problems accumulated, it was time to call for another WiFi consult.  I nicely complained to them at the support center that all my previous routers had worked out of the box, and had never had so many issues.  My internet connection is a cable modem from Optimum, with speeds of 18/5.  I was getting this on the 802.11ac network when I ran it on Speedtest.net, but on the 802.11n the download speeds were down to 4-6.

They talked me through getting this back down to the basics with a factory reset, initiated with pushing the reset button on the bottom of the unit with a paper clip hold.  When rebooted, they also had me download the firmware right off the Dlink website.  Than we proceeded to name the 802.11n and 802.11ac with new unique names.  I also did not setup a guest network.

I had low expectations at this point, but to my pleasant surprise, the gear than connected.  In addition, the 2.4 GHz speeds now run at the same speed as the 5 GHz speeds.  I think that the guest network was stealing away bandwidth, but not 100% sure.

--Jonas