The manufacturers of routers seem to believe that there is ample demand in the upper price bracket for new devices. Following the previously tested Asus RT-AC5300, Linksys and Netgear have released an AC5300 router with a price of around 450 euros.

I apologize for not testing Smart Connect performance for the EA9500. The new test processes take a lot more time and with the retesting required to provide comparison products for the charts, I'm having to make hard choices about what not to test.

With eight Gigabit ports, eight antennae and three Wi-Fi bands this crazy-looking router wants to take all the internets you can throw at it and eat them for breakfast. How does it do? Read our Linksys EA9500 review to find out.

Linksys' latest looks a bit like a massive upturned spider which can be a bit disconcerting in low-light and shadow-rich environments. It's no looker, although the LED lights on the front have a certain Knight Rider quality to them.

Fast; Eight Gigabit Ethernet ports; Costs less than rivals

None

Last router was too dated to support current technology. Replaced modem and router. Installation was easy. Allowed us to install separate line for special use system. Had Linksys router before and purchased on our experience, even though Office Depot had other products at lesser prices.

Features; Performance

Even though as we've pointed out numerous times in our past reviews wired connectivity is pretty much the best one can do (at least not currently) both in terms of performance and security there's simply no denying that wireless connectivity is much more convenient.

- Build Quality; - Design; - Second To None Wireless Performance; - AC5400 Technology (Concurrent 802.11n & Dual 802.11ac; - Features (Beamforming; MU-MIMO And Tri-Band Technology; - 8 High Gain Antennas; - Smart Web Interface; - 8 Gigabit Ethernet Ports; - USB 3.0 Port & USB 2.0 Port

- Price (For Some; - USB Performance (Compared To The WRT Models

This replaces an EA6500 dual-band which was made by Cisco at the time. It started acting squirrely after five years of 24/7/365 use. Decided to buy the EA9500 for the improved sensitivity/signal strength and directionality control. What a difference!

I bought this because I have some property with some out-buildings that I wanted to be able to use Wi-Fi in without having to buy extra cable or extenders. It's very easy to set up and the Wi-Fi range is excellent.

The Linksys EA9500 Max-Stream AC5400 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router may cost top dollar, but you get a lot of features and solid performance for your money. Its eight Gigabit LAN ports provide plenty of room for connecting multiple PCs, NAS drives, printers, and any other wired networking device, and its...

Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) capable; Numerous LAN ports; Extensive management settings; Excellent throughput performance

Very expensive; Large footprint

Wireless networking has come a long way since it was first released. Early routers offered bandwidth even lower than available broadband internet speeds, and they suffered greatly from interference and poor signal strength.