Netgear AC1900 "Nighthawk" review (a short one).

[PsychoRealm]

So as I mentioned in my sticky post about Squaretrade, my 2 years old Netgear N750 router started dropping signal on WLAN port with no apparent reason, so I submitted a claim to Squaretrade, they sent me money right away and next day I bought Netgear AC1900 "Nighthawk" on Amazon. Basically, from the moment my original router died to the moment I got Nighthawk from Amazon it took ~3 days (thanks to Squaretrade).

What can I say? This router is a motherfucking beast. My impressions so far.

1. Signal strength is outstanding (special thanks to beamforming technology). Not only it covers my 2500 sq ft house (1st floor and 2nd floor), it also covers my basement and ~50 ft circle around the house. I literally walked away from my house and on 50 ft range I had all 5 bars on 2G wireless network and 4 bars on 5G (you might know already that 5G network ranges are much shorter than regular 2G networks).
2. FTP server. This feature is extremely useful. The only problem is you must know your external IP address (since it's dynamic usually) so you could access your home FTP server from the Internet.
3. VPN server. Intuitive setup, 10 minutes of your time, and you have your own VPN which saves you $10/month you'd have to pay for private VPN otherwise.
4. Parental controls. As long as you have free OpenDNS account - you'll get free parental control solutions from Netgear which, again, is easy to set up and manage.
5. DLNA server. Again - two clicks setup and no need for DLNA software on your home PC. With properly configured QoS you'll stream the video over your network in no time.
6. ReadyShare. Connect your external USB hard drive (or SAN) to the router (via USB 3.0), configure the shares - and you won't have to worry about SMB shares anymore. All your files are access through the router directly.
7. PrinterShare. Same thing. Configure settings in 2 minutes, and get printer networked without a hassle. If you have USB printer - you just hook it up to your router (again, via USB 3.0), install drivers on all PCs/laptops in your household - and you're ready to go. You have a network printer in your house.
8. ReadyShare Vault. Easy-to-set-up backup solution. The hard drive you attached to USB 3.0 in bullet point 6 is used to back up all your data to it via eadyShare Vault software.
9. Guest Network. Completely isolated network for your visitors.
10. Dual Band. You're getting regular wireless network (on 2.4GHz) and 5G network (on 5Ghz).
11. WEP and WPA are no longer available. The least encrypted algorithm used is WPA2.
12. NetGenie app makes setup really easy.
13. And finally, DD-WRT support (for all the freeware and Linux lovers). You can install your own freeware on this router and manage it your own way.

Possible cons:

1. People complain about this router "hanging" from time to time. Haven't experienced it, so can't say for sure - will keep my eye on it.
2. When the router is used in AP mode, you can not isolate Guest Network from your home network (the explanation is pretty simple - in AP mode router acts as a bridge (layer 2 device) which makes routing decisions impossible. You can fool the router though by setting it up in a special way.

Rationale: This router is a beast.