I have had connectivity problems with AT&T using their router. Cutoffs multiple times an hour. This is a problem since me, my wife and my two children are working and going to school remotely. I also have solar panels which have an "Envoy" which connects to the internet. After dealing with AT&T and having service people coming out to look at my internet, connections, etc. I had had enough and switched to Spectrum. No Google Fiber where I live.

My problems got worse with Spectrum. Not only did my connectivity problems continue, but I had problems connecting one of my Samsung SmartTVs. Called Spectrum Tech Support, who sent out a technician who replaced my Spectrum router. No solution. Searched on YouTube for solutions, tried everything to connect the SmartTV…nothing worked. Contacted Spectrum Tech Support, they blamed the TV. Called Samsung Tech support, who were going to charge me $200+ to have a rep come out, and probably change my WiFi module on the TV. Changed Spectrum routers … again….same problem. I've now gone through 3 brand new Spectrum routers. After much research online…I concluded the problem may be that the Spectrum routers are only on 5gHz not 2.4 gHz. I don't know why it matters. The many YouTube videos, Spectrum and Samsung Technicians…none of them suspected this problem. Some Spectrum tech reps were polite, some condescending, none could solve my problem.

Purchased this router from Amazon. I'm a little familiar Netgear Nighthawk, but no expert. It came in a day. It took five minutes to hook up. An IPhone is necessary to hook up. But instructions are very straightforward, I stood ready to call Netgear tech support, but tried to get as far into the instructions on my own to connect. Bravo Bam Boom…I'm up and running.

As I said in the title, all my internet problems were solved in 15 minutes. 15 minutes, that's about how long it took to set up all my TV's, laptops, printers, solar panels, thermostat, security system, etc. Ah…the joy of taking my Spectrum router back to the store and telling the rep that it's a piece of junk. By the way, this router, has 2.4 gHz and 5 gHz and assigns automatically, so you don't have to figure it out.

Wifi Signal is awesome, no issues with my solar panel envoy, not one disconnect in the week that I've had it. I can even track my internet needs to see if I'm paying too much for speed from Spectrum.

To begin, I've been through many routers and can tell you what almost every advanced setting does. I like to tweak everything and always use custom firmware. I was previously using an RT-AC3200 running Merlin, which died after several years.

If you're like me, you might be remiss to give up that custom firmware. I was very worried about it. In the end I don't see why people complain, this isn’t as good as Merlin but it's fine. I miss some features like site survery, but all the important stuff is here. You DON'T have to use the phone app to setup the router, you can login to the IP just like normal don't worry. The phone app is pretty limited, but it has its uses. The firmware is not as snappy as Merlin but honestly the annoyance was minimal.

I tested the router as hard as I could by streaming a 60GGB 4K HDR rip to my Shield, a 4K stream to my laptop, a 4k stream to my desktop, running 3 torrents over ethernet, and an HD stream on my phone and had no hiccups or problems at all. The QoS feature seems to work fairly well. I'm also using smart connect and so far the frequencies its selecting are appropriate for each device.

It goes up to channel 128 which nobody near me has, this has left me in great shape signal wise. IPhone 10+ and Mac Pro work fine with channel 128.

The router does not run hot, it runs cold compared to any other router I 've seen. The fully offloaded CPU probably has a lot to do with that. The device feels half the weight of my old router as well.

I'm glad I went with this slightly cheaper 6 stream model. It seems to be far more than enough for me and future proof with wifi 6.

Negatives:
During setup on the phone app it kept saying "unable to connect" after firmware update and during one or two other steps. Just go to your phone settings and turn wifi on and off, reconnect to router, and go back into app. This solves the problem. The process delayed me maybe 30 seconds total. Or do yourself a favor and just use the old 192.168.1.1 for the setup.

Its only dual-band. I'm used to tri-band but I can't tell a difference to be honest. Not a very important feature it seems.

Edit: I ran into some compatibility errors after enabling mu-mimo in the advanced settings. I suggest leaving this off until you can test it on its own.

I bought this plus a Motorola docsis 3.1 modem to replace the Comcast/Xfinity rented equipment. The rented equipment was supposed to be for top of the line 1G service. This product and the modem increased my network reliability and performance incredibly. I went from barely able to do audio only to solid never had a problem video calls. It has been set it and forget it. Solid quality, great coverage. ROI of about 1.5 years is very much worth it!