Question 1

How is this "Tri-Band"? I only count two, 2.4GHz and 5GHz.  Three channels maybe, but not three bands.

Accepted Answer

It has 3 bands. If you turn off the 5GHz band steering you can setup a name and password for each band. One for the 2.4GHz band and one for each of the 5GHz bands. 
I have had several different wireless routers over the last 15 years and this one is the best I've ever had. It is very easy to setup,  powerful and fast.

Question 2

Apologies, I'm a networking rookie. I am looking for something basically Plug and Play. I like my current Linksys router but when my wife is on her laptop working and the kids are on their tablets and I want to watch Netflix everything slows way down. Would this help with that? I got the impression that this would be a good one for a busy family.

Accepted Answer

the basic answer "yes it is a good router."  but there ae other factors your need to look at.
1: all the better function are in the "802.11 AC" mode of operation.  if your other devices are not "AC", but 802.11n, 802.11g, or  802.11b, then they can not use the better features of this device.  They will connect and work, just at the slower speeds of those type of devices.
2: you can have some older and some newer devices as this is multi band device.  so you may want to see if any of your things can run AC.  
If not the system dose have both 5 and 2.5 bands working.  The means their is two network running and it is ease to set up with the web interface.  most likely if your laptop is not new it well use 2.5 band where a Ipad 2 or newer iPhone would use the 5Ghz band.  also if you are on a cable modem be sure it is a DOS-3 modem.  
I have 10 wireless devices on mine plus 15 on the wire side and it handles it all.

Question 3

Is this item New unopened?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  Pretty happy with it.  Able to use the app only when connected to the router and not when connected other wireless though.  Have not had a chance to see why that is and correct it.

Question 4

I'm very tempted to buy this it looks so good on paper. The price is right awesome. Im having connectivity issues in my house. I have a wired cisco small business router and 2 AP's and i'm still constantly dealing with lag and drops. Why are there so many negative reviews? In the reviews some say belkin is now linksys which means it is no longer cisco. Is that true and is that the reason for so many bad reviews? Did they just slap a diamond on a bumb?

Accepted Answer

I have had no problems with it AFTER I set the wifi channels to static channels and didn't let the router dynamically decide which channel was best.  Once I did that I was able to 100kbs on the 5ghz channel consistently.  It should be noted that I am a home owner, but when I do the the tests we are usually streaming movies via netflix.  One other thing is to make sure you can place the router in a good location, meaning, you aren't trying to stretch the range.  I noticed on the 5 ghz band I have to be indoors to get a good signal.  The interface is very easy and can be accessed via app on your phone.  Once I tweaked it a little (as a mentioned before) i have had no problems since.  Linksys support was pretty helpful too, once they realized I have some level of competency.

Question 5

Will this work in place of my Router from Verizon?

Accepted Answer

Connect to the MI424WR via Ethernet and perform a factory reset from the Advanced section of the admin GUI.

Log back in to the router using the default "admin" and "password" credentials, and access Network Connections under My Network.

Access the settings for Broadband Connection (Coax) and ensure the privacy option is selected. Release the MI424WR's IP address and immediately change the Internet Protocol option to "No IP address" to prevent a new IP from being requested.

Access the settings for Network (Home/Office) and enable 
Broadband Connection (Coax) under the list of bridged connections. The original guide referred to a STP checkbox, but I never saw it listed for the coax connection.

Disable the Wireless Access Point network interface completely and remove it from any bridge configuration.

If necessary, change the Firewall Settings to the minimum setting.

At this point, the main page of the admin GUI should complain that it has no internet connection, but Broadband Connection (Coax) should still show up as "connected" in the list of network interfaces.

onfigure your preferred router with an IP address other than 192.168.1.1 and connect its WAN port to the MI424WR's LAN port.

The router should then be able to pick up a new Verizon IP address via DHCP.

Question 6

Does this router have a built in transformer to accept 110v-240v?

Accepted Answer

No,  it has an external power supply.

Question 7

what is -4a at the end of the model
cant find one on Linksys website?

Accepted Answer

Unknown... I just know it works well with no issues.

Question 8

I need to be able to do an IP address reservation by Mac Address as well as Port forwarding specific addressed. (this is for a ham radio controller on the wireless network that will be streaming audio and controls over the network) will this router handle IP reservation and Port forwarding as well as Management from the internet. (Home is in NY, working in NJ) ?

Accepted Answer

Mark

I set up this router for port forwarding for Remote Desktop.

I have had many Linksys Routers over the years and was reluctant to try the smart wifi software that it comes with.

I was very comfortable with the Linksys Classic interface and wanted to keep using it, however, this model will not let one do that. I do like the non-cloud version of the smart wifi software. One can choose this instead of the smart wifi account on the cloud which I feel sometimes bogs down.
 
The smart wifi software has a neat graphical network map and it is here where you can assign a device's mac address with an IP reservation. In my reading someone suggested that all devices should be assigned an IP reservation. I have done this for what I feel are devices that critically need a reservation like a network printer. Hope this answers your question.

Question 9

is it a vpn router? does it encrypt the internet connection?

Accepted Answer

Not sure what you are asking... VPN is a point to point protocol. You need two ends that communicate via a point to point VPN. This router would support for example PPTP to do this, but it will not encrypt internet connections to anywhere (this is not what VPN is for).

Question 10

I know this will sound silly but can you disable the Tri-Band feature and effectively turn this into a duel band router?  If not will it being a Tri-Band router have any negative consequences on my plan below?

I want to daisy chain this with my xfinity xb3 Duel-Band 802.11ac Modem to extend the range of my network because unfortunately due to cabling issues the modem sits on the far side of the house leaving a slightly weaker signal on the other side.  I will set this as the secondary router.

Accepted Answer

Yes you can. You can enable or disable each of the three bands individually. For what you want to do I suggest using the AC3200 as an access point and disable the router function.  Remember you can only have one router on your network allocating ip addresses to devices.

Questions & Answers