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amazon Linksys MR9600 reviews
The MR9600 Linksys Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router is selling at $399.99 and is, for now, Linksys’ Wi-Fi 6 series. It employs the newest 802.11ax technology to render fast transfer rate performances on the 5GHz band and stable file transfer rates. Like pretty much all routers nowadays, it is easy to set up, and the Linksys app allows one to control everything from the phone. It also gained mesh capability whereby a separate Linksys Mesh Router can easily be configured as a node to create a mesh network. Our analysis, however, showed it slightly lacking in overall performance as compared to our more recent Wi-Fi 6, the TP-Link Archer AX11000.
Design and Features
The MR9600 uses a black rectangular desktop case that measures 2.3 x 11.0 x 6.6 inches (HWD). It features a textured top, glossy black front panel, and four non-removable tuning antennas. The front panel has a status light that flashes blue on startup, flashes purple during setup, solid blue when everything is working, and turns solid red when the Router is down the Internet connection. There is also a WPS light that blinks white when WPS is in progress, flashes orange when there is a WPS error, and turns solid white when a WPS connection is successful.
To the right of the WPS button, four gigabit LAN ports, one WAN port, two USB 3.0 ports, a reset button, a power port, and a power switch are to be found. By way of comparison, a similarly priced Asus RT-AX88U Router can give you eight LAN ports through deductions made for TP-Link Archer AX6000 and AX11000 Routers, both of which boast multi-gig LAN ports.
The MR9600 offers AX6000 dual-band options and theoretically can deliver speeds of about 1,147 Mbps on 2.4GHz and up to 4,804 Mbps on 5GHz. It runs on a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor and holds 512 MB SDRAM and 512 MB flash memory. It uses the latest Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax technology implemented with OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access), supports 1024 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), Target Wake Time, WPA3 security, 4X4 MU-MIMO data transmission, beamforming, and 160MHz channel bandwidth. And of course, it supports Linksys Smart Mesh, to keep things easy. This is the same technology featured in the Linksys Velop range of head-to-head home-wide Wi-Fi systems. Basically, this means you can put compatible nodes around your house to wipe out dead zones and ensure seamless roaming.
Like its sibling, the Linksys Velop AX MX10, which was reviewed previously, the MR9600 has no built-in or bundled anti-malware tools and limited parental controls. You can pause internet access, set a schedule for pausing it, and block certain websites for certain clients, but you are not given age-specific site filters like you get with TP-Link Archer AX6000. On a more advanced note, you don’t have any Alexa commands with MR9600 to do things like turning on guest networks or pausing internet access for clients just with the power of your voice.
Linksys MR9600 can be set up and controlled through the Linksys mobile application, which is available for Apple iOS and Google Android devices; it can also be controlled through the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi web-based control panel. That said, the app has a slightly different interface than what we’ve seen for the Linksys Velop AX MX10 system; rather than transition to the Control Panel screen from which you can use most of the controls, the app opens the Router screen showing the Router’s name and status (online/offline). Two small tabs appear at the center of the screen: one labeled Devices indicating the number of clients connected at the moment and the other one labeled Router representing the total number of Routers and nodes connected.
By tapping on the Devices button, you are provided the screen showing the name of each device connected, whether it’s connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and the band it is connected to. Tap on any device to give it priority (bandwidth priority can be assigned to a maximum of three devices) and choose parental control options. Clicking on the Router tab next takes you to the Network Administration screen where you can change the Router password, enable automatic updates, view IP details, and reset the Router.
There is a single Speed Test button just below the Devices and Routers tabs to measure your download and upload speeds using SpeedTest. A tab lists your last five connected clients, followed by two buttons: one to activate parental controls (Permissions) and one for guest network permissions. Tap the three-bar icon in the upper left corner to get to Wi-Fi and Advanced Settings. Here, Wi-Fi settings such as the Wi-Fi name and password can be configured. Channel Finder can also be used to determine the best performance with a security type of WPA2/WPA3. The option to unlock new 5GHz channels and the 160 MHz Channel Width is available by enabling DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection). Port Settings (Port Forwarding, Port Enable), DHCP Settings, IPv6 Settings, Copy MAC Address, and DNS Settings are other Advanced Settings.
While the overall look and feel of the interface are certainly easy to pick up, it doesn’t represent the breadth of tools, especially those related to gaming, that we saw in Our Picks. Editor Wi-Fi 6 Router, TP-Link Archer AX11000. That said, while it’s pretty fast, you wouldn’t classify the Linksys MR9600 as a gaming router or a budget router, based on its price tag.
Settings and Performance
Installing the MR9600 is quick and easy. We downloaded the mobile app, hit “Set up a new Wi-Fi network,” connected the Router to our modem, and powered it on. We confirm that the purple LED is blinking and prompts you to create an account. We then gave our new Wi-Fi network a name, set a password, assigned the Router to a room, and the setup was complete.
Test results for the MR9600 have been bimodal. An SBS test-2.4 GHz proximic yielded 111 Mbps-proper scores present in other Wi-Fi 6 routers with the likes of TP-Link AX11000, Netgear Nighthawk AX12 RAX120, and Asus RT-AX88U. Loss of signal strength over distance occurred: at a distance of 30 feet, the MR9600 tested slowest with 38 Mbps while Archer led the band with 67 Mbps.
The score of the MR9600 was highest at 840 Mbps for the 5-GHz proximity test, surpassing the AX11000 and RAX120 by a mere handful of points, and exceeding the RT-AX88U by 58 Mbps. However, it managed to pull in only 228 Mbps on the 30 feet 5GHz test, going down to speed with the AX11000 by 100 Mbps, while the RAX120 came in at 417 Mbps!
The MR9600 delivers speedy file transfer performance that we measure by moving a 1.5GB folder of photos, videos, music, and office documents between the USB 3.0 drive connected to the Router and the machine. Our test station is to write and read speed. Its write score of 73 MBps is faster than the AX11000, RAX120, and RT-AAX88U, while its read score of 70 MBps is faster than the RAX120.
We use the Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi diagnostic tool together with the Ekahau Survey mobile app for measurement of signal strength. This setup generates a heat map for the MR9600’s 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signal strengths across our test house. The white circle marks the Router position, and the colors mark signal strengths according to the scale on the right of the screen, ranging from dark green for the strongest signal to yellow for weaker signals, and gray indicates no signal is received. From the map, the 2.4 GHz signal of the Router is strong inside the vicinity of the Router but fades as you go further away; this also explains why the Router averaged so much in the 2.4GHz long band transfer rate tests. Unbeknownst to all, the 5 GHz signal of this Router has a wider coverage area than the 2.4 GHz one.
The Linksys MR9600 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router is indeed a very good choice if you’re ready to upgrade to a Wi-Fi 6 router. It’s got blisteringly fast file transfer speeds; this means it should do well in NAS chores. Yet, it performed very well in our near 5 GHz range transfer rate test, decently in the near 2.4 GHz range, but started failing transfer rate tests of the long range.
where can you get a Linksys MR9600 online
Linksys AX6000 Smart Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router for Home Mesh Networking, MU-MIMO Dual-Band AX Wireless Gigabit Mesh Router, Fast Speeds up to 6.0 Gbps, coverage up to 3,000 sq ft, up to 40 devices (MR9600): Buy it now
LINKSYS MR9600-RM2 DUAL-BAND MESH ROUTER (RENEWED): Buy it now