[ddaniel51]

I started out years ago with a 300 baud modem. As technology improved it went to 1200, then 9600, then 28k, 56k, then 128k dsl and so up the line of internet speeds and ISP's. At each step up in speed I had to buy a new modem. Each advance in DOCSIS cable modems and their associated speeds required new modems at each step also.

When DSL and Cable came along I switched to ethernet based devices and went from 10 mbs to 100 mbs and then to 1 gigabit ethernet. Each required new hardware to accommodate the higher speeds.

The routers followed the same path. I used Dlink, Linksys routers early on
and was happily running an E4200 with DD-WRT with 50mbs service when my ISP went to 100mbs service. The E4200 could not manage the 100mbs and topped out in the 70mbs range.

At this point I had been following Router and DD-WRT development reading the posts of the trials and tribulations attributed to the newer lines of routers, their support and issues with upgrading firmware.

Based on my readings I decided to buy the R7000 which Kong owned and wrote for with it's ease of firmware upgrading, and ability to do around 420 mbs on DD-WRT firmware.

The R7000 happily ran 100mbs and YAmon with no issues. My ISP went to 150mbs and the R7000 ran on. My ISP went to 300mbs plus burst speeds and the R7000 runs on. I have seen 400mbs bursts and the R7000 doesn't falter. I change firmware with every new iteration and it is a no hassle affair only requiring a few minutes of my time to do 3 routers.

There is no hand wringing and endless tweaking of router settings to maximize my WAN speed because the R7000 can handle it.

I purchased the R7000 for it's lack of associated aggravation as much of it's WAN abilities. I don't bother with trying to tweak the WLAN to the nth degree as all the serious networking, gaming and streaming is done via wired ethernet. All the WLAN devices in the house are happy and I leave them alone.

The ease of use and lack of aggravation are as much a commodity to be paid for as the technology is.