Many low cost consumer products languish without updates even when major security flaws are discovered. This is also a critical consideration for security. Thankfully both brands are committed to pushing out updates when required, unlike some cheaper brands. Both brands have had a history of poor firmware updates causing issues from time-to-time, but it’s worth keeping in mind the overall customer ratings which indicate these issues are edge cases more than major failures. Features are not the issue, but rather quality control and general usability of the interface. In my experience with both brands, their firmware design and UI falls short of higher end brands like Ubiquiti, MicroTik, and even Google, which is not surprising. This is unfortunately typical of consumer electronics brands in general, and it’s hard to find an exception to this rule where commoditized volume sales is the profit driver. With both companies there have been various issues with firmware quality across different models, and customer complaints generally revolve around poor technical support experiences. Such an app can be a convenience for some and offer a simpler method of doing setup and basic management tasks for the less tech savvy. Looking across their router range, they net an average of 4 stars, with many models rating 4.5.īoth Linksys and Netgear offer a mobile app for management of some models, but this is inconsistent. Linksys also fairs quite well in Amazon reviews. Looking across all Netgear routers on Amazon, router customer reviews average a solid 4.5 stars consistently across all models. In the case of these two brands the statistical relevance is good given they attract large numbers (thousands) of review ratings for each product. So we’ll look at Amazon reviews to get a good cross section of customer feedback. It’s a bit tricky getting overall brand ratings from customers, the usual consumer ratings sites don’t cover these products well and tend to only attract complaints. These partners are overseen by a separate quality division based in Hong Kong. Netgear remains an independent company with offices in 25 countries that outsources manufacturing to various partners in China, Vietnam, and Taiwan. They also started the well known home security brand Arlo which they spun off into a separate company in 2018. In 2007 Netgear acquired storage firm ReadyNAS and entered the storage market, adding backup products in 2009. With seed funding from Bay Networks, Netgear grew steadily to provide a wide variety of consumer, business and gaming focused networking products, becoming publicly listed in 2003. Netgear was founded in 1996 in San Jose, California by an electronic engineer formerly working at Hewlett Packard. Belkin was subsequently acquired by Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn in 2018 and as such is the overall owner of the Linksys brand. They produced the first PCMCIA Fast Ethernet card for laptops in 1999, and the first 8 port switch with QoS and SNMP features in 2000.Īcquired by Cisco in 2003 they expanded into VOIP and business products before being sold along with Cisco’s home networking division to Belkin in 2013. They started to establish retail channels with major outlets at that time, and pioneered some new niche products over the next few years. They gradually increased their range of networking products up to 1995 when they received a major boost thanks to native support in Windows 95. Linksys Overviewįounded in 1988 in Irvine, California by a pair of Taiwanese immigrants. Let’s take a look at the companies over all, and then drill down to some of the top router options from each to suit different use cases.
As such, with an understanding that the brands themselves are comparable, it’s better to look at like-for-like product comparisons with a view to the features that matter to you. It depends on which products you’ve had experience with, and what criteria you value more. However, it’s true to say that other IT pros would hold the opposite view. I’ve used products from both brands, and many others, over the years, which would lead me to rank Linksys as the better of the two. Take Ford with the Mustang vs the Pinto, for example.
In the case of Linksys and Netgear we have two brands that are reasonably well respected in the market, and both have a history of decent quality gear.Īs well many well established brands, though, you’re going to see hits and misses with particular products. When looking at brand quality as a whole, it can be difficult to rank one name over another, although there are certainly brands that have a proven history of being rubbish. Linksys and Netgear are two of those you can find pretty much everywhere, and who continue to pump out new products regularly. There are several well known consumer network brands that have been main stays in the market for many years. When you buy through links in this article, I may earn an affiliate commission.
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