Verdict and Conclusion
In our tests, we put the Linksys WRT 1200 AC router against the Asus RT-AC68U. From the results, we can see that the Linksys WRT 1200 AC produced excellent some download speeds with very low ping times. However, it was still slightly edged out by the impressive Asus RT-AC68U.
The only thing that the Linksys WRT 1200 AC can boast about is the built-in native support for ExpressVPN. The configuration was simple and easy to setup. If you have an ExpressVPN account … it’s a just simple one step activation and you’re connected to the VPN server of your choice. This is ONLY available on the Linksys WRT 1200/1900 series.
I do love British TV shows and especially the BBC Earth series. So when I moved to Hong Kong, I knew accessing BBC’s iPlayer and other UK based streaming services would be extremely difficult. There are ways around this, by installing VPN add-ons and extensions to your web browser allowing you to get a local domestic IP address of that country via proxies. This technique can be frustratingly difficult to implement, can be unreliable and may only last a few weeks once the streaming sites finds out.
The only way to get around this, is to pay for a reliable subscription based VPN service. There are many out there, some good and some bad. In our tests, we used an ExpressVPN account which was kindly bundled with the Linksys WRT 1200 AC router. The retail product does not include this service, so you have to subscribe separately. For information on the price plans of ExpessVPN … visit their website here.
The Linksys WRT 1200 AC router will cost around USD $99-130, which I think is about right. The performance is good, and you get native support for ExpressVPN, which is a real bonus. Buy now at Amazon – https://goo.gl/90tHSI
Pros:
- Very good performance
- Good download speeds on LAN, 2.4GHz and 5GHz
- ExpressVPN built-in
- Decent VPN speeds
Cons:
- None that I can think of
Final thoughts
The aesthetics of the Linksys WRT 1200 AC router may not be to everyone’s tastes, but if you’re after an affordable, high performance AC router that supports ExpressVPN natively, then why not consider it.
Due to the fact that the ExpressVPN account settings was SO simple to setup with its one click activation, we gave it our recommended award. We were watching all my favorite TV shows via the BBC’s iPlayer website within seconds of setting it up!
