12/11/2017 Update: Still getting the run around from NetGear. Have found numerous reviews indicating that there is a design/manufacturing defect that is wholely NetGears responsibility. DO NOT BUY!!!
11/17/2017 Update: Still not working. After insisting that the voltage on the cable was the problem, Comcast added an amplifier/repeater to reduce the voltage. Now they are saying that they might not be able to do anything.
Update 3/23/2017:
After almost a month, and endless hours with NetGear customer support, I still go thru the same thing almost every morning: Everything is fine initially, then, about 30 minutes later, some sites (always the same ones) are no longer reachable. If I wait, after about another 30 minutes, the connections are restored. If I don't wait, and reboot, I also get the connections back. However, this still takes 15 minutes or so. After the reconnect, everything is fine for the rest of the day, unless I go out for a few hours; so a configuration, wiring or hardware problem is unlikely. It seems that inactivity causes the connection with a specific set of unrelated sites (possibly those using IPv6) to be dropped.
I got NetGear's approval to exchange the device, but the only free way to do that was to send the unit first, at my expense!!! And they didn't extend the warranty for the missed time!!!
Amazon technical support tried hard, but I think the problem is outside their ability to address.
One of the other reviews indicated that firmware should be at 2.xx. I'm at 1.xx. Now I have Comcast coming to do a firmware update. (Strangely, they were able to do that remotely with my older equipment.) I should not have to have discovered that for myself. Didn't NetGear know? Why were they hiding it???
Even if this resolves the situation, poor quality control, unhelpful and time wasting customer service, and a failure to admit a problem puts NetGear on my bad list, since they never mentioned firmware. This is from a customer who owns a half dozen NetGear products.
What follows was written in the first 24 hours, which I withdraw, but leave for the benefit of readers.
I replaced a NetGear WNR3500 router and an Motorola SB6210 cable modem with this single device, the AC1900. The replaced devices are about 10 years old, and while still fully functional, they are slower, less secure, and offer fewer features than current equipment. Here's what I found, compared to my previous setup.
- Installation was fairly easy. Do follow the quick start guide.
- Changing settings on the AC1900 does not require a full restart, as it does the WNR3500. Settings changes take place nearly instantaneously This is helpful, especially during initial setup where it might take a few iterations of changes to get things just right.
- Restarting is rarely needed, apparently; it's a bit early to tell. That is a good thing, since it seems to take about 20 minutes. It looks like it has to renegotiate with the cable company every time the power drops. At the wrong time that could be VERY inconvenient.
- The really noticeable improvement appeared on streaming services; the new responsiveness is lightningly fast.
- In addition to DOCSIS 3.0, the AC1900 supports iPv6, a more secure protocol with many, many more IP addresses. (Did you know that we are running out of internet addresses??)
- I saved shelf space, a electrical plug, a power cable, and a ethernet cable by replacing two boxes with one that performs the function of both.
- You can set up a separate, isolated guest Wi-Fi hotspot for guests. This would be ideal for a small business.
- There isn't a good explanation of ReadyShare, so I plugged a thumb-drive into the USB port, and, voila, I was able to access the drive from a computer on the LAN. Someday, I might try a multi-port USB adapter.....
- One phone app seemed to not like my password all of a sudden; the same password worked fine on the web. I'm still working on that.
- I would have thought that they would have combined the access control list with the attached devices list on the configuration pages, by now. They have almost the same information.
Granted, the replaced equipment was so old and slow that any upgrade to current equipment would have produced similarly excellent results. If your are in a similar position, with old equipment, I would recommend an upgrade, if not to this, to anything current.
2017/05/15: After almost 3 months and a replacement, I still have to reboot it almost every day, and NetGear has no solution.
brandon
Brian Marin