pcWRT now available on dual band gigabit router

[support]

We are happy to announce the availability of pcWRT on the best selling dual band gigabit router: the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750.

It took us a bit longer than expected to put pcWRT on a dual band gigabit router, but we are happy with the end results. The Archer C7 is a very powerful router, more functions will be added soon. And we’ll make these available via automated firmware updates.

You can grab a unit on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Archer-C7-pcWRT-SafeSearch-Management/dp/B01GLOKHAG/. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks!

[csharpe]

Hi, I bought the router in this post ($138) and what arrived is what looks like a factory TP-Link Archer C7 router. No packing slip in the box, router still in the shrink wrap and no indication anywhere that it has special PCWrt firmware built in.

Order# 113-0133835-1970618
TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 pcWRT Parental Control Router, OpenDNS/SafeSearch/Time Management
Sold by: IPC-Store
$138.00

How do I now that I received what you have posted about here?

I tried inquiring of the seller in Amazon IPC-Store but the answer I received only describes the factory box contents. Nothing about abt parental control value add.

[csharpe]

If I keep this router can I burn your firmware into it?

[support]

Please return this router to the seller. IPC-Store is not authorized to sell this router (i.e., pcWRT with parental controls). We’ll notify Amazon about the incorrect listing.

Please order the one sold by us ($199, fulfilled and shipped by Amazon).

[csharpe]

I think I’ll shop around some more first. I was pretty disappointed with the performance of the Toronto router and it did a pretty good job of fouling up my IP Telephony, Streaming video, Sonos sound system, Home security system, Wi-Fi thermostat, and my wi-fi extender setup.

Burned many days trying to integrate your product as part of my home network but it has a nasty habit of taking over all the DHCP rather than just that of people connected to that network. Also not a very detailed user manual.

Saw your ad for a better router which I thought might have the intestinal fortitude to be at the core of my home setup instead of just for the kids and saw this IPC listing for $140 so thought that would be a reasonable price. My hackles went up when what arrived was a vanilla router with no literature inside the shipping container.

As you can see, at the time I bought it, the description was solid PARENTAL CONTROL router.
Order# 113-0133835-1970618
TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 pcWRT Parental Control Router, OpenDNS/SafeSearch/Time Management
Sold by: IPC-Store
$138.00

When I go to the listing for my received order in Amazon now however, and click on the description, it shows me your $199 router, not the $138 one I ordered. What kind of switcheroo has happened here?
TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 pcWRT Parental Control Router, OpenDNS/SafeSearch/Time Management
by pcWRT
Be the first to review this item
Price: $199.00 Free Shipping for Prime Members

These guys flimflammed me and damaged your reputation in the process.

I have taken action with Amazon to get what I paid for at the price I paid. These guys who posted the deceptive description in Amazon need to pay. Return shipping, refund my money, and make it right. $200 is a lot of money for a router that sells amazon prime for $95 right now. The $45 I was willing to pay for your added work and integration effort, but this whole process has left me feeling abused.

Your thoughts? (May go private to my personal e-mail address.)

[support]

Thank you for your feedback and honest opinion.

Our firmware should play well with other devices on your home network. If you have problems, please let us know, we’ll help you resolve those issues. If indeed there’s a shortcoming, we’ll try to fix that with a firmware update ASAP. If you still have the TORONTO-N and would like to make it work, please let us know also, we can help you out.

The $199 price for the TP-Link router includes the current firmware and all future updates. More features are on the way and some are coming soon. We’ll make it worth your money. Thanks!

[skydogtookmycash]

If a person owns a TP-Link Archer C7, can they buy just the firmware, and if so for how much $? But this is not my main question, because I don’t actually own a C7 yet. I notice the C7 is $89 on amazon, and if the firmware is say $70 then that is a less expensive way to go.

Main question: Is pcWRT here to stay? I don’t really mind the $110 extra price tag over the normal C7, if pcWrt will have some longevity to it. I’m still sore about being dumped by skydog. It seemed like a perfect fit for me, which was why I paid extra $ for router hardware that was already very outdated and with poor range. I’m still surprised there isn’t a close alternative to skydog (maybe the concepts were patented, and of all companies to buy them why did it have to be Comcast ?).

Nobody has a crystal ball, but if pcWRT’s hope is to be bought up like skydog it would be nice to know up front (and I’ll steer clear). Otherwise, after next pay check I’m joining in.

One thing I really like about my skydog is that when the network goes down I get a text message. I suppose that is a feature that only a cloud based system could support ?? Are their solutions available for that?

[support]

@skydogtookmycash Thank you so much for your comments! Currently we only sell hardware with firmware preinstalled, since most users don’t know how to flash their routers and we won’t be able to support them if anything goes wrong. In worst case, they might end up bricking their routers in the process. That said, we do plan to support the firmware only option in the future as we expand and have better ways to deliver it.

Yes, we do plan to stay and won’t sell ourselves out (ha, even Skydog would have said that before they sold themselves out!). But seriously, we are proud of what we built, enjoy what we are doing, and do want the product to stay. Therefore, since the very beginning we made choices that would minimize the impact to our customers in case something out of our control drowns us. Such as using services such as OpenDNS to provide content filtering instead of building our own, and building it as a standalone router instead of a cloud based router.

We know that people want Skydog-like cloud based control, so we are currently building it (as an option, not a requirement). Features like email notification when router goes offline will be available once that’s done.

[skydogtookmycash]

Thanks very much for the candid reply. Since yesterday I’ve done more reading, and am quickly getting confused about what would be the best solution for our family. For example I see things like Cirle, HomeHalo and Koalasafe out there (that are more cloud based like skydog). I’m sure there are pros and cons to each, but do you know of some info I could read to get a better understanding? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve already been searching and reading up on it, but quite honestly not finding it very clear. Could you help me understand the advantages (and disadvantages) of pcWRT versus a product like HomeHalo ? My main goal is to help protect the kids from inappropriate content. I’m glad pcWRT has plans to support some cloud based control. I also like the fact that the C7 is an available router option for pcWRT (most other solutions have very mediocre router hardware).

[support]

@skydogtookmycash Very good questions. Unfortunately there are no clear answers. It might look simple at first glance, but in reality this is a very technical subject. Each family may have different needs and each vendor may approach the problem from a different angle. We are planning to write a blog post to explain some of the factors that have driven our decision making process. Hopefully it’ll help you out somewhat. Stay tuned!

[skydogtookmycash]

Okay, sounds good. Staying tuned.

[support]

@skydogtookmycash We just published the blog post. Any feedback is welcome!

[RichardGV]

I see that the dual-band router is on sale at Amazon for $180. Is there a new pcWRT dual-band router coming out soon (home grown HW, rather than TP-Archer)?

Thanks,

Richard

[support]

@RichardGV You guessed it. More hardware support is coming, hopefully before the holidays.

[Transversal]

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas. What kind of hardware support is coming? I have been thinking about buying the TP-Archer for some time now…is there a new one coming out?

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