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Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router with 4-Port Switch MIMO

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Pros
Excellent features
WPA/WPA2 Enterprise support
Cons
Poor long-range performance
Mediocre case design

Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router with 4-Port Switch MIMO Review

by Becky Waring

This draft-n router has the best features of the group we tested, plus excellent documentation and setup. But its test performance did not live up to its billing.

The Linksys Wireless-N is a very good all-rounder in design and features; like the Belkin N1, it seriously stumbles only in performance, although not as badly. It has QoS, WPA/WPA2 Enterprise encryption, Radius server support, and truly comprehensive routing capabilities, making it our features champ among the routers we tested for our October issue roundup.

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The installation experience was very good. A CD setup utility led us through the physical connections and then took us to the router's Web-based Smart Wizard for Internet setup. The 90-page PDF manual was nearly as good as Belkin's, but the context-sensitive help within the Web configuration tool was not. It offered no information on the 802.11n features of the router and looked like it was simply copied from another Linksys model. Even a firmware update did not address this shortcoming in the router setup software.

The Linksys has a flat antenna situated in between two pole antennas, a departure from the usual three-pole design. It has no wall-mount bracket, but you can stand the router horizontally or vertically. The case sticks to Linksys's trademark purple and black color scheme, which we wish the company would ditch in favor of more decor-friendly choices like the white, black, and silver of the other routers we saw. On top of the device is a big button that doesn't do anything, but is "reserved" for future use. Maybe one-touch encryption setup? Linksys isn't saying.

What about speed and range? As we did for the tested Belkin and Buffalo draft-n products, we gave the overall performance of the Linksys Wireless-N line a Fair rating due to its poor throughput at long range (60 feet through house walls) and multiple failures to complete file transfers, a symptom of its lesser range. Even at close and midrange distances, the two tested non-draft-n routers did better.

Becky Waring

User Reviews for Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router with 4-Port Switch MIMO

Reviewed by: RonHauser

Duration of ownership: 5 Months

Strengths: The storage link is good.

Weaknesses: The ethernet does not work well. The computers on the ethernet cannot see each other on the network. All work fine on the web.

Overall Evaluation: I upgraded from the WRT54GS for the wired gigabit transfer rate. That was a BIG mistake, because now there is no transfer. Linksys' customer service was of no help, but they did spend over an hour on the phone with me before giving up. I wish I had not spent my money on this piece of junk.
Reviewed by: BobL

Duration of ownership: 2 Months

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Overall Evaluation: I purchased all N draft equipment stictly based on the advertisements that the gear offered 4 x more range. In fact it doesn't have the range strength of the G equipment I replaced. A total waste of money. I asked for a solution and received an horrendous 300 step solution that doesn't work.. plus a firmware (bin) update that XP won't recognize and open.

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