Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy
Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer
discounts of up to 90% on
Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router. Check out the link below:
>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers
Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router Review
The Linksys E3200 is, without a doubt, an impressive product. It's one VERY easy to set router that appears to operate reliably and even comes with a couple of notable bells and whistles. However, some of the 'high performance' claims proved to be slightly exaggerated and I wasn't impressed by the quality of user support.
SETUP (5 of 5)
One question most of us ask ourselves before proceeding to set something as intimidating as a new router is 'will I be able to make it work for me?' The good news is that in this case the answer should be 'probably or most likely yes.' For a basic setup, you simply plug in the router, run the Cisco Connect app provided on a CD on a computer equipped with a Wi-Fi adapter and... you are connected.
Cisco Connect is a well-organized app that will help you add devices to the network - and once the router is app and running most devices will add themselves once you provide the password - allow for limited 'guest' access on a separate network, set parental controls, test your Internet connection speed and directly manage your router if you need to split your network for better performance, configure DNS and DHCP, advanced wireless settings, security, manage the attached disk if you have one, set access policies and so forth.
It gets as sophisticated as you need it to be and the good news is that both Cisco Connect and the router's Web interface are are well organized and are backed by a very well written and quite detailed manual. I will post the link to the downloadable PDF as a comment to this review.
My basic setup completed in a couple of minutes and it took a couple of minutes more to register individual devices: laptops, desktops, printers, portable gaming devices, home servers, Internet radio. Anything that has a wired connection (4 10/100/1000 Mpbs ports are available) does not need any setup. The more sophisticated tasks, such as reserving IP addresses for printers and a media hub and 'splitting' the traffic into 2 separately named networks mapping into the router's 2 frequency bands (2.4 MHz and 5 MHz) were equally easy and well covered by the manual.
It's important that Cisco Connect is installed on one of your computers if not on all because the first thing it does when you start it is checking the router's status and attempting to fix whatever problems if it detects any. To get 'the latest' I installed it from Cisco's site and I didn't experience any issues during or after the install completed.
PERFORMANCE AND RANGE (4 of 5)
Depending on your clients, the router can provide as much as 2 x 300 Gbps - this was a major improvement over the 802.11g router it's replacing. This is a lot considering that the best I am getting from my ISP is 15 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream but today's home networks have a lot of internal traffic if you use NAS devices, media servers or home servers that are set to run backups.
While the router supports 802.11 a/b/g/n the manual warns that best performance can be achieved when all clients support 802.11n and that one single 802.11a client can slow the entire network if present.
In practice I got consistent 150 Mbps on the 5 GHz band while in the same room at about 30 ft. from the router (except for a few minutes each day when the 5 GHz signal drops for no apparent reason - see the posted screenshots). With one floor in-between, 90 Mbps was possible but the 5 GHz band wasn't as reliable or I could get a steady stream of 54 Mbps, sometimes better on the 2.4 GHz band. With 2 floors in between (router in the basement and my computer on the second floor and at the other end of the house, some 70-80 ft. away) the 5 MHz band became practically unusable (I will post some inSSIDer shots) and the 2.4 GHz band would get me 6-24 Mbps, still okay for Web browsing. The computers on the second floor right above the router get a steady 50-70 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.
I would like to note that, while the router broadcasting on 2 bands does have its advantages the 5 GHz signal works best when you have line of sight to the router or one thin wall/floor in between. It's not as good at passing through walls as the 2.4 GHz signal. It is possible to maximize performance by using a combination of wired plus 2 segregated bands but some testing and good planning is needed.
RELIABILITY (4.5 of 5)
The E3200 has been remarkably stable so far if I don't consider the random signal loss on the 5 GHz frequency on the second floor. It's fair to state that, when the default settings are kept, the router will automatically switch between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and between the available channels on each band to maximize performance and minimize interference. Since I don't have neighbors, I can't say how the router would perform in a more crowded environment.
Due to a number of violent storms, we lost power for seconds at a time several times in the past few days. Whenever that happened, the router came back on its own and I was able to resume work without having to reestablish a VPN connection or the chat session on WebEx with a Cisco support rep.
EXTRA FEATURES (4.5 of 5)
The E3200 is chuck-full of advanced features including strong security and encryption and the ability to optimize it for gaming (not tested yet) and, of course, the most visible being the USB port through which you can share files off an attached disk with control over access level on the local network and over the Internet.
On my features wish list... I wish it was possible to actually control the signal strength because the 5 GHz band is clearly underpowered. Also, while it is possible to remotely reboot the router, it would have been nice if a physical 'off' switch was available.
WARRANTY AND SUPPORT (2 of 5)
There is a 1 year more or less standard limited warranty. The full terms are posted at Cisco's site so I'm not going to go into details. My experience with routers - and this is my 4th or 5th wireless - is that, if they work, they last forever.
The support... I can't say that I had a happy experience. Before I Googled for '5 GHz signal strength' I thought I'd ask a Cisco support person about it over a chat session. I also wanted to ask about the on and off loss of connection over the 5 GHz band. What followed was a long, sterile and at times absurd 58-minute chat session (Cisco did email me the time-stamped transcript) with an offshore person struggling with a script and asking me to perform meaningless activities instead of telling me that 'yes, the 5 GHz signal is weaker'. Eventually she did say that 'yes, the 5 GHz signal is weaker' but only after I asked the question several times. As for the occasional connection drop, I got the standard 'install the latest firmware update' even though she knew that I had the latest firmware version for the router (one of the first things she asked) and she knew that the router was set to automatically download and install firmware updates.
I believe that my chat was part of the initial 90-day live free support that Cisco provides. In addition, of course, there are posted FAQs and discussion boards. Cisco also offers some 'paid' support but they don't say whether it's coming from offshore underpaid workers or from technicians who can actually help solve problems. My view is that the manual is so well written and the quality of the router is so high, not much support should be needed.
MY RATING
The quality of human support and the over-hyping/marketing of the dual band capability (nice to have but not a quantum leap into super-high performance) are dragging down my rating into the 4 star territory. By the way, 4 stars means 'I like it' but not 'I love it'. Fact is, I almost love it because this is a very good product but... not perfect.
This may not be the best n-router out there - Cisco does sell a higher model for a few dollars more - but I suspect it's all the way there at the top. I can't see how you can go wrong with this one.
____________________________________________________
TIME CHECK: 4 MONTHS SINCE INSTALLATION
End of September: 4 months of nearly-flawless operation proved that the E3200 is stable and dependable and its operation comes close to 'zero maintenance'. I haven't rebooted the router in weeks and all is well.
--
>> Brush your teeth, it's the law!
Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router Overview
The Linksys E3200 offers superior wireless speed (up to 300 + 300 Mbps), optimal range, and simultaneous dual-band technology to create a powerful network designed for home entertainment. Simultaneous dual-band Wireless-N technology allows for smoother and faster HD/3D video streaming. A built-in USB port lets you add external storage and printers* to share files across your network. An enhanced MIMO antenna array offers superior range and reliability. Plus, included Cisco Connect software gets you set up in three easy steps and offers powerful tools for ongoing management of your network.
Want to learn more information about
Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router?
>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now
