Cisco-Linksys E4200 Dual-Band Wireless-N Price Review

<! img.CiscoIcon { width:45px; height:45px; } div.CiscoCol1 { float:left; width:80px; text align:center; padding bottom:20px; } div.CiscoCol2 { margin left:80px; } h5.CiscoH5 { margin:0px; font size:1em; } table.Cisco { border collapse:collapse; 1border:1px hard black; cellpadding:4px; cellspacing:0; margin:0; } table.Cisco tr{ background color:#ffffff; text align:center } .CiscoHeader { text align:center; background color:#888888; color:#ffffff; font weight:bold; } .CiscoHeaderBorder { text align:center; background color:#888888; color:#ffffff; font weight:bold; border bottom:1px hard #666666; border right:1px hard #666666; height:3em; } .CiscoColumn { text align:center; background color:#666666; color:#ffffff; } img.CiscoProduct { width:154px; height:135px; border:0; } img.CiscoProduct2 { width:154px; height:36px; border:0; } table.Cisco td { background color:#ffffff; border:1px hard #cccccc; } .CiscoYes { color:#009900; font weight:bold; } > The Linksys E4200 offers maximum speed (up to 300 + 450 Mbps), best range, and concurrent dual band technology, plus a next generation industrial design
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344 of 351 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of five stars Fast router.. wish it was faster, May 4, 2011
By M. Eaton (Southern California) See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: Cisco Linksys E4200 Dual Band Wireless N Router (Electronics) I could say the E4200 router gives a hard connection, about the same throughput performance as the NETGEAR N750 450 Mbps Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4000 (another 450 Mbps router), easy setup with Cisco Connect’, and the lack of LED lights in the front of the router really helps with the light pollution on the office desk.

Pros:
Supports three data stream (450 Mbps) on the five GHz band. The tested throughput on the five GHz band was 129 Mbps up and 148 Mbps down (laptop with Intel 6300 wifi card to a server with a wired connection). About 15 faster then my old WNDR3700 router, but I hoped for a 50 increase (300 Mbps > 450 Mbps).
Easy to setup with the Cisco Connect’ application. The application guides you in setting up the wireless security, parental control, and guest network.
No issues connecting to the router with my PS3, Windows Home Server, Vulkano, and iPad

Con:
Only two data stream (300 Mbps) on the 2.4 GHz band. The tested throughput on the 2.4 GHz band was 60 Mbps up and 70 Mbps down
No extra features like WDS repeating/bridge
WNDR4000 has better parental control features

Summary:
Having the E4200 and WNDR4000, the E4200 has about the same throughput performance as the WNDR4000 (134 Mbps up and 140 Mbps down on the five GHz band). The difference between the two comes down to features. The E4200 has a great setup utility that will let any newbie to configure the router with ease. The WNDR4000 gives more useful features like WDS repeating and traffic meter. As for the range of the router, I really can not comment on it caused by living in a small apartment.

Some extra background info:
One thing that I feel is missing in the router comparison table’ is the processor speed. The CPU speed gives you an idea about the performance of the router. So here is what I found on the internet.
E1200 300 MHz CPU with 32MB RAM and 4MB Flash
E1500 300 MHz CPU with 32MB RAM and 8MB Flash
E2500 300 MHz CPU with 64MB RAM and 8MB Flash
E3000 480 MHz CPU with 64MB RAM and 8MB Flash
E4200 480 MHz CPU with 64MB RAM and 16MB Flash

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180 of 188 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of five stars Great router with robust features, though the 5GHz band signal and speed is erratic, June 15, 2011
By Jennifer Ray (Nashville, TN United States) See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Cisco Linksys E4200 Dual Band Wireless N Router (Electronics)
Buyer review from the Vine™ Program () (Review updated 06/20/11 to add details about firmware variant 1.0.02 and USB printer support with the E4200 router. See the end of the review for that update.)

I networked my home long before wireless routers were available (or affordable) for home users, using Ethernet back then and moving to wireless once it was available for home use. During the years, I have nearly generally used Linksys routers, and the not many times I have tried other brands, I was soon sorry and switched back to Linksys. I will not say I have generally had perfect experiences with this maker, but my in general experience with them was good enough to position Linksys as a name I trust.

When I saw the feature set for the new Cisco Linksys E4200 router, I was more than intrigued, especially by the dual band feature and the possible speeds it boasts.

As it turns out, only one of the wireless adapters I already owned supported the five GHz band, and it was the interior NIC on one of my computers. To completely test the Linksys E4200, I bought one Cisco Linksys AE1000 High Performance Wireless N Adapter and connected it to each of my computers to test it with the new router.

The dual band feature by default uses the same SSID for both the 2.4 GHz band and the five GHz band. This lets a wireless adapter to seamlessly connect to whichever of those bands it can, but does not help if you want to push certain wireless devices to connect using the five GHz band, which is possibly faster. Luckily, you may be able to manually name the two wireless bands with different SSIDs, and simply connect your devices that support five GHz bands to the SSID for that band.

Before I progress, I should state that I live in a three story townhouse, and I placed the router as centrally as possible, in the den on the second floor. I use the den as my office, and I have a good spot for wireless routers that has no reflective surfaces near it, nor any other things that may get in the way with the wireless signal.

The living room is just down the hall from the den, and there aren’t doors in between the two rooms. I get a great signal using the five GHz band when I’m anywhere on the second floor, if using my laptop’s interior wireless adapter or the AE1000 USB adapter that I bought. I connected the AE1000 on my desktop PC, my laptop, and my netbook and each enjoys speeds of 300 Mbps when using the five GHz band on the second floor. But, when I use the five GHz band with the same laptop and netbook and the same wireless adapters on the 3rd floor, the signal is weak and the speeds jump wildly from 13.5 Mbps to 300 Mbps, with the 300 Mbps being a rarity upstairs.

Conversely, when I connect to the E4200 router using its 2.4 GHz band, the signal is strong on every floor and in every room and the speed is stable rather than erratic. I find that the 2.4 GHz band connects my devices with speeds on par with my older wireless routers 65 Mbps to 130 Mbps, based on which wireless adapter I use.

The configuration itself is easy and users who run the setup disk to configure it’ll find themselves with a basic, usually secure network. There are many things I do not like about the Cisco Connect software that runs the setup, but I will get to that a bit afterward.

For more experienced users with more advanced needs, the advanced configuration is where you will use up more of your time, if not all. This is where you may be able to set extra levels of security, name the two wireless networks and the guest network with different SSIDs, manage connected storage devices, and more.

I favor to not rely on only WPA encryption for my wireless security. Also, I employ MAC address filtering, do not broadcast my SSID, and I bound the number of DHCP connections to the number of devices I have to use on my network. For those who do not know, a MAC address is the distinctive identifier for a network device. Every network device has one, and no two devices use the same MAC address. I set the filtering to only let devices with a MAC address I have exactly allowed to connect. If someone were to break the code on my wireless connection, they could have to have a MAC address that’s allowed on my network. Over that, since I do not broadcast my SSID, nobody can see it, if they’re in range. You must know the name of my SSID to manually configure it, or you have to can access the router to use the Wi Fi Protected Setup button. You may also use the Easy Setup Key if you decide to create one, but we will get to that a bit afterward.

I have some devices that I on a regular basis connect to my network, many wired, many wireless. All were easy to configure and connect. Many I connected using the Wi Fi Protected Setup button, others using the Easy Setup Key, and still others I connected by manually entering the wireless network info. These devices include: two TiVo Premieres with Wireless N adapters, TiVo Series two with a Wireless G adapter, desktop PC with an Ethernet port and a wireless NIC, a laptop computer also with both Ethernet and wireless, a netbook PC also with both Ethernet and wireless, a NAS device connected via Ethernet, a wireless printer, a Windows Mobile 6.5 Smartphone with wireless, and an Ooma phone router connected with Ethernet.

The router lets you to connect a USB hard drive to it which can then be shared on your network using the management console for the router. You may be able to share folders publicly, or lock down access by creating user accounts for the shares. These folders may be accessed either through standard networking (UNC paths or mapped network drives) or they may be accessed via FTP. The router does function well inside my network as an FTP server, but as Comcast blocked FTP ports from my Comcast modem, I can not access the FTP server from outside my own network.
However, I can access the governance console from outside my network if I enable the Remote Management feature, and using the DDNS feature, you may be able to easily access this from anywhere. I decide to leave this disabled, but did turn it on long enough to test it.

I should most likely explain the DDNS feature also. This feature communicates with one of two services (DYNDNSthe or TZO.Com) and on a regular basis updates your external IP address given to you by your ISP. As most internet service providers use dynamic IP addresses for residential accounts, your IP address could possibly change each day. By registering with one of the two supported services and configuring your E4200 router to keep your IP address updated with those services, you have a static internet address you may be able to use to access your router’s Remote Management feature, or FTP server (should your ISP not block those ports) when away from your home. This feature works beautifully.

The router has four Ethernet ports on the back, each of which is a Gigabit port. All of the NICs with the Gigabit capability I connected to it easily used that speed. This is great when you’re moving files between machines inside your network, but will not increase your internet speed, as most residential providers do not have plans anywhere near that fast.

Although I’m usually happy with the E4200 router, the area I have significant disappointment in is the Cisco Connect software. While it’s a great tool for easy configuration particularly for novice users it has restrictions that prove frustrating for more experienced users. For one, if you want to use the Cisco Connect software, the password for the admin login must be the same as the password for the wireless network. I personally don’t want these two passwords to be the same. I may not have an issue giving a friend the password to connect to my network, but I certainly don’t want anybody but me to have the admin password where they may change settings.

Another issue I have with it’s that you can not install the Cisco Connect software on other PCs and connect it to your router unless you make an Easy Setup Key. The Easy Setup Key is a USB flash drive which you supply and the Cisco Connect setup installs it with the software for extra computers. Sounds innocent enough, but this USB flash drive may also be used to connect new wireless devices to your wireless network. Not only that, but it stores the admin password for the router in the key so that anybody who gets their hands on this flash drive can get into your network and the administrator settings for your router. For me, this is a big security liability and I just do not like it.

One feature I do really like in the Cisco Connect software is the capability to test your internet speed directly on the router. This is very useful when you’re experiencing slowness with internet speeds and you want to swiftly test the speed of the internet modem before the signal is spread out to the other devices on your network. This is a feature that was a long time coming, and is much appreciated. Where I’m disappointed here is that the speed test feature is only available in the Cisco Connect software and not in the advanced configuration control panel. One other vital thing be aware of, this speed test doesn’t suffice if you’re trying to find out if an internet speed problem is being caused by your router. For that, you still have to disconnect the router from your modem and connect your computer straight to your internet modem to test speed.

At the time I wrote this review, Amazon’s page for the E4200 router states that it’ll have the capability to connect a USB printer and share it on your network sometime in the summer of 2011. I called Cisco Linksys support to learn if there was an ETA on this feature. As indicated by Cisco Linksys support, this feature isn’t planned for. Read more ›

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108 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Best out there!!, May 1, 2011
By Mark Stran “Marked and Stranded” (Boston, MA) See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: Cisco Linksys E4200 Dual Band Wireless N Router (Electronics) After having owned many single band routers, it was time to upgrade to a dual band model.

I 1st tried the Netgear 3700. After using it for about a week, I returned it because of poor transmission speeds and messy firmware.
Thankfully that week, the E4200 has been released. As with other linksys routers, installation was a breeze. I use more than 15 networked things in my house. Using the included software to do the setup is simple and straight forward. Linksys really got it right with this model.
This router is super fast in comparison to the netgear 3700. The NAS input for a USB storage devices is about ten times as fast and the 5ghz band works better in my house on the E4200 than on the 3700.
Range on the 2.4ghz band is great. I can pick up signal on my laptop two houses over. It’s nice when you’re at a neighbors house and are able to use your internet connection at a decent signal strength.
The 5gz band isn’t quite as strong but I was still able to pick it up one house over. For me, as long as I can sit poolside in the far back part of my yard and get a strong signal, that’s all that matters.
I recommend this router to anybody who is wanting to get the most up to date technology in a beautiful package.

Only negative for me is the price point. I think we all have to suffer because of Cisco’s big margin prerequisites..

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