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430 of 440 people found the following review helpful.
Fast router.. wish it was faster
By M. Eaton
I would say the E4200 router provides a solid connection, roughly 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 genuinely helps with the light pollution on the office desk.
262 of 277 humans found the following review helpful.
Great router with robust features, even though the 5GHz band signal and speed is erratic
By Jennifer Ray
(Review modified 06/20/11 to add details concerning firmware version 1.0.02 and USB printer support with the E4200 router. Please see the end of the review for that update.)
I networked my home long before wireless routers were even available (or affordable) for home users, using Ethernet back then and moving to wireless as soon as it was available for home use. Throughout the years, I’ve closely always applied Linksys routers, and the few times I’ve tried other brands, I was soon sorry and swapped back to Linksys. I won’t say I’ve always had perfective experiences with this manufacturer, but my overall experience with them has been very good sufficient 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, exceptionally by the dual-band feature and the potential speeds it boasts.
As it turns out, only one of the wireless adapters I already owned supported the 5 GHz band, and it was the internal NIC on one of my computers. In order to to the full or entire extent test the Linksys E4200, I purchased 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 5 GHz band. This allows a wireless adapter to seamlessly connect to whichever of those bands it can, but doesn’t help if you want to strength sure wireless gimmicks to connect using the 5 GHz band, which is potentially faster. Fortunately, you may manually name the two wireless bands with dissimilar SSIDs, and plainly connect your gadgets that help 5 GHz bands to the SSID for that band.
Before I progress, I must 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 items that might interfere with the wireless signal.
The living room is just down the hall from the den, and there are no doors in amongst the two rooms. I get a fantastic signal using the 5 GHz band when I am anyplace on the second floor, whether using my laptop’s internal 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 5 GHz band on the second floor. However, when I use the 5 GHz band with the same laptop and netbook and the same wireless adapters on the third 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 it is 2.4 GHz band, the signal is strong on each floor and in each room and the speed is stable rather than erratic. I find that the 2.4 GHz band connects my gimmicks with speeds on par with my older wireless routers – 65 Mbps to 130 Mbps, depending on which wireless adapter I use.
The configuration itself is very easy and users who run the setup disk to configure it will find themselves with a basic, largely secure network. There are a lot of things I don’t like regarding the Cisco Connect software that runs the setup, but I’ll get to that a bit later.
For more experienced users with more progressed needs, the modern configuration is where you’ll spend more of your time, if not all. This is where you may set further and added levels of security, name the two wireless networks and the guest network with dissimilar SSIDs, manage connected storage devices, and more.
I prefer to not rely on only WPA encryption for my wireless security. In addition, I utilize MAC address filtering, don’t broadcast my SSID, and I limit the number of DHCP connections to the number of gimmicks I need to use on my network. For those who don’t know, a MAC address is the distinguishable identifier for a network device. Every network device has one, and no two gimmicks use the same MAC address. I set the filtering to only grant widgets with a MAC address I’ve quintessentially permitted to connect. Even if an individual were to break the code on my wireless connection, they would also have to have a MAC address that is permitted on my network. On top of that, since I don’t broadcast my SSID, no one may see it, even if they are in range. You have to recognise the name of my SSID to manually configure it, or you ought to have access to the router to use the Wi-Fi Protected Setup button. You may also use the Easy Setup Key if you choose to construct one, but we’ll get to that a bit later.
I have a number of gadgets that I steadily connect to my network, a lot of wired, a good deal of wireless. All were easy to configure and connect. Some 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 information. These gadgets include: two TiVo Premieres with Wireless N adapters, TiVo Series 2 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 thru Ethernet, a wireless printer, a Windows Mobile 6.5 Smartphone with wireless, and an Ooma phone router connected with Ethernet.
The router allows you to connect a USB hard drive to it which may then be shared on your network using the management consolation for the router. You may portion folders publicly, or lock down access by creating user accounts for the shares. These folders may be accessed either through frequent networking (UNC paths or mapped network drives) or they may be accessed thru FTP. The router does function well inside my network as an FTP server, but as Comcast has blocked FTP ports from my Comcast modem, I can not access the FTP server from outside my own network.
However, I may access the administration consolation from outside my network if I enable the Remote Management feature, and using the DDNS feature, you may effortlessly access this from anywhere. I choose to leave this disabled, but did turn it on long sufficient to test it.
I must probably explain the DDNS feature as well. This feature communicates with one of two services (DYNDNS.org or TZO.com) and steadily updates your external IP address given to you by your ISP. As most internet service suppliers use dynamic IP addresses for residential accounts, your IP address could potentially alter each day. By registering with one of the two supported services and configuring your E4200 router to keep your IP address altered with those services, you have a static internet address you may 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 effortlessly employed that speed. This is outstanding when you are moving files amidst machines within your network, but won’t increase your internet speed, as most residential suppliers don’t have plans anyplace near that fast.
Although I am for the most part very pleased with the E4200 router, the area I have significant disappointment in is the Cisco Connect software. While it is a fantastic tool for easy configuration – in particular for novice users – it has limitations that prove discouraging and hindering for more experienced users. For one, if you want to use the Cisco Connect software, the password for the admin login ought to be the same as the password for the wireless network. I personally do NOT 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 unquestionably do not want any individual but me to have the admin password where they may alter settings.
Another issue I have with it is 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 provide and the Cisco Connect set up installs it with the software for further and added computers. Sounds innocent enough, but this USB flash drive may also be employed to connect new wireless gimmicks 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 may without apparent effort get into your network and even the administrator settings for your router. For me, this is a big security liability and I just don’t like it.
One feature I do actually like in the Cisco Connect software is the capacity to test your internet speed directly on the router. This is exceedingly handy when you are experiencing slowness with internet speeds and you want to quickly test the speed of the internet modem before the signal is disseminate out to the other gadgets on your network. This is a feature that has been a long time coming, and is very much appreciated. Where I am disappointed here is that the speed test feature is only available in the Cisco Connect software and not in the innovative configuration control panel. One other important thing to note, this speed test does not suffice if you are attempting to determine if an internet speed problem is being caused by your router. For that, you still need to disconnect the router from your modem and connect your computer directly to your internet modem to test speed.
At the time I wrote this review, Amazon’s page for the E4200 router states that it will have the capacity to connect a USB printer and share it on your network sometime in the summer of 2011. I called Cisco-Linksys support to find out if there was an ETA on this feature. According to Cisco-Linksys support, this feature is not planned for this router. So, this is a big discrepancy and it is anybody’s guess which info is correct. It is possible that Amazon made a mistake, but it is evenly possible that I spoke with an lacking in knowledge support agent. Also, the fact that he then tried to trade me on one of their print server appliances makes one wonder if he would have admitted it even if he’d known in regards to the feature. If you are looking for a device that will function as a print server for your USB printer, this is not yet the device, even though it is one to watch. I wouldn’t base your buy on the possibleness of that feature, though.
This is a in truth good router with a lot of great features. Having long employed Linksys networking equipment, I recognise it to be a trustable name with long-lived hardware. If you are looking for the speeds the 5 GHz band may offer, be conscious that this router is somewhat erratic with signal and speed when using the 5 GHz band, even with a dual-band adapter made by Cisco-Linksys. The 2.4 GHz band has proved very reliable, though.
EDITED: After I posted this review, I launched Cisco Connect software again and it notified me there was a firmware update. I let it install the new firmware on the router and found that it enabled assorted new features, which I have not yet tested. From the Release notes for firmware version 1.0.02 (build 13):
- Added aid of USB printer connected to the router’s USB port, so that a user may send a print occupation to the printer by way of the local area network.
** This feature requires Cisco connect software v1.4 or later **
- Added help of Native IPv6 and 6rd tunnel Internet connections
- Added support of bridge mode
- Prevented gimmicks on the guest network to access any private IP address (RFC 1918)
- Updated wireless driver to improve interoperability
So, it looks like the Cisco-Linksys help agent was mistaken and Amazon was rectify concerning the E4200 router’s capacity to act as a print server for a USB printer. I will test this soon and report back.
I will say I was very pleased to see that the Cisco Connect software not only mechanically checks for firmware updates, but downloads and installs them for you. It also gave me the option to delay that install if I had wished.
UPDATED 06/20/11: I have two printers at home, an Epson R200 and an Lexmark X4850. Using the instructions on page 15 of the new user guide for the E4200 router, I have not been competent to connect either of these printers to the router thru USB. The instructions say to launch the Cisco Connect software and then use the Add Printer command, selecting the option for USB printer. Cisco Connect reports that each of these printers is unsupported. I then went to the Cisco-Linksys website to find precisely what printers are supported and could find no such data in the help section or the forum. This prompted me to engage in a help session with Cisco-Linksys using their Live Chat – huge mistake. Deepak insisted over and over again that this functionality does not subsist on the E4200 router and refused to even look at the user guide on the Cisco-Linksys website, altho I provided him the precise page number he could find these instructions on. He told me to call the support line by phone. Raine was a little better, but not by much. While she didn’t come out and say that feature doesn’t exist, she did begin running me through a list of questions that have not one thing to do with what USB printers are supported on the router (what ISP do I use, what wireless appliances are in my network, etc.) I ultimately asked to be escalated to someone who could provide the selective information I’m asking for (a list of supported printers), and she escalated me to a supervisor, Marie, who then connected me with Al (Senior Technician) who ultimately stated that the firmware version 1.0.02 only introduces USB printer aid for the E3200 router, but NOT for the E4200 router, and that the release notes for this firmware version that state other than as supposed or expected are wrong. He likewise confirmed there is not a list of supported printers even for the E3200 router. If you are looking for a router that has the capacity to add a USB printer, the E4200 is not yet an option for you.
123 of 131 persons found the following review helpful.
Best out there!!
By Mark Stran
After having owned numerous single band routers, it was time to upgrade to a dual band model.
I introductory tried the Netgear 3700. After using it for with regards to a week, I returned it because of poor transmission speeds and messy firmware.
Thankfully that week, the E4200 was released. As with other linksys routers, installation was a breeze. I use more than 15 networked items in my house. Using the included software to do the setup is very simple and straight-forward. Linksys actually got it right with this model.
This router is super fast equated to the netgear 3700. The NAS input for a USB storage widgets is in regards to 10 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 may pick up signal on my laptop two houses over. It is nice when you are at a neighbors house and are capable to use your own internet connection at a decent signal strength.
The 5gz band is not rather as strong but I was still capable to pick it up one house over. For me, as long as I may sit poolside in the far back percentage of my yard and get a strong signal, that is all that matters.
I commend this router to anybody who is looking to get the most up to date technology in a finelooking package.
Only negative for me is the price point. I think we all have to suffer because of Cisco’s huge margin requirements..
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