Ben's Bargains

[destiny168]

Cisco Linksys E3000 (Linksys WRT610) User Review



The Cisco Linksys E3000 Wireless-N Simultaneous Dual Band Router is Linksys’s best home consumer router out in the market as of April 2010. It is essentially a “re-branded” Cisco Linksys WRT610 Wireless-N Simultaneous Dual Band Router so it shares the same exact same hardware, features, and performance. The only difference is that the “E” series models now include the new Cisco Connect Software which assists with the networking configuration/admin settings for consumers who may not have all the technical knowledge necessary to set up or configure a home network.

Important Features:
• Broadcom 4718 @ 480 MHz
• Cisco Connect Software
• 4 x Gigabit Ethernet Ports 10/100/1000
• 6 Internal Antennas
• Dual Band 2.4 GHz B, G, N and 5 GHz A, N (Simultaneous Dual Band with SSID for each) with up to 300Mbps transfer rate per Band.
• USB 2.0 for Network Attached Storage connection
• Guest Network Connection Feature (Guest SSID, can only be configured using Cisco Connect Software)
• Supports 3rd Party Firmware
• 1 year limited warranty

The consumer must choose to use the Cisco Connect software or the Linksys web interface – they both cannot be used to configure the router at the same time and once you pick one you cannot go back to the other. Also the Guest Network connection feature allows visitors to connect to the Linksys E3000 router using a separate SSID but will not allow users on the guest network to access devices on the other two SSIDs. (I recommend disabling this feature unless you want to share your internet connection with your neighbors).

Home Test Results: I have both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz connections working simultaneously in a 1500 sqf

Last edited by destiny168 on Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:36 am; edited 1 time in total

[dave_c]

Gigabit ethernet is not needed for streaming HD, right now most HD streams at about 30Mb/s or less, some up to 50Mb/s contrasted with 100Mb/s ethernet.

... though with wired ethernet you actually get close to that, unlike wifi or especially encrypted wifi which falls far shorter of the theoretical max throughput quite often.

On the other hand, someday HD will be higher res than it is now, will then require more throughput too, but it's doubtful the bandwidth requirements will increase much within the lifespan of a router since BD is still a relatively young tech still being adopted by consumers and the media itself constrains how much data it can hold.

[destiny168]