Cisco-Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
by Linksys
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
Customer Review: Another Winner (Updated)
Summary: 5 Stars
Linksys did a great job with this product. It is sleek and stylish, while still providing high levels of connectivity within my three story home. I have it installed near the ceiling of my basement.
I am using the 5ghZ "N" band for my PS3 only at this time. The PS3 is connected via ethernet to the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. The rest of my computers (PCs, iPhone, and Macs) use the 2.4 ghZ "B-G Mixed" band.
Both networks share the same DHCP pool, but have different SSIDs and passphrases (a Linksys recommendation).
The first thing I did was update the firmware. I have not experienced any dropouts or heat issues.
UPDATE: After a few weeks of use and after adding more wireless devices to my network, I have more to say...and its not so rosy. Both my Lenovo T61 and Apple Macbook Pro have issues when I tried setting the 2.4ghz network to "Mixed" (B, G, and N). When one computer is working fine, the other seems to have issues connecting to the network, usually the T61. I had security set to WPA 2 Tkip or AES (since this router allows this "either or" setting). I have since changed WPA TKIP based ona recommendation I found on the Linksys forums. It has only marginally improved things.
The bizarre part about this is the T61. It works fine over the 5GHz N setup, giving me 130Mbps. On 2.4 ghz I had to switch to "B-G Mixed and enable SSID broadcasting to get a connection initially. After that I could re-disable SSID broadcasting.
So, for my house I have the following: PS3 on 5Ghz N. No connectivity issues with the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. 100% uptime.
I also have an iPhone ("B/G" speeds), Appletv (Supports B/G/N), Macbook Pro (Airport "G" card), Buffalo Wireless Extender ("G"), and PowerMac (Airport "B" card). Since my iTunes library is on the Macbook Pro, I had to run the appletv over my 2.4 ghz network for the Appletv to see it. I was hoping that since both networks share the same address pool, that devices on the 2.4ghz network could see those on the 5Ghz N network. I expected bridging between the two wireless bands because they are in the same device. Maybe I am doing something wrong. If so, please comment on your setup.
Customer Review: This is the router to own in Early to Mid 2010
Summary: 5 Stars
After returning the Linksys by Cisco WRT320N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router, I opted to get this router because it offers dual simultaneous N bands and more bandwidth.
I have to say that I'm impressed. After I put in a wireless N card on my laptop I connected at 300Mbps....WHOA! That's almost 6x more than my old Linksys Wireless G. I put this router in exactly the same place as my Wireless G used to be and I get better signal strenght with this router. With my Wireless G, I sometimes would get just marginal signal strenght but with this router I always get full bars wherever I am.
I do notice that if I get too far from the router, my bandwidth drops to about 200Mbps but still get full strenght.
I read that there were some issues with these routers when they first came out; that they'd overheat, drop connections, or suffered from poor signal strenght.
I got a new new router from Amazon - firmware 2.0 and it runs like a champ.
My recommendation is that if you haven't gone to to Wireless N yet, DO IT! I'm in hog heaven.
PROS OF THIS ROUTER:
-Wireless N ----- fast fast 300Mbps for me, 144Mbps if I'm far far from the router
-WPA2 Personal and Enterprise so its more secure.
-Long Range (much longer than my G)
-Storage device, I plugged in a hard drive and I can see it on the network
-GIGABIT router -- this is huge if you have a wired network throughout your house like I do.
-More home friendly design.
-It has all the usual stuff (MAC filters, access controls, security, and a myriad of settings but it is the standard Cisco Linksys web interface. Nothing to write home about from a usability standpoint but it works and I appreciate that)
CONS:
-Built in antenna can't be positioned (that said, it hasn't been a problem for me)
-I'm used to linksys routers and switches stacking neatly and this is a departure from that approach. This is decidedly more homefriendly but not as practical for those of us who have multiple devices.
Overall, 5 stars!! I'm very happy with this router.
Customer Review: WTR 610N is one of the best router on the market
Summary: 5 Stars
I was on the market for a new router, because my Netgear wireless G router was having problem (loss connection), plus i was in the market for a wireless N router that has good range, gigabit, good speed, dualband, and usb storage. I was look at D-Link, Netgear 3700 but the price wasn't good, over $[...] without tax and shipping, then i saw Linksys WRT610n for $[...] for a refub one, that's a steal because normally it cost [...]. with 90 days warranty (a new one has 1yr warranty). the setup was pretty much pop in the cd and go, and follow the on screen instructions (it was my first time) very user friendly.
Range- it works over 100feet (in front of my house) with great connection, then i went across a street in front of my neighbor house (about 150feet , and it still works,with good connection, i said wtf, omg! this router has the best range. because my old netgear only works up to 50feet.
Gigabit- to test it out i did a speed test on speakeasy.net
Speed test:i went on speakeasy.net for the speedtest, download avg speed 15800kbps and upload avg speed 960kbps. when i unplugged the gigabit i went wireless the speed test: download avg speed 14500kbps and upload avg speed 920kbps. which was a little faster but not by much.
Dualband- Simultaneously runs on G and N, wireless G is on the 2.4gz and wireless N is on the 5gz, so it is superfast with no lagging on the N. even though my main laptop is a HP DV4 with no wireless N. the speed was pretty quick in term of Youtube streaming.
USB: storage is pretty much plug in the back of the router,and go through the instruction on the internet(google search it) but it was a little confusing because this was my first time installing a router.
Warranty: the only downside for this router is the 90 day warranty because it's a refub one. a brand new WRT610N has 1yr warranty.
All in all, this router is the best one in the market, according to its value, range, usb storage, performance, and user friendly. This is the best router, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Test it yourself and you will know what i'm talking about. Hope my review helps. thank you for reading. =)
Customer Review: Top Notch
Summary: 5 Stars
This router has been pretty controversial in different reviews so I'll try and be as detailed as possible.
First I'll talk about my experience with Amazon. The shipping was on time, in fact a day or two early and with the free super save shipping it was a real steal. The router was packed in its original Linksys box and was padded with bubble wrap to make sure the package would arrive safe and undamaged.
The router looks very sleek and nice and since it doesn't have any ugly antennas.
Setup was pretty complicated at first since it was my first time setting up and dealing with a wireless router. I think what complicated it more was the setup CD that came with the router. When I went about setting up the wireless network manually it was much easier. I used the WEP encryption for the network because the WPA encryption caused my connection to drop out all the time. I figured that wireless encryption is pretty secure and with LELA (which comes on a separate CD in the package) I can tell if there are/were any unwanted people trying to get on the network. I had issues installing LELA so I ended up downloading it from the Linksys website (a link can be found in the forums) and it works just fine.
The router works well for very long periods of time, it doesn't overheat. I reset it only once ever since I got it and I've had it for a couple of months now. My laptop is a few years old so I'm using wireless-G. It streams very well on the 2.4 ghz band from my laptop to my PS3, so I can only imagine the speed if I was on the 5 ghz band and using wireless-N.
I tried using the UPnP server built in on the router so I could create a media server and stream from a hard disk plugged in to the USB port on the router to my PS3 directly and it worked well. Setting up the media storage on the router wasn't easy and can be annoying.
I've worked with a lot of LAN networks before so wireless was very new to me and I was able to set up my network with a password, set up file sharing and transfers between laptops in my home, stream movies and files to my PS3 and use internet.
The Linksys forums are very helpful, I hope this review was helpful too.
Customer Review: Works great--but upgrade the firmware
Summary: 5 Stars
I got the Linksys WRT610N a couple days ago as an upgrade to an old Linksys Wireless G router. The old router worked fine for years but I wanted something faster because I've started doing backups of large files over a small (two computer# wireless home network.
Setup was a total breeze--I just followed the directions on the included installation disk and there were no snags. Once I got it installed and enabled the secured wireless network, it seemed to work fine. I did notice, though, that it was connecting over wireless at about 65 mbps, which is a little slower than one would ideally hope for with Wireless N. However, it was still okay and was a major improvement over the approximately 20-30 mbps I got with the old Wireless G router.
I then downloaded the latest firmware version from Linksys' website and flashed the rom. Since the router worked fine out of the box, I decided to do this for no particular reason other than just ordinary prudence.
However, after the firmware upgrade, I now routinely get a speedy wireless connection of at least 200 mbps and, at times, have even gotten the 300 mbps theoretical max for wireless N. Rather impressive, I think. So my recommendation: this is a great router, but if you want to get the most out of it, it seems you need to upgrade to the latest firmware.
A couple of other thoughts. First, I live in a rather small apartment and the distance over which I'm using wireless is only about 50 feet--from my living room to the master bedroom. So I have no insight one way or the other as to how this router will work in bigger houses over longer distances.
Second, the WRT610N's configuration screen by default assumes that the 2.5 GHz band will be used for transmitting computer data and the 5 GH band #which is presumably spreedier and less traffic-clogged# will be used for video/media streaming. But don't let that throw you--you can use either band for whatever you want. In my case, I don't do any video/media streaming, so I set up the computer on the 5 GHz band and have never used the 2.5 GHz band for anything.