Linksys E4200 Review
PrintWe weren’t impressed with the last Linksys-branded router that passed through Maximum Lab North. The dual-band Linksys E3000 (in reality, a rebadged Linksys WRT610N) delivered humdrum performance and lacked a number of important features we expect to find in a high-end router. The E4200 fares better, but we’re still scratching our heads over some of Linksys’s decisions.
The first thing you’ll notice about the E4200 is its minimalist industrial design. Plug in its inline power supply (no wall wart!) and you’ll find that it’s almost devoid of front-panel idiot lights: There are no LEDs to indicate an Internet connection, which of its radios are operating, or even which of its ports are in use. The only thing that glows on the front panel is Cisco’s logo. There are port-activity LEDs on the back of the router, but even these can be turned off via the router’s web interface.
Cisco’s Linksys E4200 looks pretty, but we value function over form.
We like that. In fact, we liked the entire low-profile design—at least until we tried to plug in our Ethernet cables. That’s when we discovered that the top of the router’s housing blocked the vinyl hoods covering our cables’ RJ45 connectors. We had no problem fitting cables outfitted with bare connectors, but that’s pretty lame. Also lame: providing a USB port that doesn’t deliver enough power to spin up a 2.5-inch USB hard drive (we tested it with a 500GB Verbatim Clon drive). Oh well, at least the router supports NTFS drives (the E3000 didn’t).
Linksys claims the E4200 is capable of a “maximum speed up to 300 + 450 Mb/s.” Translation: The E4200 supports two spatial streams (with 150Mb/s of bandwidth each) on its 2.4GHz radio, and three spatial streams (also with 150Mb/s of bandwidth each) on its 5GHz radio. But as we found with the E3000, the E4200 comes from the factory with both radios broadcasting the very same SSID. And while Cisco has made a number of important improvements to its Cisco Connect software (which can turn any USB thumb drive into a wireless client configuration tool), the utility still doesn’t inform you which radio it’s connecting the client to. Unlike the E3000, however, you can easily access the E4200’s web interface and change the SSIDs, as well as other critical aspects of the router’s configuration.
In addition to assigning discrete SSIDs to each radio, we also enabled channel bonding on the 2.4GHz radio (an admittedly neighbor-unfriendly move, but we wanted to see what it was capable of; besides, we don’t have any neighbors). Channel bonding on the 5GHz radio was enabled at the factory.
We used Trendnet’s new TEW-684UB wireless client adapter to benchmark both the Linksys and Netgear routers. This is the first USB adapter to feature three transmit and three receive antennas. Without that third antenna, the client can receive only two spatial streams. As you can see from our benchmark charts, the E4200 trounced Netgear’s WNDR4000 on both the 2.4- and 5GHz bands at almost every test location. Indeed, the router delivered the fastest performance at 5GHz of any router we’ve tested.
So why aren’t we awarding the E4200 a higher score? Three reasons: We shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to enable the router to perform at its best, the router should provide enough power to its USB port to support any 2.5-inch hard drive, and we shouldn’t be limited to using hoodless Ethernet cables.
$160 (street), www.cisco.com
Editor's Note, August 8, 2011: Cisco released a firmware update that added IPv6 and support for USB printers after we finished testing this router. The spec chart has been updated to reflect this information, but it doesn't impact our numerical verdict.
Linksys E4200
MEANINGFUL CONNECTION
Strong performance on both frequency bands; in-line PSU; easy installation for novices.
MINDLESS HOOK-UP
Novices won’t get great performance; underpowered USB port.
7
SPECS
| Linksys E4200 | |
|---|---|
| Radio Frequencies | Concurrent dual-band: 2.4- and 5GHz |
| Transmit/Receive Antennas | 3 x 3 (note: delivers three spatial streams on the 5GHz radio only) |
| Guest Network | Yes, but on the 2.4GHz radio only |
| IPv6 Support | Yes |
| DLNA-compliant Media Server | No (UPnP only) |
| USB Ports | One (for sharing storage or a printer) |
| NTFS Drive Support | Yes |
| WDS Bridge/Repeater Support | No |
Benchmarks
| Linksys E4200 | Netgear WNDR4000 | Netgear WNDR3700 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4GHz Band | |||
| Bedroom 1, 10 feet (Mb/s) | 113 | 85.3 | 143 |
| Kitchen, 20 feet (Mb/s) | 117 | 89.9 | 135 |
| Patio, 38 feet (Mb/s) | 108 | 53.8 | 39.6 |
| Bedroom 2, 60 feet (Mb/s) | 84.2 | 39.5 | 41.5 |
| Home Theater, 35 feet (Mb/s) | 64.5 | 25.5 | 35.4 |
| Outdoors, 85 feet (Mb/s) | 24.9 | 4.6 | 3.2 |
| 5GHz Band | |||
| Bedroom 1, 10 feet (Mb/s) | 152 | 108 | 154 |
| Kitchen, 20 feet (Mb/s) | 126 | 83.4 | 100 |
| Patio, 38 feet (Mb/s) | 90.8 | 60.5 | 51.8 |
| Bedroom 2, 60 feet (Mb/s) | 54.4 | 49.5 | 37.4 |
| Home Theater, 35 feet (Mb/s) | 26.7 | 6.3 | 17.6 |
| Outdoors, 85 feet (Mb/s) | 3.2 | N/C | N/C |
TCP throughput measured using JPerf. N/C indicates no connection at that location. Additional benchmarking methodology at bit.ly/16w27O.
More like this
15
Comments
roma64
February 22, 2012 at 8:58am
I did buy 3 E4200 routers and had only problems with it. It kept dropping connection on my Cable Broadband and tested it on a DSL and still same issue.Sorry but I cannot recommend the E4200 to anyone due to the following reason:
1 - Dropping Connection
2 - Poor Support.
3 - Not wall mountable
4 - I agree with MrMick. The router should come configured to use its full potentials and feature so that others, that are not router savy, don't have to go through hoops just to get the router to work as it should.Unfortunately, I am moving away from any Linksys product not because of the E4200 but because of the Lack or poor support.
I am giving the same recommendation as Danthrax66 did, get a DD-WRT supported Router.
kywolf
December 06, 2011 at 2:04pm
Kind of makes your "champeen" look bad. You know what else makes you look bad...you giving this a 7 when it out performs a router you gave a 9!
I do feel very confident that, after reading this, I purchased the better router (which I just received yesterday). That's what we're looking for here, right? You do, after all, write for Maximum PC. Were you afraid that your 40-80 year old demographic would send you hate mail if you didn't knock off a couple points since you had to make a few changes to the configuration?
I agree with kidcreole99. What router comes out of the box perfectly configured? Even though I had no issues with my RJ45 connectors, I can see this being a design flaw if you had problems. I suppose the same applied to the powered-USB (or lack thereof).
Either you rated the WNDR3700 too high or you rated the E4200 too low. Either way, I think it's time to crown a new "champeen."
fatspirit
November 27, 2011 at 9:56am
Please update specs due to latest update:
Last Release Date: Sept 28, 2011
Last Firmware version: 1.0.03 (build 14)- Added supports of Native IPv6 over PPPoE Internet connection when only keep
alive option is selected.
- Added supports of Native IPv6 on guest network if there are more than two
available IPv6 subnets
- Added supports of Native IPv6 on Parental Control
- Added supports of 3TB Hard drive with NTFS and HFS+ format
- Improved firmware upgrade stability
- Improved IPv6 WAN performance
- Fixed media server unstable issue
- Fixed Cisco LED flashing issue
- Fixed some minor bugs
- DLNA certified
- UPnP certified
- This build is certified with the IPv6 Ready Logo Phase-2 (Gold).http://homedownloads.cisco.com/downloads/433/830/E4200_FirmwareReleaseNote09282011.txt
LovTrain
October 19, 2011 at 9:57am
Can the Guest Access be enabled/setup without the use of the cisco software?
Will this router allow me to setup a wireless access with a 24hr window for mobile devices like an Android phone or iPod?I hate installing bloatware on my computers, I am looking for upgrade to my Linksys WRT600N that has "Guest Access" feature without having to install some type of software on my cmputers.
misterbee
September 03, 2011 at 7:44pm
Michael, if one had NO interest in using a USB drive with the router, and didn't mind snipping off the hoods of the ethernet cables, and (thanks to you) knew to change a few settings in the configuration, would you say the E4200 router was the best available? I really just want the best speed - both wireless and wired - and stability (as in maintaining a connection). I currently use a WNDR37AV that I'm satisfied with, but I'm giving it to the kids. So I have a free pass to buy the best available router for myself to replace it, if there is something better. Price is not really a concern. Thank you very much.
JakeJackson
August 26, 2011 at 12:02am
I bought this Cisco POS less than a month ago. Figured if it's Cisco it'll be okay. Live and learn! Right out of the box, it was obvious that the range was much worse than the last router. Now it's stopped working at all, and of course it's impossible to contact Cisco. Happy to take your money, but they won't stand behind anything. Cisco, I will never, ever spend another dime on anything with your name on it. Do you even realize that people can't afford to keep buying crap that doesn't work? Times are tough. People don't have money to throw away, you idiots.
fallout330
August 13, 2011 at 10:05am
I upgraded to DD-WRT on my e4200, unfortunally I'm currently just using it as a very expensive hub, for the moment, that then connects to my DD-WRT e2000 router, which act as the main gateway. The e2000 seems to be performing better than the e4200, at this time.
kiddcreole99
August 10, 2011 at 7:14pm
I can understand the dings for the hooded ethernet cable issue and the lack of power for the USB drive, but this We shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to enable the router to perform at its best is just completely unfair! Is this MaximumPC or It's-good-out-of-the-box-PC?
Why do you recommend after-market coolers? Why even do a dream machine? Why drool over overclocked components that blow away benchmarks? If the intent is to settle for the out-of-the-box status of PC parts, I suspect there would be a lot of score changes. Isn't the idea to rate based on what it's capable of doing?
Novices won't get great performance ?!? How the mighty have fallen...
MrMick
August 17, 2011 at 11:00am
My point is that experts shouldn't have to go through a bunch of pointless rigamarole to undo Linksys' effort to make this router noob friendly before they can even start to fine-tune the router to their needs.
And since experts are often asked to make purchase recommendations for their less tech-savvy friends and relatives, it's also our responsibility to let our readers know which products they should not recommend. That obviously doesn't apply to after-market coolers and other components that only experts are interested in, but just about everyone needs a router these days.
nadako
August 09, 2011 at 3:10pm
Hey can we get a link to the new firmware update? And there is one feature that i miss from linksys. Why is there no real controle over who gets higher priority on the router?
Danthrax66
August 09, 2011 at 3:37pm
Get a router that supports DD-WRT (avoid cheap Asus units) and then you get all the feature you could ever want.
Cyberdiver
August 08, 2011 at 3:07pm
The new firmware adds IPV6 support, USB printer use with the USB port, and adds support for bridging.
http://homedownloads.cisco.com/downloads/E4200Firmware_Release_Note_06142011.txt
Last Release Date: June 14, 2011
Last Firmware version: 1.0.02 (build 13)- Added support of USB printer connected to the router's USB port, so that
a user may send a print job to the printer via the local area network.
** This feature requires Cisco connect software v1.4 or later **
- Added support of Native IPv6 and 6rd tunnel Internet connections
- Added support of bridge mode
- Prevented devices on the guest network to access any private IP
address (RFC 1918)
- Updated wireless driver to improve interoperability
- Fixed some storage relative issues
- Fixed some browser-based configuration utility bugs
- Fixed some minor bugs
MrMick
August 08, 2011 at 4:51pm
Thanks for letting us know. The firmware came out after we'd tested the router (the review was originally written for the August print edition, so our tests were performed in early June before it was available).
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