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: A Good Router - If You Need It
Summary: 3 Stars
Updated:
As my title states it is a very good router, but only if you need it. The simultaneous feature only means that you can have items connected to the 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz band. However, please note that this does not mean that your laptop can connect to both at the same time. (I know some people who thought that it would.) That being said, what this feature is good for is if you are surfing the web on your laptop and are also streaming some high definition content to your television. That is when this router is beneficial, or if you are sharing the router with other people this can be a good feature allowing you to keep your own band without slowing down your bandwidth. But if you are like most people who will only be using the router to mainly surf the web on your laptop, then this router is not for you. It has too many features and is not worth the price.
The only complaints I have about the router are very minimal. Before I upgraded the firmware, anytime my laptop was connect to the 5GHz band it would lose the connection. The firmware update solved that problem. The other complaint involves the software that comes along with the router. While trying to install the software on my Vista desktop computer, it took over thirty minutes just to get it installed, and it still seemed a little "buggy." To me it was easier setting it up without the software, as I did on my Mac laptop. If you are skilled with Windows, you can also setup the router without the included software using the wizard found built into Vista and Win 7.
One downside to this router that I have noticed is that it does not have as good of a range as my other Netgear 2.4GHz wireless-N router. My laptop does not pull as strong of a signal from it even being just a few feet away, as it does on my other. My distance is also shortened quite considerably. However, my primary uses are using it within adjacent rooms, so that it not as big of a concern. It just does not get the same range outdoors as my other.
So if you are an advanced computer user who has a fully networked home then this is the router for you, or if you are somewhere with a lot of other signals causing interference such as a dorm, office, or apartment then this router can be good as you have the option to swap over to the 5GHz band without having to reset the router. *The 5GHz band has less interference so you get a cleaner signal but it cannot travel as far.
But, all-in-all, if your needs are simpler, then don't waste the extra money for features you don't need.
After a year of using the product:
Well I have had the product for close to a year now, and it works like a charm. I use it in my college dorm and find it to be perfect as I can use the 5GHz band and not have a lot of interference to my signal. The 5GHz band also seems to stream data slightly faster, which is beneficial when watching YouTube videos or an Amazon video-on-demand movie. Again, if you need the product - buy it - else look for something more reasonably priced. I might suggest the Netgear WNR834B. That is the router I have at home and it works wonderfully - also has a really nice range, even outdoors.
Also, when I last wrote this article I forgot to mention that one nice feature found on this router is the gigabit ethernet connections. This is wonderful for when transferring content from a desktop computer to a laptop or for a home media server. It has a much higher transfer rate than routers using the megabit connections. Please note that last time I had updated this article, I had said that the speed was not close to a "1 gigabyte per second" transfer rate. However, that was incorrect. The router has gigaBIT connections not gigaBYTE ones, which is a huge difference. My thanks go to the reviewer who pointed that out for me in the reply section.
Customer Review: Not as expected and would possibly return it for belkin router -- UPDATED
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, I was excited to get this router and thought it will be as smooth as the 6years old wireless router which I had from linksys.
For everyone to know, it won't connect to your CABLE modem and figure everything out by itself. You have to use the installation CD to be connected. I found this to be weird knowing that the internet cable service from comcast has been active for the last 3 years. Why would I install everything using the CD, I don't understand.
As far as the dual channel, it does not work out of the box. The range is not really acceptable unless you change the channel on 2.4GHz. I found no speed gain with my N wireless connection on my Dell Latitude E6500. My iPhone, PS3 and another desktop - with wireless card - won't be able to connect to the router at all.
I had to call customer support and they were able to set up the router for me. Apparently you have to use a different channels for your router to broadcast itself. Not only that, you have to change the security setttings from WPA2 Personal/Enterprise to WPA Persona/Enterprise.
With the broadcasting in channel 11 than 6 for the 2.4GHz signal, there is a loss in your speed. Also, I don't find any speed improvement for my new laptop with its N wireless card. It still shows 54Mbps on the 5GHz signal...
I was able to finally connect all my devices on the 2.4GHz except the new laptop which is on the 5GHz...
- As far as the storage goes, I was able to view files from the router's storage (for testing, I used 8GB flash drive with some video files in it). I viewed these files from my PS3 - it was able to find the media server on the network - but if I fast forward for a little bit, it will cut off or even disconnect from the network. I find it little useful though.
At the end, as some earlier users mentioned: if you know what you're using this router for and you think you will gain all of its advantages, then buy it otherwise stick with the WRT54G latest version from linksys or others for $50 or less.
UPDATES Nov. 10th 2009
After a lot of setup tweaking on this router, I figured out how to use it best according to some many suggestions out there.
To get the best out of your 5GHz Band for N devices, change the "frequency" to "40MHz"; and if you want, make sure it only broadcasts for "N" devices. I was able to get 300Mbps on my Intel 5100 AGN wireless card on my laptop - next to the router. If I use the laptop downstairs - about 10+ meters away from the router, I get 162Mbps. That's still really good.
At the same time, if you're broadcasting your 2.4GHz, make sure you change its frequency to "20GHz" and set its standard channel to 11. There was no overlap and I was getting 54Mbps on my desktop computer with HP wireless card on it about 10+ away from where the router is located. The signal strength is 100% and it was good.
On the 2.4GHz band, my PS3 was receiving 97-100% signal strength without any dropouts. I started to like this router and hopefully with the new tweaks I will be able to use the USB port for an external HDD as a NAS.
UPDATES Nov. 17th 2009
For some reason - I donnu - I was not able to connect my XBOX 360 via this router. I am using WPA2-Personal and enabled MAC filtering. I did all necessary steps and it still does not connect. Any expert can elaborate on this, please do so.
On my laptop, I see both my 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. On the N wireless, I have seen many dropouts while working on my laptop. I am not sure why but it is really painful when I am working from home!!! Looks like others are having it as well... It might be just my wireless card.
Customer Review: Regularly drops wireless connections
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this router to replace an aging two-year old D-Link DGL-4300 "gamerlounge" wireless B/G router. Figured I'd make the jump to wireless N, and use the 5ghz band to link this router with a Linksys wireless bridge in my downstairs A/V cabinet that also contains a TIVO HD-XL, PS3, XBOX360, and Roku Soundbridge. Currently, except for the TIVO, each of those devices has its own wireless receiver.
Unfortunately, Linksys let me down. This router seems to turn off the wireless connection every 24-48 hours and the only way to get it turned back on is to log into the router's web browser and reboot it. Also, my wireless laptop cannot see any of the computers on my wired network -- not sure why this router is not bridging the connections. The DHCP list is flaky -- I'll reserve DHCP connections for various mac addresses, and the next time I check, the reserved IPs and mac addresses reappear in the list of items that can be reserved. The logging is worthless -- it collects minimal data, and no clue about why the wireless connections keep getting dropped; there are no diagnostics that are helpful. We have two iPhones in the house, and when this happens, they can't connect to this router but as soon as I reboot the router, the connection is available. It's really tedious to have to do that every day or two. As far as I can tell, there is no way to tell which network (2.4GHZ or 5GHZ or wired) that a given DHCP client is connected to, which is hugely annoying when you have an unrecognized device connected -- if it's connected wirelessly, I must have set it up, but it's still annoying to have no description of the device. (I look up the mac address online which at least tells me the manufacturer.) Finally, the UPNP configuration just doesn't work -- I have two programs that use UPNP to open a temporary hole in the firewall (a Windows Home Server and uTorrent), I have UPNP enabled in this router and neither program can successfully configure it.
With my wireless B/G laptop, I get download rates of 600-800 kbps and upload rates of 300kbps when I'm sitting downstairs directly below this router (this is using the speedtest at [...] . I got 3mbps with the B/G D-Link router -- still not stellar, but acceptable. Fortunately, the wired connections on this router are decent -- get 28mpbs down, and just under 2mbps up using Turbo RoadRunner. But I bought this to serve wireless connections.
There are just a lot of things wrong with this router. Also, some of the online help and the installation program's messages need some serious proof-reading, which always makes me wonder about the quality that goes into a product.
I did upgrade the firmware as soon as I got this, but the last update was from May (it's now the end of September, 2009 as I write this). According to the Linksys website, there is supposedly a v2 hardware version of this router; when I purchased at the start of September, I got a v1 and there was no version indication on the outside of the package. Also, check the LinkSys website -- many many complaints about dropped connections with this router. The advice Linksys is giving out is to turn off the 5ghz radio becasue overheating might be causing the problems -- effectively turning this into a much cheaper single-band router. No thanks.
Anyway, this is going back this weekend and I'm going to try out the latest D-Link product. The DGL-4300 "Gamerlounge" router was fantastic (the power supply finally died and the router's been flaky since then, so I think it was damaged when the power brick failed); I think I'll try the latest version of their product. It's just a shame that nobody makes a cadillac consumer-level product these days, but for [...], I expected better.
Customer Review: Good only for short ranges thru walls; added Powerline Kit
Summary: 2 Stars
Updated Review
Update: 12/24/2009: Received and installed LinkSys Powerline AV Network Kit (PLK300) which carries information on a carrier frequency riding on the 120VAC house wiring within the home (home side of circuitry after main breaker to electric company supply). Setup was straightforward and took less than an hour. Kit has two units: #1 is connected by Ethernet cable to router (WRT610N) and to a 120VAC outlet; #2 is connected to the HDTV and BluRay player via two Ethernet cables as well as a nearby 120VAC outlet. The second unit has slots for four (total) separate Ethernet connections of which we only used two.
Result: 100% SUCCESS! Can stream BluRay movies, music, net news, gadgets, etc.
Notes on further discussions with technical support: The `distance" figures quoted for the router and bridge are "open air" distances and will be degraded by passage through walls (interior or exterior). Further degradation may result if the signal must pass through "metal" window screens and/or through stucco walls (stucco is normally applied over a metal grid). Since our home is laid out where the signal will pass through two stucco walls in going from the "den" wing to the LR entertainment center, this may have been the cause of the very poor reception reported earlier.
As a result, I am raising the rating to four stars (would rate higher if the above information had been available on the LinkSys web site.
LinkSys WRT610N Router and WET610N Bridge: We recently purchased a Sony Bravia TV and BluRay Player (52Z5100 and N460) which have the ability to accept video streaming and "gadgets". After reading various wireless reviews AND the Sony recommendation for the WET610 Bridge, we purchased these two units. They were to be used to connect between the cable modem (den) and LR entertainment center, a distance of ~60' through several interior sheetrock walls in a single story residence (with construction which does not practically allow Ethernet cable connection).
The end result is disappointing! 5GHz transmissions from the router to the bridge are registered at a 97% signal level at ~ 3 ft. from the router; ~50% at ~25' from the router and not measurable at the TV location. At 2.4GHZ the signal level at the TV registered ~ 15-20% and gave a satisfactory path to set up "gadgets" and to upgrade the TV and BluRay firmware. However, streaming of videos, music, etc. failed due to insufficient bandwidth.
I tried several different setups on the router and bridge to no avail. I then contacted LinkSys support and paid for their diagnosis and support (which involved resetting both router and bridge). There was no significant improvement.
Current status: I am awaiting delivery of newly-ordered LinkSys PLK300 PowerLine AV Ethernet Adapter Kit (uses internal home 120VAC wiring for "carrier transmission" of the signal; hardwire connection to router). Hope this works.
Pros: For someone relatively familiar with computers, the LinkSys CD's provided a relatively quick and easy setup and connection using my Windows 7 (home premium, 32 bit) software. Although "Advanced Settings" are available, there is no LinkSys instruction as to their probable effect and I did not use them (but LinkSys support did). Also, the router and bridge are relatively attractive / not techie or geeky looking.
Cons: At this point, the intended use of these two devices over this distance and in this environment is a failure.
Customer Review: Excellent Router
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this router from Amazon.com last week and it arrived in less than two days using the free ground shipping method, so kudos to Amazon for setting the bar very high and exceeding my delivery expectations.
I received a WRT610N version 2 (v2) router. I installed the router in the exact same physical wiring configuration as my existing router which it replaced. Then I popped in the CD in my computer and ran the setup.exe and clicked next through all of the useless wiring diagrams which I had already done. Turned on the router when it asked me to, helped me setup network names for both 2.4ghz and 5ghz frequency, router password, and wpa2 encryption on each radio frequency in just minutes. Cisco Network Magic was also installed which can prove to be a useful tool to use but it's not essential in my opinion. There's nothing that I can't manually configure in my router that Cisco Network Magic requires a paid software license to do for you through an application interface and system service. Either way, I'll use it until the free trial expires.
I was up and running in about 10 minutes using two laptops wirelessly to the network and several hardwired devices. I also followed the advice of some other users and changed the wireless configuration to change the radio band on the Linksys WRT610N router from Auto to the Wide-40mhz channel (for the 5ghz network only, leaving the 2.4ghz wireless network setting to Auto-20mhz channel). In the web interface under the wireless menu, you can switch to "manual" to input these settings. I use the 5ghz spectrum for one of my laptops which I use as a wireless media server on my network to stream content to my PS3 using MediaMall's PlayOn software which I highly recommend (and it no longer hiccups while streaming data wirelessly to the router since I'm now using wireless-N instead of wireless-G as well as using the 5ghz spectrum).
Also, I had to buy a dual-band half mini PCIe card for this laptop so that I could use wireless-N on the 5ghz spectrum since my laptop only came with a 802.11b/g half mini PCIe card. You will not find half mini PCIe cards at retail brick & mortar stores. After some research, I went with the Intel Wifi Link 5300 chipset half mini PCIe card(this does not work on all laptops, read the specifications on Intel's website as to which system board chipsets it supports. Also note if your laptop uses a mini PCIe form factor or HALF mini PCIe form factor as mine does. You can get this information from the laptop manufacturer if you are unsure). Since my laptop also only had two antenna leads built in and the Intel 5300 dual-band half mini PCIe card had a 3rd lead, I installed a Tyco mini PCIe antenna that I purchased from Ebay for under $3.00. This allows my PCIe card to more efficiently utilize MIMO on the router and increase my signal strength and throughput.
For most of you, you might just prefer to use an external PCMCIA, Express card, or USB dongle to accomplish this task (and most dual-band cards already have 3 internal antennae). As for me, I wanted to have everything built into the laptop directly so there is nothing hanging out the sides. It's simply a preference. If you go with PCMCIA/Express/USB dongle, you can disregard the paragraph above.
Overall, I give this router 5 stars for ease of use and performance increases over my previous 802.11g connection. I will post my old and new router wired and wireless speed test results in the upcoming weeks.