Netgear Ac1200 Dual Band Smart Wifi Router Reviews

If you have a pocket-sized home and run a small network consisting of a handful of wired and wireless clients, you lot probably don't need to spend hundreds of dollars for a router with the latest Wi-Fi technologies. For only $89.99, the Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Wireless Router gets you lightning-fast 5GHz throughput, every bit well equally a nice array of management settings and I/O ports. It'south $30 more the D-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Router (DIR-842) ($85.00 at Amazon) , but information technology's faster and has a USB port, so it's our latest Editors' Choice budget Wi-Fi router.

Design and Features
The EA6350 ($85.00 at Amazon) looks similar to the Linksys EA6100 AC1200 Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Router ($85.00 at Amazon) . Both employ a black enclosure and have ii non-removable antennas, which means you lot tin can't trade upwards to a high-gain antenna. The EA6350 measures ane.1 past 8.9 by 7 inches (HWD), and in that location's a strip of greyness trim containing a single status light that dissects the top of the enclosure. The light blinks green during setup, and remains solid green while the router is powered upward.

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This dual-band 802.11ac router is powered by a unmarried-cadre 800MHz CPU. It tin can accomplish (theoretical) throughput speeds of upwards to 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and upwards to 867Mbps on the 5GHz band. The EA6350 supports beamforming, which sends wireless signals directly to each client rather than over a broad spectrum, simply not Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming. The back of the router holds four Gigabit LAN ports, a WAN port, a single USB 3.0 port, a WPS push, and a Reset push.

The Smart Wi-Fi Web console opens to a Home screen that has a list of Smart Wi-Fi Tools and Router Settings on the left and widgets for frequently used settings on the right. The Device List page displays all connected devices and their current status, and the Guest Access folio is where you go to enable guest networking and prepare passwords. Oddly, guest networking is merely bachelor for ii.4GHz clients. Every bit with other Linksys routers that apply this console, including the Linksys EA6100 and the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router ($85.00 at Amazon) , you get Parental Controls, a Speed Test that measures Internet upload and download speeds, and Media Prioritization settings that allow you to give network priority to gaming consoles and specific applications. External Storage settings allow you decide folder access for attached USB drives and configure FTP and Media Server settings.

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Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Wireless Router

Router Settings include a Connectivity page, where you tin modify things similar DHCP settings, enable Dynamic Routing, update the firmware, and modify the router's password. There's too a Wireless Settings folio, where yous can create Wi-Fi passwords, cull a security mode, rename the SSID, and select a channel-width setting. This is also where you lot go to enable and configure MAC Address Filtering and enable/disable Wi-Fi Protected Setup for the router. The Troubleshooting page lets you lot view system logs, bank check the status of each client, and run network diagnostics, and the Security page allows you to configure Firewall, VPN Passthrough, and Port Forwarding settings.

Installation and Functioning
With the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Spider web console, installing and configuring the EA6350 is quick and easy. Once the router is plugged in and connected to the Internet and your host PC, merely open up a browser and type linksyssmartwifi.com in the address bar. This launches the Setup Sorcerer, which walks yous through the basic Cyberspace and wireless settings.

The EA6350's scores in our 5GHz throughput tests are the fastest we've seen from a upkeep router. Its score of 427Mbps in the shut-proximity (same-room) exam was much faster than the Netgear AC1200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6220) ($85.00 at Amazon) (331Mbps), the Linksys EA6100 (95.1Mbps), and the D-Link DIR-842 (332Mbps). At a distance of 30 feet, the EA6350'due south score of 199Mbps once once again led the pack; the Netgear R6220 scored 104Mbps, the Linksys EA6100 gained 86.6Mbps, and the D-Link DIR-842 showed a throughput of 111Mbps.

The EA6350'southward scores in our 2.4GHz throughput tests were more in line with the other upkeep routers. It gained 72.5Mbps in the close-proximity examination and 39.3Mbps in the xxx-foot test. The Netgear R6220 had a throughput of 74.1Mbps (close proximity) and 48.3Mbps (30 feet), the Linksys EA6100 scored 77.4Mbps and 40.2Mbps, respectively, and the D-Link DIR-842 had a throughput of 75Mbps and 41.5Mbps.

To test file-transfer speeds, we connect a USB drive to the router's fastest USB port and motion a ane.5GB folder containing a mix of photograph, music, video, and certificate files between the drive and a desktop wired to the router. The EA6350's write score of 21.5MBps was a bit faster than the Netgear R6220 (17.6MBps), but non quite as fast every bit the Linksys EA6100 (27.4MBps). In the read test, the EA6350 scored 28MBps to the Linksys EA6100'south 28.3MBps and the Netgear R6220's 25.6MBps. The D-Link DIR-842 was not included in these tests, as it does non have a USB port.

Decision
The Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Wireless Router is an excellent choice if you don't crave an advanced router. Platonic for smaller homes and apartments, it delivered very fast 5GHz throughput in our tests, and while its 2.4GHz performance didn't gear up any records, it was more than adequate for a router in this price range. As with most Linksys routers, the EA6350 is very easy to install and manage, thanks to the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Web console and mobile app. Yous'll pay around $thirty more for this router than you lot would for the D-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Router (DIR-842), but the extra money gets yous much faster throughput and a USB iii.0 port.

Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Wireless Router

The Bottom Line

The Linksys EA6350 is a dual-band router that offers blazing 5GHz throughput speeds, four Gigabit LAN ports, and a fast USB port. And it rings up for less than $ninety, making it our height pick for budget Wi-Fi routers.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/linksys-ea6350-ac1200-plus-dual-band-smart-wi-fi-wireless-router

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