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Tag : wireless router, n band, simultaneous dual, linksys wrt610n

Company : Linksys List Price : $199.99 Amazon Price : $187.77 Used Price : Average customer review :

Features

• Internet-sharing Router and 4-port Gigabit Switch, with a built-in, dual-band, speed and range enhanced Wireless Access Point
• Two simultaneous, separate, radio bands double your available bandwidth
• MIMO technology uses multiple radios per band to create robust signals for maximum range and speed, with reduced dead spots
• Connect a hard drive or flash-based USB storage device to allow access to your music, video, or data files from within your network, or through the Internet

Product Description

The sleek Simultaneous Dual-N Band WRT610N Router is designed and engineered for lag free gaming, uninterrupted music and streaming high-definition video. Dual Wireless-N bands can provide twice the bandwidth so you can do all this while browsing the Internet, sharing files, sending e-mail, and printing.

Customer reviews

Nice Router - Installed smoothly
I bought this router to replace my old linksys and I have been pretty pleased with it so far. Somewhat foolishly I started installing this whilst I was in a hurry but all was well as it simply plugged in as a replacement and the software installed without issue. The LELA (or whatever its called) software updated the firmware to the latest version automatically and the software worked without fault. The router initially failed to connect to the internet but this was my ISP locking the connection to the mac address of my previous router. This was easily solved by using the MAC spoofing feature of the WRT610N - the router connected first time after that.

I liked the fact that it persuaded you to change the default passwords (there are so many people that don’t change them on there routers). This thing seemed fairly security conscious.

The media connection feature allowed me to plug in a 750 WD USB external HDD (which it didn’t see at first - this required a reboot) and I can configure it to share either the whole drive or certain folders - this worked perfectly in both XP and vista - I haven’t tried this extensively so I don’t know how it works long term. There is also a UPnP server and an FTP server built in (require the USB drive connected). These were really easy to set up.

Overall I have been pretty impressed by this product - setup was so easy that not only did I get it set up in a rush but I also had time to play with a few of the more advanced features.

This thing is not for the casual user - you need to know what you are buying and that you are going to use its features - if you are not there are other routers that will do a great job - this one happened to tick all the right boxes for me and I have not been disappointed so far - I was going to buy the WRT600N a few weeks ago but I am glad that fate stepped in and delayed me placing the order as the 610N is so much better looking than the 600N which is v. boxy and covered in antennas.

Overall a nice product so far and initial impression have been favorable. Only time will tell how good this holds up to some heavier testing. HD TV streaming here I come!

A Good Router - If You Need It
As my title states it is a very good router, but only if you need it. The simultanious feature only means that you can have items connected to the 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz band. But, please note that this does not mean that your laptop can connect to both at the same time. What this is good for though is if you are surfing the net 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 it to mainly surf the web on your laptop then this router is not for you. It has to 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 was installing the software that comes along with it on my Vista desktop computer. It took over thirty minutes just to get the software installed. To me it was easier setting it up without the software as I did on my Mac laptop.

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 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 and my distance is shortended quite considerable. But my primary uses will be using it within adjacent rooms so that it not a big 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 singals 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.

Easy to set up, make sure to upgrade firmware
I replaced an existing wired router/wireless access point combination with the WRT610N. The replacement was painless, taking about a half hour, including retyping all of my DHCP reservation and port forwarding information.

The only glitch was that running the Linksys EasyLink Advisor (a tool that among other things, shows you everything connected to your router) reset the router. This is fixed in the latest firmware (level 17, my router shipped with 16).

Speeds have been good. I only have one machine that is connected with Draft-N, and it has been able to connect about 4-5 times faster than my Wireless-G connections on the 5Mhz band. My Wireless-G connections have had consistently better quality than through my old WEP54G Access Point.