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bluray · 2011-12-30, 02:48

I'm glad that my D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit DIR-655 died a couple weeks ago. I replaced it with this dual-band "Linksys E3200" wireless router and this wireless USB dongle "Linksys AE2500". My boys can streams Netflix, Vudu, etc HD flawless now. We used to have buffer issues with D-link. Now, my boys are very happy with their Netflix and Vudu HD streaming! Smile

If you are looking for a wireless router and USB adapter, I highly recomend it!

I bought both router and USB dongle directly from Linksys Refurbished website for a lot less money. It has the same warranty as a new model! Smile

Orclas · 2011-12-30, 02:59

And nice looking even!!

Over the years I've had my reservations about Linksys' product design (from teenagy sporty rugged to Darth Vader helmet polish), but that one looks really nice!

(No, I don't go for looks only, but it sure is a parameter Smile

)

eskro · 2011-12-30, 04:12

nice, we'll keep those in mind

bluray · 2011-12-30, 07:43

Orclas Wrote:And nice looking even!!

Over the years I've had my reservations about Linksys' product design (from teenagy sporty rugged to Darth Vader helmet polish), but that one looks really nice!

(No, I don't go for looks only, but it sure is a parameter )

It does looks more sleek than the old square Lynksys router. I'm very please with the looks and performance with both the router and USB dongle. Since I installed it for almost two weeks now, the signal is the strongest in this house "5 bars". I have gazzilion of things (4 laptops, 4 HTPC, PS3, XBOX 360, Directv2pc, network Onkyo AVR, 5 smart phones, etc) connected to it too.

Oh, there are 231 other happy users in the reviews too! Smile

Deviant Khan · 2011-12-30, 17:58

I was interested in the E4200 with the 450Mbps limit, but the AE2500 adapter seems like it only goes to 300Mbps. So, I'd need to find another alternative or wait for the adapters to catch up with the router.

bluray · 2011-12-30, 19:05

Deviant Khan Wrote:I was interested in the E4200 with the 450Mbps limit, but the AE2500 adapter seems like it only goes to 300Mbps. So, I'd need to find another alternative or wait for the adapters to catch up with the router.

There is- Belkin F9L1103 N750 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter. The E4200 should work with any USB dongle. To me, the dual-band AE2500 with 300mbps should be enough to stream just about everything over the net. Vudu has the highest HD content over internet streaming, and it can stream fine with it. Smile

Deviant Khan · 2011-12-30, 19:40

I plan on upgrading my network in the next month or so. So I'll evaluate the adapter options then. I know 300Mbps is great, but I figure why not 450Mbps?

My home is not pre-wired, and it's a 2-story with a media room on the first floor that is a pretty healthy distance away from the study. I plan on housing my NAS in my study and then using Wireless-N in my living room, media room, game room, bedrooms, etc. Also, I have a variety of devices like laptops, gaming consoles, smart phones, and smart pads that use wireless too.

toymachine2009 · 2011-12-30, 19:56

I may pick this up to try it out. I also have the D-link DIR 655 and it doesnt like to play nice with ipads.

I also wonder if their extender is any good

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/adapter...ders-image

bigdog66 · 2011-12-30, 20:20

check newegg and amazon....that extender seems to rate really great

bluray · 2011-12-30, 20:24

Deviant Khan Wrote:I plan on upgrading my network in the next month or so. So I'll evaluate the adapter options then. I know 300Mbps is great, but I figure why not 450Mbps?

My home is not pre-wired, and it's a 2-story with a media room on the first floor that is a pretty healthy distance away from the study. I plan on housing my NAS in my study and then using Wireless-N in my living room, media room, game room, bedrooms, etc. Also, I have a variety of devices like laptops, gaming consoles, smart phones, and smart pads that use wireless too.

This "Linksys WES610N" should go along great with the E4200 then. You should be able to extend the wireless range to all you components upstair. Cisco did it right this time around, and the setup CD is fool-proof too. It took me very little time to connect more than 10 devices to it. Smile

toymachine2009 · 2011-12-30, 20:32

bigdog66 Wrote:check newegg and amazon....that extender seems to rate really great

Your right! the Extender got much better reviews on Newegg than the router itself!

Reading Neweggs reviews on the e3200 makes me seem kind of iffy. I almost feel like pretty much all routers are hit and miss. Either one is better in your home than another. Each home is designed different with different material so I assume each router performs a lot different in each house.

bluray · 2011-12-30, 20:46

toymachine2009 Wrote:Your right! the Extender got much better reviews on Newegg than the router itself!

Reading Neweggs reviews on the e3200 makes me seem kind of iffy. I almost feel like pretty much all routers are hit and miss. Either one is better in your home than another. Each home is designed different with different material so I assume each router performs a lot different in each house.

I'm not sure why. I don't think that it have anything to do with home materials. It's more likely causes by their overall system configurations. I have no problem with the refurbished E3200 model. It's 5 bars strength on nearly 10 wireless devices since I installed it. There are 231 reviews in here "Linksys Refurbished E3200-RM", and it is 5 eggs. I gave it 5 eggs too. Smile

Orclas · 2011-12-30, 21:24

toymachine2009 Wrote:Your right! the Extender got much better reviews on Newegg than the router itself!

Reading Neweggs reviews on the e3200 makes me seem kind of iffy. I almost feel like pretty much all routers are hit and miss. Either one is better in your home than another. Each home is designed different with different material so I assume each router performs a lot different in each house.

That's why I like the reviews over at http://www.smallnetbuilder.com. Tim Higgins has a quite thorough test procedure with different locations in his home, which provides good information about how a router performs when it comes both to raw transfer rate under good conditions, but also how it performs to known "hard" spots in his home. He also tries to stick to one test procedure so that relative performance can be compared in charts, i.e. "best 2.4Ghz downlink for location E" etc.

As you can see here, the E3200 provides quite competitive throughput also for challenging spots (to which no router managed via 5Ghz), but is not top of the charts in a same room setup (aka location A). That being said, I'd rather take good overall coverage and throughput than one that is basically the advertisement "up to" value.

eskro · 2011-12-30, 21:36

mii want the Linksys E4200 Tongue

bluray · 2011-12-30, 21:37

Orclas Wrote:As you can see here, the E3200 provides quite competitive throughput also for challenging spots (to which no router managed via 5Ghz), but is not top of the charts in a same room setup (aka location A). That being said, I'd rather take good overall coverage and throughput than one that is basically the advertisement "up to" value.

Typically I don't like the so call "expert review", because they tend to bias toward certain product. With that said, this site seem to be very fair with their tests. Thank you for sharing it!