Linksys E1200 N300 Wi-Fi Wireless Router Review

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Are you looking for a high-speed router that works on a single band? Do you need an affordable router? If yes, you are in the right place. The Linksys E1200 is one of the best routers you can find on the market.

It is an N300 standard Wi-Fi router with a maximum theoretical speed of up to 300 Mbps. It is an affordable router when it comes to choosing the best one in the single-band router category.

The Linksys is a stable router and provides a magnificent signal coverage due to the Cisco Connect software application. As mentioned, it has a data transfer rate of 300 Mbps, which is an ideal networking speed for home users and small offices. Since it is a single band router, it may not provide a speed higher than 300 Mbps.

Why do we recommend Linksys E1200 for home networking than other routers in the N300 standard? Well, we have tested the device and we found that it is an excellent performer. There are some downsides as well. So, let us tell you what exactly we found while testing the E1200 router. Read on!

Specifications

Size: 7.43 x 5.97 x 1.23 inches

Antennas: 1 Hidden (Internal)

Wi-Fi Spec: 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n single-band

Ports: No USB Port

Peak Performance: 300 Mbps (120 Mbps on 2.4 GHz)

Range: 175 sqft.  

Networking

When it comes to the networking performance of the E1200, we think it is still better than other routers categorized as N300. It is not a new router but still, its networking performance is better.

Why we are saying this? Well, we have tested the router and found that at 5 feet, the speed was 120 Mbps, at 15 feet, the measured speed was around 35 Mbps. At 30 feet, there wasn’t a substantial decrease as the speed measured was 27 Mbps.

However, at 100 feet, the speed went down significantly to 4 Mbps. So, considering the results, the speed at 100 feet was the slowest. A speed of 4 Mbps is not adequate for streaming HD videos or playing online games.

The range of the router is no more than 175 feet. We expected the range to be around 200 feet at least. So, this is one of the downsides of the router when it comes to range coverage. We can conclude that this router works great for close and mid-range distances. The router, on the other hand, performs poorly when you increase the distance from 30 feet.  

Design

The Linksys E1200 (N300) has an attractive design. More specifically, it has a flat UFO design, which is a typical design for the E series routers. It is a small device that can fit perfectly on the desk. It has a single-band antenna. The antenna is installed internally. You can’t see it. It is a lightweight product with measurements of 7.43 x 5.97 x 1.23 inches. The weight of the device is 0.52 pounds.

Considering the downsides of the design, you can’t mount this router on the wall. This is a bit disappointing for some users including us. However, on the brighter side, the device is small and can fit on your desk perfectly. The hidden antenna makes the device a bit compact as well. Simply put, the router won’t look messy on your desk.

On the backside of the router, you will see 1 WAN port and 4 LAN ports. You will also see the power connector as well as the Wi-Fi Protected Setup or WPS push button.

There are no LED indicators that show the status of the router compared to other routers in the E series. This is another downside or disadvantage of the E1200 Wi-Fi router. Although it has LEDs for every port, there are no indicator lights that you could see in the front.

The model E1200 works on the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band. It has a single-band antenna with WPS and WPS2 wireless security. Unfortunately, there is no USB port, which is yet another downside of the E1200 Wi-Fi router.

Hardware

For an N300 category, the Linksys E1200 is a pretty good performer. The router is powered by a 300 MHz Broadcom BCM5357 process backed by 4 MB of flash storage memory and 32 MB of RAM. It has a 2.4 GHz radio frequency band with b/g/n WLAN support.

The maximum speed provided by the WLAN is 300 Mbps. We have already mentioned this above. The antenna is located internally. It has 4/1 LAN/WAN ports of 10/100 Mbps. The 2.4 GHz band is powered by the BCM5357 high-speed CPU.

Installation

You can easily set up the Linksys E1200 Wi-Fi router. You need to follow a few steps to install the device. First, you need to plug in the device so that it is powered up. Next, you need to connect the router to the internet source.

This could be a modem or a broadband connection to the WAN port located on the back of the router. Next, you need to connect another LAN cable in the router’s back so that it is connected to your PC or laptop.

You can also install and set up the router via the Cisco Connect software application, which makes the setup process easier. When it comes to the Cisco Connect Software, you need to insert the CD into your CD ROM of the PC and follow the instructions given on the screen. Make sure you follow the steps to set up the router perfectly.

Next, you need to enter the username and password. You can enter the default username and password credentials. Also, you can change these credentials to make the network more secure.

Moreover, to configure the router, you can start the guest network or check the speed of the router on a speed test tool or app. The app will show the internet connection speed. This requires you to connect the router via the browser with default IP 192.168.1.1. Once you are there, you can configure the E1200 Wi-Fi router.

Also See: best budget wifi router

What We Liked

• Good midrange coverage
• High-speed 2.4 GHz WI-FI performance
• Easy to Setup
• Affordable
• Internal Antenna

What We didn’t Like

• No USB port
• No Wall Mount Option
• No LED indicators

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