Cisco Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router Reviewed

[RogerSC]

Firmware 1.0.02

Yeah, got the upgrade though Cisco Connect, first time ever that I haven't done a manual firmware update...but when Cisco Connect was done, all my settings were preserved, I was again on the internet, even my WPS configured ethernet bridge was still fine and working.

Been using it long enough now that I feel comfortable with it, including on my work VPN, wireless, etc. Doesn't seem to have broken anything that I use but has added lots of IPv6 settings for firewall, routing, etc.

I haven't specifically tried the IPv6 functionality yet, although it is enabled. Have verified that things work as they did before.

 

[Unregistered]

Anyone got firmware 1.0.00 and 1.0.01 for downlad? EU and US version.

 

[Unregistered]

Anyone got firmware 1.0.00 and 1.0.01 for downlad? EU and US version.

Don't know about EU version, but the US versions can be downloaded here (see right hand side of linked web page):

http://dlinkedrouter.org/

 

[ikjadoon]

Mixing A/B/G-clients with N-clients on the E4200

I know I'm not supposed to, but I don't have a huge choice here. My network includes:

• 3 G clients
• 4 N-2.4Ghz clients
• 1 N-2.4/5GHz client**

**I am planning on disabling the 5GHz band on the E4200 to keep everything on the 2.4Ghz so as to not exhibit that nasty dual-band issue.

How bad is the performance hit on the the E4200 using both N and non-N clients, if anyone has dared to mix? Does this "newer" router exhibit just as horrifying 50-80% performance loss as noted in this SNB article about mixing?

Thanks in advance,

~Ibrahim~

 

[thiggins]

Yes. All N routers have this behavior. But unless you have heay CONTINUOUS G traffic at the same time as N, you may not notice anything.

Try using just the one router and if you see a big performance hit, try adding a G router.

 

[ikjadoon]

Yes. All N routers have this behavior. But unless you have heay CONTINUOUS G traffic at the same time as N, you may not notice anything.

Try using just the one router and if you see a big performance hit, try adding a G router.

Thanks for the reply!

OK, that does make me feel better. 2 of the 3 G-clients are an iPhone and a Wii, which shouldn't be doing heavy WiFi usage, anyways. I will grab the E4200 today, then, and see how it goes. I'm sure it'll be blindingly faster than the Time Warner-supplied WNR1000, so I might not even notice.

Thank you again!

~Ibrahim~

 

[thiggins]

I'm sure it'll be blindingly faster than the Comcast-supplied WNDR1000, so I might not even notice.

Don't expect miracles. You will see higher link rates reported by your clients because the WNDR1000 is only single stream (150 Mbps max in 40MHz bandwidth mode).

But actual delivered speed might not be noticeably higher unless you time some large file transfers.

 

[ikjadoon]

Don't expect miracles. You will see higher link rates reported by your clients because the WNDR1000 is only single stream (150 Mbps max in 40MHz bandwidth mode).

But actual delivered speed might not be noticeably higher unless you time some large file transfers.

My father is hoping to increase his slow link rates (under 20Mbps) in the farther corners of the house where you can feel the websites loading slowly, so that's where I'm hoping the E4200 pulls through. Other benefits are more ancillary.

On the topic of large file transfers...I tried to use the HomeShare feature in Windows 7 to move about 30GB worth of photos between two computers over the network last week. Waste of my time: it was transferring at under 1MB/s. I'll start it again, see where I can go with the E4200.

Yeah, it is supposed to be 150Mbps! There was something freaky with my dad's work PC that, for whatever reason, showed a 300Mbps link rate. Very strange because the router definitely maxes out at 150Mbps.

Oh, I have one question about the E4200 and 40Mhz settings. You seem to have gotten 40MHz working on the E4200 on the 2.4GHz band. However, I've been looking through its manual.

For the 5Ghz band on the E4200, you have three options:
40MHz only
20MHz only
Auto (20 or 40MHz)

For the 2.4GHz band on the E4200, you only two options:
20MHz only
Auto (20 or 40MHz)

So, how did you go about forcing the 40MHz band? I have the 5300 in my laptop and I only have "20MHz only" and "Auto" as options, for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz. If I put both the router and my clients at Auto, how do I know if it's 20Mhz or 40MHz?

I know using 40MHz on the 2.4Ghz isn't kind. I doubt I will use it since it decreases low-strength range, but I'm just curious.

Oh, and I've been meaning to say: this is a fantastic website; thank you very much for making it and updating it so well. Ever since my WRT54G died, I've been hesitant to research routers because the information seemed so mind-boggling confusing and utterly massive. But, I've learned quite a lot in these past few weeks and it's really let me make an informed purchase. Finding this site, among the FUD in the internet, was luck, really, but, man, am I glad!

~Ibrahim~

 

[thiggins]

802.11n does not increase range. At long range (low signal levels) it scales back to using older protocols (802.11b and 11g). N provides more bandwidth at a given location under strong to medium signal levels.

I have seen adapters occasionally report link rates higher than they are capable of when idle. But once traffic starts flowing they report proper rates.

Regarding Auto 20/40, I use the terms auto 20/40 and 40 MHz mode interchangeably. I have been told that even if a product has a "40 MHz mode", it will still fall back to using 20 MHz bandwidth if there is legacy traffic detected.

 

[ikjadoon]

802.11n does not increase range. At long range (low signal levels) it scales back to using older protocols (802.11b and 11g). N provides more bandwidth at a given location under strong to medium signal levels.

I have seen adapters occasionally report link rates higher than they are capable of when idle. But once traffic starts flowing they report proper rates.

Regarding Auto 20/40, I use the terms auto 20/40 and 40 MHz mode interchangeably. I have been told that even if a product has a "40 MHz mode", it will still fall back to using 20 MHz bandwidth if there is legacy traffic detected.

Right, it isn't too long-range; I would compare the farthest location in our house to "Location E". The WNR1000 doesn't have a review, but I'm assuming it would be less than the 26.1Mbps the E4200 grabbed.

Ah, I see. Just a quirk.

Gotcha. I'm unsure if the WNR1000 does that. There are 5-6 networks nearby, but it seemed to pick up the 40MHz band when I set it to "Up to 150Mbps." Oh, right, I figured out how to see if it's broadcasting in 20Mhz or 40Mhz when set on auto! With inSSIDer 2.0, it shows the band twice as wide and also shows two channels being occupied instead of one.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a286/ikjadoon/40MHzactivated.png

Albeit this is when no G-clients were connected. Now that I check it again, it's back down to the 20Mhz B/W mode.

 

[ikjadoon]

Got the E4200 this morning. It's a lot smaller than I expected. The pictures make it look huge. Works great so far, except for the Cisco Connect software. On my main laptop, it keeps telling me I'm inputting the wrong password, even though it's correct. I tried it on my sister's laptop and it worked perfectly on hers, so it seems to be a weird quirk. And, yes, I updated to the latest Cisco Connect because this problem was found in the first version. However, the fix hasn't worked for my laptop.

Disabled the 5GHz and set to 20MHz only. Internet does feel snappier on wireless.

I haven't tried the HomeShare yet, but I probably will. Oh, and the stock firmware was 1.0.02, which includes IPv6.

 

[Starrbuck]

Yes. All N routers have this behavior. But unless you have heay CONTINUOUS G traffic at the same time as N, you may not notice anything.

Try using just the one router and if you see a big performance hit, try adding a G router.

One way I've found to improve performance is to use two different SSIDs, set the 2.4GHz part of the router to G-only, and the 5GHz to N-only.

 

[ikjadoon]

One way I've found to improve performance is to use two different SSIDs, set the 2.4GHz part of the router to G-only, and the 5GHz to N-only.

That won't work for me, unfortunately. As I mentioned in my first post, only one of my wireless-N clients has a 5GHz radio. However, the G clients hardly access heavy internet and even then, no one has noticed slow downs.

~Ibrahim~

 

[Starrbuck]

That won't work for me, unfortunately. As I mentioned in my first post, only one of my wireless-N clients has a 5GHz radio. However, the G clients hardly access heavy internet and even then, no one has noticed slow downs.

That's awesome! I'm lucky all of my N clients are 5 GHz, but I was late to the N party so I kinda planned it that way. In my home the G network is for surfing, email, etc. and the N is reserved for multimedia. We've been very happy with the performance of the E4200 so far.

 

[kevinkar]

I started with the E4200 hard wired to a Patriot Javelin S4 NAS (CAT 6 cable between them) connected to a D-Link DAP-1522 via N where the router and NAS were in my office on the second floor and the DAP-1522 was directly below on the first floor next to the TV feeding a Mvix Ultio media player. The devices were maybe 8 feet apart as the crow flies and the second floor is simple wood joists and plywood.

The transfer of data to the TV was disappointing and, while some movies played flawlessly, some had glitches. Enough of a problem that I eventually just dropped a hard line through the wall and connected everything directly.

Even so, the Ulito reports general speeds of about 30-40Mbps which is kind of slow given the components. The Javelin and Linksys are gigabit and the Ultio is fast ethernet and the slowest component in the chain but I should be getting closer to 80Mbps, not 40. The drives in the Javelin are all brand new Seagate Barracuda XT drives so they are pretty darned fast and should not be the problem.

Even between my PC and the Javelin the speeds are in the low hundreds when I'd expect mid to higher hundreds with all gigabit devices.

It's too bad the E4200 does not support Jumbo Frames as that might help out a bit.

 

[thiggins]

Jumbo frames really don't help with today's PCI-e connected Ethernet adapters. That's why I dropped jumbo frame tests from the NAS Charts.

I'd bet the Ultio is the slowest link in the chain. Measure some transfers to a computer instead of the Ultio and see what you get.

 

[Unregistered]

new features in latest FW

- Added support of USB printer connected to the router's USB port, so that
a user may send a print job to the printer via the local area network.
** This feature requires Cisco connect software v1.4 or later **
- Added support of Native IPv6 and 6rd tunnel Internet connections
- Added support of bridge mode
- Prevented devices on the guest network to access any private IP
address (RFC 1918)
- Updated wireless driver to improve interoperability
- Fixed some storage relative issues
- Fixed some browser-based configuration utility bugs
- Fixed some minor bugs

This addresses two of your cons in the review (ipv6 and bridge mode). you should update the review in case people are making purchasing decisions based on something that can be easily fixed by a FW upgrade.

 

[rhombus]

I got this router the other day.

I see very poor wireless 802.11g-only speeds (and quite poor 802.11g range too), plus packet loss and throughput variation, documented here http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Routers/E4200-terrible-G-only-speed-packet-loss-and-throughput-variation/td-p/448783

I haven't tested much else, but I know already it's going back.

 

[njweb]

I got this router the other day.

I see very poor wireless 802.11g-only speeds (and quite poor 802.11g range too), plus packet loss and throughput variation, documented here http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Routers/E4200-terrible-G-only-speed-packet-loss-and-throughput-variation/td-p/448783

I haven't tested much else, but I know already it's going back.

Did you check your network (ISP, home wiring, wireless adapter)?
A few people (very small percentage) who use the E4200 experienced packet loss, but I bet it has nothing to do with the router.
I have had mine since March 2011 and no packet loss issues (pingtest.net results are excellent).

I did have some packet loss in May or June. A technician came by and found it was my ISP's issue (outside cable internet wiring) and it had nothing to do with the router.

 

[Mangusta1969]

My experiences with the E4200 in the G band were about the same as those reported by Rhombus, with periodic packet loss, periodic slow throughput and frequent required reboot problems. I think this router had difficulties with interference by neighboring 2.4GHz networks in my neighborhood, although I tried several 3AM connection and throughput tests that did not improve things too much. I tried virtually every available frequency on my E4200 to try to reduce interference. I was using the latest Cisco firmware on my E4200, until I took it offline in early June 2011.

Changing over to a much longer range and higher transmit power/better receive sensitivity Ubiquiti PowerAP-N router completely solved my performance problems, with no changes required to my ATT Elite ISP settings and no changes to my Zyxel DSL modem.

The good news was that it was not difficult to sell my E4200 on a local CraigsList ad.