Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router Reviewed

[jalyst]

I'd love to see a review of the refreshed version but Mr Higgins doesn't seem too keen on the idea.
In fact, I might get grilled just for saying this, runs and ducks... Just kidding!!

The reality is there'd be very little -if any- noticeable improvement...
As the only significant change 'performance-wise' is the slightly increased clock speed.

How much of a difference that makes in real world terms is yet to be seen.

 

[jdabbs]

v1 vs v2 comparison based on the chips:
2.4 GHz performance of the 320N (average ~2.5 Mbps better than 610N v1 judging from the Wireless Charts)
5 GHz performance same as 610N v1 (both BCM4322)
WAN<>LAN throughput better than 320N (over 100+ Mbps so the vast majority of users won't be able to take advantage of the additional throughput)

There are other factors to consider, like antenna, amps, firmware improvements, and client(s) used. I wouldn't expect a major performance difference from the 320N.

Would I upgrade from a v1? Not for performance.

 

[jalyst]

2.4 GHz performance of the 320N (average ~2.5 Mbps better than 610N v1 judging from the Wireless Charts)

Yes that's right thanks for recalling that!
We may even see slight improvements or degradation because of different: antenna config, amps, cpu speed, & fw.

5 GHz performance same as 610N v1 (both BCM4322)

Here performance is likely to be very similar but again it's hard to say without comparisons because of; faster CPU + different: amp, antenna, & firmware.

WAN<>LAN throughput better than 320N (over 100+ Mbps so the vast majority of users won't be able to take advantage of the additional throughput)

It is true improved WAN<>LAN won't be noticeable for most users because of the 100Mbps+ throughput.
But the faster CPU speed that results in this improved W2L might also give rise to slight improvements in other areas.

There are other factors to consider, like antenna, amps, firmware improvements, and client(s) used. I wouldn't expect a major performance difference from the 320N.

Yeah these are the only remaining unknowns that I know of, bit of a tongue twister ;-P
It's hard to say whether any AP/Router/Switch functions would improve notably because of changes here + increased CPU speed.

But Assuming the same 802.11n clients are used & other variables are kept constant between V1 & V2..
Then one should be able to tell quite quickly if this is purely a cost cutting release for Cisco or one that end-users may also benefit from.

Not that I'm suggesting Tim should do any sort of comparison, that's entirely up to him.
I will attempt to form a picture of improvements beyond 2.4Ghz (if any) by following various other forums/sources.

 

[Unregistered]

Forget the wrt-160n, go with Netgear WNDR3700

I'd been waiting for the v2 of WRT-610n as it was the only game in town when it came to the specs. it offered (other than the Airport extreme, but that had one fewer port and didn't have QoS). As I waited for the WRT-610n v2 to ship, hoping that'd solve the reliability issues of the v1, the Netgear WNDR-3700 came in with the excellent reviews everywhere. I even found the WNDR-3700 product manager personally respond to the one bad review at Cnet by somebody who didn't really know what he/she was doing.

I never held Netgear in high regard as a brand and Cisco of course is a formidable force, but I am a convert after using the WNDR3700 for a week. Over this week I have stress-tested the router with 100's of gigs of data, by backing multiple laptops over the network. Not one problem with stability and excellent speed already reported by Tim and others.

So if there's anyone here who is/was waiting for the v2 of WRT-610 to come out, I'd recommend to forget about it and go with the WNDR-3700 instead. Unless you own Cisco stock or something

I'd love to see a review of the refreshed version but Mr Higgins doesn't seem too keen on the idea.
In fact, I might get grilled just for saying this, runs and ducks... Just kidding!!

The reality is there'd be very little -if any- noticeable improvement...
As the only significant change 'performance-wise' is the slightly increased clock speed.

How much of a difference that makes in real world terms is yet to be seen.

 

[Unregistered]

6 meter coverage

Hi!
Have had my WRT610n for three month now. Have tried all different settings to be able to connect from some of my other rooms. If Im more than 3 meter away (approx 10ft) the signal is poor on both a Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN as well as a Dlink dwl-140. After chatting with the support, they came back saying that the range is 6 meter!! If it only supports 6 meters, then why use Wifi?

In the tests made by Tim Higgins, Im unable to find any information regardin the test locations A - F? How far away is it between the router and location A? Is it in open landscape with no walls between etc?

Just a brief cut from the conversation with Linksys chatt support:
from Joakim Rengbrandt to All Participants:
But to mee the coverage of the wrt610n seems to be a general problem after reading trough different forums where people experience the same bad reception

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
That is not the case sir.

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
The router does work fine.

from Joakim Rengbrandt to All Participants:
If you stand with you computer in front of it ;-)

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
It does work fine in range of approx 6 meters

from Joakim Rengbrandt to All Participants:
I really hope that you are kidding abut the 6 meters????? Compared to the Netgear WNDR3700 http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/netgear-wndr3700-rangemax-dual/4505-3319_7-33485574.html

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
No sir.

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
As we have configured the router.

from Emma (30033E) to All Participants:
It does work

Does this sound like a nice router to buy?????? If I had been aware of this range limit, I would never had bought this router

Regards,
Joakim

 

[thiggins]

From my read of the Linksys conversation, "Emma" did not say that the WRT610N's range is 6 meters. She said "It does work fine in range of approx 6 meters", which is a reasonable statement.

Are you using 2.4 or 5 GHz?

Are there other networks in range?

Are there microwave ovens or cordless phones in use?

What is the home/apartments construction. Stone / brick walls will reduce signal very quickly.

Wireless testing details are here:
How We Test Wireless Products - Six Location Open Air Method

 

[Unregistered]

6 meter coverage

From my read of the Linksys conversation, "Emma" did not say that the WRT610N's range is 6 meters. She said "It does work fine in range of approx 6 meters", which is a reasonable statement.

Are you using 2.4 or 5 GHz?

Are there other networks in range?

Are there microwave ovens or cordless phones in use?

What is the home/apartments construction. Stone / brick walls will reduce signal very quickly.

Wireless testing details are here:
How We Test Wireless Products - Six Location Open Air Method

Hi Tim!
Well if you buy a 500horsepower BMW and the normal top speed for those kind of cars is 250km/h, I guess that you get a little disapointed if the sales guy states that the car runs fine at 60Km/h (and not at all over 80). But the problem is that it doesn't even work fine at 6 meters :-(

I have the router placed inside an IKEA cupboard made of chipboard. I have one gypsum wall between the router and the kitchen where I normally sit when working from home (the other rooms is even worse). On the 2.4Ghz band, I can see approx 15 other networks, but on the 5Ghz, Im the only one in that area from what I can see. I have not seen any differences in coverage if the microwave been on or of. Thing is that I have tested also with a DIR-855, and that works fine on the 5Ghz band. All my older 2.4ghz (dir-524, wrt54G, Thomson ??) works fine even on my balcony that is furthest away.

So from testing other routers both on 2,4 as well as 5ghz band, I can easily say that this is the one with the worst coverage.

The store from where I bought it will not change it or take it back since there is nothing wrong with it :-(

**Joakim

 

[thiggins]

Well, Joakim, sounds like you have a bad unit, but are stuck with it. You can't even return it and pay a restocking charge?

 

[Unregistered]

6 meter - not enough for me

Well, Joakim, sounds like you have a bad unit, but are stuck with it. You can't even return it and pay a restocking charge?

Hi Tim!

The Swedish internet company from where I bought it, offers to take it back and check it. And if they confirm that the unit is ok as it will be if 6 meters is ok according to Linksys, they will charge me for the troubleshooting. So I won't spend any money for getting a second opinion that it works as designed :-(.

So I will take my kids Christmas money to buy the Netgear 3700 instead

**Joakim

 

[Dawgneck]

Very Stable

I've ran the 610n (Ver2) 24-7 since my last post....

Not a single lock-up or other problem with the new 610n.

I don't know if my Ver1 sample was faulty, but I am extremely happy now .

Question: Anyone find out what the interior differences between the versions are? Does anyone know if Ver2 supports Jumbo Frames?

 

[drapos]

Hi!

Do thiggins have interest in any revision of the router with newer firmware?

I have this router running for some months already. The first day it stop routing traffic for wireless clients, not dropping them. I checked the firm and update it. Since then, it runs without any reboot (I have a SAI) with no problems at all.

Futhermore, 2 of the new firmware claims to improve the wireless range.

I suppose it should be at least like wet610n.

Sorry about my english. Nice site!

 

[Undermoose]

Just got my WRT610N (after returning Netgear 3700)

I tried the Netgear 3700, nice router with lots of features, and runs cool. A little buggy with the firmware for USB drive at present (where have I heard that before?...), but one report showed the USB tranfering at over 10mbps... So I was truly torn as a techy which to keep.

At the end of the day I got a much better price on the WRT610N v2 so I went with it (router and matching wireless card for a little more than the 3700), and pretty happy I did for my purposes. My personal use for a wireless router doesn't need the robust feature set the 3700 has. The guestnet, repeater, reportedly fatter pipe for multiple users (though testing wasn't on equal footing with current products and revisions from the competition), broadband usage, etc. I also love the fact I can have multiple accounts on the 610N, sometimes a jonny on the spot FTP can be handy and I don't need to worry about resetting my password after.

One thing that made me ponder a bit, I'm no expert in home wireless routers, but I had my 2.4 Wireless N adapter less than two feet from the 3700 (which was lying flat on my desk) and got 4/5 bars signal.... Then I started reading up a bit and was finding references to highly directional radio relative to it's position on the side stand, and a reference to "much lower signal strength when lying flat". This is probably a consistent issue amoung routers, but if it were that common then all manufactuers would probably have side stands, and I wouldn't be seeing directional signal strenght questions popping up on the forums so fast... Devices being devices, understanding the proper application in one's environment I believe makes this pretty minimal in the grand scheme of the 3700, however I can't help but view this as another antennae requiring frequent adjustment at home. Another fiddlestick.

So there sits my WRT610N in all its glory, and walla, full bars at close range.... Blazing fast 5ghz wireless... and I can fry an egg on it (not really, but it gets more than warm to the touch). They say an electical device will fail withing the first 90 days if it has a problem, and this "burn in" period I'm sure is proof in the pudding.

Other things I like about Cisco's unit vs Netgear's is they built features in that just do their thing, while the Netgear's you'd better remember that feature's check box! I also noticed the Cisco has a 2.0amp power supply vs the Netgears 2.5amp. Then finally, hey... it's Cisco! and it looks cool!

It's clearly a new landscape with the arrival of the Netgear 3700, and so as other's have asked, I'll echo: Can we get a WRT610N v2 review?

 

[Undermoose]

Electric Griddle Anyone?

I woke up and had a change of heart, and it's Saturday so have a bit of time to kill... That WRT610N v2 was working great, except I just couldn't get over how much heat it was generating. I mean it would make a baby cry if they touched it I'm sure... So short of housing it inside my refridgerator, I just couldn't put faith in a long term relationship with an electric griddle disguising itself as my wireless router.

I'm still convinced Cisco's tech is what is setting the bar for the competition, and Windows 7 saw QOS devices in the networking that don't exist with the Netgear (I'm not sure what that's all about), but perhaps to much component went into this stylish enclosure (i.e. no air flow is bad for heat). Just my 2 cents...

So shazaam!, it went back to Staples and I got the WDNR3700 back, and I purchased a Netgear dual N USB adapter (which fixed the signal issue).

I guess I'm a true techy, all hail faster speeds and less heat!

 

[Undermoose]

Well, for the good fight I'll post my final experiences... Yes there's more.

As much as I love the technical specs of the WNDR3700 the firmware isn't quite right, and the bottom line is it simply didn't perform as well as the WRT610!

My installation being a micro example of a real world installation, I'm just one guy with a "toy net", plain and simple the WRT610 worked and the WNDR3700 did not.

Using two different WNDR3700 (one at a time) my iPhone 3gs & desktop PC were getting terrible pings to Youtube (up to 1000ms and 500ms respectively), if I could get playback at all it would be extremely choppy. A quick swap to the linksys (WRT610n & WRT300N were tested) and pings immediately became normal, Youtube playable.

While I'm a techy, my time is limited, and had to go with what works!

I am chalking this one up to as designed vs as built! What looks great on a drawing board cleary, for my environment, wasn't the best choice.


So now I have a working wireless router which doubles as an electric griddle..

 

[drapos]

Hi.

Maybe your wrt610N is a faulty unit?

Last summer I checked the hot spot of the router (at the bottom) with an IR thermometer.

I stressed as far as I can with 2 wifi N clients, max wan traffic (only ~12mb/s from my IP) and gigalan traffic. It reached up to 52º. The router from the ip (modem, you know) reached 57º.

Hope this can be useful for you.

Also, my WRT610 is V1.

Greetings.

 

[Unregistered]

Basically what is boils down to is the NETGEAR WNDR3700 has a better hardware build but lacks in software. The Linksys has a better software build but lacks in hardware efficency. Maybe Linksys should buy NETGEAR out and then we could have a more well rounded router.

 

[Dawgneck]

I've been streaming a lot of HD x264 movies through the 610N Ver 2 and it does get pretty hot. The switch hasn't giving me any problems, but I raised the unit to give it room to breath underneath.

I am ready to upgrade to something with jumbo frames, trunking and/or Link Aggregation but the Linksys 610N Ver2 serverd me well.

 

[Unregistered]

DD-WRT supports both, v1 and v2 and I believe kernel2.6 version has jumbo frame support.
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys
Scroll down to WRT610 v1 or v2

 

[ynohtna]

I run my wrt610n v1 upside down for better stability

Afraid of overloading the 610N so I'm still using my wrt54gl (dd-wrt) for the dhcp and routing.

Think I'll be trying to jump to the netgear3700 if I can get stock in canada...doesn't seem to be readily available.

 

[jalyst]

But isn't it fine now with the latest release of dd-wrt?
I still havent upgraded from stock, have an old wrt54gs as the gw.