Linksys Smart WiFi Router Review: A Worthy Upgrade?

Most people pay little to no attention to the router their ISP installs at their house, and for the virtually part, that's fine. Yet, if your net isn't working well-nigh equally fast as expected, your router may exist at arraign too. Nigh generic routers don't have advanced features such as dual band, MU-MIMO back up, along with a lot of additional features you get with Smart WiFi routers like the Linksys EA7300 ($129.96). Nosotros recently got our hands on the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router, and I've been using it for quite some time now. So, here is my review of the Linksys Smart WiFi Router:

Blueprint, Ports, and Build Quality

The Linksys EA7300 is by no means "beautiful", or "gorgeous", or "depression-profile" at all. Just what it is, is a well-built, nicely designed router that will attempt its best to keep your network running ameliorate than you'd always see with one of those basic routers. It has cooling vents on virtually the entire surface, because thanks to the dual core processor, and all the hardware this thing is packing, information technology does need quite a bit of air to keep absurd.

The router besides has three beam-forming antennae, which means that you can point them in the management of the devices, then those devices will receive the best bespeak strength. This can come in handy if you're looking for a higher betoken forcefulness on your devices. For the nearly function, yet, I left the antennae pointing straight up, and the network coverage was more than just corking.

Ane thing that actually bugs me about the design choices fabricated by Linksys with the EA7300, is the panel of sleeky plastic that runs all the way through the center of the router. This looks similar an amazing place to take some useful data to be displayed. But, all it does, is show a Linksys logo. Kind of feels like a wasted opportunity.

• Ports

The Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router has all the ports and connections you'd see in a basic router, and i port that you'd not observe in nearly low-finish routers. On the dorsum of the router, you'll find a power button, a 12V DC input for the power adapter. You lot'll also find 4 ethernet LAN ports, to connect devices to the router using ethernet cables. There's also a WAN port where you lot'll plug in the internet cable. On the WAN port'southward side, there's a reset button, and the WPS button for quick connexion with devices that support WPS.

Then, on the farthermost end of the router, there'southward a USB 3.0 port, which is awesome. Yous can connect external storage devices to the router through this port, and share all your files over the network; kind of similar your own personal cloud storage.

I tried connecting a 1 TB Seagate external hard deejay, and it worked flawlessly. You can too connect printers to the USB port, to allow every computer on the network to share the printer over WiFi. It'due south pretty neat.

• Build Quality

As far as routers go, the Linksys Smart WiFi Router doesn't offer anything bully in terms of build quality. It is decently well built, and looks a lot more hefty than nigh other routers out in that location, only it doesn't quite feel every bit potent every bit a device that bulky should. To information technology'southward credit, the router does manage to look similar one beast of a device. However, if you're expecting it to alloy in with the ambience over at your house, it'll probably not.

Router Features and Options

Where the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router really shows off its smarts is in the software that comes with the router. Offset off, the dashboard that shows up as soon as you log into the admin panel for the router is just actually great. It gives a quick overview about everything of importance. Things like the number of devices connected to the router, both in the ii.4GHz, and the 5GHz bands of the router. Users tin can click here to view the network map, something that can besides exist viewed past clicking on the "Network Map" option in the carte on the left.

• Guest Network

The router as well supports a guest network, in both the bands, so you tin allow temporary users to access the internet, without letting them into your private network, and potentially accessing any shared files. You lot tin can quickly change the SSID for the guest network, and view/edit the password. The dashboard besides shows the number of devices connected to the guest network, and you tin click here to see information about the devices connected to the guest network.

• Parental Controls

For households with kids, the router likewise offers great parental controls, which can let you restrict websites that particular devices (belonging to your children) can visit. You tin alsocake out times when the router will only not let those devices to access the internet at all. While this may seem a tad drastic, it's definitely a handy feature to have. Grounding kids would work manner better if you lot took away their internet rights like this.. only saying.

• Speed Test

Nigh people use Speedtest to check their network speeds, and the EA7300 takes this one stride farther. Linksys actually includes an Ookla Speedtest widget embedded right inside the software. So, y'all can easily bank check the network speeds your router is getting. This may not be a big deal, merely information technology'due south a handy matter to have when you need it.

• Connectivity Settings

Moving on to the "Router Settings" section of the Linksys EA7300's web-interface, you'll find "Connectivity Settings". Here, you can notice things similar the LAN settings for your roadr, as well equally the internet settings. For avant-garde users, this section also provides options to choose between NAT, and RIP to determine on how to route packets. Also, for local direction, users can cull betwixt using HTTP, and HTTPS protocols. Obviously, HTTPS is more secure, as information technology is encrypted.

• Wireless Settings

For the more than casual user, at that place are still plenty of settings for you to tinker with, and effigy out the perfect settings for you. Yous tin can tinker with a whole lot of settings hither, including the SSID for the WiFi network, and the password. You tin likewise enable MAC filtering, and can fix either a whitelist, or a blacklist of devices on the MAC address filtering list. This tin come in uncommonly handy in preventing unknown users from connecting to your network, even if they know your countersign.

Even so another absurd characteristic that is offered in Wireless Settings, is Wireless Scheduling. This feature allows you to set up your router to automatically disallow wireless network admission during certain times on sure days of the calendar week. This method of restricting access isn't perfect, and can be fooled by irresolute the MAC address of the device trying to connect to the network.

• Security

The Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router does not lag behind on the security front, either. You can set up upwards the router firewall within the security menu, and employ any of the three supported protocols, which includes IPSec.

The EA7300 too comes with Internet Filters, which tin automatically filter anonymous requests, and a lot more to go on y'all protected. This is where you tin prepare upwards Port Forwarding too, and the EA7300 supports single port forwarding, as well as range forwarding, and then you tin cull according to your needs.

Smart Features

• Device Prioritization

While all the features discussed to a higher place are certainly bang-up, the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router does come with some special features that genuinely make it a smart router. For starters, the router includes Device Prioritisation, so you tin only assign devices to a higher priority and fix the bandwidth that you want the router to reserve for them.

This tin can come up in handy when you lot're trying to play an online game that requires a constantly high bandwidth, or when you're streaming 4K content.

• External Storage Sharing

The router's USB 3.0 port comes in handy if you want to share an external drive over the entire network. You can simply connect an external hd to the USB 3.0 port on the back of the router, and fix file sharing on the network. Users continued to the network can then hands access the files inside the external shared bulldoze via FTP, SMB, and other protocols. You can even set upward users to requite specific rights to different users on your network. This is definitely a not bad feature. The USB 3.0 port can be used to share a printer over the network as well.

• Linksys Mobile App

What truly makes the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router "smart", is the Linksys app (available on Android and iOS). With this app, you can view every detail near your router, and the network of devices that are connected to it. Yous canreserve DHCP addresses for specific devices, suit Parental Command settings, adjust the router settings including things like the WiFi SSID and password. You tin as well enable, or disable the invitee network, or view the devices connected to the invitee network. Basically, annihilation that you can do in the web admin panel of the Linksys EA7300, you lot can do in the Linksys app also.

Performance

When it comes to performance, the Linksys Smart WiFi Router is no slouch. Thanks to MU-MIMO (multi user-multiple input multiple output) support, information technology can easily connect to multiple devices at once, and provide them all the same WiFi bandwidth and speed. Plus, simultaneous dual band back up means that the router tin can support a total WiFi bandwidth of ane.7Gbps, with the ii.4GHz network topping out at 450Mbps, and the 5GHz ring reaching speeds up to 1300Mbps. This ways that file transfer using the shared external storage connected to the router will definitely exist blazing fast.

Also, thanks to the beam forming antennae that are used by the Linksys EA7300, yous can rest bodacious that even if one of your devices is getting a poor signal, you tin endeavor and orient the antenna towards that device, and it'll definitely see an improvement in the signal force, which is notwithstanding another factor for functioning.

Competition

While I like the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router, there are some other really corking smart WiFi Routers you can consider equally well, such as the Netgear Nighthawk AC1750 ($109.66) which brings similar features and speeds. Also, for a more affordable pick with similar features, you can check out Linksys' very own EA6350 ($79.97), which sacrifices a little bit of speed in the 5GHz band, simply brings the price to almost half. Too, if you want to go 1 of the all-time Smart WiFi Routers, you should definitely check out the Linksys WRT AC3200 ($228.87), which packs in a ane.8GHz dual core processor, along with 256MB flash storage, and 512MB RAM. Information technology supports speeds up to 600Mbps in the 2.4GHz ring, and a blazing fast 2.6Gbps in the 5GHz band.

See As well: How to Setup Linksys Smart WiFi Router

Verdict: Upgrade Your Network with Linksys Smart WiFi Router

While there is no dubiousness that the Linksys EA7300 ($129.96) is an amazing Smart WiFi Router, the point nonetheless remains that unless you actually need all the features that the router offers, paying almost $130 might be overkill. That said, if y'all're looking to future proof your home network, and get information technology ready for things like the Net of Things, and smart homes, you should definitely invest in a smart router like the Linksys EA7300. At ~$130, the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router is definitely worth the toll. It offers an easy fix, a great admin panel, excellent control over the network, and more. Plus, with features like simultaneous dual ring back up, MU-MIMO, shared external storage, and more, y'all tin rest assured that you're getting a device that is well worth the price it comes at.

All that said, the Linksys EA7300 is definitely a great WiFi router, and will help y'all upgrade your home network, allowing y'all to stream 4K content, play online games, and picket videos, all without buffering (if y'all have a connectedness that is fast enough). Plus, information technology'll let you plug in an external hard disk, and basically use it as your personal cloud storage. So, what do you call up nearly the Linksys EA7300 Smart WiFi Router? Are you planning on upgrading your dwelling house network anytime soon? If and then, will you consider the Linksys Smart WiFi Router to assist y'all in doing so? Do let united states of america know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: https://beebom.com/linksys-smart-wifi-router-review/

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